Every Julianne Moore Movie Ranked Worst To Best

No matter your taste in movies, you have likely seen Julianne Moore in more than a few things. The actress has been in over 70 major motion pictures, from psychological thrillers to romcoms to Hollywood blockbusters. Moore's prolific acting career began on TV in the 1980s, but she took off as a name in the following decade. From Robert Altman's "Short Cuts" to her roles in the casts of "The Big Lebowski" and "Boogie Nights," by the end of the '90s serious film aficionados knew the name Julianne Moore quite well.

The years since have only brought the actress more roles and accolades, including an Oscar win for best actress in 2014's "Still Alice." While Moore has been in dozens of excellent movies, she has also showed up in her fair share of Razzie-nominated bombs. To see how they all stack up, here is every movie in Julianne Moore's filmography, ranked from the worst to the absolute best.

Although it's known as "Shelter" in all territories outside the United States, the more absurd title "6 Souls" fits this mess of a thriller so much better. Julianne Moore plays Cara, a psychologist who meets Adam (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), a patient with multiple personalities. When Cara discovers his personalities are the identities of dead people, she begins to suspect foul play. What she absolutely doesn't expect is how the story winds up being a groan-inducing cliché fest about God vs. science that comes off as ultimately way too preachy.

Sitting at a measly 4% on Rotten Tomatoes, it's safe to say that nobody thought "6 Souls" was a good movie. One reviewer went as far as to compliment Moore's performance amid the extremely lackluster other elements of the film. Even in her lowest-rated movie, Julianne Moore is one of the best parts.

Remember when they made movies spinning off from "Saturday Night Live" characters? While some were hits, not everyone was lucky enough to make a "Wayne's World" or "Blues Brothers" from their skits. Based on the Tim Meadows "SNL" character, "The Ladies Man” came out in 2000 and was panned by critics. Suave radio host Leon Phelps (Meadows) was not enough to carry a feature film.

"The Ladies Man" starts when Leon is finally axed from his radio gig. He receives a note from a mysterious woman saying she will love and financially support him, but here's the punchline: he doesn't know who it's from and, you guessed it, he has slept with so many women that now he has to navigate his way through a legion of angry exes to find the one. It's like "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World," except without any self-awareness or style. Moore plays a sympathetic ex-girlfriend of Leon's who now works as a clown. Sadly, her career is skyrocketing and she doesn't have time for a relationship. It's safe to say Moore wouldn't be caught dead in clown make-up these days. 

This erotic thriller starring Madonna was a tremendous flop that landed nominations for worst picture, worst director, worst actor and worst actress at the 1994 Razzie Awards, with Madonna winning the latter. The pop star plays Rebecca Carlson, the main suspect in a case where a man she was sleeping with on camera was murdered by asphyxiation. 

Carlson begins to have an intense affair with her lawyer, Frank Dulaney (Willem Dafoe), under the nose of his unsuspecting wife, played by Julianne Moore. This sadomasochistic affair continues until the trial starts going south and the affair begins to get rocky, prompting a call from Carlson to Sharon. From here, almost any sense of reality gets thrown out the window as the movie barrels towards the unnecessarily hackneyed violent ending.

Julianne Moore is the villain of this unfortunately drab fantasy adventure. She plays Mother Malkin, a powerful witch who escapes the imprisonment brought upon her by witch hunter Gregory (Jeff Bridges). Now with Malkin on the verge of regaining her true power, Gregory must find a new apprentice to help him take her down before it becomes too late.

"Seventh Son" refers to the movie's hero, Tom Ward (Ben Barnes), who is the seventh son of a seventh son and Gregory's newfound apprentice. The two set off on an adventure to stop Malkin from building an unstoppable army. The story is nothing special, but "Seventh Son" suffers most from poor production and filmmaking. From uneven sound mixing to ineffective CGI, this is one fantasy that, like Mother Malkin, best remain dead in the ground.

We have entered the 2000s-era romcom portion of Julianne Moore's career. At the bottom of the list is 2004's "Laws of Attraction," starring Moore as divorce lawyer Audrey Woods opposite Pierce Brosnan as Daniel Rafferty. The two play a pair of brilliant lawyers who are, aside from their disdain for marriage, complete opposites. Pitted against one another in a high-profile case, the two wind up in Ireland where, after a night of debauchery, they wake up married to one another.

Romcom cliches abound as the two slowly fall in actual love and eventually get married ... but for real this time. While the writing in "Laws of Attraction" doesn't quite achieve a passing grade, the biggest crime the movie commits is being a carbon copy of "Adam's Rib," the 1949 MGM romance starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn.

Julianne Moore plays a major role in "Assassins," a completely forgettable '90s action movie that was maybe almost cool for its own good. Why? Well, aside from Sylvester Stallone and Antonio Banderas leading the cast, the movie's script is credited to the Wachowskis. However, years later (via The New Yorker), Lana Wachowski admitted that screenwriter Brian Helgeland more or less rewrote the entire thing, scrapping "all the subtext, the visual metaphors" and instead giving us a pretty bland action movie. Thankfully this script served as the foot in the door for the Wachowskis to work with Warner Brothers and eventually make "The Matrix."

In the movie, Stallone plays Robert Rath, a cliché of an assassin getting ready for retirement. For his last big score, he is sent to kill a computer hacker named Electra (Moore), but in the wake of a large threat the two end up working together. Oh, and the whole time an assassin named Bain (Banderas) is chasing after Rath trying to kill him, in order to become the best assassin in the world. It is a silly, uninspiring movie that should have been so much more.

This 1992 comedy was inspired by the screwball classics of 1930s and '40s Hollywood, but fails to live up to the heights of those hijinks. Penelope Ann Miller is Betty Lou Perkins, a nerdy librarian who witnesses a murder one day. Only none of the men in charge believe her — until Betty Lou produces the murder weapon and confesses to the crime for attention. She winds up in jail and eventually gets mixed up with the dangerous mob boss (William Forsyth) who committed the killing.

Julianne Moore is Betty Lou's excitable sister Elinor in this small, early career role that doesn't give the actress much to work with. While the movie was panned on release, some critics have revisited the movie through a more positive, feminist lens.

This film was originally a Fox theatrical release scheduled for 2019, but poor test screenings pushed it into 2020, and then COVID-19 pushed it directly to Netflix. "The Woman in the Window" finally arrived on the streaming platform in 2021. With an abundance of talent — including Julianne Moore, Amy Adams, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Gary Oldman — and a screenplay by playwright Tracy Letts, it is a shock that "The Woman in the Window" wasn't better than it turned out.

