38 Joaquin Phoenix Movies & TV Shows, Ranked Best to Worst

Based on two autobiographies by singer-songwriter Johnny Cash, the film Walk the Line follows Cash's early life, his enduring romance with June Carter, and his rise to fame in the country music scene. The film received positive reviews and was nominated for five Oscars at the 78th Academy Awards. 

After aging Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius names his favorite general Maximus to be his successor, his son Commodus seizes the throne by murdering him and the family of Maximus, who is imprisoned and sold into slavery in Africa. But, Maximus returns to Rome as a popular gladiator and hatches a plot to overthrow the dictator.

Based on the famous DC comics supervillain, this Oscar-winning psychological thriller crime drama film revolves around Arthur Fleck, who works as a party clown, but aspires to be a stand-up comedian. Although he is going through mental trauma, and living an impoverished life with his mother, he is mistreated by society. Eventually, he decides to accept a life of crime and chaos, and takes on a new persona.  

At the time of Rwandan genocide in 1994, Paul Rusesabagina worked as a manager at the Hôtel des Mille Collines. When the political situation grew bad, he not only struggled to keep his family safe, but also gave shelter to thousands of Tutsi refugees in the hotel thereby saving their lives.

Theodore Twombly is a highly sensitive loner whose professional qualification is writing soulful personal letters for others. Depressed over his impending divorce, he decides to install the latest artificially intelligent operating system Samantha, which has a bright voice and a consciousness. He begins to doubt himself as he gradually develops a romantic relationship with his AI assistant.

The period drama fictionalizes the last years of 18th century’s infamous French writer Marquis de Sade who was imprisoned at Charenton Insane Asylum for titillating writing. Banished from writing, he takes help of laundress Madeline who smuggles his stories to printer. As his sexually explicit books continue getting published, a severely conformist doctor, known for tormenting punishments, is appointed to treat Marquis. 

After losing his son in an accident on Reservation Road, Ethan Learner hires a lawyer named Dwight Arno, to find out who is responsible for the death of his son. However, he is unaware of the fact that Dwight himself  is the man who accidentally killed his son.

Having witnessed the horrors of WWII, Freddie Quell struggles to return to normal life and drifts from one job to another due to his alcoholism and violent nature. He is easily influenced by Lancaster Dodd, the charismatic leader of the philosophical movement, The Cause, but his rise within the cult makes the other members worried.

This family comedy drama film is about the life of Gil Buckman who has to work hard to balance his personal and professional life, while also dealing with the problems of his three children. His life gets even more complicated after he discovers that his wife is pregnant again. 

After a broken engagement, Leonard moves in with his parents. He soon becomes involved with an honest and a sensible young woman named Sandra, whom his parents set up for him. Although the two seem to be a perfect match, Leonard soon finds himself being attracted to another manipulative woman Michelle, who is also a drug-addict. 

Lewis, Sheriff and Tony are three close friends who are on a vacation in Malaysia. Sheriff and Tony eventually decide to leave for New York, to pursue new careers, but Lewis decides to stay to work with orangutans. Two years later, Sheriff and Tony learn that Lewis has been arrested for drug possession, as a result of their past actions, and is now scheduled for execution.  

Six months after losing his wife in an accident and leaving the church consequently, Graham Hess finds crop circles in his corn field. As crop circles begin appearing around the world, Graham and his family – brother and two children – try to understand the meaning of the Signs and eventually believe that there are aliens around.

Bobby Green is the manager of nightclub, El Caribe, which is frequented by drug lord Vadim Nezhinski. Bobby has distanced himself from his brother, NYPD Captain Joseph, and father, Deputy Chief Burt. But after an assassination attempt on his brother and his father being fatally shot, Bobby joins the NYPD to bring Vadim down.

To Die For is a black comedy crime film, which tells the story of Suzanne, a beautiful but naive girl, who is willing to do anything to achieve her career dreams of becoming a television newscaster. She is even willing to destroy anything or anyone that stands in her way, regardless of the cost or means.   

