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A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Wednesday 16 OctOber 2019
In 'Mistress of Evil,' Maleficent plays mom

By JAKE COYLE presence on the screen for in the first place: Jo-
Associated Press these days, slid into the role lie and Pfeiffer glowering
For a moment, "Malefi- so perfectly, dominating at each other. But all the
cent: Mistress of Evil" seems all around her with Norma necessary buildup to the
poised to turn into a won- Desmond command and clash (including Chiwetel
derful take on "Father of cheekbones that could Ejiofor as among an exiled
the Bride" only with fangs slice your throat. group of winged creatures
and wings. The character had its roots called the dark fey) robs us
Princess Aurora (Elle Fan- in those '50s melodrama of enough screen time with
ning), the beauty who es- stars; Marc Davis, anima- Jolie's Maleficent.
caped the curse of sleep, tor of the 1959 Disney film, The plot in "Maleficent"
merrily accepts the pro- also sculpted Cruella de Vil. drew largely from its inven-
posal of Prince Phillip (Harris And in teaming Jolie with tive redemption of a classic
This image released by Disney shows Angelina Jolie as Malefi- Dickinson), a marriage that the equally potent Pfeiffer, Disney villain. But it didn't
cent in a scene from "Maleficent: Mistress of Evil."
Associated Press could unite the fairy and whose queen quickly turns really follow through on the
human worlds. Aurora cau- into Maleficent's bitter foe, possibilities of fairy tale re-
tiously asks if Maleficent "Mistress of Evil" had the po- visionism. It simply offered
(Angelina Jolie), her now- tential of summoning the up another villain (Aurora's
redeemed fairy godmoth- intoxicating stuff of Joan father King Stefan), just as
er, might go with her to Crawford and Bette Davis. "Mistress of Evil" does with
meet the parents: Queen But the movie, with its dastardly Queen Ingrith.
Ingrith (Michelle Pfeiffer) Joachim Rønning ("Pirates A better film would have
and King John (Robert of the Caribbean: Dead kept playing with inverted
Lindsay). It's so much fun Men Tell No Tales") taking archetypes.
watching Maleficent pre- over for Robert Stromberg, What saves "Mistress of Evil"
pare for the meeting by overcomplicates itself. In- from a worse fate, in the
practicing such basic cor- stead of aiming for the el- end, is Fanning. Aurora,
dialities as smiling and small emental simplicity of a fairy like many of Fanning's per-
talk that it's hard not to wish tale, "Mistress of Evil" fills it- formances, is a welcome
the movie sees the fear- self with the politics and dash of naturalism amid all
some sorceress through the detail of the fairy-human the CGI action. She's such
entire battery of wedding struggle, building inevita- an innocent and whole-
planning. Maleficent at a bly to a PG-friendly war some young bride, though,
bridal shower. Maleficent between Queen Ingrith's that perhaps she's ripe for
choosing the table settings. army and the magical spir- reconsideration, too. Next
Sadly, such fun is not to its of the Moors, spread out time, maybe Beauty breaks
be had in "Mistress of Evil," across impressively vast bad.
a needless sequel to the computer-generated pal- "Maleficent: Mistress of
2014 "Sleeping Beauty" riff ace grounds. Evil," a Walt Disney Co. re-
that fails to fully value the It's starting to seem like ev- lease, is rated PG by the
entire of appeal of these ery franchise film, when in Motion Picture Association
films: Jolie's Maleficent. The search of a story, throws a of America for intense se-
first movie, a box-office hit, battle against the wall and quences of fantasy action/
was a mess but its star at- hopes something sticks. violence and brief scary
traction was the one thing Not only has this gotten images. Running time: 118
it had going for it. Jolie, an tiresome, but it also sacri- minutes. Two stars out of
unfortunately infrequent fices what we came here four.q

Houston, Notorious B.I.G. nominated for

rock hall of fame

NEW YORK (AP) — The Cleveland, Ohio. mercial recording. Hous-
late musical icons Whitney Nine Inch Nails, Judas ton has been eligible for
Houston and the Notori- Priest, Rufus featuring Cha- nearly a decade: Her self-
ous B.I.G. are among the ka Khan, Depeche Mode, titled debut album was re-
16 acts nominated for the Kraftwerk, MC5 and Todd leased in 1985. The six-time
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's Rundgren round out the Grammy winner is one of
2020 class. 16 nominees for the 2020 the greatest singers of all-
The prestigious organiza- class. The official inductees time, known for hits like "The
tion announced Tuesday will be announced in Janu- Greatest Love of All," ''I Will
that Dave Matthews Band, ary. Each year, between Always Love You" and "I
Motorhead, Pat Benatar, five and seven acts usually Wanna Dance With Some-
Soundgarden, The Doo- make it into the Rock Hall body." She died in 2012.
bie Brothers, T.Rex and following a vote by 1,000 B.I.G., born Christopher
Thin Lizzy join Houston and people, including perform- Wallace, released his de-
B.I.G. as first-time Rock Hall ers, music historians and but album, "Ready to Die,"
nominees. The 35th annual industry experts. Fans are in 1994. He was shot to
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame able to vote online. death in 1997, 16 days be-
Induction Ceremony will Acts are eligible for in- fore the release of his soph-
take place on May 2, 2020, duction 25 years after the omore album, "Life After
at the Public Auditorium in release of their first com- Death."q