Agoraphobic Anna (Amy Adams) lives by herself and drinks to drive away her divorce sorrows. She begins another habit as well, watching her neighbor Jane (Moore) through the window after the latter pays Anna a friendly visit. One night Anna sees Jane being stabbed to death through the window. When she goes to the police no one believes her, as a woman claiming to be Jane (Jennifer Jason Leigh) shows up and nobody seems to realize anything has changed. The paranoia thriller that follows was hackneyed enough for Netflix to get away with making a parody show – called "The Woman In The House Across The Street From The Girl In The Window" — based on its own movie.

This maligned adaptation of the smash Broadway hit both failed to live up to the stage production's success and opened up the show's questionable story to a wider audience of critics. "Dear Evan Hansen" casts original star Ben Platt as the anxiety-ridden title character, now about six years older than when he was trying to pass for a teenager at 50 feet away. The meme-worthy makeup job was a big black mark on the movie, but it was the least of its problems.

Evan is bullied at school by Connor (Colton Ryan), whose sister Zoe (Kaitlyn Denver) Evan has a crush on. He writes notes to himself to deal with his anxiety. One day Connor is found after taking his own life, with a letter Evan wrote to himself on his person. The letter leads to misconceptions about the boys' friendship and Evan wraps himself in a lie that increasingly fools both families. Moore plays Evan's mother, who overworks herself out of love to support them but ends up being absent and distant. The parts of the story that made "Dear Evan Hansen" so controversial with some fans are at their worst when Evan is ultimately rewarded for his lie by getting the girl and a happy ending.

It's easy to wax nostalgic for the days when a major studio like Paramount would pump tens of millions into a Philip KD adaptation. "Blade Runner" is a classic and even "Minority Report" rocks, but films like "Next" were proof that by 2007, these short stories had largely been milked as much as they could be. This sci-fi adventure doesn't live up to its source material.

In "Next" Nicolas Cage is Cris Johnson, a hero tragically blessed with the ability to see into his future but only by two minutes. Johnson works in a Vegas casino, where he is psychologically hung up on a vision he has of a woman. NSA agent Callie Ferris (Julianne Moore) learns of his ability and attempts to chase him down throughout the movie, trying to get him to help the U.S. take down Russian terrorists. The ripped-from-the-headlines politics erases much of the intention of the author's original story, leading to a messy plot supported by some downright rotten special effects.

With the talent and premise behind "Suburbicon," it had all the makings of a dark comedy classic. Written by the Coen brothers and directed by long-time collaborator George Clooney, the film failed to live up to its pedigree. Matt Damon stars as white bread suburban dad Gardner Lodge, whose life begins to go awry once a Black family moves into the neighborhood. 

Moore plays a dual role as his wife Rose and her sister Margaret, but only briefly. One night, the house is broken into and Rose is killed. Margaret begins to take her place, slowly subsuming her identity and fixing herself in Gardner's life as a vengeful and murderous influence.

According to critics, the dark hijinks and violence in "Suburbicon"' make it feel like a dull imitation of the Coens' best work, like "Fargo." The movie also seemingly has things to say about race that get lost in a story that's still about white people. If you consider the acclaim for the Black perspective of "Get Out" from that same year, it is easy to see audiences and critics were primed for much more from this type of story.

Based on the Wallace Shawn play of the same name, "Marie and Bruce" is a 2004 drama that premiered at Sundance that January. Julianne Moore and Matthew Broderick play the title couple, victims of a decaying marriage. Outside of the festival circuit, "Marie and Bruce" didn't make a splash with audiences or critics and is largely a forgotten entry in Moore's career.

One morning Marie (Moore) wakes up and decides to leave Bruce (Broderick), but he acts like this is a relatively routine interaction. What follows is a slice-of-life look at the next 24 hours. Later the two meet at a party, where after a few drinks Bruce's true feelings about Marie come out. The toxic relationship dynamic is filled with melodrama when brought to the screen, making "Marie and Bruce" another victim of a poor adaptation despite the talent of the leads in other roles. 

Julianne Moore is Rebecca, an up-and-coming New York actress, in this distressing romantic comedy directed by her husband Bart Freundlich. Despite its title, "Trust the Man" is actually all about the lead women learning to trust themselves, albeit in the most rote way imaginable. While Rebecca and her husband Tom (David Duchovny) experience sexual frustrations, her brother Tobey (Billy Crudup) and his girlfriend Elaine (Maggie Gyllenhaal) struggle to agree on whether or not to have children. While they race against Elaine's biological clock, Rebecca and Tom meet other people and begin affairs with coworkers.

Reviewers were aligned in thinking the performances in "Trust the Man" are just fine, but the overbearing comedy and inert drama make for a movie that relentlessly spins its wheels. With nothing to say beyond vapid generalizations about what straight men and women want, "Trust the Man" has vanished into the romcom void of the 2000s.

Julianne Moore starred alongside Hugh Grant in this 1995 romcom, which is slightly better than "Trust the Man." If you remember it at all, "Nine Months" is probably best recalled as Grant's first starring role in an American film. He plays psychologist Samuel Faulkner, who falls in love with dance instructor Rebecca Taylor (Moore). The two discuss children and of course Faulkner is staunchly opposed. Taylor soon gets pregnant, leading to a story we've all seen before of a man coming to terms with fatherhood.

"Nine Months" is, by today's standards, a completely unnecessary story that would be much better served by actually being about women who experience pregnancy. Instead, it's about a man realizing children are actually good and not little monsters. As Roger Ebert wrote in his review, "The outcome is abundantly clear to everyone but the hero, who remains in the hapless position of playing dumb because, if he didn't, there wouldn't be a plot."

2001 romantic drama "World Traveler" was Moore's second collaboration with "Trust the Man" director Bart Freundlich, and the last before the two were married in 2003. This road movie stars Billy Crudup as Cal, a successful architect who leaves his wife and infant child without warning one day for what, by the end of the movie, still feels like no good reason. On his trips he meets Dulcie (Moore) and the two hit it off. As Cal learns about her family, he begins to question his decision to leave, putting him on the path to dealing with his own family trauma.

Ultimately, Cal gets closure and redemption despite not really earning it. The unfocused moral ambiguity of "World Traveler" results in, as per Roger Ebert, a hollow drama that lacks a sympathetic lead character.

In this 2004 psychological thriller, Moore plays grieving mother Telly. Over a year after her son's death, she lets his loss consume her life. That is until one random day she wakes up and it's like she never had a son at all. Her husband Jim (Anthony Edwards) and friends begin to think she is delusional, believing in a dead son that she never gave birth to. After she seeks out Ash (Dominic West), another parent whose child died in the same incident, he discovers that he doesn't have memories of his daughter either and the two embark on a search for the truth.

The first half cruises before "The Forgotten" crashes and burns into a silly climax that doesn't provide remotely satisfying answers. The social experiment conspiracy that underlies the premise is never given proper motivation for existing and the ending uses sloppy logic to tie up the loose ends.

