A to Z Challenge 2020 - H

Hancock (2008)
Director: Peter Berg
Starring: Will Smith, Charlize Theron, Jason Bateman
Brief Thoughts: Obviously, superhero movies are somewhat omnipresent these days, but they’re mostly adaptations from comic book source material. Just as the boom was hitting, along came Hancock. Will Smith was still on his incredible box office hot streak at the time. Later, when he’d fallen out of it, he ended up joining up with the genre again in one of the adaptations with Suicide Squad. Here, though, he was pure Will Smith as a superhero who’s completely out of control, and as far as the trailers were concerned, that’s all you needed to know. Except there’s a huge twist involving Charlize Theron. I love the twist. I love this movie.

Hanna (2011)
Director: Joe Wright
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Eric Bana, Cate Blanchett
Brief Thoughts: Saoirse Ronan had a long lead time before breaking out with Lady Bird, being featured in various movies while most people still couldn’t pronounce her name (“Sher-sha,” for the record). Here’s one of the more interesting ones, costarring two huge names in Eric Bana and Cate Blanchett, Bana just as he was losing his star status (sadly) and Blanchett reliably picking the most interesting projects. Anyway, the concept was later adapted into a TV show, so there were definitely people who noticed how awesome this movie was.

Hell or High Water (2016)
Director: David Mackenzie
Starring: Chris Pine, Ben Foster, Jeff Bridges
Brief Thoughts: Chris Pine is one of the most interesting actors working today, but he rarely gets parts that showcase his value. This is by far his best role to date, and best film. Tagging along are Ben Foster (who seems to have caught the eye of casting directors much more effectively based on his work in the film), uttering the best line in the movie (“I am a Comanche.”) and Jeff Bridges, doing his best No Country for Old Men.

Hollywoodland (2006)
Director: Allen Coulter
Starring: Ben Affleck, Diane Labe, Adrien Brody, Bob Hoskins
Brief Thoughts: The significance of George Reeves’ Superman on the generation of kids who grew up watching him can’t be understated. There’s a picture of my uncle trussed up in a Superman costume. I had a teacher in middle school talk, during math class, decades after the fact, about the trauma of Reeves’ death. This movie is about the continuing murky circumstances surrounding it, whether murky because fans don’t want to admit what seems likely (much as the JFK conspiracy theories are mostly motivated by needing a bigger story than a lone gunman to explain the assassination) or because (like JFK) there’s just enough potential to make things sound a lot more interesting. Ben Affleck began a popular comeback with this unexpected role, as Reeves, with my personal (second) favorite Adrien Brody performance as the classic noir private investigator trying to discover the truth. (His best is clearly Dalí! in Midnight in Paris.)