The internet blew up over the news that British actor Alfred Molina is reprising his role as Doctor Octopus in the forthcoming Spider-Man 3. When he isn't playing a mad scientist with tentacled, mechanical appendixes, Molina brings his offbeat approach to everything from indie neo-Westerns to animated Bible films to classic action-adventure flicks.
Molina's best films are often edgy, darkly comedic, and deadly serious. His worst suffer from being oversaturated with bad genre tropes, terrible scripts, and cringeworthy attempts to generate laughs. What's so amazing about Molina is that no matter how much a film underperforms, he still manages to give his characters some level of depth and complexity - most of the time, at least.
10 Best: Dead Man (1995) - 7.6
Dead Man is an ensemble epic disguised as a Western. It co-stars Johnny Depp as a mild-mannered accountant named William Blake who is the run from the law for killing a man in self-defense.
Molina plays a racist Trading Post Missionary who Blake crosses paths with along the way. Molina's corrupt character hopes to win the bounty on Blake's head.
9 Worst: We'll Never Have Paris (2014) - 4.6
A rom-com that does nothing to stand out from the sea of rom-coms, We'll Never Have Paris is directed by real-life couple Simon Helberg and Jocelyn Towne. The film dramatizes the actual events surrounding their engagement, with Helberg playing a fictionalized version of himself named Quinn and Melanie Lynskey playing his love interest, Devon.
After dumping Devon for another woman, Quinn realizes she's the love of his life and pursues her in Paris, where a predictable reconciliation occurs. Molina co-stars as Quinn's father, Terry.
8 Best: MGC Presents Red (2018) - 7.7
This feature of John Logan's play about abstract artist Mark Rothko sees Molina taking center stage as the complicated, aging painter. Set over 1958 and 1959, the play traces Rothko's relationship with his assistant as he works on large commercial pieces for the Four Seasons hotel.
The Red film is derived from a production of the play that ran between May and July of 2018 in London's Wyndham's Theatre. Alfred Enoch of Harry Potter fame plays Rothko's assistant Ken.
7 Worst: Swelter (2014) - 4.5
Swelter tries hard to be an edgy contemporary Western, but it falls very, very short of its goal. This heist film stars Lennie James as a former professional thief turned small-town sheriff who is hunted down by his former brethren.
Molina plays the doctor in the desert village where James's character Bishop resides, and Bishop's long-lost buds are played by the likes of Jean-Claude Van Damme and Grant Bowler. Swelter fails to deliver anything new, different, or compelling.
6 Best: Boogie Nights (1997) - 7.9
Even though it's a small scene, Molina's role in Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights is absolutely unforgettable. As the coked-out drug dealer Rahad Jackson, Molina gives a performance that is unhinged, hilarious, and intense.
While Thomas Jane's character Todd Parker prepares to rob Jackson (with Mark Walberg's Dirk Diggler and John C. Reilly's Reed Rothchild along for the ride), Jackson goes on a speed-induced monologue about his new, awesome mixtape. Rick Springfield's "Jessie's Girl" drones on in the background as the scene reaches a violent climax.
5 Worst: Scorpion Spring (1995) - 4.2
Scorpion Spring tells the story of two downtrodden men who combine resources and hit the road together along the United States and Mexico border. Molina plays a French actor named Denis Brabant, and Patrick McGaw co-stars as the American Zac Cross.
Along the way, the pair cross paths with one bizarre character after another, including a drug dealer portrayed by a young McConaughey. Cheesy and dull, Scorpion Spring tries to be way too big for its britches.
4 Best: Magnolia (1999) - 8.0
Molina also makes a cameo in another Paul Thomas Anderson ensemble drama: Magnolia. He plays Solomon Solomon, the owner of the electronics that employs William H. Macy's character Donnie Smith.
In his short scene, Molina's character scolds Donnie for being repeatedly late and not making his sale goals, ultimately firing Donnie for his insubordination. Donnie later steals money from Solomon Solomon's safe.
3 Worst: Dudley Do-Right (1999) - 3.9
Whichever producer thought the Dudley Do-Right segments from The Rocky And Bullwinkle Show would make for a great live-action feature film was totally off-base. The comedy starring Brendan Fraser as the titular Canadian Mountie is a mess, plain and simple.
Molina plays Dudley's archenemy Snidely Whiplash, the kind of classic antagonist who dons a top hat and a handlebar mustache. Dudley Do-Right bombed at the box office, its zany antics ultimately landing on deaf ears.
2 Best: Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981) - 8.4
Molina's feature film debut is still his best at IMDb. In Raiders of the Lost Ark, Molina plays Satipo, Indiana Jones's guide at the beginning of the film.
Satipo leads Indy through a Peruvian temple full of booby traps, eventually abandoning his station and betraying the archaeologist. While attempting to flee the temple, Satipo meets a terrible end.
1 Worst: The Ten Commandments (2007) - 2.9
In The Ten Commandments, which bombed in theatres, Molina breathes life into Ramses, who was Pharaoh during the days of Moses. While God challenges Ramses to free the Hebrews, Moses receives messages from Heaven that culminate with his titular tablets.
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