Slam Evil - A Look Back On 'The Phantom' (1996)

In the first of a series I shall be calling ‘Defenders of the Crap’, Phil Gee will be taking you on a wild journey through his DVD collection to explore some of the piss poor movies he owns but, for some reason known only to himself, is very fond of.

I’d like to think I have good taste in film folks. I think I know a good film when I see it. I don’t waste my money on any old crap. But I do spend it on films like ‘The Phantom’. Why you ask?

Because ‘The Phantom’ has a lot to recommend it. It’s a film with heart, some wonderfully witty and warm performances, likeable and interesting good guys, a horrible bad guy you can’t wait to see get killed, incredible production design that brings 1930’s New York City to life as if it leapt from a pulp novel of the actual period, jungles, scary caves, evil pirate lairs, and the only time in my life where I’ve found Billy Zane remotely likeable.

Are you sold yet? Ok, I don’t blame you. I said Billy Zane and you ran away. Let me try harder.

For those not familiar with the story, I’ll fill you in. Actually, it bears mentioning (in one of many unique moments this film has) that the film literally opens with the words “for those that came in late”. It feels like a nice way of addressing people not familiar with the Phantom (and if he hadn’t been in that cartoon show ‘Defenders of the Earth’, I wouldn’t either) but we are immediately distracted by the fact that this caption has appeared in the opening ten second mark of the film. How the hell have we missed anything? Does the Paramount Pictures logo contain the secret origin of the Phantom?

Anyway, the Phantom is essentially a costumed do-gooder who lives in the mystical jungles of Bengalla, marooned there after pirates of the Singh Brotherhood kill his father and takes that typical “I swear to fight evil and defend the helpless” kind of oath. The catch with the Phantom is his mantle is passed down from father to son allowing him to continue his fight through the centuries and since the pirates he fights are idiots, they all assume it’s the same guy which earns him the title ‘the ghost who walks’. The film takes place in 1938 and involves Kit Walker, the 21^st Phantom’s efforts to track down the skulls of Tuganda which, when joined together, create the ultimate weapon, and stop them falling into the hands of the current Singh Brotherhood and Howard Hughes.

Oh yes, I said Howard Hughes, In the film he goes by the nom de plume of Xander Drax (possible relation to Hugo, I’m not sure) but watch him as he grabs his hat and coat, heads for his private plane and proclaims “we’re going to the Devil’s Vortex” and tell me it’s not Hughes. You remember me mentioning Drax as a ‘horrible’ bad guy? I meant horrible as in horribly performed, by none other than Treat Williams, who made ‘Deep Rising’ not long after this (as Kevin Smith says, “in Hollywood you just sort of fail upwards”). I can see what Williams was probably trying to do with the character; play him so calmly and laidback that it becomes much more scary when he’s using spears and booby trapped microscopes to kill lackeys. But the guy just comes off as the most laidback, almost effeminate villain in comic book movie history. He makes Judd Nelson in ‘Steel’ look like Alan Rickman. The Joker wouldn’t even waste a pencil on Xander Drax. He sucks.

So the plot is complete bollocks and the villain is completely non-threatening. ‘The Phantom’ is doing well isn’t it?

What holds the film together in-between the superlative moments of weirdness ( more on those is a second), is Billy Zane. I’ll will go on record and say that Billy Zane is bloody awesome in this film as the title character. His Phantom is like a potpourri of some of our favourite cinematic heroes. He has the gentlemanly nature of Christopher Reeve’s Superman, the physique of Batman without the rubber suit (they actually made a rubber moulded suite for Zane but he was so ribbed that he didn’t need it), and the humanity and swagger of Indiana Jones. You like Zane from the second he appears on screen and you completely forget the absurdity of a man fighting pirates in broad daylight, in a most green environment, in an all purple suit........

.....ok, maybe you don’t but I do.

What makes the film most watchable to me though , are the truly bizarre moments of witty dialogue peppered throughout the film. Rather than try and do any of them justice in this article (which would require effort), I present them to you here through the magic of YouTube. I did make this collection by the way, so I have put some effort into this:-

Till next time everyone, SLAM EVIL.

Batman 3 Ready for 2011?

Michael Uslan's really been in the news lately.

First the producer's long-in-development Shazam! was declared DOA by it's screenwriter John August (only for Uslan to turn around and deny all claims!)

Then last week, he was giving MTV details on The Shadow.

And now in a nice little piece in The Courier Post chronicling his career, Uslan gave tiny tidbits on the currently-untitled sequel to Batman Begins and The Dark Knight - we're all just calling it Batman 3 for the time being:

Uslan will be onboard as executive producer for the "Dark Knight" sequel, which he estimates will be theaters by 2011. As for the identity of the next round of Batman's supervillains and love interests, Uslan remains tight-lipped. "It's one of those deals where if I told you, I'd have to kill you," he says with a chuckle.

Although Warner Brothers has yet to even officially announce Batman 3, everyone was assuming we'd be looking at a release around 2011/2012.

So this news shouldn't strike anyone as surprising.

TMT's Movie Moan: Episode 2

My pleasure to once again introduce Movie Moan on TMT featuring creator Phil Gee and the TMT co-owner Jamie Williams.

TMT's Movie Moan: Episode 2

MovieMoan - The Original Series Episode 1: The Golden Compass

 

Hello everyone on the interweb and warm greetings from Phil Gee, the creator (and copywright owner;)) of 'MovieMoan'.

