Top 10 Depp: The best Johnny Depp movies (part two)

July 1, 7:38 AMAtlanta Movies ExaminerRyan McNally

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(In case you missed it, here’s part one of Top 10 Depp: The best Johnny Depp movies.)

6) From Hell (2001). In this underrated period thriller directed by the Hughes brothers (Menace II Society), Depp plays a troubled police detective investigating the prostitute murders by Jack The Ripper. The moody murder mystery keeps your attention, and Depp nails his role as the absinthe-drinking, opium-consuming investigator wrestling with demons and his visions of the future as he races to save the next victim.

 

7) Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003). As Capt. Jack Sparrow, Depp found an unlikely vehicle in which to score his first Oscar nomination—a swashbuckling pirate film based on a Disney theme ride. Despite the mainstream milieu, Depp goes for the jugular with a quirky performance that’s often entertaining, sometimes cringeworthy, and always riveting. Two less-inspired sequels followed.

 

8) Secret Window (2004). This Steven King adaptation features Depp’s most overlooked performance as Mort Rainey, a down-on-his-luck writer who copes with his wife’s philandering and their separation by setting up shop at a remote cabin. Alas, he finds himself stalked by a crazed writer (John Turturro) who claims Mort plagiarized his work. Amidst the thriller’s twists and turns, Depp makes you care as Mort battles to maintain his sanity.

 

9) Finding Neverland (2005). Eleven years after portraying Ed Wood, Depp played another dreamer, this time Peter Pan author J.M. Barrie, and scored his second Oscar nomination. Befriending four children and their widowed mother (Kate Winslet, also Oscar-nominated), Barrie finds inspiration as his own marriage struggles. As usual, Depp immerses himself in the role and delivers a deeply moving performance.

 

10) Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007). He sings, he cuts hair, he slices throats. Joining forces yet again with Burton, Depp stars as a man out for bloody revenge against the corrupt judge who ruined his life. Though the film wasn’t the Oscar juggernaut some had predicted, Depp picked up his third nomination for his leading role in this highly unusual musical.




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