"Freedomland" is a prime example of stripping a source material bare of its meaning and adapting the plot into a middling popcorn flick. Based on the Richard Price novel, this mystery begins when Brenda Martin (Julianne Moore) walks into a hospital, claiming that her car was stolen and her four-year-old son was in the backseat. This leads to a community-led search and an investigation by detective Lorenzo Council (Samuel L. Jackson), who isn't entirely convinced of Brenda's innocence.

The community perspective that informs the novel's racial politics are erased in the film. While elements of racial tension are still in the movie, the resulting changes in the story lead to an unsatisfying ending that doesn't have more to say than the average "Law and Order" episode.

TV director and producer Craig Zisk made "The English Teacher" as his first feature film. Met with a mixed-to-negative response, the 2013 romantic comedy stars a charming Julianne Moore as small town English teacher Linda Sinclair. Moore wasn't charming enough to win over most critics, who largely felt "The English Teacher" was shallow and didn't live up to its potential.

When an old favorite student of Linda's, Jason (Michael Angarano), comes back into town after attending NYU, he presents her with the script he has written. The two convince the drama teacher (played by Nathan Lane) to put on the play at the high school, but after the town discovers Linda and Jason slept together the whole thing is called off and she is fired. Following this, Linda tries to mend the relationships she's broken and save a work of art she genuinely loves. Ultimately the film implies that Linda ends up dating Jason's father, which is one head-scratcher of an ending.

Legendary "Ghostbusters" director Ivan Reitman had a passion for fun, over-the-top action comedies. 2001's "Evolution" is essentially that, just not executed nearly as well as "Ghostbusters" or even "Space Jam." David Duchovny and Orlando Jones play a pair of scientists who discover an extraterrestrial organism at a meteorite crash site and find it is evolving at incomprehensible speeds.

These creatures begin terrorizing nearby cities as they grow, and the scientists are forced to team up with Wayne (Sean William Scott), a firefighter still in training, to save the world. Julianne Moore shows up as Allison Reed, a doctor with the CDC who is perhaps the clumsiest person on Earth. Moore proves that even with subpar material, she can still nail the physical aspects of a comedic performance.

The poor end result of "Evolution" is most likely due to the script being a rewrite of a much more serious sci-fi concept that Reitman wanted to turn into a comedy.

One of the strangest filmmaking choices of all time was when Gus Van Sant, coming hot off the success of "Good Will Hunting," decided to make a shot-for-shot remake of Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho." The 1998 remake of the influential horror classic is now often cited as one of the worst movie remakes of all time. The wacky decision to cast Vince Vaughn as Norman Bates was only one of the movie's major flaws. At best, 1998's "Psycho" is a pale imitation of a masterpiece.

In the second half of the film, Julianne Moore plays Lila Crane, who's searching for her vanished sister Marion (Anne Heche). Viggo Mortenson and William H. Macy also feature prominently in this second half, making for one of the most strangely cast horror movies of the 1990s.

Through Academy Award-nominated makeup, Peter Falk plays the nearly 100-year-old Rocky Holzcek in this 1995 drama. As an older man, he has managed to raise his grandson Michael (D.B. Sweeney) after his parents died in an accident in Michael's childhood. Now, in his late 90s, Rocky is evicted and taken in by his grandson. Julianne Moore plays Michael's girlfriend Beth. As Rocky adjusts to the home, he warms up to Beth and the two spark a friendship that endures.

While "Roommates" attempts to be a heartwarming story, it ultimately fell short for critics in terms of getting genuine emotional reactions. Falk's performance was the one universally praised aspect of this otherwise subpar family drama.

Based on a José Saramago novel, 2008's apocalyptic drama "Blindness" is a high-concept thriller. What if there was a global blindness epidemic and one lucky survivor was blessed with sight? That sums up Julianne Moore's role pretty well as the unnamed wife of an unnamed doctor (Mark Rufallo) who discovers this sight loss is a communicable disease. 

Quarantined with a group of other newly blinded people, the doctor uses his wife's ability to help out the others but keeps the knowledge of her sight a secret. As the days drag on, the world begins to tear itself apart and the community is threatened by hostile outsiders.

The ending is sillier than even the overwrought symbolism of the premise, leaving most of the overarching thematic threads dangling. Moore still shines despite these flaws, with Boston Globe critic Wesley Morris writing in his review, "[Moore] tends to be at her best when the world is at its worst. And things are pretty bad in 'Blindness.'"

This 1996 Pablo Picasso biopic, starring Anthony Hopkins as the Spanish painter, was released to mixed reviews despite the star power both in front of and behind the camera. "Surviving Picasso ” was a Merchant Ivory production, one of many lavish period pieces directed by James Ivory and produced by his partner Esmail Merchant. The masters of the costume drama disappointed slightly in this less-than-flattering portrayal of Picasso.

"Surviving Picasso" is as much about the life of the artist as it is about his abusive womanizing tendencies. Through the eyes of Picasso's long-term partner Françoise Gilot (Natascha McElhone), the film paints a brutal picture of Picasso's fraught personal life. Julianne Moore plays artist Dora Maar, one of Picasso's lovers and the subject of one of his most famous series of paintings, "The Weeping Woman."

"Savage Grace" is based on the real-life murder of Bakelite plastic heiress Barbara Daly Baekeland (played by Moore). Baekeland was stabbed by her son in the wake of a complicated and alleged sexual relationship. The film runs with the most inflammatory allegations against the family to tell a controversial story that compelled as many audience members as it repulsed.

The story follows the Baekeland family as Barbara raises her son Antony (Eddie Redmayne). As he grows and begins to show signs of being gay, Barbara refuses to accept this, diagnosing him with mental illness and even going as far as seducing her own son to "cure" him. "Savage Grace” is a dark story with some disturbing themes. The sharp, convincing performances from Moore and a burgeoning Redmayne only make it a more captivating, yet still unsettling, watch.

This 2019 indie drama is the most recent theatrical release to come from the collaborative efforts of Moore and her husband, Bart Freundlich. Moore plays millionaire CEO Theresa Young, who meets with the desperate and passionate orphanage owner Isabel (Michelle Williams) the day before Theresa's daughter Grace is to be wed. She invites Isabel to the wedding, where Isabel discovers Theresa's husband is her ex, Oscar (Billy Crudup). More revelations come to light from a series of suspicious coincidences, wherein Isabel learns Grace is the daughter she and Oscar had who she had thought had been given up for adoption. 

The drama is full of compelling twists but "After the Wedding" goes a bit too far to be a realistic tearjerker. Instead the emotions are rendered inert by the melodrama of it all, which didn't earn it much favor with critics or theatergoers. 

In 2018, "American Pie" director Paul Weitz made this indie drama starring Julianne Moore as Roxanne Cox, a world-famous singer who is summoned to the birthday party of rich Japanese industrialist Katsumi Hosokawa (Ken Watanabe). This gathering of powerful people is taken hostage by a group of political terrorists and Roxanne is putting in a threatening situation.

