Phantom (2009) Review

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(More customer reviews)Kit Walker has come of age but before he can take up the challenge of becoming the 21st Phantom, his adoptive parents have to bite the dust.... The PHANTOM saga continues in this almost 3 hour two-part television mini-series movie with Ryan Carnes playing the legend. Compared to the long history of dozens of Tarzan films, it has always seemed a Hollywood anomly that the Phantom had to date only rated ONE serial, ONE feature film and an animated TV series. Finally we are treated to another visualisation of the GHOST WHO WALKS legend, but a somewhat disappointing one at that. A pity that lessons of the past still seem to not have been learned. Pause for a moment to consider another film legend - The Lone Ranger who has appeared in a couple of serials, a long running TV series and several movie adventures. The original TV episodes with Clayton Moore are fondly remembered and his two cinema adventures remain very popular with fans especially the first Lone Ranger film which was almost non-stop action with our hero besting the bad guys but only after Tonto was almost strung up and the Lone Ranger had recovered from being shot. I mention this because many years later Hollywood tried to revive the legend with an updated Lone Ranger film that was a third of the way through it before our hero appeared in his traditional blue outfit accompanied by the unforgettable strains of the William Tell Overture allowing fans to finally stamp their feet with approval. But at the end of the day, fans berated the producers for a boring film with far too much delay before our hero appeared. Fast forward to the current Phantom adventure. Guess what - our hero does not appear in full uniform and chasing the bad guys until part 2 - YES - THAT'S NOT TILL AN HOUR AND A HALF INTO THIS PRODUCTION !!! (Yawn, yawn, yawn.) The Billy Zane Phantom film was originally panned for its comic strip production values but is now very fondly remembered for being a fun and faithful rendition of the comic strip hero we have come to admire. The new PHANTOM fails to generate any of the excitement captured in that film. The new story is quite boring and when the bad guys open fire, none of them think to take aim at the Phantom's lower face which is the one body part not protected by his new kevlar body suit. Overall, the best that can be said is that it's great to see the Phantom on the screen again but this half hearted resurrection will do nothing to enhance the legend and the expected luke warm response to this product is unlikely to encourage film producers to invest in a more worthy film adaptation. To give this an A rating, the A will have to be defined as AVERAGE. And as for the new uniform, we watch movies to be entertained. I for one, would much rather see an entertaining movie set in the 30's to 50's with the Phantom suited up in the traditional Billy Zane style costume than this new and almost unrecognisable version of a present day hero in a sad and confused drug fuelled modern setting. Yes, the new Phantom goes through all the motions but is he entertaining?

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Chris Moore (Ryan Carnes) is an urban daredevil who gets his kicks from racing across rooftops. When a secret organization approaches him with proof that he is actually the son of a legendary international crime fighter called The Phantom, he is thrust into a world he never knew existed- a world of exotic islands, secret lairs and a heritage that borders on royalty. Re-imagined and re-loaded, the classic superhero is upgraded for the 21st century with a new, state-of-the-art costume and a newly formed rivalry against some of the most techno-savvy villains to ever terrorize the world! It's explosive action and nonstop adventure from start to finish as The Phantom comes to life.

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The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice (2008) Review

