Joaquin Phoenix’s Typical Vibe
Signature vibe

Highest-ranked title
Highest-ranked title
Joaquin Phoenix has 39 titles in the CriticCrunch catalog across a career spanning the 1980s through the 2020s. 3 sit in the Top 1% of all titles we track — including Gladiator.
Recurring themes

Baby Boy
2001
Crime · Drama

25th Hour
2002
Crime · Drama

The Brave One
2007
Crime · Drama

Maria Full of Grace
2004
Drama · Thriller

Undertow
2004
Drama · Thriller

Bang Bang You're Dead
2003
Drama · Thriller

Owning Mahowny
2003
Crime · Drama

Before Night Falls
2000
Drama

Hotel Rwanda
2004 · Movie · Actor
Top 5%Prime Video · Included

Brother Bear
2003 · Movie · Voice
Top 7%Disney+ · Included

Walk the Line
2005 · Movie · Actor
Top 10%Max · Included

C'mon C'mon
2021 · Movie · Actor
Top 28%Tubi · Free w/ ads

Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot
2018 · Movie · Actor
Top 34%Prime Video · Included

Parenthood
1989 · Movie · Actor
Top 35%Netflix · Included
During the 1980s, a failed stand-up comedian is driven insane and turns to a life of crime and chaos in Gotham City while becoming an infamous psychopathic crime figure.
Dir. Todd Phillips · With Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz
After the death of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, his devious son takes power and demotes Maximus, one of Rome's most capable generals who Marcus preferred. Eventually, Maximus is forced to become a gladiator and battle to the death against other men for the amusement of paying audiences.
Dir. Ridley Scott · With Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen
In the not so distant future, Theodore, a lonely writer, purchases a newly developed operating system designed to meet the user's every need. To Theodore's surprise, a romantic relationship develops between him and his operating system. This unconventional love story blends science fiction and romance in a sweet tale that explores the nature of love and the ways that technology isolates and connects us all.
Dir. Spike Jonze · With Joaquin Phoenix, Scarlett Johansson, Lynn Adrianna

Inspired by true events, this film takes place in Rwanda in the 1990s when more than a million Tutsis were killed in a genocide that went mostly unnoticed by the rest of the world. Hotel owner Paul Rusesabagina houses over a thousand refuges in his hotel in attempt to save their lives.
Dir. Terry George · With Don Cheadle, Sophie Okonedo, Nick Nolte

When an impulsive boy named Kenai is magically transformed into a bear, he must literally walk in another's footsteps until he learns some valuable life lessons. His courageous and often zany journey introduces him to a forest full of wildlife, including the lovable bear cub Koda, hilarious moose Rutt and Tuke, woolly mammoths and rambunctious rams.
Dir. Aaron Blaise, Robert Walker · With Joaquin Phoenix, Jeremy Suarez, Jason Raize

Using hidden cameras and never-before-seen footage, Earthlings chronicles the day-to-day practices of the largest industries in the world, all of which rely entirely on animals for profit.
Dir. Shaun Monson · With Joaquin Phoenix

A chronicle of country music legend Johnny Cash's life, from his early days on an Arkansas cotton farm to his rise to fame with Sun Records in Memphis, where he recorded alongside Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins.
Dir. James Mangold · With Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon, Ginnifer Goodwin

A family living on a farm finds mysterious crop circles in their fields which suggests something more frightening to come.
Dir. M. Night Shyamalan · With Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix, Rory Culkin

Johnny and his young nephew forge a tenuous but transformational relationship when they embark on a cross-country trip to see life away from Los Angeles.
Dir. Mike Mills · With Joaquin Phoenix, Gaby Hoffmann, Woody Norman

Freddie, a volatile, heavy-drinking veteran who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, finds some semblance of a family when he stumbles onto the ship of Lancaster Dodd, the charismatic leader of a new "religion" he forms after World War II.
Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson · With Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams

In early 19th-century France, the Marquis de Sade is confined to an asylum where his forbidden writings continue to circulate beyond its walls. As the authorities tighten control, a clash unfolds between the Marquis’ unyielding imagination, the reformist ideals of the Abbé in charge, and the repressive measures of a doctor sent to silence him. Desire, power, and censorship collide in a battle over freedom of expression.
Dir. Philip Kaufman · With Geoffrey Rush, Kate Winslet, Joaquin Phoenix

Following the sudden death of his mother, a mild-mannered but anxiety-ridden man confronts his darkest fears as he embarks on an epic odyssey back home.
Dir. Ari Aster · With Joaquin Phoenix, Patti LuPone, Amy Ryan

A small, seemingly innocuous plastic reel of film leads surveillance specialist Tom Welles down an increasingly dark and frightening path. With the help of the streetwise Max, he relentlessly follows a bizarre trail of evidence to determine the fate of a complete stranger. As his work turns into obsession, he drifts farther and farther away from his wife, family and simple life as a small-town PI.
Dir. Joel Schumacher · With Nicolas Cage, Joaquin Phoenix, James Gandolfini

On the rocky path to sobriety after a life-changing accident, John Callahan discovers the healing power of art, willing his injured hands into drawing hilarious, often controversial cartoons, which bring him a new lease on life.
Dir. Gus Van Sant · With Joaquin Phoenix, Jonah Hill, Rooney Mara

