Reviews

A very different "horror" story, more a diabolical Home Alone combined with The Omen.

Unable to get a loan to open a diner, an ex-con lets a friend persuade him into a kidnapping. He and the others soon discover their victim isn't what he appears to be and disaster follows.

This movie is filled with familiar faces, even if the audience won't be able to put names to a good many of them. It seems a great many TV series are represented, with Josh Holloway from Lost leading the way. Blake Underwood, as David, is a fantastic little actor, handling the adult dialogue the kidnap "victim" delivers with just the proper menace and unnerving stares. It'll be interesting to see what this youngster does if he continues as a actor after becoming an adult, for his portrayal of David is eerie.

No mention is made of why David is the way he is or exactly what he is, though there is a climactic scene toward the end of the movie in which it's disclosed he's already killed his father and nanny. A little background would've been good though it isn't necessary for the story other than giving some explanation to the audience.

There are a few shock moments, making one jump, and more than enough psychological moments as when Roxanne is trapped in a shower with a wolf sniffing outside the open bathroom door.

All in all, an expected good shocker of a psychological drama.

Having seen The Lego Movie, I expected this to be similar but found it to be a more serious rendition of the Batman tale, and probably nothing like the more recent Batman Lego Movie which I've yet to see. Beginning with the titles sequence in Legos copying the opening of the live-action Batman the Movie, and the use of the Batman and Superman themes from those films, the intent is immediately obvious that the story is going to proceed along those lines and not the more lighthearted and satirical tones of the latter.

There are some amusing moments, however, in the depiction of the characters. Unlike the adult Robin portrayed in the live-actor movies, Robin is here a youngster, impatient to join in the mayhem while Batman continually forces him into the background. He also sleeps with a teddy bear.

It's an enjoyable movie and the Lego constructs are interesting, and it definitely opens the way for the later, more ambition presentations.

This was to be the first episode of a Dean Koontz-written series which, unfortunately, never was made and instead became a series of novels. Having owned a copy of the novel, I think it was a pity the series never happened. AS scripted, it's more a police procedural than a horror story, with tendrils of horror. This time, Frankenstein is called Helios and he's still searching for the perfect creature but now has a network of his creations, some living almost normal lives but still tied to him. The arrival in New Orleans of his original creation, now called Deucalion, and a series of gruesome murders bring together the creature and the police detective investigating. The tone is dark but compelling, the characters equally so. Helios is handsome, cold, and prepared to sacrifice even the wife he loves (and created) when she proves imperfect.

The acting is good, the premise intriguing. Unfortunately, it stops just when things gets really interesting and the promise of answers to questions in the form of the next movie never materializes. It's too bad the series never was made because if it held to the precepts of the pilot and the novel, it would've been great.

This movie was viewed as a rental DVD and no remuneration was involved in the writing of this review.

Perhaps some critics didn't like this movie because it didn't have a big message or any heart-rending scenes to move us to tears. NO pathos, no earth-shattering drama. The whole thing is pretty low-key, but funny. In fact, I haven't laughed out loud so much at a movie since seeing Minions.

The story isn't so much. It's been done numerous times. Man is changed in something else to witness how his life is affecting his family/job/co-workers/then changed back to himself as he experiences a transformation of his ways.

The blue-eyed long hair is the star of the show with everything left by the wayside as our hero tried to get himself back into human form in time to save his company and his son from what he believes is self-destruction, little knowing the son has his own plans for saving his company from being sold from under him.

The fun in this one is watching the cat go through the process. Granted a good portion of it is CGI effects, but nevertheless, it's laugh-out-loud time. Kevin Spacey's voice-overs don't hurt. Chrisopher Walken is superb as usual in the "cat whispered" role, offering just a ouch of eeriness. Robbie Amell as the under-appreciated son is well-played as well as underestimated.

Loved it!

While this movie is well-filmed and well-acted, it's so confusing and non-Western it's an oddity.

While the performances are good and well-acted, with some people-you-love-to-hate performances are delivered by Harrelson and others, the characters themselves, with the exception of Alice Braga, are mostly clichés. There's really not much background on the who and why. The dialogue is an odd combination of declaratory literate speech and modern idioms.

The film is slow-moving in some areas, almost leisurely in its pacing. By and large, it's a good movie, but one that will leave some dissatisfaction in the way the ending seems unfinished, tapering off into nothing.

