Tom Hanks Movie Review: ****Angels and Demons (2009)

 This is a sequel to The Davinci Code with Tom Hanks again as Robert Langdon.  In this movie you are unsure who are the good guys and who the bad until the very end.  It appears the Illuminati are seeking revenge on the Catholic church.  They have kidnapped four cardinals with the intent to murder them every hour until they do their ultimate deed of blowing up the Vatican.  They have stolen antimatter to make this possible.  This brings in the scientist Vittoria Vetra (Ayelet Zurer) who is trying to recover the lost antimatter and disarm it if possible.  It is a time of change as the Pope has died, and the cardinals are in conclave.  In the meantime Camerlengo Patrick McKenna (Ewan McGregor) is in charge of the Vatican.  They follow the clues to each of the first three cardinal locations, but always a bit late.  The fourth they are able to save.  

The bomb is set to go off, but Camerlengo flies in in a helicopter up above the populace in St. Peters Square.  It explodes and he returns to earth in a parachute.  The Cardinals want to reward him for his heroism, and call him to the conclave, where everything turns on its head.

I enj9yed this movie more than Da Vinci Code.  It is again directed by Ron Howard. 

Movie Review: Ben Hur (2016)

The 2016 version of this story has many things to be liked.  The replay of the Chariot race is again the high light, and it is very intense.  However it lacks the hubs sticking out which rip the spokes of the other racers.  It does have considerable peril.  This movie also lacks the part where Judas Ben Hur saves the Roman consul, so he comes back to Israel not as a Roman citizen, but as an outlaw,  for whom his benefactor makes arrangements for his  release, if he wins the race.
Morgan Freeman places the benefactor, Ilderim, Jack Huston plays Ben-Hur, Toby Kebell his adopted brother and nemesis, Messala, Nazanin Boniadi Ben-Hur's wife, Ayelet Zurer Ben-Hur's mother and Sofia Black D'Elia his sister,
The redemption scene at the end of this movie, I do not remember from the original movie; however it is well done.  After being enemies for so many years, Judah and his adoptive brother make amends, and the go off with Ilderim, along with the rest of the family.  They are going to tour others circuses to  race chariots.