The story of the Buckman family and friends, attempting to bring up their children. They suffer/enjoy all the events that occur: estranged relatives, the 'black sheep' of the family, the eccentrics, the skeletons in the closet, and the rebellious teenagers.
Dir. Ron Howard · With Steve Martin, Mary Steenburgen, Dianne Wiest

Oregon, 1851. Hermann Kermit Warm, a chemist and aspiring gold prospector, keeps a profitable secret that the Commodore wants to know, so he sends the Sisters brothers, two notorious assassins, to capture him on his way to California.
Dir. Jacques Audiard · With John C. Reilly, Joaquin Phoenix, Jake Gyllenhaal

A depressed man moves back in with his parents following a recent heartbreak and finds himself with two women.
Dir. James Gray · With Joaquin Phoenix, Gwyneth Paltrow, Vinessa Shaw

When a desperate man’s car breaks down in a bizarre desert town while evading vengeful bookies, he becomes entangled in a dangerous love triangle. Caught between a married couple, he’s faced with deadly contracts to kill them both.
Dir. Oliver Stone · With Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, Jennifer Lopez

A New York nightclub manager tries to save his brother and father from Russian mafia hitmen.
Dir. James Gray · With Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Wahlberg, Eva Mendes

A traumatized veteran, unafraid of violence, tracks down missing girls for a living. When a job spins out of control, Joe's nightmares overtake him as a conspiracy is uncovered—leading to what may be his death trip or his awakening.
Dir. Lynne Ramsay · With Joaquin Phoenix, Judith Roberts, Ekaterina Samsonov

Suzanne Stone wants to be a world-famous news anchor and she is willing to do anything to get what she wants. What she lacks in intelligence, she makes up for in cold determination and diabolical wiles. As she pursues her goal with relentless focus, she is forced to destroy anything and anyone that may stand in her way, regardless of the ultimate cost or means necessary.
Dir. Gus Van Sant · With Nicole Kidman, Matt Dillon, Joaquin Phoenix

In May of 2020, a standoff between a small-town sheriff and mayor sparks a powder keg as neighbor is pitted against neighbor in Eddington, New Mexico.
Dir. Ari Aster · With Joaquin Phoenix, Deirdre O'Connell, Emma Stone

Two fathers' lives intersect when one of them is involved in a terrible and sudden hit-and-run car accident that leaves the other's son dead. In response, the two men react in unexpected ways as a reckoning looms in the near future.
Dir. Terry George · With Joaquin Phoenix, Jennifer Connelly, Elle Fanning

Lewis, Sheriff and Tony are three friends vacationing in Malaysia. Sheriff and Tony eventually leave to pursue careers in New York, but Lewis stays behind to work with orangutans. Two years later, Sheriff and Tony learn that, because of their past actions, Lewis has been arrested for drug possession. With Lewis facing a death sentence, the friends are left with a difficult decision: return to Malaysia and split Lewis' sentence, or let him die.
Dir. Joseph Ruben · With Vince Vaughn, Anne Heche, Joaquin Phoenix

In Los Angeles at the turn of the 1970s, drug-fueled detective Larry "Doc" Sportello investigates the disappearance of an ex-girlfriend.
Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson · With Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin, Owen Wilson

On a small town college campus, a philosophy professor in existential crisis gives his life new purpose when he enters into a relationship with his student.
Dir. Woody Allen · With Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone, Jamie Blackley

Under the watchful eye of his mentor, Captain Mike Kennedy, probationary firefighter Jack Morrison matures into a seasoned veteran at a Baltimore fire station. However, Jack has reached a crossroads as the sacrifices he's made have put him in harm's way innumerable times and significantly impacted his relationship with his wife and kids.
Dir. Jay Russell · With Joaquin Phoenix, John Travolta, Jacinda Barrett

Clay is a young man in a small town who witnesses his friend, Earl, kill himself because of the ongoing affair that Clay was having with the man's wife, Amanda. Feeling guilty, Clay now resists the widow when she presses him to continue with the affair. Clay unknowingly befriends a serial killer named Lester Long who murders the widow in an attempt to "help" his "fishing buddy."
Dir. David Dobkin · With Joaquin Phoenix, Vince Vaughn, Janeane Garofalo

When a willful young man tries to venture beyond his sequestered Pennsylvania hamlet, his actions set off a chain of chilling incidents that will alter the community forever.
Dir. M. Night Shyamalan · With Bryce Dallas Howard, Joaquin Phoenix, Adrien Brody

In the 1950s, brothers Jacey and Doug Holt, who come from the poorer side of their sleepy Midwestern town, vie for the affections of the wealthy, lovely Abbott sisters. Lady-killer Jacey alternates between Eleanor and Alice, wanting simply to break the hearts of rich young women. But sensitive Doug has a real romance with Pamela, which Jacey and the Abbott patriarch, Lloyd, both frown upon.
Dir. Pat O'Connor · With Joaquin Phoenix, Liv Tyler, Jennifer Connelly
Top Collaborators
Directors with 2+ shared titles, ranked by frequency