While this movie had its moments...and there were some jolts along the way...it left too many questions unanswered. The plot is typical...young family buys old house, young wife with problems begins to hear,see,sense, things, physical death or mental mayhem ensues.

Though the acting is good, the story never really goes anywhere. It focuses mainly on the wife, leaving everyone else as mere walk-ons--and there are a lot of recognizable faces in this one. So much more could've been done with any of the supporting roles...the market owner, the town librarian, the carpenter...but they merely appear a few times, adding their own bit of sinister-ness, then that's it, though in the case of the carpenter, one wonders what actually happened. No matter, it's never mentioned again by anyone, not even when he doesn't show up to finish the work he was hired to do.

For animal lovers, there's a nice bit by a white Persian cat but he doesn't last long and again, there's no further mention of him. Also for animals lovers, you won't like that part.

It kind of boils down to a "Turn of the Screw" plot. Are the ghosts real or part of the wife's' own guilt? Is she acting out her grief or being forced to do what she does? Instead of giving us answers, we're left...literally. Why isn't the husband more understanding? Why did they move from New York to North Carolina in the first place? They couldn't find somewhere closer to run to? And the locale is completely wasted since the audience never gets to know much about the town or the people except for those walk-ins. There's no interaction...no explanations, no rationalizations, just...the story stops, perhaps it ended up on the cutting room floor Good plot, good acting, spooky atmosphere and Gerald McRaney in a very different type of role though effective, but none of it helps. This story is good up to a point but nothing goes past that point.

NOTE: Reading some of the other reviews posted here definitely answered a few of the questions I had while watching the film.

I hope the novel moved faster than the movie. The plot was a good one and the ending a twist with plenty of characters to consider as the "villain" until the real one is revealed, but it was so S*L*O*W*. In places, the continuity seemed as wobbly as Rachel's drunken gait, and I got so very tired of seeing close-ups of her wide-eyed, stricken face. Eventually, I simply found myself wondering when the whole thing would be over.

The plot: Rachel (no "girl" by any means), on a train commute fantasizes about a couple she sees everyday as she passes her old neighborhood, with memories of her broken marriage mixed in. The couple seem very much in love so when she see the wife on her balcony appearing to kiss another man, she feels it's her duty to tell the husband. Shortly afterward, the wife goes missing and Rachel tries to discover what actually happened as she struggles to piece together her memory of that night as well as other fragments of her life.

There are plenty of questions left unanswered in this story, mainly: If Rachel lost her job a year before, how can she afford to buy all those train tickets, much less anything else? The acting is good by all, and the twists and turns unexpected, with one character after another being set up in Rachel's faulty memory as the murderer. Everyone seems transitory, however, being merely popping in to become more factors in her confusion.

If there had been some way to speed up the action a bit, this movie would've be, while not enjoyable, at least entertaining. I watched this movie from a DVD but I don't think seeing it on the big screen would've made a difference. As it was, my initial reply, when asked about it, is: "Tiring."

The usual plot, ingenious escapes, and explosions but nothing new in the way of plot. That doesn't make it dull, however.

This time, Bishop, the most dangerous hit man in the world, is living in the South Seas, believing he's at last left his past behind. He's blackmailed into leaving "retirement" to do three kills...Of course he does it, with plenty of fisticuffs, acrobatic skills, and...oh yes...explosions.

The most spectacular of the three concerns a cantilevered glass-bottomed swimming pool suspended off the side of a skyscraper.

Really there's nothing new because we know Bishop's going to prevail. Watching him do it is the entertainment.

The best part, aside from those explosions and hair-breadth escapes, is Tommy Lee Jones's cameo, late in the film, complete with two earrings and a millennium patch. His role is played devilishly but is too short. His on screen time was wasted since he was barely a threat.

Entertaining and well-played, but so familiar Statham could've done it in his sleep. 9 out of 10 for the beautiful scenery and how Statham looks in a wet suit...and the swimming pool scene.

Having seen all the others films in this series, I felt this one was a big disappointment. The acting and effects are good but definitely not the script. Though it was a novelty having an entire cast stay together long enough to make this many movies, and seeing a montage in which they age, this, as the final film in the franchise, went out not with a band nor a whimper, but simply...went. With all the switches from one dimension to another, soon the audience is apt to soon be as confused as Reggie.

