Reel Critics:

Brian Helgeland has writing credits on Oscar winners “LA Confidential” and “Mystic River.” Director Tony Scott is no stranger to tension-filled stories, with “Man on Fire” and “Crimson Tide” on his list. Together they team up to invigorate the hostage plot drama with a tight remake of the 1974 urban thriller “The Taking of Pelham 123.”

Great casting finishes the work that needs to be done. John Travolta is at his bad boy best as an ex-con seeking violent revenge. He plays a stockbroker sent to prison accused of defrauding a New York city pension fund. Now he wants to be paid for his years in jail by hijacking a subway train full of innocent commuters for a $10-million ransom.

Denzel Washington is the soft-spoken transit dispatcher on duty when the ransom demand is made. He becomes the unwilling negotiator in the crisis. He quietly plays the perfect counterpoint to the bad guys as they begin to execute passengers.

John Turturro as a police expert and James Gandolfini as the mayor of the city are excellent in their supporting roles. It may be a formula film, but the sharp skills of all involved keep it riveting to the end.

Japanese film rich with nuance, insight, humor

“Departures” was this year’s surprise Oscar winner for Best Foreign Film. It has finally come to the OC and is not to be missed, but be prepared to shed some tears.

Daigo (Masahiro Moruki) is a young cellist in need of a job after a Tokyo symphony orchestra goes bankrupt. He and his wife move to the country, where he responds to an ad for a well-paying position dealing with “departures,” not realizing it was a misprint and should have read “the departed.”

Daigo learns he is to assist Mr. Sasaki (Tsutomu Yamazaki) in the dignified ritual of preparing bodies for burial, performed in front of the bereaved family. What follows is a fascinating glimpse into Japanese culture that is profoundly moving on many levels and also with a sense of humor.

“Departures” deals with death, yes, but also with the joys life has to offer as well as its sorrows.

We witness how differently families handle their grief — some with deep pain, others with joy and thanks for the life that has been shared with them. Some see death not as the end, but as a mere gateway to better things.

The performances, especially by Moruki and Ryoko Kirosue as his lovely wife, Mika, are finely nuanced. This is a very simply and beautifully told story on a subject that touches us all.

JOHN DEPKO is a Costa Mesa resident and a senior investigator for the Orange County public defender’s office. SUSANNE PEREZ lives in Costa Mesa and is an executive assistant for a financial services company.