Mary Elizabeth Winstead is one of the most talented and charming actresses working in the film industry. The American actress and singer made her acting debut pretty early in life with her starting as a child actor. Winstead’s first significant role was as Jessica Bennett in the NBC soap opera series Passions. Winstead has been cast in the upcoming Disney+ Star Wars series Ahsoka, so while you wait for that to come out here are the 13 best movies and TV shows starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead you should watch.
13. Kate (Netflix)
Synopsis: Meticulous and preternaturally skilled, Kate is the perfect specimen of a finely tuned assassin at the height of her game. But when she uncharacteristically blows an assignment targeting a member of the yakuza in Tokyo, she quickly discovers she’s been poisoned, a brutally slow execution that gives her less than 24 hours to exact revenge on her killers. As her body swiftly deteriorates, Kate forms an unlikely bond with the teenage daughter of one of her past victims. Starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Miku Martineau, and Woody Harrelson, and directed by Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Kate follows a burned assassin’s furious pursuit of one last self-appointed job.
12. Kill the Messenger (Rent on Prime Video)
Synopsis: Two-time Academy Award nominee Jeremy Renner (“The Bourne Legacy”) leads an all-star cast in a dramatic thriller based on the remarkable true story of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Gary Webb. Webb stumbles onto a story which leads to the shady origins of the men who started the crack epidemic on the nation’s streets…and further alleges that the CIA was aware of major dealers who were smuggling cocaine into the U.S., and using the profits to arm rebels fighting in Nicaragua. Despite warnings from drug kingpins and CIA operatives to stop his investigation, Webb keeps digging to uncover a conspiracy with explosive implications. His journey takes him from the prisons of California to the villages of Nicaragua to the highest corridors of power in Washington, D.C. — and draws the kind of attention that threatens not just his career, but his family and his life.
11. Alex of Venice (Prime Video & Tubi)
Synopsis: Workaholic attorney, Alex [Winstead] is forced to reinvent her life after her husband suddenly leaves. Now faced with the humdrum and sometimes catastrophic events that permeate the fabric of our lives, Alex discovers both a vulnerability and inner strength she had not yet tapped all while trying to hold together her broken family.
10. All About Nina (Hulu & Tubi)
Synopsis: Just as Nina Geld’s (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) brilliant stand-up kicks her career into high gear, her romantic life gets complicated, forcing her to reckon with what it means to be creative, authentic, and a woman in today’s society.
9. BrainDead (Paramount+)
Synopsis: BrainDead is a comic-thriller set in the world of Washington, D.C., politics that follows Laurel, a young, fresh-faced Hill staffer who discovers two things: the government has stopped working, and bugs are eating the brains of Congress members and Hill staffers.
8. Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey (HBO Max)
Synopsis: You ever hear the one about the cop, the blonde, the psycho and the mafia princess? Birds Of Prey And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn is a twisted tale told by Harley herself, as only Harley can tell it. When one of Gotham’s most sinister villains, Roman Sionis, and his sadistic right-hand, Zsasz, put a target on a young girl named Cass, the city’s wicked underbelly is turned upside down looking for her. Harley, Huntress, Canary and Renee Montoya’s paths collide and the unlikely foursome have no choice but to team up to take Roman down.
7. Smashed (Rent on Prime Video)
Synopsis: Los Angeles schoolteacher Kate (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and her husband, Charlie (Aaron Paul), each have a drinking problem. Up to now, her life seems like one big, boozy party, but her latest drinking binge catches up to her at work, and she later spends the night alone on the street. Kate now realizes that she has hit rock bottom. She agrees to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings with the school’s vice principal (Nick Offerman) and takes her first step on the challenging road to sobriety.
6. Faults (Prime Video & Paramount+)
Synopsis: Claire is under the grip of a mysterious new cult called Faults. Desperate to be reunited with their daughter, Claire’s parents recruit one of the world’s foremost experts on mind control, Ansel Roth to kidnap and deprogram her. However, once the process is underway, Ansel realizes he may not be the one in control.
5. Swiss Army Man (HBO Max)
Synopsis: A wholly original, enormously entertaining, and deeply heartfelt look at what it means to be human, Swiss Army Man is the feature film debut of acclaimed music video directors Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan (collectively known as DANIELS, and responsible for the beloved “Turn Down For What” video, among many others). Bursting with limitless creativity in both form and content, Swiss Army Man goes from the absurd to the emotional to the whimsical to the profound and back again.
Hank (Paul Dano) is stranded on a deserted island, having given up all hope of ever making it home again. But one day everything changes when a corpse named Manny (Daniel Radcliffe) washes up on shore; the two become fast friends, and ultimately go on an epic adventure that will bring Hank back to the woman of his dreams.
4. The Spectacular Now (HBO Max)
Synopsis: With sly humor and an intensity of feeling, The Spectacular Now (directed by James Ponsoldt) creates a vivid, three-dimensional portrait of youth confronting the funny, thrilling and perilous business of modern love and adulthood. This is the tale of Sutter Keely (Miles Teller), a high school senior and effortless charmer, and of how he unexpectedly falls in love with “the good girl” Aimee Finecky (Shailene Woodley). What starts as an unlikely romance becomes a sharp-eyed, straight-up snapshot of the heady confusion and haunting passion of youth—one that doesn’t look for tidy truths. The film was written by Scott Neustadter and Michael Weber (500) Days of Summer and also features wonderful supporting turns from Brie Larson, Kyle Chandler, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead.
3. 10 Cloverfield Lane (Paramount+)
Synopsis: Outside is dangerous…inside is terrifying in the heart-pounding new thriller from producer J.J. Abrams. After a catastrophic car crash, a young woman (Mary Elizabeth Winstead, A Good Day to Die Hard) wakes up in a survivalist’s (John Goodman, Argo) underground bunker. He claims to have saved her from an apocalyptic attack that has left the outside world uninhabitable. But, as his increasingly suspicious actions lead her to question his motives, she’ll have to escape in order to discover the truth.
2. Fargo (Hulu)
Synopsis: Fargo, adapted by novelist/writer Noah Hawley and inspired by the film of the same title follows all-new “true” crime case with new characters, all entrenched in the trademark humor, murder and “Minnesota nice” that has made the film an enduring classic.
1. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Netflix)
Synopsis: Game on! Scott Pilgrim just met the girl of his dreams…literally. But in order for them to date, he must defeat her seven evil exes — a rogues’ gallery — including an infamous skateboarder, a vegan rock star and fearsome identical twins! From the genre-smashing director of Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead comes “a true original” (Entertainment Weekly) powered up by wit, action and groundbreaking visuals that you will want to watch again as soon as it’s over!
The post 13 Best Mary Elizabeth Winstead Movies & TV Shows (Ranked) appeared first on Cinemablind.