This black comedy war film takes us to the time of the Second World War. It revolves around the lives of few US soldiers stationed in West Germany just before the fall of the Berlin Wall. A criminal subculture operates among the men as they steal, fight, drink as well as sell drugs.

Covington in the 19th-century rural Pennsylvania has a small population that lives peacefully within the boundaries of the village. Beyond the boundaries, there are fearful creatures inhabiting the wood that do not forgive any intrusion. When a determined man, Lucius Hunt decides to step out into the woods, the creatures are upset. But then, someone else must also step out into the woods.

Larry ‘Doc’ Sportello is a good-hearted but inept stoner who works as a private investigator. His former lover, Shasta suddenly shows up and asks him to prevent her rich lover, Wolfmann, from being committed to insane asylum by Wolfmann’s wife. Doc soon finds himself tangled in the psychedelic world of drugs and corrupt LAPD. 

A philosophy professor, who suffers from existential crisis, finds a purpose in his life when one day he overhears a woman complaining that she may lose her children because of a corrupt judge and decides to murder him, reasoning that he will never be caught because he is not connected to the case. But justice has its own way of catching up. 

The Immigrant is a romantic drama film which tells the story of an innocent immigrant woman who is tricked into a life of prostitution until a magician tries to save her and reunite her with her sister who is being quarantined at Ellis Island.  

Clay is a young man who is having an affair with the wife of his friend Earl. However, when Earl kills himself due to this, Clay finds himself guilty of his death. Although Amanda, Earl’s wife wants to continue the affair as if nothing has happened, Clay tries to resist. Problems arise when a serial killer kills her, and the FBI considers Clay as a suspect.

Private investigator, Tom Welles, gets hired to determine the authenticity of an 8MM snuff film showing a murder, which a tycoon’s widow, Mrs. Christian, found in her late husband’s safe. The investigation takes him to Hollywood where a porno store employee, Max California, helps him infiltrate Hollywood’s dangerous underworld of illegal porno movies, which may well prove hazardous for Welles. 

A firefighter, working for the Baltimore Fire Station, gets injured and trapped inside a burning building. As he drifts in and out of consciousness, he has flashbacks of his life. Meanwhile, fellow firefighters who are led by the Chief make their attempts to rescue him. 

Bobby is heading to Vegas to pay off his gambling debts before the Russian mafia kills him. However, he is forced to stop in a town in Arizona, when his car breaks down. He gets caught in various problems after he meets Grace, a local resident. 

Leo is finally out of prison after serving a sentence for car theft. He plans to leave his life of crime behind, but things don’t go as planned, because of his corrupt uncle, who leads him down a dangerous path.

Two brothers, Doug Holt and Jacey, who come from a humble background, vie for the love of beautiful and wealthy Abbott sisters. But it is not as easy as it seems.

Well-known actor Joaquin Phoenix decides to retire from the world of acting and focus on a new career as a hip-hop musician. Later he approaches Sean Combs, American rapper and record producer, hoping he will produce the record.

This drama film revolves around a woman named Mary from the town of Magdala, who begins to follow Jesus of Nazareth. Despite opposition from her parents, she leaves her home, and accepts baptism from Jesus. However, she soon finds herself in conflict with Saint Peter.   

Andie Bergstrom is an astronaut who is eagerly awaiting her first trip to outer space. She decides to run a summer camp for teenagers with her husband who is employed with NASA. Things get complicated when few of the kids are accidentally shot into space, during an engine test.

This romantic drama science fiction film takes us to a dystopian future where Earth has cooled down to such an extent that it is snowing in the middle of summer. Meanwhile, the worldwide economy is on the edge of collapse. In the middle of this, John and his wife are getting a divorce. However, before signing the divorce papers, they realize that their love is worth fighting for, despite everything happening around them.

When an encounter with a Kodiak bear results in the death of his brother Sitka, young Native American Kenai kills the bear in revenge. But he is transformed into a bear himself. Hunted in his bear form by his other brother Denahi, Kenai’s only hope is to reclaim his human form with the help of an orphan bear cub, Koda.