No explanation was ever given in any of the movies for why all this was happening and it isn't given here, the little speeches of "loyalty" which should really read "friendship" notwithstanding. Although the actors do a credible job, and the special effects are well-done, along with brief glimpses of black humor, the plot is a confusing mess leaving nothing but disappointment in its wake. This movie doesn't tie up any loose threads or offer any explanations. Technically, it's not even a final entry since the story merely stops...with an open ending which could conceivably herald another episode, if the "Tall Man" himself, Angus Scrimm, were going to be around. Once wonder if perhaps since this film was dedicated to his memory, everyone thought it would be too difficult to replace someone fitting that role so aptly.

Whatever the reasons, I felt it was time wasted and was left with the feeling the spirit as well as the fright of the original film had long since fled.

Although this film is a prequel so having not seen this original, it's better to start with this one. Set in 1967 Los Angeles, the story moves so leisurely one can imagine the movie audience fidgeting impatiently for the "action" to start. It's slow, true, but the tension does build, and the things little Doris spies through the planchette's glass are only given in tantalizing glimpses. The usual "shock" scene of something thrust into the viewer's face as she peers through the glass is absent, perhaps making its actual appearance even scarier.

The story: A widow supporting herself and her two children by giving seances, is shocked to learn her youngest daughter has contacted her dead father through a Ouija board. When the child finds money, saying her father told her where to find it so they can pay off a foreclosure, the mother gets the idea of having the girl help her with her seances and give actual readings to clients. She keeps the child out of school to do readings and it's surprising no one investigates this since the priest who runs the school is very aware. Things go from there to worse when something not her father's spirit invades the child.

There are so many moment in which the expected horrific images are given chances to appear and those are ignored, using Doris to convey them, which makes the action even more frightening.

All in all, the absence of ghostly presences, with most of the spectral action conveyed through the child makes it even more frightening., though I had hoped for the father's spirit to perhaps intervene a bit. Indeed, he does little more than appear a couple of times, perhaps not being strong enough to fight the true evil lurking in the house.

Anyone who's seen the original movie knows how this is going to end, but it's still frightening when it does.

Good, low-key performances by all, with a truly eerie one by the child actress portraying, who carries the story.

This DVD was viewed as a rental and no remuneration was involved in the writing of this review.

Knowing nothing of the Final Fantasy game or the plot, I rented this DVD specifically because of the intriguing preview. I wasn't aware if each was part of a single far-reaching story or a standalone film. Though this one seemed a mere episode, with very little explanation and a negligible individual plot, I found this snippet intriguing. I also was confused of the relationship between the characters in the prologue and this was never really explained. Those who follow the story probably had no such problem. One irritating point throughout was the way scenes would fade to black with several seconds of blank space between scenes. I also thought the presence of very contemporary-looking cars, as well as hollow-point bullets in the weapons to be a little anachronistic set alongside the monsters and magic.

What mainly impressed me, however, was the animation, which is...fantastic! To date, my viewing of live-action animations using computer graphics has been limited to three films, and this is the best one yet. It doesn't take much to accept that these characters are real actors and not computer graphic images. In spite of the fact they sometimes moved faster than an actual human could and performed impossible feats, they did look real. With only two exceptions, they appear lifelike. Lip movement and mouth shape was synced perfectly with the words being spoken. Where usually the features on these kind of images are bland, on these the detail, from wrinkles and expressions to individual strands of hair is near-perfect. Only the eyes gave away their artificiality. Though they moved and blinked, there was still a certain glassy, unfocused quality about them, as if the artists neglected them and instead concentrated on the faces.

One character was a little disconcerting--and disturbing--the Tom Baker Dr. Who-lookalike Neflheim councilor. With his big floppy hat and long muffler, he seemed completely out of place among the flowing robes and slightly medieval garb of the other characters, making me wonder if this was a tongue-in-cheek homage.

This was an entertaining film. Since it was an episode instead of a complete story, it did made me wish I'd come in at the beginning. I'm now intrigued enough to look up the others.

This remake of the 1972 Charles Bronson film of the same name appears at first like a typical Jason Statham film...lots of action and violence. It's only after it gets a bit into the film that the differences emerge, when the hit man agrees to train his mentors aimless and vengeance-bent son. The speed with which the youngster accepts a killing routine is a little surprising, making one wonder if he's more aware of what happened to his father than he lets on. Because of this, one fully expects a confrontation and showdown between the two and dreads the outcome.

