Summary

• Linklater's filmography spans iconic modern classics, including Dazed and Confused and Boyhood, inspiring filmmakers for decades.
• Hit Man showcases Linklater's genius, offering a love story with Powell's challenging role and sharp writing that defies expectations.
• From groundbreaking animations like A Scanner Darkly to romantic masterpieces like Before Midnight, Linklater's diverse work continues to captivate audiences.

Richard Linklater’s newest film Hit Man is the latest in the director's expansive filmography, but which of his movies is the best? The director and writer of many landmark pieces of modern cinema, such as the cinematic classics Dazed and Confused, the Before trilogy, Boyhood, and Everybody Wants Some!!, his first collaboration with Powell. Linklater was also an instrumental figure in the independent film movements of the 1990s. His innovations in animation and narrative continue to inspire filmmakers across the decades.

Born in Texas, Richard Linklater developed a love for cinema in his early twenties. He founded the Austin Film Society with Louis Black, the founder of the South by Southwest Film Festival. Over the years, Linklater experimented with filmmaking, eventually developing his breakout hit Slackers, soon followed by latest movie Hit Man is currently streaming on Netflix.

Where’d You Go, Bernadette

2019

Based on the bestselling novel of the same name, Where’d You Go, Bernadette stars Cate Blanchett as a reclusive architect falling deeper into her anxieties. Under the combined pressure of an adversarial neighbor, an family trip, and involvement with Russian scammers, Bernadette Fox runs away from her life to Antarctica. The film is less wild than it may seem and falls short of Blanchett and Linklater’s true potential. Despite a slight lack of ion, Where’d You Go, Bernadette is stilla perfectly enjoyable movie.

Bad News Bears

2005

Bad News Bears is a fairly faithful remake of the 1970s sports comedy classic. Billy Bob Thornton is featured as an alcoholic former baseball player who coaches a terrible little league team. Through dedication and friendship, the team turns their success around and Thornton redeems himself. Linklater’s childhood nostalgia is apparent in Bad News Bears, and Billy Bob Thornton’s performance was highly commended. Though its humor and plot may have erred too typical, Bad News Bears’ message shines through: there’s more to life than winning.

Fast Food Nation

2006

The most overtly political film in Linklater’s filmography, Fast Food Nation is loosely based on real stories of the fast-food industry. The film is comprised of three darkly comedic stories of different positions at a hamburger chain’s meat processing plant: executive, consumer, and worker. Fast Food Nation clearly critiques its industry, but its message is somewhat undercut by Linklater’s tendency to humanize all of his characters. Though it proposes no one solution to its crisis, Fast Food Nation is nevertheless effective, leaving audiences thoroughly uneager for a burger.

The Newton Boys

1998

Linklater’s crime comedy The Newton Boys brings pathos to the infamous 1930s bank-ribbing gang. In the film, actors Matthew McConaughey, Ethan Hawke, and Dwight Yoakam’s family of struggling brothers slip into a lifetime of robberies against an institution of unjust banks. As exciting as the premise may be, the movie spends the bulk of its time on characters and embracing the time period’s aesthetics. With its lack of real thrills, The Newton Boys falls shy of being one of Linklater’s best films.

Last Flag Flying

2017

Steve Carell, Bryan Cranston, and Laurence Fishburne star as brotherly veterans in Last Flag Flying. Carell’s Doc Shepherd recruits his long-separated friends to accompany him in burying his son, a soldier killed during the Iraq War. The story is fairly straightforward and the filmmaking simple, but the chemistry between The Office’s Steve Carell, Cranston, and Fishburne is powerful. Their simple conversations are perhaps the most enjoyable aspect of the movie. Linklater’s talent for encouraging his actors to open up in the most honest ways is potent in Last Flag Flying, and it manages to balance raw emotion with genuine moments of humor.

SubUrbia

1996

Encapsulating the aimlessness of the young adult experience of 1990s middle America, SubUrbia brought Eric Bogosian’s surprisingly intense stage play to the screen. Four friends, who endlessly laze outside of a small town convenience store, realize their wasted potential when a former member of their group returns, having become a rock star. Parker Posey and Steve Zahn appear in the movie, which has been lauded for its effectively dark and disturbing perspective. Perhaps Linklater’s attempt at a pessimistic version of Dazed and Confused, SubUrbia is an enthralling watch.

A Scanner Darkly

2006

Adapted from the novel by Philip K. Dick, A Scanner Darkly is Linklater’s most unnerving animated feature. Keanu Reeves stars alongside Robert Downey Jr and Winona Ryder as an undercover agent investigating the drug-addicted underbelly of a future dystopian police state. The films’ narrative twists are matched by its innovative rotoscoped style; actors’ performances were digitally traced and formed into realistic, eerie animation. A well-acted and stunningly visual experience, A Scanner Darkly’s only fault is that it cannot answer the complex questions it poses.

Tape

2001

Tape, another adaptation of a stage play, is one of Linklater’s most realistic works: the events in the film take place in real time. Featuring the sole performances of Ethan Hawke, Robert Sean Leonard, and Kill Bill's Uma Thurman, the film explores its characters' psychology as they trick and accuse each other of crimes while isolated in a motel bedroom. The minimalism of Tape heightens its believability, allowing its actors to put on some of their best-recorded performances. Tape may be one of Linklater’s most underrated films to date.

Me And Orson Welles

2008

Me and Orson Welles is a period drama about director Orson Welles’ groundbreaking adaptation of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. Zac Efron stars as an actor who bonds with Welles during the production, subsequently finding romance with Claire Danes’ production assistant. Christian McKay’s performance as Orson Welles is the crown jewel of the film through the whole film celebrates theater’s inner workings. A faithful recreation of Welles’ theatrical masterpiece, Me and Orson Welles delights both lovers of cinema and stage.

Bernie

2011

A darkly comic interpretation of a real murder, Bernie stars Matthew McConaughey, with Jack Black as the titular character. Told through snippets of small-town gossip, a beloved, cheery mortician turns to murder when his relationship with a wealthy widow becomes overbearing. While the film overall is a well-balanced mix of humor and tension, Black’s portrayal of murderer Bernie was so lovable that an appeal was made for a reinvestigation of the real-life killer’s case. Controversial as this effect may be, Bernie is certainly a unique, fascinating film.