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(More customer reviews)- An outraged Flynn Carsen (on having his tuxedo shirt ripped during a sword duel): "This is rented!"
- His urbane (yet evil) opponent: "Of course it is."
It's always a guilty pleasure catching up with the Librarian, whose job is to guard history's secret relics and treasures, some of these magical in nature and all stowed away in the hidden chambers of the Metropolitan Library of New York. Flynn Carsen is sort of like a modern-day Indiana Jones, except that he's awkward and plenty nerdy. But Flynn does keep his wits about him, and, after years of holding down the Librarian gig, he now boasts experience and smidgens of confidence. This current Librarian may fumble about some, but it's always fun seeing how he'll get out of whatever scrape.
The more things change... The movie opens with Flynn at a posh event applying the finishing touches to his tuxedo. He then navigates down a stairway, sips champagne, and then does a spit take with the champagne. Which goes to show that, even after all this time, Flynn Carsen is still refreshingly hapless. But, after this latest escapade, which climaxes in a sword fight, Flynn Carsen is officially burnt out (his girlfriend dumping him has something to do with it). Back at the library, by virtue of sheer grousing, he gets himself some time off and ends up flying to New Orleans, all gigged out in bow tie and panama hat. So, as they say in the Big Easy, laissez les bon temps roullez.
Or not. The holiday rapidly turns into a desperate relic hunt, with Flynn taking on ex-KGB agents, voodoo magic, and the undead. Along the way, he partners up with a mysterious chanteuse to rescue a kidnapped scientist. The relic in question is the rumored Judas Chalice, of which origin dates back to Judas Iscariot and his 30 pieces of silver. The chalice reeks of malice but holds the brew that is true - that is, if you're a vampire in need of resurrecting. And, since those ex-KGB agents have unearthed the coffin of Vlad Dracul, you can see where this is going.
What I like best about TNT's Librarian series is that it's not at all pretentious. It wallows in its unabashed cheesiness and farce, even as it hunkers down with a pretty good adventure story. THE LIBRARIAN: CURSE OF THE JUDAS CHALICE is the third in the series, and it doesn't disappoint its fans. Hokey fun, mythical artifacts, indecipherable manuscripts, supernatural villains, and a likable, nebbish, talky hero (even the bad guys complain of his always talking in paragraphs). By now, Noah Wyle's got his part down cold. The neat thing about his character is that he can do something heroic but, then, subsequently have the rug pulled out from under him. And, when this happens, he's so damn good-natured about it.
Flynn has had a hard time keeping his lady loves. First Nicole (Sonya Walger), then Emily Davenport (Gabrielle Anwar). This time out, Wyle's romantic interest is exotic Stana Katic, who plays bluesy singer Simone Renoir with femme fatale nuances. Maybe she's a keeper. Or not. Meanwhile, Jane Curtin and Bob Newhart (at his stammering best) are again solidly on board as the museum directors.
I never thought I'd ever say this, but I had a better time with THE LIBRARIAN: CURSE OF THE JUDAS CHALICE than with that last Indiana Jones flick. This movie, like its predecessors (The Librarian - Quest for the Spear & The Librarian - Return to King Solomon's Mines) are tongue-in-cheek throwbacks to those high adventure pictures churned out back in the 1930s, '40s and '50s. I don't think I'm reaching that much when I say that even the score here is rousing enough that it actually reminded me of those Errol Flynn swashbucklers. But, of course, Flynn Carsen is no Errol Flynn. Errol doesn't know the Dewey Decimal System.

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Noah Wyle (TV's ER) is back as Flynn Carson, along with Bob Newhart (Elf) and Jane Curtin (Coneheads), in the most thrilling adventure in The Librarian series yet! On a deadly mission to recover the historic Judas Chalice, Flynn is saved by - and falls in love with - Simone, a dazzling French woman who harbors a terrifying secret. But when double-crossed by a respected professor (Bruce Davison - X-Men, X2) and ambushed by a ruthless gang, Flynn realizes Simone's secret, his true mission and a shocking discovery are all lying within a decaying New Orleans crypt?a crypt that may be holding Prince Vlad Dracul, whom the world has feared for centuries.

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J. Edgar Hoover and the Great American Inquisitions (2001) Review

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(More customer reviews)There is nothing wrong with this documentary as a documentary. It's just that Hoover and the tactics he favored were so awful, unfair, shady, and unjust that I couldn't leave this work in a good mood.
This work consistently proved how conniving Hoover was. Still, it took more than luck to work under eight presidents. Unlike fellow red-baiter Senator McCarthy, Hoover did not have a downfall. The work highlights his bad acts, but is upfront in saying, "America let this man rise to power and stay there." It repeats that the government has at times overstepped its boundaries since the Sedition Acts of the second president. Sometimes homophobic people are the first to shout out, "J. Edgar Hoover was gay!" This work does not fall into that. One interviewee quickly says, "Hoover and Tolson were rumored to be lovers" and then the subject is not brought up again. Sources on the Internet say Hoover will his estate to Tolson and Tolson chose to be buried next to Hoover.
This work has diverse interviewees in terms of race and gender. A few interviewees had classical, Japanese art work behind them. I'm not sure if the documentary makers planned that as a background motif or not.
I do wonder if young students will get bored watching so much old black-and-white footage. Perhaps teachers showing this work could remind viewers that the controversy surrounding Hoover's tactics have similarities to the controversies surrounding the Patriot Act of this decade.

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This scathing documentary chronicles the career of J. Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI for more than 40 years. His lifelong obsession with communists that began with the "Red Scare" of the early 1920s and manifested itself into a mission hell-bent on eradicating anyone suspected of engaging in anti-American activities, be they actors, politicians or protest groups. A masterful propagandist, Hoover took every opportunity given him to create a public atmosphere of outsider paranoia – and his fears ran deep. By the time of his death in 1972, Hoover’s FBI had compiled thousands of individual secret files and completed countless illegal operations.

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