Film Review: "Inferno" (2016).

"There is a switch, if you throw it, half the people on earth will die. But if you don't, the human race will be extinct in a hundred years. What would you do?" This is the fundamental question looming in Inferno. This mystery thriller film directed by Ron Howard, written by David Koepp, based on the 2013 novel of the same name by Dan Brown. The film is the sequel to The Da Vinci Code (2006) and Angels & Demons (2009), and is the third installment in the Robert Langdon film series. Famous symbologist on a trail of clues tied to the great Dante himself. When Langdon wakes up in an Italian hospital with amnesia, he teams up with Sienna Brooks, a doctor he hopes will help him recover his memories. Together, they race across Europe and against the clock to stop a madman from unleashing a global virus that would wipe out half of the world's population.

Following the release of Angels & Demons, Sony moved forward with adapting The Lost Symbol, but the production suffered "development hell" as both Howard and Hanks were hesitant to return to the series. Ultimately, the novel Inferno was released in 2013, and Sony decided to forward with adapting Inferno instead with a set December 18 2015 release date. In late August 2014, Sony had finalized the deal to have Howard, Koepp, and Hanks to direct, write, and reprise his role of the famous symbologist, and set production for a April start date in Italy. By mid February 2015, Sony announced the cast for the film that included Felicity Jones as Dr. Sienna Brooks, Omar Sy as Christoph Bruder, Irrfan Khan as Harry "The Provost" Sims, Sidse Babett Knudsen as Elizabeth Sinskey, head of the World Health Organization, and Ben Foster as an unspecified villain, which later revealed to be the role of Bertrand Zobrist. Filming began in late April, and wrapped in late July, with a budget of $75 million, and under the codename Headache. Locations included Venice and Florence, Italy, and Korda Studios in Budapest, Hungary. In early 2016, the release date for the film was moved to October 28 2016 to avoid clashing with Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015). The release marks a decade after the release of The Da Vinci Code, and the first film in the series to be released in the Fall instead of Summer.

The film stars Hanks, reprising his role, alongside Jones, Sy, Knudsen, Foster, and Khan. The cast gave compelling performances even though it bordered on complete silliness and absurdity. At times, every supporting character acts like an unhelpful idiot to keep the plot stirring, while yet again a seemingly all-powerful conspiracy seems to consist of a few evil people.

Inferno is a fast-paced thrill ride, and an improvement on the last Dan Brown adaptation, Angels & Demons, but the storyline too often wavers between implausible and ridiculous, and does not translate effectively to the big screen.

Simon says Inferno receives:

Also, see my review for The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years.

Film Review: "My Scientology Movie" (2015).

From the director of Bradley Wiggins: A Year in Yellow comes My Scientology Movie. This British documentary film directed by John Dower, and written by Louis Theroux, who also stars. Theroux is denied admittance into the Church of Scientology's headquarters, setting into motion a clever, confrontational and funny plan to try and reveal the inner workings of the mysterious organization.

Theroux had long sought to make a documentary about the Church of Scientology from the inside but was repeatedly refused by church officials. In 2011 his producer, Simon Chinn, suggested making a ninety-minute feature about Scientology. Together with Dower, they looked for ways to make a documentary – working title Stairway to Heaven: Louis Theroux and the Church of Scientology – without access to its subjects. They wanted to avoid formulae that had been used by previous film-makers, such as interviews with ex-members intercut with archive footage and re-enactments, or an "in search of" approach documenting the fruitless quest to gain access. They eventually hit upon the idea of "negative access", illustrating the church by provoking a reaction from it. Theroux and his team sought to take "inspiration from the show business trappings of Scientology itself". With the help of various actors, they recreated events related by ex-members in the church's Gold Base and its punishment facility, The Hole. The ex-members who related these events helped to direct the scenes, which were filmed on soundstages in Hollywood. In conjunction with the former senior Scientology official Mark Rathbun, who is now one of the church's most prominent critics, he held auditions for about 30 young actors to play parts depicting church leader David Miscavige and its most famous member, Tom Cruise. In the process, "the documentary became a film about me trying to make the re-enactments". Theroux took inspiration from a film that he had recently seen, Joshua Oppenheimer's documentary The Act of Killing, which featured Indonesian genocidaires re-enacting their crimes for the camera. Within a couple of months of the start of filming, the film-makers found themselves under constant surveillance. The church mounted a campaign of harassment against the film-makers which drew "all kinds of stalker-ish emissaries and cranks out of the woodwork, not one of them doing much to reassure us that Scientology is in fact cuddly, socially progressive or misunderstood." They found themselves pursued "in broad daylight by mysterious cars with tinted windows". Occasionally they had face-to-face confrontations with camera-toting pursuers which they filmed in turn, so that "half the film consists of cameras pointing at other cameras, like an absurdist gunfight at dawn, with neither side willing to holster." They also received numerous letters from Scientology lawyers. Theroux found this behaviour very strange.

