Inferno (2016) film review

Year: 2016
Running Time: 121 minutes
Director: Ron Howard
Writers: Dan Brown (based on the novel by), David Koepp (screenplay)
Cast: Tom Hanks, Felicity Jones, Ben Foster, Irrfan Khan, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Omar Sy, Ana Ularu

Inferno is now showing and is distributed in Australia by Sony Pictures.

Dan Brown's fast-paced suspense novels that typically tread a fine line between fact and fiction almost beg to be adapted into screenplays. So why aren't they working so well on the big screen when they are so popular among readers?

Inferno is just fine. Like the book of the same name, it follows the same pattern of those which have come before it...with a few minor differences. Robert Langdon (portrayed once again by Tom Hanks), the Professor of Religious Iconology and Symbology at Harvard University who has such a strong pull to dangerous situations, wakes up in a Florence hospital recovering from a gunshot wound with no recollection of how he arrived there or in the city. With the help of Dr Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones), Langdon attempts to solve the puzzle set out for him which heavily involves Dante's "Inferno", as well as trying to understand why his life is in danger thanks to those who are following his every footstep.

For The Da Vinci Code in 2006, the order of the day was over-expectation considering how astronomically successful the book was. Despite the film not being well-received by critics, it performed very well at the box office as all those who read the Dan Brown book flocked to see Ron Howard bring it to life. Much the same occurred with Angels and Demons in 2009, so why not bring Brown's sixth novel, Inferno to the screen?

Inferno is high paced and entertaining for the most part and intriguing enough to keep your attention for it's entirety. However, as stated before, the small details are not enough to make the film feel original by any means. Any reader of the Brown books and those who have seen both The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons, it is inevitable that there will be at least four twists in the story and these twists may be predictable in their occurrence, but the good news is they are still unforeseeable in nature.

And of course, there's a whole lot of facts about historic places and artefacts thrown in there as the books can often feel as though they are a regurgitation of a "Did you know?" history book. However, this is one of the reasons why people still do flock to see these films as it is like having a guided tour of such locations....with the tour guides constantly running from the bad guys. Florence and Venice are on show in exquisite fashion. If you are planning a holiday to these cities, than Inferno may work as a great tool for what to see with a whole set of trivia attached to it (as what The Da Vinci Code did for Paris and Angels and Demons for Rome). There are some truly beautiful landscape shots, but the depiction of Dante's "Inferno" on Earth is downright terrifying.

Tom Hanks is solid in his third outing as Robert Langdon. He gives a flawless performance of the character of Robert Langdon, which he has moulded to be his own over the past three films. Felicity Jones has bee given the job of portraying a character who is not particularly interesting until the last third of the film and as would be assumed, her performance hits it's stride at this time. One of the best things about Inferno is it's depiction of the "bad guys". The film correctly shows that most of the time in real life, the people who are perceived as being the enemies always believe that they are the good guys and are doing the right thing, as is shown here.

Inferno is entertaining, but is just another film in the now tired series of Dan Brown adaptations.

6.5/10

The Beatles: Eight Days A Week- The Touring Years (2016) film review

Year: 2016
Running Time: 106 minutes (+32 minute Shea Stadium concert footage exclusive to theatrical release)
Director: Ron Howard
Writer: Mark Monroe
Cast: Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, John Lennon (archival footage), George Harrison (archival footage), Whoopi Goldberg, Eddie Izzard, Larry Kane, Elvis Costello, Sigourney Weaver

The Beatles: Eight Days A Week- The Touring Years opens in Australian cinemas on September 16 2016 and is distributed by Studiocanal. Now showing in UK, France and Germany and opening in the USA on September 16.

Over the years, plenty has been written about the life and times of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr who are, of course, collectively known as The Beatles. Biographical details are not hard to find out about the Fab Four, but what The Beatles: Eight Days a Week- The Touring Years sets out to achieve is something which is not as greatly covered in any previously written or recorded material and is incredibly refreshing, informative and cheekily amusing.

For those who watch Eight Days a Week and were born post-1970, you come to the realisation sometime within the hour and a half that you really did miss out on something special by not being alive when The Beatles were together, especially when they were touring. Ron Howard's film documents both the actual act of The Beatles touring and the effect that they and their touring had on themselves as band members and the world. It highlights the amazing things which the cheeky and likable four did through use of recently found archival footage and interviews from people who saw them live so that we in 2016 can understand what made them so special.

During their 1963-1966 touring years, Beatles-mania hit the world like nothing anybody had ever experienced before. John, Paul, George and Ringo were four boys from working class Liverpool who people took into their hearts not just because of their catchy tunes, but also because they were four friends just doing what they love and were not afraid to show everyone how much fun they were having. During the political and racial tension that plagued the early 1960's, their music and live shows had the incredible power to bring people together despite their background. The story of The Beatles touring is an unexpected cultural narrative told through the eyes of people witnessed the phenomenon and were moved by it including Whoopi Goldberg and Kitty Oliver, as well as news reels from the time and archived interviews from the band members themselves.

However, for the four band members this was a huge burden to bear, especially with such an intense tour schedule. Interviews with the remaining Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr reveal how during the touring years they went from being boys to men very quickly and eventually they all started to feel the strain of being on the road and in the public eye constantly. The film doesn't look a great deal at how each band member individually felt and how they coped, rather how they dealt with it as a unit. The viewer empathizes with the band members by coming to understand how heavy their workload along with their touring schedule was and feels the stress and burden the band understandably felt. It then becomes evident why they changed their style so dramatically in the later years and decided to no longer perform live.

