Inferno

Dan Brown's literary professor/detective Robert Langdon drew controversy when he debuted on-screen in The Da Vinci Code. He didn't get those when he returned in Angels & Demons. Now, seven years after his last history mystery, Langdon has returned to theaters in Inferno. Once again, he's played by Tom Hanks and directed by Ron Howard.

The movie opens with radical billionaire Bertrand Zobrist (Ben Foster) jumping to his death in Florence. Langdon comes in next, when he finds himself in a hospital in the same city all roughed up. He doesn't know how he got there and he has visions of literal Hell on Earth. An assassin comes gunning for him, so he escapes with his attending physician, Dr. Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones). They hide in her apartment, where they find a faraday pointer in his possession. The pointer shows them Hell ... or rather, Boticelli's interpretation of Dante's version of it.

Zobrist left behind a super-virus, Inferno, to deal with overpopulation. The Boticelli painting is the first clue for our heroes' scavenger hunt. Various factions, from the WHO to the shady Consortium, are after the virus. Langdon and Sienna have to find it before Zobrist's followers let it loose.

Overall, the film runs at a nicely paced 121 minutes. It jumps into the action quickly and rarely lulls. The historical details didn't bog down the story; in fact, they were nicely told. The threeway for the Inferno muddles the plot a bit with all the names and factions to remember. Harry Sims (Irrfan Khan), head of the Consortium, turns out to be a good guy and dies too quickly. WHO head Elizabeth Sinskey (Sidse Babett Knudsen) turns out to have a past with Langdon that's barely explained. The closest I felt the story straining the most was when a WHO agent was revealed to be a bad guy.

The visual effects and the sound team get the best notices. The visual effects team conjur up some ghastly images for Langdon's nightmares, such as people with their heads on backwards, while the sound team makes Langdon's sensory overloads appropriately unbearable. Hans Zimmer, meanwhile, provides a memorable action-packed soundtrack. The film's locales all look nice thanks to the production design and cinematography.

Inferno is an adequate cinematic return for Robert Langdon. It's been ages since I saw the last two, but this film didn't hold that against me. Its history mystery tour is a self-contained action piece. They did enough right in this belated sequel to earn themselves another follow-up. Apparently, the third Langdon novel, The Lost Symbol, won't be it.

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back

December 21, 2012. The world didn't end and a new cinematic franchise began. I didn't see Jack Reacher when it came out. Its sequel, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, doesn't lockout newcomers to the story of Lee Child's daring ex-MP Officer. Let's see what else it does.

Jack Reacher (Tom Cruise) is an ex-MP officer who now roams America. He keeps in touch with his old unit in Washington DC, which is now headed by Maj. Susan Turner (Cobie Smulders). The film opens with Reacher taking down a corrupt Sheriff and heading to DC to meet Turner face-to-face. But when he arrives, Col. Morgan (Holt McCallanay) is in charge. Maj. Turner got busted for espionage.

Reacher smells a frame-up and decides to investigate. A gang of shady guys follow him. One of the guys, The Hunter (Patrick Heusinger), murders Maj. Turner's lawyer and frames Reacher. Reacher is now under arrest too. Reacher busts out Maj. Turner when the shady guys show up and they go on the run.

Maj. Turner discovered that a military contractor, Parasource, was up to no good. Their agents are out to get her for it. Meanwhile, Reacher is getting sued for child support by a woman he's never met. His alleged daughter, Samantha (Danika Yarosh), is now a target for the goons. Reacher and Maj. Turner take her with them. They hope to find their answers in New Orleans.

The screenplay was by director Edward Zwick, Richard Wenk and Marshall Herskowitz. There's plenty of action and suspense as the contractor goons chase Reacher and Co. There's even a few cool gags in the melee. Still, the ultimate mastermind was pretty forgettable. Some actions by Reacher and Co. nearly push the film to Idiot Plot levels.

I don't care that Tom Cruise is almost a foot smaller than literary Jack Reacher. What I do care is that film Jack Reacher is a capable cinematic anti-hero. He's a strong fighter and street smart investigator. He knows when he's being followed, how to escape and how to stay escaped. The best laugh comes when he turns his interrogation for the lawyer's murder into a Who's on First routine. His chemistry with Maj. Turner and Samantha is believable for a loner finding a group.

The editing was fine for an action film. The action scenes were good; not exceptional, but they were done well. A scene where Samantha goes on her own had me on edge anticipating a non-jump scare. The cinematography gives us some nice shots of New Orleans on Halloween, rather than Mardi Gras. The sound designers help the action a lot; they make a death by telephone adequately brutal.

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back isn't the best action film around, but it's a capable distraction from all the Oscar movies piling up right now. It keeps your attention for 118 minutes. Anyone looking for a capable Tom Cruise action film will get it.