The movie was received mostly poorly, and critiqued for being preachy and tonally inconsistent. It didn't help that Oscar winner Renée Fleming provided the singing voice for Roxanne in scenes where Moore lip-synched, giving these moments an unsettling uncanny valley effect. 

This sequel to the 2014 action spy hit, "Kingsman: The Secret Service," brought back the stylish action of the first while introducing some new characters to the fold. In a rare turn for her, Julianne Moore plays the villain of this high-octane action romp. As Poppy Adams, she leads the Golden Circle cartel and launches an attack on the Kingsman, a British secret service full of highly trained operatives. Eggsy (Taron Edgerton) and Merlin (Mark Strong) appear to be the only survivors of Poppy's assault and they flee to the U.S. on the first leg of the globetrotting adventure.

"The Golden Circle" allows its characters to be humorous and witty while not sacrificing the death-defying stunt-driven action the series excels at. Still, critics found it lacked the spark of the original, not offering anything fresh this time around.

Julianne Moore's very first theatrical film appearance was in this campy horror anthology released in 1990. Based on the TV show of the same name, the movie told three stories of dread and terror, but don't expect anything in "Tales from the Darkside" to keep you up at night. This is pure camp, for better and worse, and it divided critics along these lines as well.

Moore stars in the first segment, based on Arthur Conan Doyle's horror short story "Lot 249." Grad student Edward Bellingham (Steve Buscemi) is cheated out of a scholarship by two conniving classmates, Susan (Julianne Moore) and Lee (Robert Sedgwick).When he finds a cursed mummy, Bellingham reanimates it to get his revenge. The other segments include a George A. Romero-penned adaptation of the Stephen King short "The Cat from Hell" and a Japanese-influenced ghost tale titled "Lover's Vow."

The film adaptations of the Hannibal Lecter novels vary wildly in their quality and, until "Hannibal," were sporadic in their release schedule. After the success of the Oscar-winning "The Silence of the Lambs" in 1991, it still took author Thomas Harris eight more years to finish writing the sequel to his 1988 novel. In 2001, Anthony Hopkins reprised his role as Lecter in Ridley Scott's film adaptation of 1999's "Hannibal." 

The extremely successful film starred Julianne Moore — who replaced Jodie Foster for the last film in the trilogy — as an older Clarice Starling, years after the events of "Lambs." When she is contacted by Mason Verger (Gary Oldman), a survivor of Lecter's attacks, she begins a new hunt for Lecter. He in turn sends Clarice taunting letters and the two engage in the kind of cat-and-mouse game these stories are known for. "Hannibal" is a darker, gorier tale than its predecessor — even after softening the ending from the book — and didn't find quite as much acclaim.

This 2009 thriller starred Liam Neeson and Amanda Seyfried alongside Julianne Moore. Directed by Atom Egoyan, "Chloe" is a remake of the 2003 French movie "Nathalie..." When doctor Catherine (Moore) suspects her husband (Neeson) of cheating, she hires call girl Chloe (Seyfried) to seduce him and get more information. As she does, it becomes clear the descriptions of these encounters make Catherine upset, but also arouse her. She and Chloe begin to experience a different kind of tension in what appears to be a love triangle between the three. 

But all is not as it appears in a twisty and groan-inducing finale. Unfortunately, "Chloe" has an uneven and pretentious third act that undermines Moore's otherwise acclaimed performance. 

In 2015, Moore starred opposite Elliot Page in this LGBTQ drama. "Freeheld" tells a fictionalized account of the true story of Laurel Hester (Moore), a police officer who fought the state of New Jersey to allow her to transfer pension benefits to her partner (played by Page). The film chronicles the conflicts Hester had with fellow officers and superiors, all the way up the chain to the New Jersey Board of Chosen Freeholders. 

"Freeheld" is an inspiring gay rights story that had some execution issues, leading to a mixed reception. Some reviewers felt the emotions were played up too much, making for a hammy, saccharine telling of a story that is served better by the 2007 documentary short made by Hester herself. 

While Stephen King's "Carrie" holds timeless lessons for the youth of any generation, that doesn't mean it was a good idea to remake a classic. The 1976 Brian De Palma adaptation is one of the best efforts to turn the master's writing into cinema, and this 2013 remake pales in comparison.

Chloe Grace Moretz plays the troubled, picked-on Carrie White and Moore is her religious zealot mother Margaret. When her classmates discover she is on her period, Carrie begins getting bullied more by both her schoolmates and her abusive mother. In the story's classic supernatural twist, Carrie develops telekinetic powers that fuel her revenge. The story of "Carrie" is still a great one that makes for a solid film, but this version just doesn't add anything new.

While this disappointing sequel was maligned for years for failing to live up to the original "Jurassic Park," it is far from the worst movie in the "Jurassic Park/World" series at this point. "The Lost World" drags an uninspired plot across the finish line in order to bring audiences back to theaters for more dinosaur destruction. In 1997, this meant better CGI ... and way too much more of it.

After the dinos in the first Jurassic Park island were eliminated, "The Lost World" begins when Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) and ​​John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) learn that — shocker — there is a second island. Hammond is taking a team to investigate and ropes Malcolm in when he reveals Malcolm's girlfriend Dr. Sarah Harding (Moore) is already on the island. "The Lost World" doubles down on how many dinos we see, but any coherence gets lost in the CGI fest in the film's second half. Not even bringing Steven Spielberg back to direct could save this sequel from diminishing returns.

Directed by the duo of Mary Cybulski and John Tintori, "Chicago Cab" is exactly what it sounds like. A bit like Jim Jarmusch's "Night on Earth" (which follows different cab drivers around the world), this movie follows one cab driver throughout a single night as various passengers get in and out. 30 different actors make appearances as unnamed characters in this star-studded experimental film. In addition to Julianne Moore, the movie also featured appearances from John C. Reilly, Laurie Metcalf, Gillian Anderson, John Cusack and more. 

Responses to "Chicago Cab" were generally mixed and if you are looking to get a fix of Moore, you are only getting her in a tiny dosage in this massive ensemble.

Before "Bel Canto," Moore worked with Paul Weitz on "Being Flynn." Here, she plays Jody Flynn, ex-wife of Jonathan Flynn (Robert De Niro), in the unexpectedly raw and sentimental drama from the "American Pie" and "Little Fockers" director. After what some might call a new low for De Niro in "Little Fockers," the actor redeemed himself two years later in "Being Flynn" as an alcoholic trying to reconcile with his tragic life and fix his broken relationship with his son Nick (Paul Dano).

Jody only appears in flashbacks. She takes her own life after being forced to raise Nick, who now works at the shelter his father lives at, causing the two to fight often. Before they sort out their differences, the conflicts lead each man to destructive personal decisions. While Moore doesn't have a huge role in "Being Flynn," the drama is still worth watching for Dano and De Niro.