Eight Days a Week is without a doubt a must see for any Beatles fan. The film showcases pieces of live footage taken by Beatles fans from their shows that have never publicly been seen before. For those who weren't there, you feel as though this film is the closest you will get to the real thing with the vivid accounts by concert goers accompanied by the live footage. Eight Days a Week also does have a comical element to it because, as any Beatles fan will know, the boys loved to be playful and joke around. Of course, the legendary music is an obvious feature of the film and there are many Beatles tracks including "She Loves You", "Help" and "Eight Days a Week".

For those who are not fans of The Beatles and are not familiar with their background (which may be the case with members of the younger generation), Eight Days A Week will provide merely the basics about the band. This is something that people who know more about the band will be thankful for as it is original, but others will feel irritated by as it may be hard to enjoy the movie without knowing the finer details. Much of the Beatles story is left out of the film as it is assumed knowledge by the filmmakers. Yet, this isn't a real criticism as one can imagine the large majority of the people seeing the film will be Beatles fans or at least know something about them so this is a forgivable assumption.

The Beatles: Eight Days a Week- The Touring Years is incredibly unique as it looks at The Beatles and their story from a different angle. It focuses purely on one period of the band's history and explains how this stage of their existence affected the world and how the world affected them. It is a defining piece in their story, but also enjoyable for any music buff and Beatles lover.

8/10

In The Heart of The Sea (2015) film review

Year: 2015
Running Time: 122 minutes
Director: Ron Howard
Writers: Nathaniel Philbrick (book "In The Heart of The Sea: The Tragedy of The Whaleship Essex"), Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver (story), Charles Leavitt (story and screenplay)
Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Cillian Murphy, Brendan Gleeson, Ben Whishaw, Benjamin Walker, Tom Holland, Michelle Fairley, Paul Anderson, Frank Dillane

In The Heart of The Sea is now showing in Australian cinemas and is distributed by Roadshow Films. Opening in the United States December 11 and the United Kingdom December 26.

Ron Howard's ambitious tale of survival, In The Heart of The Sea is a visually stunning film that gives only momentary suspense, intrigue and emotion and when it does, it is more at the hands of the majestic sea creatures featured rather than their human counterparts.

Based on the incredible true story which inspired Herman Melville's classic novel "Moby Dick", In The Heart of the Sea is the recount of the disaster of the whaling ship, the Essex in 1820 as told by survivor, Tom Nickerson (Brendan Gleeson) to Melville (Ben Whishaw) many years after the event took place. Nickerson was just a young cabin boy when he was aboard the doomed ship that was captained by George Pollard (Benjamin Walker) who clashed with the First Mate being the more experienced shipman, Owen Chase (Chris Hemsworth). The Essex, which set out to retrieve whale oil, hears of a recently discovered whale hunting ground where they were sure to obtain more oil, but ignore the warnings of a monstrous, dangerous whale who is not intimidated at all by humans. The crew's voyage takes a disastrous turn upon meeting this mammal and then turns into a struggle for survival.

In The Heart of The Sea is a glorious film visually with wonderful special effects and breathtaking marine panoramas. The concept of bringing the story of the ill-fated Essex to the screen is an extremely ambitious project which could not have been achieved in a believable fashion until the right cinematic techniques were made available. The creation of the world beneath the surface is spectacular and brought to life with clean cut cinematography. It is the giants of the sea that are the true stars and highlight of the film. Despite being a product of CGI, one is entranced by the majestic nature of the beasts and feels greatly for them, including the "devil". This can make watching the characters participate in the act of whaling during the film rather distressing. The film itself does not glorify whaling, but rather presents it as an activity that was accepted as normal in order to obtain oil. Yet, this act does draw more emotion for the whales than for the crew of the Essex as they battle for survival.

The emotion felt for the humans of the story is rather weak in comparison to the whales. Their survival techniques are indeed tragic, but they are not felt on an emotional level and are merely just acknowledged by the viewer. The suspense in the film is rather sporadic and are reserved, once again, just for the scenes involving the whales. It is true that the ending of the film is known right from the start as Melville is interviewing a survivor, but this is not an adequate reason to lose it's sense of tension as many films with a known conclusion are able to hold tension for the majority of it's run time. The lapses in tension are also lapses in intrigue and this leads to the film feeling rather slow, especially during the opening scenes which make the film appear slow to get going.

It would seem that with In The Heart of The Sea, Howard directs the natural world better than he does his actors for the large part. Brendan Gleeson is the stand out as his character of the older Tom Nickerson evolves from being hostile and extremely guarded to opening up to Melville and believably releasin years of inner torment. While Chris Hemsworth is top billed, his performance can be described as just fine. He is solid, but it is not anything we haven't already seen from Hemsworth in previous films and does not break any ground for him as an actor. However, Hemsworth remains likable and a fine leading man. Cillian Murphy is very good, but does not have as much screen time as he should to make a proper impact in the film.

In The Heart of The Sea is a film that could have been made years ago had it not been for it's need for the specialised CGI and special effects that are present today. However, these features are truly the best things about the film and it's spectacular scenes with the whales will be what it s remembered for.

6/10