This is one crazy movie! Crazy criminals, and crazy cops. It's a tale of cops and robbers, two gangs just as brutal, the cops are split into fractions, one led by a real psychotic bastard, whereas the criminals (though mostly psychotic) are led by a much more level-headed leader, though don't get me wrong - there's plenty of brutality on both sides. The thief's won't think twice about killing a cops. The cops in this movie don't either.

There's no right or wrong, there's survival, madness, a relentless chase and a tale of vengeance and fate. What starts off as an elaborate bank robbery soon turns into a personal vendetta and massacre.

It's gritty, explicit and real in a way most action movies aren't. If that's a good thing or not can be debatable, but it never gets dull. If you've seen Killing Zoe you know the type!

 rated 4/5: fo shizzle

Compared to 1994 movie The Shadow, which is really quite similar, this one doesn't seem to have received that well a reception. Maybe it's because it doesn't take place in New York (though I don't see why that would be other than a benefit - pretty much all other superhero movies do), maybe because the plot isn't as brutal and sinister, maybe because the main character is considerably sassier than Alex Baldwin (he's still a good actor though!), maybe because the damsel in distress isn't an airhead in this one?

I don't know what factors in, but I'm here to raise the reputation of this movie once and for all. Because I liked it.

Compared to The Shadow there are plenty of similarities. Both Shadow and Phantom are mortal beings, they both look alike, they both don't like being seen, they both have a legend surrounding them, they both have a group of people that help them out and keep them up-to-date on what's going on in their jungle (one of these jungles is metaphorical) and, contrary to tradition in the case of The Phantom, they both take place in New York.

What the Phantom has that the previous doesn't, is realism, and much better actors, and a much more diverse setting, spanning countries as well as locations (well OK, the former had that too, but it was just a flashback!). They both have romance and action, but what about a chase on horse in New York? Well I admit the samurai in the previous one were pretty cool, but the Sing brotherhood are pretty cool too.

Man I don't know why I'm trying to prove a point by comparison... the purple suit isn't that cool, true, but unlike the former there's not a boring moment in this one. There's no maniacal laughter. There's no zoom-in on the cold glare and hold-camera-for-five-minutes. It's fast, varied, reminds me a bit of Indiana Jones aaand... well it's a great movie it's all. If you like action and adventure, an you don't think a purple suit's going to ruin it, this is a recommended watch.

And the comics are a recommended read too, but that's another post...

 rated 4/5: fo shizzle

The Shadow tells the story of an unlikely superhero, a man known as Lamont Cranston, a man with a dark history, a bandit, a villain living out in a far-away desert landscape, when he is one day taken to a temple and schooled by a mysterious Buddhist (judging by appearance) monk in the strength of his mind and given a fate to do good. So, he returns to his place of birth... which just so happens to be New York City, and there he does as good as he can, hiding in the shadows, saving people (and then using them as informants), laughing maniacally at bad guys, staring at them with that cold glare you see above... doing pretty good, until suddenly one day the last descendant of Genghis Khan decides to knock on his door, tell him he's a great admire of the old Lamont Cranston (the evil alter-ego) and that he'd like to rule the world together.

The Shadow politely declines.

And after that, well of course things go sour. There's battle, there's a nuclear bomb (also worth noting is this movie supposedly takes place before the atomic split was conceived - in script that is - so it's really something out of the ordinary), there are traps and plots and schemes for world domination, and at the end of it... I feel like they wanted too much, it's just not as down to Earth as movies from the same era, detailing other superhero struggles like... The Phantom (I'll be reviewing that one next). At the time I'm sure it was awesome, which my sister seems to attest to, but I'm not sure it stands up to the test of time.