There's little of the usual Statham tongue-in-cheek, for he portrays this character as ice-cold and utterly alone, except for one wistful moment when he's tempted by a waterfront friend to buy a boat he has for sale and simply fail away. Because of that, one wonders why he tolerates his "trainee's" divergence from the way their kills are set up, each one bringing the deaths, previously going unnoticed or classed as accident, into the public eye with devastating attention.

Here's where the twists come in, making this a bit different and an enjoyable film.

This film was viewed as a DVD rental and no remuneration was involved in the writing of this review.

From the minute the written explanation comes on the screen, accented by a flaring orchestral accompaniment, my thought was...this sounds like a Wagnerian opera. Indeed the music score does contain a good bit of Wagner's score. While I love the story of Arthur and his knights, I found myself dissatisfied with this rendition.

Based on Malory's Morte d'Arthur, the dialogue often sounds stilted, even for such a period piece. Most is delivered in a manner better suited to Shakespeare's blank verse. The actors sound as if they are on a stage declaiming to an audience. The sequence of events is mostly episodic,Where more action is needed, the scene simply fades to black.

With his odd accent and weirdly accented syllables,Apparently he's the comic relief of this dark piece.

There's epic splendor, beautiful scenery and the costumes, and the armor, look authentic. Giving a tint of green, the color of magic to various men and objects lends a touch of supernatural aura to the entire story.

This movie has its moments and it was enjoyable, but...it needed something, perhaps more fleshing-out of the script instead of merely following a basic outline of a well-known story.

This movie is owned by me and no remuneration was involved in the writing of this review.

Sherlock is made more human in this one and not simply the dispassionate thinking machine portrayed by others while Dr.Watson gets very physical, in brawls and street chases.

Downey is good as Holmes, showing his selfish, somewhat petulant side--at Watson's coming marriage--as well as the usual brilliant observations about those around him. He rushes in where the police fear to tread and his casual insults to Lestrade are done in such a way the bumbling Scotland Yard man doesn't even seem to notice, pointing out his ineptitude. Irene Adler's place in Holmes' life is really built up in this one, though the real story between the two seems to have been more his admiration of her intellect and the fact she was one of the few people ever to best him, than a physical one. Nevertheless, it's fun, with a great villain and a secret society determined to bring down the government.

Placing the story in its actual time period makes this one of the better Sherlock Holmes adaptations. There are great panoramic vistas of Victorian London, so vast they have to be partially paintings.

Throw in a touch of the supernatural, some great effects, a dash of humor, a couple of explosions, and what's not to like?

This isn't a horror movie, it's a war movie, with an ape incidental to the plot...and it ends the way we've always wanted this particular movie to end. (I hope this isn't considered a SPOILER)

Beginning with the opening credits, displayed in a unique and original style setting the stage and explaining the plot while rapidly spanning from 1944 to 1973 as the cast is shown, the story leaps directly into the action, without all the talky exposition, while the end credits promise Things to Come. This is not only an exciting action adventure flick, but also a beautifully photographed film. Part of it is reminiscent of the WW2 movie A Walk in the Sun, and there will be many pointing out a resemblance in tone to Apocalypse Now.

There were characters I hoped would survive and regretted when they didn't. A good many of them play against type, which is refreshing. Juxtaposition of some shots foreshadow later scenes. The parallels between scenes of Col. Packard and Kong in body language isn't to be missed and definitely points out these two characters' relationship.

AS for the monsters themselves...original, imaginative, and definitely deadly. (Loved the giant water buffalo, by the way.) Beautiful scenery and creative filming, with unusual camera angles aren't to be missed. If I were asked,I'd nominate the cinematographer as well as the special effects people for Oscars. Having seen ALL the Kong films, from the original to the Jack Black version (which I also like in spite of critics views to ebb contrary), I easily give this one 10/10.

Formulaic plot: In olden times, boy loves girl, boy becomes vampire, boy loses girl, then finds her centuries later. She's now in love with someone else and... take it from there. This premise still makes sense, but when applied to the story that follows, it crumbles rapidly. The heroine is so vapidly naive, it's laughable. No one, even someone supposedly raised in a convent school as the heroine was, could be THAT unaware. There are nude sex scenes--lesbian, menage a quartre, orgy--making this soft-soft core but that's about all it has going for it.

There's little of the usual blood and gore of a vampire film--the vampires chews, rather than merely bites--and not much of anything else except the titillation of the nudity. Other than that it seems to have had a heavy dose of apathy.

A disappointment and a waste of talent and viewer time...but it did make me nod off so I saved on sedatives.

