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Reviews
Inferno (2016)
Being of one mind
It often is a losing proposition to expect motion picture adaptations to remain true to their literary source, be it 'Wuthering Heights', 'The Green Mile' or 'Les Miserables'. Yet, some movie scripts have captured successfully the essence of their originals, as 'Sense and Sensibility,' 'All the President's Men' or 'The Merchant of Venice' did. And then we have the three Dan Brown movies, arguably lesser fare, indeed. Neither of the three, although entertaining to different degrees, also to different degrees meet the necessary challenge. There is in 'The Da Vinci Code' book an abundance of speculative red herrings of conspiracies that might work as fiction on the written page which, but for other than Dan Brown followers, fly in the face of historic fact. In this regard, the movie succeeds - other than the ill-disguised and predictable revelation of its ultimate villain. The premise behind 'Angels and Demons' works better until the outrageous sequence in St. Peter's Square and what follows become a Nancy Drew thriller. With 'Inferno', at some point and for reasons best known to the movie makers involved, a disorienting non-linear narrative was introduced, conveniently distracting audiences from improbable off-screen coincidences (explained away by dialogues from this-or-that character) that in real life could not have taken place in order for diverse conspirators to have infiltrated organizations of both good guys and bad guys. To object to the movie's resolution as unbecoming that of the source book may be accurate; but Dan Brown's book's, while arguably rational, is socially unreasonable. Audiences decry discrimination, genocide, authoritarianism and the xenophobia that the arts denounce and portray; they should be consistent in their priorities and expectations. Review of 'The Handmaid's Tale' (1990) by commentator 'realreel' reminds us of how the movie "...represents the best kind of literary adaptation that the cinema offers: One in which the screenwriter and director clearly remained faithful to the spirit of the book without attempting to reproduce it..." The spirit, he says, should be our priority. 'The Da Vinci Code' 7/10 'Angels and Demons' 6/10 'Inferno' 6/10
The Matrix (1999)
Landmark fantasy movie-making
It might seem – but it isn't – condescending to find it ill-considered for any one of us, in unqualified fashion, to declare one particular motion picture the "very best" unless and until thoroughly familiar with the whole spectrum of all genres and disciplines from the last century. An absolute favorite, certainly, as in music, literature and the arts; but there is the work of Mizoguchi; Godard; Buñuel; Riefenstahl; Fellini; Ozu; Fritz Lang; Satyajit Ray; Renoir; Dreyer; Truffaut; Bresson; Murnau; Welles; Kurosawa; Kazan; Ophuls; Eisenstein; Keaton; Bergman; Kubrick; Minelli; Kieslowski; Yimou; Hitchcock; Rohmer; etc. "B-e-s-t" might reasonably include at least a handful of other movies in world culture.
Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight (2013)
A remarkable piece of judicial history, well served
It should suffice to observe that Stephen Frears, the crew and cast took on a subject that no other film-maker chose to, and did so commendably. As Justice Harlan, Christopher Plummer also does a very commendable job. I also did not particularly find Mr. Plummer's early performances suitable for the screen, from 'Inside Daisy Clover' to 'Somewhere in Time'. Somehow, the hammiest roles early on were preferable (he does what the script demands as Commodus in 'The Fall of the Roman Empire' and his Atahualpa in 'Royal Hunt of the Sun' is actually much fun: "They EAT Him!"). As his art has matured ('Silent Partner'; 'Dolores Claiborne'; 'The Insider'; 'The Last Station'; 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'), the more I have looked forward to his performances, as here. Still, while I understand the politics of casting better-known actors in leading roles, I regret that Harris Yulin, another great too long under-appreciated in movies who plays Justice Wm. O Douglas, was not cast as Justice Harlan. Mr. Yulin ('Clear and Present Danger'; 'Training Day'; 'Looking for Richard') will always bring to his characters, villains included, a delicate gravitas that does not belie the humanity of their circumstances: different surely, if not better or preferable to Mr. Plummer's characterization - but audiences would certainly have regarded it very well-tailored for him.