BY MICHAEL GOODPASTER
(FOUR) ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND
He’s not the lead in this movie. He plays a young nerdy slacker scientist/doctor that works for the mind erasing company. His storyline is small, but rough. He has this obvious puppy dog crush on Kristen Dunst’s character. She’s not into him and has her own thing going on, but the whole time he’s just there patiently swooning over her. After watching the movie a million times, I could be over-stating the depth of the character. You just feel for him.
(THREE) ZODIAC
Mark got one of his first big starring roles in this David Fincher modern classic. He plays a detective on the case. He gets in the middle of the murders and conspiracies. I’m too young to know a lot about the real faces involved. Of course, I know the story but I’d like to think Ruffalo’s character is like the real deal. By the end of the movie, you’re ready to choke this guy. Ruffalo does awesome here and steals the movie from Gyllenhaal and Downey Jr.
(TWO) THE BROTHERS BLOOM
This 2008 movie is really underrated. I don’t understand how it didn’t get more praise and didn’t catch a nice DVD following. The brotherhood of the older brother Ruffalo and his trusty brother Adrien Brody are scam artists. They go to extremes to get over on people. The only thing we can really trust while watching is the love for the two brothers. Everything else is a constant “WTF”. The ending is spectacular. I won’t spoil it. Seriously, if you haven’t seen this movie you need to. Ruffalo and Brody are on their A-Game.
(ONE) THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT
Annette Bening and Julianne Moore seemed to get the most attention from the movie. They were great, but Mark’s role in the story is pretty damn important. If his character hadn’t be likeable and wasn’t done in the certain way that is Ruffalo’s thing then I don’t think this movie works. He brought charm and a unique perspective to a weird role to pull off. It really shows how good he is by the things he doesn’t do. He’s there. He’s absorbing the crazy situation with the audience and deals with it as well as he can. This has to be the dude’s most critically acclaimed movie and most successful. He was nominated for everything and won a couple. Ruffalo is talented enough to replace every movie on this list with new favorites moving forward.
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