A compelling documentary which doesn't need to work too hard to out the sheer absurdity and 'Emperor's New Clothes' air that hangs over the whole Scientology movement. The picture it manages to assemble packs such a punch that it gives new meaning to "going clear." Jaw-dropping, indeed. This is a shocking, well-documented expose of scientology, it's teachings and practices, especially its history of retaliation against whistleblowers.

Simon says My Scientology Movie receives:

Film Review: "Justin Timberlake + the Tennessee Kids" (2016).

From Netflix and the director of The Silence of the Lambs and Ricki and the Flash comes Justin Timberlake + the Tennessee Kids. This concert film directed by Jonathan Damme, and starring Timberlake. On the final nights of a world tour, Demme captures what makes the show soar: gifted musicians, deft dancers and a magnetic star.

Demme and Timberlake first met when the director wanted to work with him after watching his work in The Social Network (2010); in the meeting they discussed Talking Heads' concert film Stop Making Sense (1984), directed by Demme and an influence for the singer in his live performances. Filming took place on the final night of the 20/20 Experience World Tour at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. For the film, Demme used 14 operated cameras that Declan Quinn, the director of photography, and he deployed over many pre-filming engagements, two other free-floating cameras in the audience and one cameraman onstage with Timberlake. Several songs from the concert do not appear in the movie, including TKO, Summer Love, Cry Me a River, Señorita, Heartbreak Hotel, That Girl, Tunnel Vision, and Murder.

The special nicely showcases Timberlake's artistry and deconstructs his self-created mythology even as it ultimately doesn't reveal as much about the man's own flaws and fears as it appears to in the moment. However, it is Timberlake the showman - in a more rueful and reflective mode than his usual brand of stage banter - that is the principal focus of this Netflix concert special. At one and-a-half-hours, it ought to drag; instead it builds with poetic flourishes and self-examination. Not for the supremely self-aware and exacting Timberlake the routine fare of the jukebox musical or the gaudy biopic. The special distills everything that makes Timberlake one of America's greatest modern singer-songwriter star such a formidable, genial, and inviting personalities into a single, visual volume. Like many of the all-time great concert films, this is no substitute for being in the room, but it's power transcends any perceived limitations. Timberlake's attempts to conjure up an experience, while they probably worked on the stage, are constantly shattered by Demme's cuts and disengaged zooms. Nonetheless, Timberlake has mastered the dynamics needed to keep a mostly singing show riveting for a running time that's epic by monologists' standards, if not his own. Not only does it work on its own as a Netflix special, it gives you all the same feels seeing the show live at the Walter Kerr Theater brought out. It is as much a self-made monument to its artist's vision and hurricane-force ambition as it is to his life and career, and it bears the mark of a self-made man who’ll write his own history. A master class in pacing, dynamics, modulation of volume and tone, and the film brings you right up onstage with Timberlake, giving you a more intimate view of his technique - understated, seemingly casual but absolutely controlled. Timberlake turns a massive venue into a private pop fest, delivering new songs and old favorites to a singing, dancing, screaming audience that obviously adores him.

Simon says Justin Timberlake + the Tennessee Kids receives:

Also, see my review for Ricki and the Flash.

Film Review: "Deepwater Horizon" (2016).

"When faced with our darkest hour, hope is not a tactic." This is Deepwater Horizon. This biographical disaster film directed by Peter Berg, written by Matthew Michael Carnahan and Matthew Sand, and The New York Times article Deepwater Horizon's Final Hours by David Barstow, David Rohde, and Stephanie Saul. On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explodes in the Gulf of Mexico, igniting a massive fireball that kills several crew members. Chief electronics technician Mike Williams and his colleagues find themselves fighting for survival as the heat and the flames become stifling and overwhelming. Banding together, the co-workers must use their wits to make it out alive amid all the chaos.

