Happy Birthday Chris Pratt: From Moneyball to Guardians of the Galaxy, six films of the star you shouldn’t miss

Birthday boy Chris Pratt is one of Hollywood’s most bankable and most entertaining A-list actors today. He has come such a long way from being the lovable goofball Andy Dwyer in Parks & Recreation for seven seasons. For the first part of his career, Chris Pratt was just that ordinary guy, playing small roles in movies like Wanted, Bride Wars, and even Zero Dark Thirty. His status today is a far cry from when he was part of Everwood. Now, Chris Pratt is a blockbuster star through his roles in the Guardians of the Galaxy and Jurassic World franchises.

On his birthday, Ottplay picks six films from Chris Pratt’s career that merit your time.

The Magnificent Seven

Seven gunmen from varied backgrounds including Sam Chisolm, a warrant officer, are brought together by a vengeful young widow. The residents of Rose Creek have a demand to apprehend Bartholomew Bogue, a corrupt industrialist, and his ruthless gang. Chris Pratt wonderfully transforms into a rugged rough cowboy that not even a shade of his bubbly past is visible in The Magnificent Seven.

Moneyball

In this biographical sports drama, Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane's (Brad Pitt) tries to assemble a baseball team on a lean budget by using a computer-generated analysis to acquire new players. Chris Pratt had essayed the role of real-life baseball player Scott Hatteberg. "I think my story is a lot like baseball. The sport itself is wrought with failure. You can never get too high on yourself. I've been humbled so often. I think Chris did a good job portraying me. He did me justice." said Oakland Athletics first baseman Scott Hatteberg himself, about Chris Pratt. Need we say more?

Passengers

During a voyage to a distant colony planet, Jim's hypersleep pod malfunctions, waking him up 90 years earlier than scheduled. He and fellow passenger Aurora must work together to prevent their spaceship from an imminent disaster. Even though the movie was critiqued for its weak storyline, Chris Pratt was flawless in his portrayal of an interstellar traveller, traumatised by the immense loneliness he has to endure in the spaceship.

Jurassic World

22 years after a flurry of unfortunate events at Jurassic Park, a new theme park, built on the original site of Jurassic Park, showcases genetically modified hybrid dinosaurs. But one of them, the Indominus Rex, escapes its containment and goes on a killing spree. Chris Pratt’s dinosaur whisperer character, who struggles to contain the escaped dinosaur, was well received by the audience and critics as well.

Guardians of the Galaxy

STAR-LORD - The name is enough!

A quirky, fun and even partly eccentric intergalactic hero, Peter Quill aka Star-Lord, steals a valuable orb from planet Morag (also desired by Ronan the Accuser). Peter forms a team of underdogs to escape Ronan, who wants the orb to destroy the universe. Chris Pratt is perfectly cast as a half-human - half-alien gifted with more power than he’s aware of.

Avengers: Infinity War

The Avengers and their allies must be willing to sacrifice all in an attempt to defeat the powerful Thanos before he destroys half of the universe with the infinity stones. The audience is split into two on Peter Quill’s (Chris Pratt) actions in Infinity War. While some say that Quill’s attack on Thanos is the correct emotional response to someone meeting the murderer of their loved one, others opine he had overreacted and that saving the world was more important than one person’s emotion. All of us can, however, unanimously agree that Chris Pratt did a terrific job of encapsulating the emotions and frustration of someone whose lover has been killed.