The Bearded Trio

THE GREATEST SHOWMAN Starring Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya, Keala Settle, Austyn Johnson, Cameron Seely  Story by Jenny Bicks Screenplay by Jenny Bicks and Bill Condon Directed by Michael Gracey Reviewed by Patrick Gibbs   Out of Four In the mid '90's, we got two opposite extremes of of the "true story movie: Disney's Pocahontas was  a briskly entertaining, magical film that was a pure delight from start to finish and had a great message, but bared about as much resemblance to history as McDonalds does to haute cuisine. Lawrence Kasdan's Wyatt Earp  was a long, slow. drawn out epic that told the closest thing we'll probably ever get to the real story of its title figure on the big screen, but it left many wondering why this man's story deserved to be told.  At the time, there was no question in my mind that I preferred Pocahontas, and I still refuse to apologize for my love of that film, but the distortion of h...

Starring High Jackman, Patrick Stewart,  Boyd Holbrook, Stephen Merchant, Richard E. Grant, eriq LaSalle and Dafne Keen Screenplay by Scott Frank, Michael Green and James Mangold Directed by James Mangold  Reviewed by Paul & Patrick Gibbs Out of Four T he X-Men franchise has had spectacular ups and downs since its debut in 2000, but our fondness for the franchise has remained a steady presence. We went into the first movie with only a passing familiarity with the source material, but we were quickly hooked by it, and like most everyone else, one of the key factors for us was this unknown Australian actor, Hugh Jackman, who played Wolverine. The actor and the character commanded the screen from the get go, with a roguish sense of mystery, and strong physicality.  There was the inescapable feeling of a complex, tortured soul in there, a soul capable of great good, and perhaps great evil. Jackman has played the role ...