In early March 2011, it was announced that Summit Entertainment, Participant Media, and Image Nation had acquired the film rights to The New York Times' article published on December 25, 2010, about the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and subsequent oil spill. Sand was set to pen the script, while Lorenzo di Bonaventura was in talks to produce the film under his Di Bonaventura Pictures banner. In late July 2012, Ric Roman Waugh was in talks with the studios to direct the film. However, in early July 2014, it was announced that J. C. Chandor had been hired to direct the film, with Carnahan hired for a rewrite. In late January 2015, it was reported that Berg had replaced Chandor. Chandor exited due to creative differences. A large majority of the oilfield workers in the Gulf of Mexico were against the making of the film, because they felt that it could dishonour the men who died during the actual event. However, Mike Williams (one of the survivors) was all in for the film, and worked on it with the crew, along with another survivor of the event. He felt it was a good way of showing people the circumstances that the crew members went through, and that the goal of the film crew was to make it look as real as possible. By late April, Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, John Malkovich, Gina Rodriguez, Dylan O'Brien, Kate Hudson, and Ethan Suplee were cast. At the same time, principal photography commenced, and took place throughout Louisiana. An oil rig was built just for this film, this rig is located in Chalmette, Louisiana where filming mostly took place. Berg claimed it was one of the largest practical sets ever built.

The film stars Wahlberg, Russell, Malkovich, Rodriguez, O'Brien, Hudson, and Suplee. Surprisingly, what makes this story hit home is the acting. The cast bring a quiet realism to their roles-the less they think of themselves as heroes, the more we do.

A true account of the drilling rig disaster off the Gulf of Mexico and survival, Deepwater Horizon wields enough visceral power to mitigate its heavy-handed jingoism. The film never makes a grand statement about whether or not the drilling rig disaster is, per se, a mistake, but it does portray the disaster itself as a disgusting folly.

Simon says Deepwater Horizon receives:

Also, see my review for Lone Survivor.

Film Review: "The Girl on the Train" (2016).

"What you can see can hurt you" in The Girl on the Train. This mystery thriller drama film directed by Tate Taylor, adapted by Erin Cressida Wilson, and based on British author Paula Hawkins' popular 2015 debut novel of the same name. The film follows Commuter Rachel Watson, who catches daily glimpses of a seemingly perfect couple, Scott and Megan, from the window of her train. One day, Watson witnesses something shocking unfold in the backyard of the strangers' home. Rachel tells the authorities what she thinks she saw after learning that Megan is now missing and feared dead. Unable to trust her own memory, the troubled woman begins her own investigation, while police suspect that Rachel may have crossed a dangerous line.

In March 2014, DreamWorks Pictures acquired the film rights to Hawkins' novel and an adaptation was planned for production. In early 2015, Wilson and Taylor were hired to pen and direct the adaptation. Hawkins revealed that the film's setting would be moved from London to Westchester, New York. In June, Emily Blunt was offered the title role. Hawkins had Michelle Williams in mind for the role of Rachel. The casting of Blunt garnered controversy as she was that she was too attractive for the role of a broken and chronic alcoholic. The makeup artists got around this by extensively studying the skin of actual alcoholics and applying makeup to make her look more exhausted and washed out with dark circles under her eyes and puffy cheeks. The fact that Blunt was pregnant during filming helped with the effect. In August, Haley Bennett and Rebecca Ferguson were cast to play Megan and Anna. Kate Mara and Margot Robbie were considered for the role of Megan. Jared Leto and Chris Evans were in talks to join the film, where Evans would play Tom, and Leto would play Scott. However, Evans and Leto left the film due to scheduling issues, Justin Theroux and Luke Evans ultimately replaced them. By early November, Allison Janney, Édgar Ramírez, Lisa Kudrow, and Laura Prepon rounded out the film's cast. At the same time, principal photography commenced, and wrapped in late January 2016. Filming took place throughout New York.

The film stars Blunt, Ferguson, Bennett, Theroux, Evans, Janney, Ramírez, Kudrow, and Prepon. Despite the talented cast, the film is not quite the rare character-focused drama that can make audiences gasp audibly - and laugh, and cringe. Though, the cast seemed to relish each delicious twist and turn their characters took. They were extremely entertaining to watch at times.

The Girl on the Train aims to be the film Hawkins fans hoped for and set Blunt up for a worthy Oscar nomination but the film disappoints in failing to improve upon the already-brilliant book. The film promised to be an unnerving portrait of recollection and distrust as ruin, but then it opts for madness and implausibility. Unlike David Fincher's Gone Girl, another missing persons movie that unearths its horrors with far greater feeling, the film lingers on the surface.

Simon says The Girl on the Train receives:

Also, see my review for Get on Up.

Film Review: "13th" (2016).

"From slave to criminal with one amendment." This is 13th. This documentary by director Ava DuVernay. In this thought-provoking documentary, scholars, activists and politicians analyze the criminalization of African Americans and the U.S. prison boom.