Three young people break into the house of a man who received a huge settlement in an automobile accident case. During the robbery, they discover he's blind...but that doesn't keep him from being a formidable foe...and something else no one is aware of.

The twists come soon enough as they discover the ex-soldier hasn't let a little thing like blindness make him helpless but the big shocker is what is discovered in his basement...and enough said about that without this becoming a spoiler. The new development could've been a movie of its own.

This is a tense film with some good acting bits though most of it is performed in near-darkness and not so much dialogue. This one is chilling, scary, shocking, and disquieting because it's really two stories in one.

This is not to be confused with the TV series, but is an excellent SciFi film.

The entire movie is formulaic and we know what's going to happen right up to the end, but since it's well-scripted, that doesn't matter. At first, Jim Cavaziel looks a bit out of place at first but the audience, as well as he, settles into the part.

The scenery is beautiful. One can almost feel the clean, crisp air coming from that snow-capped mountain. The sets and costumes authentic-looking (except for all those shaven heads.)

All in all, this is a very good movie, well-acted, authentically costumed. Too bad a couple of the clichés couldn't have been ignored, which might have called for a sequel. It's also too bad it didn't get a wider distribution in theaters.

Though this movie gets immediately into the plot, it moves rather leisurely after that. The first scene,very obviously a painting, shows this is London. There's nothing to set up the premise except that Storage 224 is somewhere on the outskirts, and a plane has crashed in the city cutting off power.

Cue the ominous music.

Once we get all the characters introduced and the dialogue out of the way, what action there is starts and it consists mostly of crawling through ducts into various units. There's a smart bit in which they break into another unit looking for weapons and find children's toys and the monster is distracted by an animated toy dog which barks and walks. The dog is used in another interesting way later on.

There's a surprisingly lack of gore and the "monster" isn't particularly horrendous in comparison to some. We've seen those interlocking jaws many times before.

This story's more about the character and ingenuity of those locked inside the building. It's well acted after the required introduction of the characters is done, and there are some familiar faces...Noel Clarke, who stars and produced, was in some Dr. Who seasons, Colin O'Donoghue has played "Captain Hook" on Once Upon a Time for several seasons.

This is an enjoyable film which won't give you nightmares but might evoke a few discussions about some of the characters and scenes. Just don't expect "Alien" or "Predator" or anything of that grandiose ilk and you'll be fine.

An entertaining movie which seems shorter than it actually is, and is fairly mild as this genre goes, it has the feel of a TV pilot or first episode of a series, kind of expository in nature, as if there should be more to come.

There's nothing new or innovative in this film. It's formulaic from beginning to end. With few exceptions, those going to die and what comes afterward are as clear as an outline.

Though well-acted by a veteran cast, the movie is at times episodic-appearing, fading to a flashback and back again in such a way the viewer may think at first it's part of the current scene. The "Movie in the Park" is also intershot with the first chase scene, confusing the action. To further confound things, there are two voice-overs, a narrator and Jami.

When grisly death occurs, it's surprisingly lacking in gore. Killings are shown in shadow or silhouette, as long shots, or the camera pans away at a strategic moment. Most of the famous "trombone knifing" scene concentrates on the killer's face.

One very good and imaginative shot is from above a corn field, showing the killer going in one direction while his victim crawls on hands and knees in the opposite, their paths clearly delineated in artistic patterns by trampled cornstalks.

The best things going for this film are its sometimes creative cinematography, and the fact that characters usually not killed, are, in this one.

I liked it but...

There was too much detracting from what could've been a good story. Perhaps too many characters. When there's a large cast, it's difficult to give each player enough screen time so much of it had to be condensed into a few moments voice-over and a brief scene of his/her origin.

They say you can't tell the layers without a program but in this one, even with the explanation of who everyone is, it's never clear why they're doing what they're doing. This is a movie in which the bad guys are bad and the good guys badder, but the so-called villains have their own set of morals while the good guys have none. (Naturally the ruthless are the ones in power.) While I liked the characters, the plot...was there really one? Since this was supposed to (apparently) be after the story in which Superman is killed, these characters are "recruited" to take his place. Having nowhere seen or heard of a movie about that event--did I miss it? Does it exist?--the viewers are subjected to a brief shot of a funeral cortege as explanation, and that's all.

