Hugh Jackman commands attention every time he’s on screen, regardless of the quality of the film surrounding him. Though he has just one Oscar nomination—for his performance in Les Misérables (2012)—his career spans fan favorites (Logan, Real Steel, The Greatest Showman, Eddie the Eagle), underseen gems (Bad Education, The Fountain), and even standout performances in films that never quite came together (The Front Runner, The Son). Jackman’s presence is undeniable, so it speaks volumes when an actor can upstage him in one of his films. Kate Hudson (Deepwater Horizon, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days) does just that, delivering an Oscar-worthy performance in Craig Brewer’s (Black Snake Moan, Hustle & Flow) Song Sung Blue.
Category Archives: Hugh Jackman
The Son (2022)
Entering awards season two years removed from the success of his directorial debut The Father, a film that was nominated for six Academy Awards, winning two, Florian Zeller’s follow-up, The Son, had some lofty, albeit slightly unrealistic expectations, if for no other reason that some deemed it a continuation of the story. In contrast, others viewed its Christmas Day limited release to mean that the production company believed the movie would hopefully receive the same critical acclaim (98% critics, 94% audience) as The Father and wanted to keep the film fresh in voters’ minds as possible. Sadly, the film failed to resonate with either group (a paltry 26% critics and a lukewarm 67% audience). As a result, the film will fail to reach $1,000,000 at the box office despite a star-studded cast that flanked (and outmatched) the relatively unknown Zen McGrath (Dig), who played the title character.
Bad Education (2019)
Bad Teacher. An Education. Bad Education. Bad Santa. Like with a human being, one might say there is nothing more personable to a person than their name. However, it can become lost in the weeds when a movie doesn’t have a title that can quickly be associated with it. Furthermore, if the film isn’t memorable and has no recognizable title, it’s likely to get even further caught in the weeds. Such could have been, and likely was to many, Cory Finley’s (Thoroughbreds) Bad Education.
The Front Runner (2018)
An upstart politician is seen with a woman who is not his wife. A scandal ensues. Would-be presidential candidate resigns amidst the controversy. Just because a story happens doesn’t mean you must make a movie about it. At best, Jason Reitman’s (Up in the Air, Young Adult) Gary Hart biopic should have been a straight-to-cable drop. But really, a 60-minute documentary on The History Channel or something would have sufficed. That’s not to say The Front Runner was a bad movie. Because it wasn’t, but it wasn’t a movie we needed. Reitman, a fantastic yet underrated director fresh off the incredibly impressive Tully with also such films as Juno and Thank You For Smoking among his credits, had no business involving himself with a movie that, no matter what he did, wasn’t going to register with the critics or with the audiences because:
- Even though it is a 30-year story at the time of its release, it is one everyone knows.
- It’s a story that we, as a society, tried to make into some huge deal, whereas 30 years later, we realize that a politician cheating on his wife is something that hardly bats an eye.
- It’s a story that raises some issues related to morality and tries to be a little preachy in a day and age when none of us are interested in hearing and seeing preachy, especially from a story that is trying to be relevant in today’s society but does feel 30 years old.
The Greatest Showman (2017)
I’m not going to lie. The only reason I watched Michael Gracey’s The Greatest Showman was that it was the topic of one of the sermons at my church. Each year, we have a summer movie series (In 2018, the movies were Forrest Gump, Good Will Hunting, The Princess Bride, and The Shawshank Redemption. I had seen all four, of course, and watched all of them again before that week’s service to refamiliarize myself with each of these fantastic films. Then, on Labor Day weekend, we have our Family Weekend, where the church’s children sit with their caregivers rather than go to the classes they usually attend. We show a truncated movie version, and this year, it was The Greatest Showman. So, I added it to my Netflix queue. It arrived two days before my church service, and I watched it the night before. I’m usually not a fan of musicals, but I enjoyed The Greatest Showman and would consider watching it again one day.