This 2014 thriller set on an airplane stars Liam Neeson as washed-up alcoholic U.S. Air Marshal Bill Marks. When Marks begins getting texts from a random number claiming that the plane's passengers will be killed if the sender's financial demands are not met, Neeson springs into action star mode. Moore plays Jen Summers, a typical female lead who doesn't get much to do in this machismo-dominated action flick. She just happens to be the character sitting next to Marks.

"Non-Stop" is the type of movie you watch for the action and thrilling set pieces, not the story or characters. It's not bad, but anyone looking for Moore and Neeson to turn in thoughtful work here should think again.

"Sharper" is a fascinating mixture of interconnected vignettes that don't entirely gel together. And yet its stellar cast, Julianne Moore among them, keeps the viewer riveted until the bitter end. It's not her most interesting performance but — in the role of both cast member and executive producer — the actress still manages to shine.

Moore's character is Madeline, a woman who is dating a multimillionaire named Richard Hobbes (John Lithgow). Her apparent son, Max (Sebastian Stan), shows up out of the blue, seemingly still in the throes of a drug addiction. Max and Madeline, however, share a secret: they're looking to score Richard's money. But Tom (Justice Smith), Richard's bookseller son, and Sandy (Briana Middleton), his outwardly broken-hearted former paramour, might have something to say about that. Filled with unexpected twists and solid performances, "Sharper" is entertaining and fairly unpredictable, making it more than watchable if not a perfect experience.

This Pedro Almodóvar film explores the complexities of old friendships. Martha Hunt (Tilda Swinton) and Ingrid Parker (Julianne Moore) knew each other exceedingly well as youths, and as adults worked for the same magazine. They went their separate ways, Ingrid becoming a fiction writer and Martha becoming a war correspondent. They meet again years later during a mutual crisis point and try to see if their friendship still stands true or if they ought to stay apart for good.

"The Room Next Door" is about the power of friendship even when things are mega-awkward. It's a beautiful story about women recapturing (or not) what made their friendship so strong in the first place, ably assisted along by the maestro Almodóvar, who knows how to write for women. it's a solid journey that's touching and warm, and well worth tracking down, though not a top 20 film for the actress.

"The Shipping News" is a dark drama starring Kevin Spacey as Quoyle, a struggling man trying to overcome his childhood trauma. He marries Petal (Cate Blanchett) and the two have a child together. Years later, Petal tries to run away with a secret lover and dies in a car crash, leaving Quoyle as a single parent. Around this time his parents die and he takes his daughter to build a new life at his family home in Newfoundland, Canada. This is where Quoyle meets and falls for Wavey (Moore), a kind and caring widow. 

While it was far from a hit, "The Shipping News" earned accolades for its performances. Blanchett, Spacey, and Judi Dench all received award nominations for their roles. 

This motivational feminist drama is based on the true story of Evelyn Ryan and her 10 children. In "The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio," Kelly Ryan (Woody Harrelson) struggles to keep food on the table for his family and is falling into alcoholism. In an attempt to save the family, Evelyn (Julianne Moore) submits to jingle-writing contests and finds herself extreme successful, using the prizes she wins from the endeavor to support her family. 

"The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio" is a bittersweet drama that is worth tracking down to see one of Moore's most overlooked performances. 

"The Myth of Fingerprints" is the first feature film directed by Julianne Moore's current husband, Bart Freundlich. In fact, the set of the film is where the two met for the first time and ended up falling in love.

The 1997 drama stars Moore as Mia, Roy Scheider as Hal, and Hope Davis as Margaret. All of them are part of an unpredictable and dysfunctional family who get together for the Thanksgiving holiday, bringing old memories and old flames back into the present. While this is an admittedly unoriginal and potentially corny premise, each actor gets a chance to showcase their dramatic chops. 

Not to be confused with "Gloria Bell," where Moore also gives a stunning performance, the biographical drama "The Glorias" is focused on telling the life story of Gloria Steinem. The film begins as Glorias of all ages ride a bus before the movie starts telling a story set across different time periods. Moore plays the oldest version of Steinem, with Alicia Vikander, Lulu Wilson, and Ryan Kiera Armstrong all playing younger versions of the feminist icon. 

After she grows up, we see Gloria Steinem start to be politically active, writing political journalism and attending protests. "The Glorias" takes the story all the way up to the 2016 presidential election. While the acting was a positive note, the movie still met a mixed reception. Critics were left wishing that, at a two-and-a-half-hour runtime, the movie would have been tightened up a little more.

"The Private Lives of Pippa Lee" is a sprawling romantic drama written and directed by Rebecca Miller. If this name sounds familiar, you might have heard of her: she's the daughter of "Death of a Salesman" playwright Arthur Miller and wife of actor Daniel Day-Lewis.  

As the only girl in her very religious family, Pippa has a rough childhood. For a time she stays with her aunt and her boundary-pushing roommate Kat (Moore). Spending too much time with Kate gets Pippa kicked out, though, leading to her living a rebellious lifestyle using drugs and dancing at clubs to make a living. The well-reviewed film stars Robin Wright as the title character, as she recalls her hectic life in flashbacks (Young Pippa is played by Blake Lively).

A supporting role in the 1992 thriller "The Hand that Rocks the Cradle" is one of Moore's earliest roles that's worth revisiting. When housewife Claire (Annabella Sciorra) is assaulted by her obstetrician, Dr. Mott, she and her husband report him to the medical board. This leads to Mott taking his own life and leaving his wife (Rebecca De Mornay) childless and homeless. 

Months later Claire unknowingly hires Mrs. Mott as their new family nanny, but the vengeful widow bides her time to get her revenge in this tense, dark thriller. Moore plays Claire's supportive friend Marlene who, despite her pleasant attitude, Claire suspects is having an affair with her husband. While this isn't the most poignant genre film you will find Moore acting in, "The Hand that Rocks the Cradle" is sure to keep you on the edge of your seat until the end. 

Based on his original audio drama of the same name, "When You Finish Saving the World" is Jesse Eisenberg's debut as a director. Finn Wolfhard reprises his role as Ziggy, an online singing sensation with a large fan base. He and his mother Evelyn (Moore) live in completely different worlds and try to reconcile their differences while Evelyn runs a shelter for domestic abuse victims. 

If you like indie dramas, put this 2022 release on your radar. Reviews for the film were generally positive, with some being more mixed than others.

"Maps to the Stars" is a biting satire of Hollywood directed by David Cronenberg. As Havana Segrand, Moore plays a washed-up actor who has spent her whole career living in her abusive mother's shadow. A project comes along that could save her career, but it is a remake of one of her mother's films, forcing Havana to play a role her mother once did. This blurs the lines completely for an already psychologically damaged character. 

This meta movie about making a movie is an intense look at the toxic personalities and interpersonal drama running amok behind the scenes of our favorite films. Ultimately, "Maps to the Stars" came across as dark with a comedic edge, with some critics comparing it favorably to movies like "Mulholland Drive."