The Girl on the Train

Paula Hawkins' novel, The Girl on the Train, seemed like a David Fincher film in waiting. But instead, it went with Tate Taylor. Despite the surprising choice, the film is still a suspenseful, captivating mystery thriller. It really is.

Rachel (Emily Blunt) has issues. She's an alcoholic prone to violent outbursts and blackouts. Her husband, Tom (Justin Theroux), left her for Anna (Rebbeca Ferguson), with whom he has a baby, Evie. Rachel looms over Tom and Anna. On her daily train trips to New York City, Rachel sits in her favorite spot to glimpse at another couple, Scott (Luke Evans) and Megan (Haley Bennett). They seem perfect. Megan happens to be Tom's nanny. One day, Rachel sees Megan with another man. Rachel decides to do something about it.

A blackout...

Rachel wakes up bloody and disheveled. Megan turns up missing. Perhaps there's a connection. That's what Rachel plans to find out. The police don't trust her; neither do Anna nor Tom. Scott is desperate for answers. The "other man," Dr. Abdic (Edgar Ramirez), helps Rachel's blackouts. Eventually, Rachel realizes she has the answers to Megan's whereabouts. They're not pretty.

Erin Cressida Wilson's screenplay, like the novel, goes back and forth between Rachel, Anna and Megan's perspectives. The film gradually shows how complicated their perspectives are. Rachel doesn't even know she's an unreliable narrator until the end. Megan tries to take the initiative in her life. And Anna liked being "the other woman" in Tom's life. The title cards helped mix these storylines together.

Emily Blunt, as Rachel, is why the mystery story is so intriguing. We're introduced to her as a broken shell and a violent drunk. In her flashbacks, she flips out over horderves and goes Gallagher on a mirror. In the present, she films herself on a drunken rant. She doesn't seem that sympathetic. But the film reveals her violent tirades never happened. We realize just how broken she is and root for her to find her self-esteem.

Charlotte Bruus Christensen's cinematography makes the New York suburbs as eerie as the city. Her best work is a scene set in the early-morning; the fog is so wonderfully eerie. The editors, Michael McCusker and Andrew Buckland, help make the storylines easy to follow. They also excel at creating Rachel's hazy memory and, together with the sound team, they make Megan's ultimate fate adequately horrific. Composer Danny Elfman's work was welcome as always.

The Girl on the Train is exciting to some and ridiculous to others. For me, it does what a good mystery should do. It presents an intriguing mystery, keeps us guessing and makes us want to keep on guessing. Its 112 minutes are a memorable ride. That's a certainty. 

Queen of Katwe

This year looks like one of the most-packed Oscar seasons I can remember. It's inevitable that more than a few films will slip by audiences and Academy members. One film that shouldn't be ignored is Queen of Katwe. Its great cast of stars and newcomers make this a memorable biopic.

Phiona Mutesi (Madina Nalwanga) lives with her mother, Harriet (Lupita Nyong'o), and her siblings in the Ugandan slum of Katwe. They make their daily bread by selling maize at market. One day, she and her brother, Brian (Martin Kabanza), meet a youth minister named Robert Katende (David Oyewelo). Katende introduces them to a game called Chess. Despite her poor background, Phiona finds herself proficient at the game. A real pro.

Katende invites the siblings to his program. Phiona's skills help the group qualify for big league tournaments. These tournaments even take them outside of Uganda. Many setbacks threaten Phiona's path to the top of the board. But her family and mentor are there to help.

Screenwriter William Wheeler based his screenplay on Tim Crother's ESPN Magazine article and book. Director Mira Nair tells Phiona Mutesi's story in a captivating 124 minutes. Whatever inspirational biopic cliches it has are not a detriment. In fact, I can think of one cliche it thankfully averts: exaggerating a character into full-on villainy. The main antagonists these characters have are their living conditions and hopelessness. The film makes you care about them all as they overcome their hardships. They all feel like people rather than characters.

Editor Barry Alexander Brown makes the chess games involving. It's enough to make one not want to throw in the towel so easily. He also excels in building Katwe's bustling nature, where accidents happen at random. Cinematographer Sean Bobbitt's imagery is also amazing; the slums are immersive and Moscow is ever-so frigid. Alex Heffes score is good, but the songs featured are more memorable. Especially catchy is the jingle #1 Spice, which appears in a music video in the credits.

Don't hesitate. Queen of Katwe is a worthwhile family drama. It's also a compelling examination into the world of chess. Its characters speak for the movie as a whole. It doesn't need to exaggerate in order to win Oscar praise. It just needs to be itself. Hopefully, it will be remembered come January 27th.

Checkmate.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

October also brings out the movie spooktaculars. One such spooktacular is Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, the cinematic rendition of Ransom Riggs' debut novel. Director Tim Burton has the tone right for this film; the story isn't perfect.