Not to say it's a bad movie, but that maniacal laughter, that beautiful but slightly air-headed dame that accompanies the main character and apparently shares some form of mental bond, that zoomed in glare that the camera holds in focus for just a few seconds too long, the a bit silly fist fights, the ahead-of-their-time spacial digital effects that are now of the past... it bends the intensity a bit. On the other hand the sceneries are great, Alex Baldwin is great, it's fun seeing how New York (supposedly) looked back in the 20s or 30s and the mailing tube system through which all informants sent their messages was entertaining gadgetry... the details play roles, the beginning comes back full circle. There's great potential for a great movie, but I feel it doesn't play out all its aces. Amongst other superhero movies it's a forgotten gem, left in the shadow. And it's for a reason.

 rated 3/5: not bad

A drunk, epileptic, veteran captain gets command of a rather special sub, the last diesel-driven sub in the Russian fleet. That's how it starts, simple - but when a couple of mysterious passengers appear on the dock as they're about to depart, and even more so when the commander and old friend of the recently mentioned captain shoots himself in the head as they set sail err... engines, you know there's something about to go terribly wrong.

It starts off as a reconnaissance mission, but soon it's about starting a war. The crew is divided in fractions, the captain has dreams or hallucinations, gets an epileptic attack, sees grotesque visions that might be past or future, or neither, it's not certain... and for a while I was expecting it to turn to horror, to gore and terror, but that's not the turn it takes. You never do see the twists coming, but do they ever... and why do all submarine movies have to be so... sad?!

The phantom itself (from which the title is derived) is a morphing device, a device of camouflage that lets a submarine pass as any other submarine, as any nationality and any size. It's a brand new technology to be used in what is originally planned to be a test run, but... yeah you already know things don't go as they should.

One interesting thing about this movie is how the actors are all American, playing roles of Russians, about to launch an attack on Americans. It's an internal feud seen from the other side, so to speak, with good result. The actors all do a great job, and I recognize plenty of them though I haven't memorized their names. Good movie.

 rated 3/5: not bad

True Grit is, apart from being a movie with the same name as a much older movie... that I have yet to watch, a Western depicting the story of a fourteen year young girl on her adventurous quest to, together with a quarreling old Marshall and a young Texas Ranger, find the man who killed her father and have him hanged.

For a fourteen year old, shes a very convicted (not to mention convincing) young gal, and though these two men at first refuse to take her with them, they eventually realize they have no choice. The adventure is at times not very eventful, at times very eventful, and the whole movie plays out at a steady, somewhat slow, yet surprisingly not at all boring pace.

All the way until the end it's a pretty normal Western, with plenty of interesting characters, action, drama, tension... but that all changes when they actually reach the villain and she chooses to shoot him dead, which causes her to fall back from the recoil, get bitten by a snake and loose one arm. Which in turn is probably what keeps her from getting married, and makes her what young folks like to call a bitter widow (or something like that). When the chase is over, the epilogue begins, the more emotional part of the movie, and I don't know... maybe I'd rather they left that part out. Without it, I'd be much more satisfied over how it all ends. Though it's a good watch regardless, good Westerns are rare in modern-day, best savor them when there's opportunity for it.

 rated 3/5: not bad

KUNG FURY is an over-the-top action comedy written and directed by David Sandberg. The movie features: arcade-robots, dinosaurs, nazis, vikings, norse gods, mutants and a super kung fu-cop called Kung Fury, all wrapped up in an 80s style action packed adventure.

Another awesome Kickstarter project popped up, a modern-day rendition of all that was great with the action-packed eighties... it's like a dream come true! :D Check it out. Best thing about it is that it'll be free for everyone, and it's already been pledged so you don't even need to do anything (unless you want to see it as a feature film, but a million dollars... well that's an excessive stretch goal)!

Would've been awesome if they'd made this Kickstarter to fund a trip to the real, live, Miami, to add some reality in the mix, because even if it looks real I have some kind of built in dislike for all things CG.

One of the main reasons I like old martial arts movies so much is because they're so much realer than what's made now. The stunts were real. Some times even the fights were real, they hurt for real... even if they did use a plethora of tricks (like soft shoes, flour, empty boxes...) to cushion hits and falls.

It was the pinnacle of the movie era IMHO, but I'm looking forward to this all the same. 300's proven that you don't need real sceneries to make a really good movie. This is going to be on edge, so here's my promo and pledge.