This domestic drama earned star Sigourney Weaver a Golden Globe nomination, but Julianne Moore wasn't too shabby in it either. As Alice Goodwin, Weaver seems to have an idyllic farm life with her family. However, one day the daughter of Theresa Collins (Moore) is found dead on Weaver's property. This leads to investigations into the matter, a fraying friendship between the two women, and a tense small-town community. 

"A Map of the World" is interested in exploring the fallout of a terrible event and how it impacts everyone in its radius. In doing so, it is an emotionally affecting drama that gives its leading ladies something substantial to chew on. 

Julianne Moore's role in "Benny and Joon" proved to be another early career move that showed a promising future for the actress. In the film, Benny (Aidan Quinn) takes care of his sister Joon (Mary Stuart Masterson) after the tragic death of their parents. When the eccentric Sam (Johnny Depp) comes to live with them, previously unspoken tension arises between the siblings. Benny begins dating cheery waitress Ruthie (Moore), but his attention drifts when Sam and Joon start to become romantically entangled with one another. 

This drama features some charming performances from Moore, Quinn, and Depp. Sporting a very nuanced portrayal of mental illness for 1993, "Benny and Joon" is a film that still mostly holds up today. 

Julianne Moore entered the "Hunger Games" franchise in its epic two-part finale. "Mockingjay — Part 1" sees the Hunger Games dismantled and Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) joining the rebels to rescue Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) from the Capitol, the tyrannical state that created the games in the first place. The rebel group is led by President Alma Coin (Moore). She is a charismatic leader who convinces Katniss to bear the mark of the Mockingjay and become a symbol of hope for the rebellion.

This pair of "Hunger Games" movies are the most high-profile acting work Moore has ever done. But despite these massive budget blockbusters being out of her wheelhouse, Moore shows up and adapts to the role. However, her best work is in the sequel.

Miraculously enough, "Mockingjay — Part 2" received nearly identical review scores to its predecessor from fans and critics. These two halves of the final saga of "The Hunger Games" are more or less one gigantic film, but we give the slight edge to the second part on this list because of Moore's performance. At the end of the epic saga, Katniss and Gale (Liam Hemsworth) are reunited with Peeta and the trio forge ahead into the Capitol against Coin's orders. The final chapter in the "Hunger Games" saga is action-heavy and not afraid to let characters die or turn rogue.

Coin's heel turn at the end of "Mockingjay — Part 2" allows Moore to further show off her range. As both heroic leader and authoritarian villain, Moore is given juicer material to work with in the sequel.

"Don Jon" is probably best remembered as the one feature to date directed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. He also starred in the film alongside Scarlett Johansson. Jon (Gordon-Levitt) is a fit, charming New Jersey man who sleeps around, but gets more enjoyment from dirty websites than casual intimacy. His friends try to convince Jon to find a true emotional connection with someone. He pursues Barbara (Johansson) in a relationship that continues for a while, despite Jon's inability to get over his addiction. Eventually, they break up.

In the second half of the movie Jon meets Esther (Julianne Moore), who is a more supportive and understanding partner. She tries to show him videos of healthier depictions of intimacy to allow him to enjoy being with women. The movie lands on a satisfying note due to the chemistry between Moore and Gordon-Levitt. Critics at the time loved "Don Jon," but audiences in recent years have felt more mixed.

Over the course of her storied career, Julianne Moore has teamed up with many legendary filmmakers. The writer-director she has made the most movies with, though, is Todd Haynes. Despite it being the lowest-ranked of Moore's joint efforts with Haynes, "Wonderstruck" is still a very good movie. Moore gives a performance that fans of the actress should have on their radar.

In this 2017 mystery adapted from the young adult novel of the same name, two stories are interlaced and connected across time. In 1927, young deaf Rose (Millicent Simmonds) escapes to New York City in search of her mother, actress Lillian Mayhew (Moore). In 1977, Ben — also deaf in one ear — searches for his father after his mother's tragic death. Moore plays an adult Rose in the '70s timeline, eventually uniting with Ben to explain how the two characters are connected.

The romcom's golden years were behind it in 2011, but somehow "Cars" screenwriter Dan Fogelman still knocked it out of the park with this charming and (not overly) quirky film that should be on any list of the best romantic comedies of all time. 

"Crazy, Stupid, Love" is the story of two couples, one younger and one in middle age. Steve Carell and Julianne Moore are Cal and Emily, a married couple with a teenage son (Jonah Bobo), who get divorced after Emily has an affair. As Cal navigates single life, he is helped out by his buddy Jacob (Ryan Gosling), an unrelenting player who can't keep up a serious relationship. However Jacob begins to fall seriously for law student Hannah (Emma Stone) when, in a moment of weakness, she accepts his advances. 

These dynamics are complicated by a twist that turns "Crazy, Stupid, Love" into a tender family drama. This smart romance with a knockout cast is a little bitter, but mostly sweet. 

"The End of the Affair" is notable for featuring Julianne Moore's first Oscar-nominated performance. The 1999 historical drama, based on a 1951 novel, earned the actress accolades and acclaim, and was a major turning point in her career. Set in the aftermath of World War II, the movie is a major downer so don't go in expecting a happy ending. 

Moore plays Sarah Miles, a well-to-do married woman who has been having an affair with novelist Maurice Bendrix (Ralph Fiennes) for years. Through flashbacks, "The End of the Affair" shows their relationship during the war juxtaposed with an post-war timeline where Maurice tries to figure out why Sarah stopped seeing him. The answer is a tragic and puzzling truth that leaves the writer questioning his faith.

This Todd Haynes biographical drama is an experimental narrative film inspired by the work and life of Bob Dylan. In "I'm Not There," six different actors play characters that represent different parts of how Dylan presented himself to the world. Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Marcus Carl Franklin, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, and Ben Whishaw each star in their own timeline as versions of Dylan. 

In the segments following folk musician Jack Rollins (Bale), Julianne Moore plays Alice Fabian. This part of the movie is told in a mockumentary style and Fabian is a talking head in interview clips. "I'm Not There" was generally well-regarded for its narrative and its creative take on the musical biopic genre.

This Oscar Wilde adaptation was a sharp, witty period comedy that earned Julianne Moore a Golden Globe nomination for best actress. Sir Robert Chiltern (Jeremy Northam) is a well to-do lord and an ideal husband who is always on his best behavior for his wife Gertrude (Cate Blanchett). One day he begins getting blackmailed by an old associate, Ms. Cheveley (Moore). She brings Chiltern's shady past to light, throwing a wrench in his perfect Victorian life and jeopardizing his marriage. 

The film was praised for its acting and production design. Despite making some changes to the source material, "An Ideal Husband" turned out to be a story that worked on the big screen.