The film explores the "intersection of race, justice, and mass incarceration in the United States;" it is titled after the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, adopted in 1865, which abolished slavery throughout the United States and ended involuntary servitude except as a punishment for conviction of a crime. DuVernay contends that slavery has been perpetuated since the end of the American Civil War through criminalizing behavior and enabling police to arrest poor freedmen and force them to work for the state under convict leasing; suppression of African Americans by disenfranchisement, lynchings and Jim Crow; politicians declaring a war on drugs that weigh more heavily on minority communities and, by the late 20th century, mass incarceration of people of color in the United States. She examines the prison-industrial complex and the emerging detention-industrial complex, discussing how much money is being made by corporations from such incarcerations.

Fueled by a gripping testimonies, 13th draws inspiration and dramatic power from the lives and deaths of many African-Americans – but doesn't ignore how far we remain from the ideals their fights embodied. The film is an important history lesson that never feels like a lecture. Once school is back in session, every junior high school class in America should take a field trip to see this movie. At its best, DuVernay's biographical film honors those who fought for equal rights and were oppressed by documenting the racist brutality that spurred many African-Americans to action. Even if you think you know what's coming, the film hums with suspense and surprise. Packed with incident and overflowing with fascinating characters, it is a triumph of efficient, emphatic cinematic storytelling. In bringing together the personal, the political, and the historic, DuVernay has crafted a film that will be remembered and studied for years to come. The film offers not only a superbly-realized presentation of a particular series of events, but also a sense of what it meant to live through the historical period in question. As director, DuVernay employs a style of storytelling that makes it possible for audiences to find the film engrossing, entertaining, and educational. In a time where dedicated activists are speaking their own truths to leaders who are often even less responsive, movies such as Selma feel more essential than ever. The film's cultural significance is critical and will inevitably permeate all conversations about the film. As a reviewer, I must stress that its cinematic value speaks for itself, even when you swipe away the context of today's struggles. The film serves as a pointed and poignant riposte to our current historical moment. It's an important film about an important story. It deserves to be seen, shared, discussed, and, like the events it depicts, never forgotten. With 13th, director DuVernay has created a stirring, often thrilling, uncannily timely drama that works on several levels at once.

Simon says 13th receives:

Also, see my review for Selma.

Film Review: "Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children" (2016).

"Stay peculiar", which is what Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children encourages. This dark fantasy adventure film directed by Tim Burton and written by Jane Goldman, based on the novel of the same name by Ransom Riggs. When Jacob discovers clues to a mystery that spans different worlds and times, he finds a magical place known as Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. But the mystery and danger deepen as he gets to know the residents and learns about their special powers... and their powerful enemies. Ultimately, Jacob discovers that only his own special "peculiarity" can save his new friends.

In May 2011, the film rights to the 2011 novel were sold to 20th Century Fox. Chernin Entertainment also signed on to produce the film. In November, Deadline.com reported that Tim Burton was in talks to direct the film. In December, Jane Goldman was reportedly hired to adapt the story as a screenplay for the film, while Burton was not confirmed yet. In July 2014, Eva Green was set to play the title role. In September 2014, it was announced that Asa Butterfield was being eyed for the lead role. In November 2014, Ella Purnell was in final talks to join the film. In February 2015, Samuel L. Jackson was added to the cast to play Barron, a character made for the film. By March 2015, Terence Stamp, Chris O'Dowd, Rupert Everett, Kim Dickens, and Judi Dench were announced as being in the cast. Filming was initially set to begin in August 2014 in London. In February 2015, Principal photography began in the Tampa Bay Area. Tampa Bay Times revealed that some parts of the film were being shot in London. Filming lasted for two weeks in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, in the Florida area. It is the second Tim Burton film to be shot in the Tampa Bay area, the first being Edward Scissorhands in 1989. Production of the film later moved to Cornwalland, Blackpool in the UK, and Brasschaat, a municipality close to Antwerpen (Antwerp), Belgium. The movie was originally scheduled to be released on March 4 2016, but it was changed to Christmas 2016, then changed once again to September 30 2016.

The film stars Eva Green, Asa Butterfield, Chris O'Dowd, Allison Janney, Rupert Everett, Terence Stamp, Ella Purnell, Judi Dench and Samuel L. Jackson. The cast gave peculiar performances, and maybe Burton's best cast in years. Kudos goes to Green, O'Dowd, Janney, Everett, Stamp, Dench and Jackson who gave solid performances. Butterfield, Purnell and the other children gave unique performances, even though, at times, had dry moments.

Darker to most family movie fair, Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children is for people who like their family fair visually appealing and dark. The film is a clever, smart fantasy that targets the outsider inside every one of us. It's Burton's richly entertaining adaptation is one of his best films in years. A film that is just as comic, beautiful and haunting as its source material.

Simon says Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children receives:

Also, see my review for Big Eyes.