The Best and Worst of Samuel L. Jackson

The "Best and Worst" series profiles the best and worst work of an actor starring in one of the week's new theatrical releases. This week I take a look at the filmography of "Chi-Raq" star Samuel L. Jackson.

Films starring Samuel L. Jackson that I've seen:
Goodfellas
Juice
True Romance
Menace II Society
Jurassic Park
Pulp Fiction
Die Hard with a Vengeance
Jackie Brown
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Deep Blue Sea
Unbreakable 
Formula 51
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
xXx
Basic
S.W.A.T.
Coach Carter
xXx: State of the Union
Stars Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
The Man
Freedomland
Snakes on a Plane
Black Snake Moan
Jumper
Soul Men
The Spirit
Iron Man 2
The Other Guys
The Avengers
Django Unchained
Oldboy
Robocop
Captain America: The Winter Solider
Kingsman: The Secret Service 
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Big Game  

Best Performance: Pulp Fiction (1994)
After starting his career with bit parts in major films and leading roles in widely unseen indie movies, Jackson finally got his chance to shine in the spotlight with Pulp Fiction. Jackson dominates every scene he's in as the stylish, vulgar, Bible-quoting hitman Jules Winfield. Jackson's wit, intensity and undeniably cool presence made Winfield one of the most iconic characters of all-time and forced Hollywood to finally take notice of his immense talent as an actor.

Worst Performance: The Man (2005) 
While Jackson is one of the most talented actors currently working in the industry, he has a tendency to take on basically any project that's offered to him. The Man is one of the many films he probably would've been better off staying away from. Jackson unsuccessfully skewers his tough-guy persona as an ATF agent forced to work with a bumbling dental supplies salesman (Eugene Levy) to bring down a major drug ring in this mostly unfunny comedy.

Best Film: Pulp Fiction (1994)
As I said in the Bruce Willis entry of this series(http://maitlandsmadness.blogspot.com/2015/10/the-best-and-worst-of-bruce-willis.html), Pulp Fiction is my favorite film of all-time and I could sit here and hurl accolades at it for hours on end. While Pulp Fiction's brilliance is widely touted by fanboys like myself and movie critics around the globe, one thing that's frequently glossed over in discussions about this film is the impact it had on the career's of those who were involved with it. This film made Quentin Tarantino, Uma Thurman and Jackson household names, brought John Travolta's career back from the brink of extinction and proved to the world that Bruce Willis was far more than just another 80's action star. When film historians 50-100 years from now look back on this film's legacy, I hope they stress just how important this film was in the career trajectory of these Hollywood icons.    

Worst Film: Big Game (2015)
Jackson has dedicated a large part of his career to starring in B-movies. From Snakes on a Plane to Deep Blue Sea to Kingsman: The Secret Service, Jackson has been a part of some of the most insane and entertaining B-movies of the past two decades. Jackson's background and track record of success within genre made his latest over-the top project, Big Game, that much more of a disappointment. Big Game has the ridiculous setup (a 13-year old Finnish boy on a solo hunting trip protects the President of the United States after Air Force One is shot down by terrorists) without any of the fun or tongue-in cheek humor that's required to make B-movies work. The tone is way too serious, the action scenes are infrequent and underwhelming and the actors never embrace the silliness of the material they're working with. 

 Thank you for reading this week's installment of "The Best and Worst of". Next week, I'll take a look at the best and worst work of "The Big Short" star Christian Bale.