Another all-time great director that Julianne Moore got to work with was Robert Altman. After 1993's "Short Cuts," the two worked together again for "Cookie's Fortune," released in 1999. One day polar opposite sisters Camille (Glenn Close) and Cora (Moore) visit their aunt Cookie (Patricia Neal), only to discover she has taken her own life. 

Camille is ideologically against the act and, in an attempt to protect her family name from shame, decides to stage the scene to look like a murder. Cora submissively follows every whim of her demanding sister. In keeping up this ruse, the two begin to lie to the police and dig themselves deeper. By the end of "Cookie's Fortune," Cora's commitment to Camille's lie is both of their downfalls. Moore gives a sly and humorous performance in this morbid comedy that Roger Ebert called "Altman's sunniest film."

This well-regarded modernization of the 1897 Henry James novel stars Moore as one of the most unlikeable characters we've ever had the painful joy of seeing her play. As Susanna, a conceited musician, she fails her way through raising her child Maisie (Onata Aprile) with her equally distant husband Beale (Steve Coogan). After years of ignoring their child, they separate and are given joint custody. Maisie watches as her parents each repeat their toxic habits with respective new partners. She grows attached to Beale's wife and housekeeper Margo (Joanna Vanderham) and Susanna's new husband Lincoln (Alexander Skarsgård), while wishing for a way to make everyone happy

"What Maisie Knew" is a melancholy drama about divorce that is lent legitimacy by Moore's vicious performance. It is a story about bad people, but don't worry — it does actually have an ending that will warm your heart.

Another feature written and directed by Rebecca Miller, 2015's "Maggie's Plan" casts Greta Gerwig as a young business director at the New School in New York City. Maggie meets and falls in love with John (Ethan Hawke), who subsequently leaves his wife Georgette (Julianne Moore) to have a child with Maggie.

After three years of marriage Maggie plans to reunite John and Georgette, who is still in love with her ex-husband. "Maggie's Plan" is a pleasant and subversive romantic comedy. While Gerwig was praised, it was Moore's performance that really took critics' breath away. Even through a thick Danish accent, Moore made Georgette a sympathetic, fun character.

After working with Paul Thomas Anderson in "Boogie Nights," Moore also turned up in the filmmaker's next epic drama. Over the course of three hours, Anderson weaves five interconnected storylines together into a meditation on the absurdist, coincidental nature of life. Each story is somehow connected by the game show "What Do Kids Know?," a program hosted by the ailing Jimmy Gator (Philip Baker Hall). Saying any more about where "Magnolia" goes would ruin an ending of biblical proportions.

Moore plays Linda, trophy wife of the game show's former producer, Earl Partridge (Jason Robards), who lies on his deathbed. Deciding to make changes to his will, Linda charges his nurse Phil (Philip Seymour Hoffman) with tracking down his long-lost son. That son is a macho pickup artist named Frank who is played by Tom Cruise in peak form. The performance even earned Cruise a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor.

While "Magnolia" sports one heck of an ensemble, we think it's safe to say that Julianne Moore has never been part of a stronger leading lineup than in "The Hours." The historical drama takes place in three different time periods and stars Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman as the other two lead women. "The Hours" was heralded as a triumphant feminist drama, and Kidman won an Oscar for her role as author Virginia Woolf.

In the 1923 timeline, Kidman plays Woolf as she attempts to write her novel "Mrs. Dalloway" while having a mental breakdown. In 1951, Moore is Laura Brown, a depressed housewife who reads the novel as a way to escape. In the final timeline, set in modern 2001, Streep plays a newspaper editor throwing a party for the now-successful son of Laura. The storylines come together in a story about the power of art and how we shape our lives around it.

Fashion designer Tom Ford made his acclaimed film directorial debut with "A Single Man." The stylish period drama stars an Oscar-nominated Colin Firth as gay professor George Falconer, living in 1960s Los Angeles. Months after losing his lover in a car crash, Falconer has been contemplating taking his own life and decides that day will be his last. His friend Charley (Julianne Moore) calls on him for what she doesn't know is his last supper. "A Single Man" is a film about suffering and loss and being queer, and its formal qualities echo this thematic depth.

Coming from Tom Ford, it's no surprise that the production design and costuming in the movie are excellent, but that doesn't make it any less impressive. This is a period piece that will visually wow you as much as it makes you wipe away the tears from your cheek.

After years of nominations for movies like "The End of The Affair" and "The Hours," Julianne Moore finally got her much deserved Oscar for "Still Alice" in 2014. In it, she plays Alice Howland, a linguistics professor diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease at the young age of 50. Alice deteriorates throughout the film as her family (which includes Kristin Stewart and Alec Baldwin in compelling performances) tries to live with the tragedy.

"Still Alice" is an emotional gut-punch of a film. It's not an easy watch, but it is brutal in its honest depiction of Alzheimer's and dealing with the degeneration of a family member. This might be due in part to writer-director Richard Glatzer's own personal fight with ALS. Glatzer died from the disease in 2015 and "Still Alice" was his final film.

Julianne Moore's first collaboration with director Todd Haynes still remains one of her most stunning performances. In "Safe" Moore plays Carol, a woman whose life begins to fall apart when she develops a severe environmental illness. Everyday fumes and chemicals start to impact her breathing and slowly her condition takes a psychological toll. She is soon forced to seek out a community far from society, but this story is not about finding acceptance from others. It is about finding it within yourself.

Haynes's movies are often melancholy, but "Safe" is tragic. Disease and social isolation push Carol as far from her old life as possible. Her journey is painful, made all the more so by Moore's moving performance, and you will feel that pain. Even with its uplifting final moments, "Safe" is not for the faint of heart.

One of the most powerful performances Julianne Moore has given in the last five years came courtesy of 2023's "May December," the story of a woman who enters an intimate relationship with her son's best friend, a boy named Joe (Charles Melton), when he was 13 and she was 36. Gracie (Moore) went to jail for her crime and has since married Joe; they have three children and have settled into a quiet life of desperation. Elizabeth (Natalie Portman) — who is portraying Gracie in a movie based on the crime — arrives in town to do research on the role, and soon disturbs the Yoos and the comfortable truths and untruths they have told one another about that time in their lives. 

Moore gives a powerhouse performance as a woman who is on the edge emotionally, telling herself stories to survive what she knows and what she has done. Portman's Elizabeth and Melton's Joe join her in this dance of self-deception — Grace keeping her truth closer to the vest and Joe flailing as everything he has told himself about his life and future are peeled away. It's a fantastic and chilling story about the horrors of abuse and self-delusion.

In 2013, Chilean filmmaker Sebastián Lelio made a name for himself on the film festival circuit with the Spanish-language drama "Gloria." Its success allowed Lelio to re-imagine the story in English and "Gloria Bell" was released in 2018. Moore is the titular Gloria, a middle-aged divorced mom who really, really loves to dance. When she starts sleeping with Arnold (John Turturro), the two begin a relationship that exposes the other person's flaws.