Jake Portman (Asa Butterfield) is a typical jaded teen in Florida. Years earlier, his grandfather, Abe (Terence Stamp), told his impressionable self about the time he spent with Miss Peregrine (Eva Green) and her home for superpowered "Peculiar" children. He no longer has time for such stories these days. One night, Jake finds Abe eyeless and lifeless, but he lives long enough to talk about "the island." The island is Cairnholm, Wales, site of Miss Peregrine's home. Jake and his ornithologist father, Franklin, head there on the advise of kindly Dr. Golan (Alison Janney).

Jake finds Miss Peregrine's home, destroyed during The Blitz, then finds himself in 1943. There, Jake meets all the Peculiar characters from his grandfather's stories. They've lived for over 70 years repeating the same day, every day, to protect themselves from the world. The biggest threat is Mr. Barron (Samuel L. Jackson), a "Wight" who wants to feed Peculiar eyes to the monstrous Hollowgasts. Jake finds out he can see the Hollowgasts, which will help him save the children from Mr. Barron.

There's a mystery and time travel is involved? The film's premise is understandable. Jake's romance with floating Peculiar, Emma (Ella Purnell), is also involving. The Peculiar kids each have their time to shine. But they spend a lot of time running from danger or resetting time than fighting. At least until Jake rallies them. That was questionable. What lost me was the nature of the villains. Natural, since their nature is barely explained. They just turn into Hollowgasts after a failed experiment and become Wights by eating eyeballs ... why?

As for the sight of the Wights eating eyeballs. Congrats. It's the creepiest thing I've seen in a Tim Burton movie since the throat-slashing in Sweeney Todd.

Anyway...

The top performances in the cast are from Green and Jackson. Green, as Miss Peregrine, is a memorable Peculiar. Able to shoot down a Hollowgast onto a waiting chalk outline, Peregrine is also a warm, capable Headmistress. Her opposite number, Mr. Barron, is equal parts hammy and creepy. He's clearly having fun as a villain and his every word is delivered with gusto. He's dangerously effective when he drops the formalities.

The technical aspects are the best part. The production and costume designs perfectly present two different worlds with Jake's reality and Miss Peregrine's time loop. One is drab and the other is colorful and alluring. The differences are striking. The visual effects render such elements as the Hollowgasts and most of the Peculiar powers in CGI. One Peculiar, Enoch, is a sort-of necromancer, whose puppets are rendered in suitably creepy stop-motion. Mike Higham and Matthew Margeson's score also suits the mood.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is another visual marvel from Tim Burton. But be prepared to ask yourselves a few questions afterwards. The premise is an interesting one and the characters are memorable. So it has that going for it. There are two sequel novels to the first one; let's see how they can adjust to this first film's rewrite of the novel's last third.

Deepwater Horizon

It's October, which means the big Oscar hopefuls are about to pile up in cineplexes. One of those hopefuls is Deepwater Horizon, director Peter Berg's account of the disaster aboard the eponymous oil rig. Let's see how it is.

In 2010, Mike Williams (Mark Wahlberg) heads off for the Deepwater Horizon for a three-week job. The crew, overseen by Jimmy Harrell (Kurt Russell), is employed to drill in the Gulf of Mexico. But they're 43 days behind schedule. Executives Donald Vidrine (John Malkovich) and Robert Kaluza (Brad Leland) want the crew to go faster. The crew wants a few safety checks before they proceed. The executives let them do that.

The consequences of cut corners and lack of maintenance bubbles to the surface. The drill pipe malfunctions and explodes. The Deepwater Horizon goes up in flames. Mike and the rest of the crew have to stay cool to get off the rig.

The film's screenplay came from the New York Times article Deepwater Horizon's Final Hours. The film starts off by introducing the crew and their issues. It takes about an hour before the disaster occurs. The roughly first hour or so goes by pretty quick. Perhaps too quick. The techno jargon was plentiful. The supporting characters barely get enough character development. There's not much of a third act to give closure for the main characters either. Still...

The actors were capable in their roles. Wahlberg makes for a likable family man thrust into chaos. The same is said for Gina Rodriguez, as Andrea Fleytas, whose character defies orders to call for a mayday. Malkovich makes for a perfectly stuffy businessman. Russell is great as Harrell, who ignores his egregious injuries so he can do his job. They made the film worth watching.

The crew also did great. The Sound Designers are the ones, I think, with the best Oscar chances. The sound effects, from the explosions to their buildup, were powerful and tense. Cutting off the sound for some explosions was also effective. The editors' best work comes from when they build up to the first explosions. The makeup team provide the film with realistic wounds, many of which definitely push the boundaries of PG-13.

Deepwater Horizon tells a capable story about ordinary people surviving disaster. You'll still get to care about what happened even with all the screenplay's details. That makes the 107 minutes a functional experience.

If you see the film, you'll more than likely see an ad for Berg and Wahlberg's next feature, Patriots Day, opening around Christmas. Let's see how that does.