The plot is confusing. Muddled would be a kind way to describe it. It seems to go in one direction, then abruptly switch to another. The "mission" is said to be one thing, it quickly deteriorates into something else, though exactly what isn't clear, except that the Witch is involved. Adding to the confusion, there are flashbacks inserted in such a way they seem part of the action until they dissolve back into the present. Frankly, I'd liked to have seen more of the Joker. He seemed the most "sane" part of the story, and that's saying an ironic lot.

While the various members of the suicide squad are good and the brief explanations of their backstories helpful, though Deadshot's is the only one explored in true depth, this movie was a disappointment because it seemed aimless, merely an excuse for explosive special effects and merely introducing characters, as if a "trial run" to see how audiences accepted them, perhaps in preparation for a movie with a true plot in which they again star.

Score 8 stars for characterization; it would've been 10 if there had been some reason in all this chaos.

This movie was viewed as a rental DVD and no remuneration was involved in the writing of this review.

Having never seen Key & Peele, I wasn't certain how this movie was going to play out but the appeal of the kitten in the previews made me risk renting it.

This movie is so funny! It's definitely a satire on the gangsta films and it is hilarious.

The premise is simple: Keanu is a kitten owned by a drug dealer who gets killed first thing. He's adopted by a goof-off and is subsequently kidnapped by the hit men who killed the original owner. Owner #2 with his cousin set out to find Keanu.

Though our heroes are great, with perfect comedic timing, the kitten is the real star of the show. It's amazing how something so frail and fragile-looking (he probably doesn't weigh a pound) can carry a movie. The whole idea is ridiculous but the cast carried it off nicely with a happy ending for all.

I had never heard of this film until I saw it as a "Coming Attractions" tacked onto another DVD I rented.

This fantasy definitely shows the directorial hand of Terry Gwilliam in the acting as well as the sets. That makes it difficult to summarize, so I'm thankful so many others already have...and in detail, too. There's a bit of Faust...and a whole lotta Monty Python in the mix.

The entire cast is a good one, doing justice to their roles, and the acting frenetic and fast-paced. It's good to see Verne Troyer in something besides his Mini-Me role. The sets are pure Monty Pythonesque...indeed the entire story is like a dream—not necessarily a bad one, though occasionally clutching at the borders of the nightmarish—definitely one which seems to make sense at the time but upon wakening, can't be described with any coherency. Since Heath Ledger died during filming and was replaced by Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, and Jude Law, that line of demarcation is sadly easy to note…about a third into the film. The way the replacement is done is clever and the audience will accept it easily, however.

All in all, an entertaining film, clever, frenetic, whimsical, though bordering on indescribable in the graphics of its plot. It's a pity it didn't get more publicity and exposure.

Be warned...this is a film which needs to be seen several times to thoroughly understand and enjoy it all. The costumes, the subplots, the dialogue...there's simply too much to savor for one viewing.

This DVD was viewed as a rental and no remuneration was involved in the writing of this review.

A remake of an American remake of a Japanese film, this tale of a disparate band of desperados hired by a small town to defend them from a mining baron. Good acting where needed though action is more the forte, but not overdone considering the premise of the story.

Denzel Washington at his laconic best, Chris Pratt, in his usual cocky youngster role, Vincent D'Onfrio unrecognizable behind a mountain man exterior, Eathan Hawke as a war-weary Creole Civil War sniper…and two new faces join the group.

There's a good music score though viewers have to wait until the credits for the opening strains of the very recognizable "Magnificent Seven" theme.

Having seen the original remake of 'Seven Samurai, I can say this one is good as they come.

I loved listening to "The Shadow" on the radio and I liked the serial starring Victory Jory (and I'm now showing my age, aren't I?) I LOVED this movie! I can't say how many times I've seen it...in the theater, as a VHS and now on DVD.

Great sets, just surreal enough to give that "comic book" air but not enough to be ridiculous, the designs and costumes catch the era perfectly from the Bauhaus phantom hotel to the image of the Shadow on the staircase, cape swirling around him, pistols at the ready.

There's catchy dialogue and the cinematic work/editing exceptional. Alec Baldwin is perfect as the "Arrow Shirt Man" hero, though I wish they'd managed to show a little more of Lamont's pre-Shadow life. As far as I'm concerned, everyone was perfectly cast for their roles, from Baldwin on down to Tim Curry.

I have no idea why this didn't do better at the box office than it did, unless it's because few of the younger generation of the viewing audience weren't aware of who and what the Shadow was. Too bad, for they missed an very entertaining film. Their loss.

My only wish: That there had been a sequel.