As they spend time with each other's family, Gloria begins to resent Arnold for the uncritical support he gives to his lazy ex-wife and daughters. This sets the stage for the real human drama of the movie, each moment of chemistry and disconnection exquisitely acted by the two leads. "Gloria Bell" doesn't have a sappy or traditional romantic ending. Instead, its final moments are liberating, sending a powerful message with a danceable beat.

In this Coen brothers cult classic, Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski (Jeff Bridges) is a laid-back stoner type who gets mixed up with more than he bargained for when he is attacked one night. Thus begins this hilarious case of mistaken identity involving a much wealthier Jeffrey Lebowski (David Huddleston). Julianne Moore plays Maude Lebowski, a quirky, sexual boundary-pushing fine artist and the big Lebowski's ex-wife. She ends up becoming not just the Dude's lover, but also the only helpful sidekick in helping him solve the mystery of Lebowski's missing trophy wife Bunny (Tara Reid).

"The Big Lebowski" is considered one of those great '90s movies that still hold up today for its characters and perfectly morbid sense of humor. Even supporting actors John Goodman, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Steve Buscemi, and Sam Elliott give performances that have cemented these screwball characters and quotes deep into the minds of many cinephiles. Please abide by our advice to watch this one immediately if you haven't seen it yet.

Best known for their semi-autobiographical drama "My Dinner with Andre," actor Wallace Shawn, writer Andre Gregory, and director Louis Malle were an intellectual trio that teamed up on another art film. For 1994's "Vanya on 42nd Street," Malle brings a group of actors together to an abandoned theater to rehearse and perform the classic Chekhov play "Uncle Vanya." Shawn and Julianne Moore take on the leading roles of Vanya and Yelena respectively.

The movie captures a rehearsal-style performance of the play and is a raw look at the making of art. It's also an extremely avant garde project that wowed film critics at the time and has continued to do so over the years.

The most successful of the Todd Haynes films starring Julianne Moore, 2002's "Far From Heaven" is a social melodrama that is heavily inspired by the films of Douglas Sirk. The title is loosely based on Sirk's own "All that Heaven Allows." Like the '50s dramas that inspired it, "Far From Heaven" features strong performances and deep themes about contemporary American society.

Cathy Whitaker (Moore) lives in a scenic suburb with her husband Frank (Dennis Quaid) in an ideal 1950s nuclear family. One day, Frank is arrested and the police claim to have found him at a gay bar. As she begins to realize this incident is not just a mistake, and is reflective of Frank's sexuality, Cathy begins spending time with her late gardener's son (Dennis Haysbert). Rumors begin to spread when she is seen going around town with a Black man. Through the lenses of these two storylines, "Far From Heaven" interrogates the failure of a "perfect" American family.

Like "Magnolia," "Short Cuts" is a massive ensemble affair following a large web of connected characters. This Robert Altman epic casts Moore as Marian, wife of successful yet neglectful Dr. Ralph Wyman (Matthew Modine). The movie plays out as a series of slice-of-life scenes, cutting back and forth between the characters of this eventually tragic story.

Moore takes on a role she does best in the film, as the unhappy wife who desires more. Her desires end up leading to a roaring destructive tension that causes the couple to fall into misery and contempt. The naturalistic role put Moore and her acting style on the map, especially after the cast won a special ensemble award at the 1994 Golden Globes.

Alfonso Cuaron's "Children of Men" is a dystopian masterpiece. The intense 2006 tale was (and still is) thrilling and poignant, taking place in a crumbling world where a child has not been born for 18 years. Infertility across the human race has led to chaos. In a broken, collapsing London, reluctant hero Theo (Clive Owen) is roped into escorting what appears to be the world's only pregnant woman (Clare-Hope Ashitey) to a group of scientists in Portugal. This post-apocalyptic journey that inspired "The Last of Us" takes these two on a nail-biting journey across Europe.

Moore gives an intense performance as Theo's radicalized ex-wife Julian. She organizes a group to kidnap him just to offer to pay him to transport Kee, the pregnant woman. While Theo only does it for the money, Julian conjures the happy memories of their lost son to convince Theo to make the dangerous pilgrimage — that nobody might be coming back from.

Paul Thomas Anderson's breakthrough second feature, "Boogie Nights" chronicles the rise and fall of fictional adult film star Dirk Diggler (Mark Wahlberg). It follows young Dirk as he is discovered by filmmaker Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds) and uses his personal narrative to reflect the larger trends and troubles in the adult film industry during the 1970s. The period comedy-drama is full of off-the-wall character performances from the likes of Philip Seymour Hoffman and William H. Macy, but the Oscar-nominated Julianne Moore brings a sad vulnerability to the film.

Moore plays Amber Waves, Jack's favorite actress who Dirk ends up working with frequently. Despite their sexual relationship, she ends up acting as a mother figure for Dirk to compensate for her failing marriage and custody battle. Moore received accolades for playing this tragic, empathetic woman who fights for her makeshift family.

This Golden Globe-winning drama (although it technically won for Best Comedy) stars the vibrant duo of Julianne Moore and Annette Bening. Nic (Bening) and Jules (Moore) are a happy married couple with two children, Laser (Josh Hutcherson) and Joni (Mia Wasikowska). When Laser gets curious about his biological father, Joni finds sperm donor Paul Hatfield (Mark Ruffalo) and he starts to become part of their lives. Things become complicated when Jules and Paul begin having an affair and Nic, already disapproving, begins to feel lost in her own marriage.

"The Kids Are All Right" is a nuanced LGBTQ drama with solid performances all around to back up the stellar leads. Julianne Moore fans shouldn't miss this tender, occasionally difficult, and heartwarming story.

The highest-rated movie in Julianne Moore's filmography isn't necessarily one where she has the biggest role. Still, "The Fugitive" is an enduring action classic. This 1993 thriller is remembered most for the cat-and-mouse game between wrongfully convicted prison escapee Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford) and ​​U.S. Marshal Sam Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones). Kimball is headed to jail for the murder of his wife, a crime of which he is innocent. After prisoners on his bus orchestrate an escape, Kimble is caught in the crossfire and makes a run for it. Soon he's a wanted man and Marshal Gerard is forced to pursue him.

Moore plays Dr. Anne Eastman, who ends up being friendly towards Kimble when he flees to a hospital to heal his own wounds. She only has a couple of scenes, but you can tell that she knows he is not supposed to be there. She proves to be an excellent judge of character, though, as she sees the good in Kimble when many other characters refuse to. Check this '90s classic out and watch one of the earliest examples of the fantastic talent that is Julianne Moore.

If you or anyone you know is struggling or in crisis, needs help with mental health, or has been a victim of sexual assault, contact the relevant resources below:

• Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org
• Contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.
• Visit the RAINN website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).