Marathon Man (1976)

A taut thriller starring Dustin Hoffman, Lawrence Olivier, and Roy Scheider, directed by John Schlesinger, Marathon Man is a twisted, suspenseful experience until it cops out right at the end. Hoffman plays a graduate student who haphazardly gets caught up in the scheme of one of the last remaining and most ruthless Nazi fugitives, Christian Szell (Olivier)--and that's all I can tell you. The film is effective at providing loose threads and keeping them loose until the revelatory moment hits you and it all comes together. It's not that the film is cryptic--it was pretty easy to see where the film was going--it's just that you don't know how. There are also one or two logical points that don't quite work. Either way, it was a pleasure to see it play out. The film production is a bit rough around the edges, but it works in its favor. Tightly woven, slightly sadistic, and fascinating, I enjoyed the film fully until the very end. I found out later that the cop-out ending was forced by Dustin Hoffman. It's a shame they never filmed the original ending because from the summary, it looks like it would have been a far more satisfying and believable conclusion.

7/10

Sphere (1998)

A solid sci-fi effort starring Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone, and Samuel L Jackson. Unfortunately, while the premise is interesting and the first 3/4 of the film are entertaining, Sphere peters out in the end with a lackluster and disappointing climax. Once the film starts its attempt to wrap itself up, it devolves into ridiculous camp moments like an idiotic struggle through the "maze of the human mind."

6/10. Read the book instead.