31 Michael Stuhlbarg Movies, Ranked Best to Worst

Set in the summer of 1983, it is a story of a blossoming romance. Seventeen-year old Elio Perlman is spending his vacation with family at their villa in Lombardy, Italy, where he meets 24-year old doctorate student Oliver who comes to work as an intern for Elio’s father. Their initial friendship soon blooms into true love, changing their lives forever. 

12 mysterious alien spacecrafts appear silently hovering over 12 disparate locations around the world, posing a global threat to humanity. Unable to discern whether the extraterrestrials are peaceful or hostile, US Army Colonel G.T. Weber recruits expert linguist Dr. Louise Banks, who must lead an elite team tasked with establishing communication with the visitors.

Hugo, an orphan boy, sneakily maintains the clocks of the Paris train station he lives in while his uncle is mysteriously missing. He often steals toy parts from bitter store owner Georges to repair an automaton found by his late father, but it can only be activated with a special key in possession of Georges' goddaughter Isabelle.

Based on the 1977 biographical novel by Bruce Alexander Cook, the film follows the life of the celebrated Hollywood screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, later blacklisted for his political belief. Focusing on his all-round struggles, which forced him to ghostwrite many award winning scripts, the film tells us how he overcame his troubles to receive his due. 

Sloane is a political drama thriller film, which revolves around the struggles of Elizabeth Sloane, a fierce lobbyist, as she attempts to pass the gun control legislation. 

A wealthy and arrogant neurosurgeon becomes victim of a terrible car crash, which leaves him unable to operate. In his effort to heal himself, he realizes that he knows nothing about the universe, and soon he learns about a hidden world of magic and alternate dimensions.

Steven Spielberg's Lincoln takes you back in time to watch the making of a historic moment as the US President gets the House of Representatives to pass the Thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution which abolished slavery.

Elisa is mute and leads a forlorn life working as a janitor at a secret high-security government laboratory. Her life takes a turn when she comes across and falls for a captured humanoid amphibian creature. She now has to protect the rare species from a classified experiment and ensure its safe return to waters.

Jasmine Francis’s life is a mess – her wealthy husband was arrested for forgery and he committed suicide; she is a complete broke and has suffered a nervous breakdown and is consuming too much alcohol and anti-anxiety medicine. She moves in with her working class sister and decides to improve her present but in doing so, chooses a path of deception.

The dark comedy revolves around struggling writer Marty Faranan. Things take a violent turn when his two best friends Billy and Hans kidnap violent gangster Charlie Costello’s pet Shih Tzu. Marty’s experiences, following that not only provide him the plot for his screenplay Seven Psychopaths but leave him a changed man.  

This biographical film about Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs provides a behind-the-scene look at his life, starting with the launch of the first Macintosh in 1984. He struggles with accepting his daughter from his ex-girlfriend and is forced out of Apple, following which he launches NeXT Computer in 1988 and returns to Apple in 1998 to unveil the iMac.

Focusing on the life of newspaper heiress and publisher Katharine Graham, this historical political thriller film highlights the challenges she has to face after the deaths of her husband and her father. The film was chosen by the National Board of Review as the best film of 2017. 

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio as a CIA agent on the hunt for an elusive terrorist leader, Al Saleem, Body of Lies is an action-thriller film that portrays the tensions and drama between the agent, his supervisor and their Jordanian intelligence counterparts. Russel Crowe plays the CIA agent's boss whose unclear directives have the agent doubting his motives to catch the terrorist.

The Grey Zone is a war drama film which revolves around a group of Jewish prisoners, whom the Nazis ask for help in exterminating their fellow Jews in exchange for a few more months of life. This puts them in a terrible moral dilemma.

The biographical film about American Grandmaster Bobby Fischer focuses mainly on his challenge against Soviet chess champion Boris Spassky during the Cold War, and the 1972 World Chess Championship match between the two. To accomplish his dream of being the youngest world champion, Fischer has to fight his own escalating paranoia as well as deal with the pressures from the two superpowers. 

Boris the Animal, the last of his species who was captured by Agent K, flees from the maximum-security prison on the Moon. He travel backs in time to kill a younger K which will enable his fellow Boglodites to conquer Earth. Agent J must now travel back in time and team up with the younger K to prevent Boris from destroying humanity.

The movie follows legendary director Alfred Hitchcock’s struggles to get one of his most iconic movies Psycho made. After Paramount’s refusal, he is forced to finance the movie himself and in spite of reservations, is helped by his wife Alma. The making of the movie puts a strain on his health and their marriage.

Paul is an actor who becomes quite attached to the characters that he portrays. Therefore he finds it trouble disassociating himself from the character after the scene is done. He soon discovers an office where he can put his soul in storage. However, it seems to him that being soulless doesn’t help him or his marriage. Therefore, he returns to the office and borrows the soul of a Russian poet. This helps him improve his acting, but eventually he finds himself in deep sorrow.

This biographical musical drama is about the life of well-known jazz musician Miles Davis. The film shows how he had decided to go and live in isolation after dealing with physical and emotional pain. However, after meeting a music reporter, he finds his love for music reviving once again.

Shirley is a biographical mystery drama film which revolves around the life of Shirley Jackson, a well-known horror story writer. After she and her husband takes in a young newly wed couple, Shirley finds inspiration for her next book.

Cut Bank is a thriller film which revolves around a young man in a small town in Montana who gets involved in a murder case, after he and his girlfriend become the only witness to the crime.