MovieMoan started back in November 2007 when, after several people who heard me call in to another live movie punditry show, bugged me to do one of my own.

I did, by myself, it sucked, I took drastic steps.......

.....I got Jamie Williams.

From the first show we did together, live on the Nowlive network, Jamie and I formed an immediate bond which carried us through a whole year of live shows before the technical problems we were having to deal with forced us to let it go.  Fortunately for me, by this time, Jamie and Peter had invited me to be a part of this fine website and I eagerly accepted.  Now I arrive with the promise of trying my best to make 'thinkmcflythink.com' stand out amongst the huge number of movie news sites out there.

To that end, I decided to take our old shows and do a George Lucas special edition on them by visual 'YouTube' enhancement goodness.

What you are about to see is the first discussion Jamie and I ever had on 'MovieMoan', henceforth known as 'the original series' (with 'the next generation' currently being broadcast on this very site every week); a review of the fantasy epic 'The Golden Compass':-

Charlie's Angels 3 "Percolating"

Drew Barrymore has been talking to E Online! about a potential 3rd Charlie's Angels movie, while promoting her new comedy 'He's just not that into you'.

The actress said:

"I'm so into it, I'm so into it—Charlie's Angels III!, They're hard movies to make, but they're fun."

Her Flower Films producing partner Nancy Juvonen added: "It's percolating up, It's rising to the surface."

I wonder if her two co-stars are as enthusiastic, cetainly Lucy Lui will be I'd imagine as she has never had more exposure than with the prior 2 movies.

 
Another big question is will McG be back ? I highly doubt it, 'Terminator Salvation' is his ticket to ascend as a director, I don't see him going back to his much maligned cinematic roots if he comes out the other side of 'Terminator Salvation' with a renewed reputation.

Personally I agreed with McG's philosophy that the movies were "Pop a wheelie" films, yes they were lightweight and brash, but the TV show they were based off was also cheesy and more about pop culture than anything, the movies were simply a modern take using the same template, a third movie isn't exactly something I care about as the second was overkill on the approach, however a third that is closer to the first could be good fun and there is nothing wrong with that.

"Torso" In Trouble

Despite it having David Fincher at the helm and the likes of Matt Damon, Casey Affleck and Rachel McAdams attached, Paramount has opted to let the film rights of the graphic novel Torso expire.

The project, which has since been re-titled Ness, has been in development at the studio since early 2006 and Fincher (coming off the success of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) has been keen to get rolling on the production.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Paramount is considering re-obtaining the rights from the graphic novel's creators.

Considering that money is tight for everyone right now and Fincher's last two productions (2007's under-rated Zodiac and Button) were insanely-expensive endeavors, I can certainly sympathize with the studio on this decision.

Mind you, I'm also disappointed by this development because this was actually a project I was looking forward to.

Of course, there is also the chance that another studio could opt to pick up the film-rights if negotiations between Paramount and Brian Michael Bendis & Mark Andreyko (the creators of said graphic novel) go sour.

Update on Fri, January 23, 2009 by Rob Hunter

Like Jamie I find this news disappointing but understand the rising costs and subsequent low returns of Fincher's latest works. However this is his genre and combined with the star power of Damon and the fact Ness is an American icon, I am sure another big studio will take the project on.

Which studio is most likely though ? I am not connected nor an expert but WB seems a good fit to me, they are really getting behind ambitious projects, like the big bankrolls and creative freedoms they gave movies such as TDK, Blood Diamond and Terminator Salvation. Fincher budgeted 'Ness' at North of $100M but I think he can make it pay off for both the studio and film fans.

Zombie's Second Shot With "The Shape"

H2, sequel to Rob Zombie’s 2007 remake of John Carpenter’s terrifying classic, Halloween, is stirring up quite a lot of curiosity in the horror community. Much of the buzz is probably due to the claims of H2 being an entirely original concept, rather than a remake of Rick Rosenthal’s original sequel.

Zombie discussed the film with friend and fellow filmmaker, Tim Sullivan. He said the movie will focus on the Laurie Strode character and her “journey in the aftermath of what is an incredibly horrible way to figure out who she is,” as opposed to the first film’s focus, Michael Meyers. “[The film] takes place over some time, but it starts that night and then essentially, I mean… the first one, Laurie has no idea what just happened. But then she wakes up the next day and someone’s going, 'Oh by the way, your parents are dead. All your friends are dead. And actually, your brother is uh, Charles Manson,’” says Zombie, “she’s not the happy-go-lucky girl, now she’s [a] very fucked up famous person, trying to make sense of this.”

Most of the principal cast - at least the ones who survived the first film - will be returning for the sequel, including Scout-Taylor Compton, Tyler Mane and Danielle Harris. Zombie is pretty sure Malcolm McDowell will reprise his role as Dr. Samuel Loomis, but there has been no confirmation as of yet. If McDowell declines, Zombie stated he’ll “just not have the character, because [he thinks] it’d be too weird.”

Zombie talks more about H2, as well as the complications and restraints he encountered with it’s predecessor, in the full interview.

Now, just because Laurie is the center of attention this time around doesn’t mean we won’t get to see plenty of what makes (or made) Halloween so frightening - Michael Meyers. It’s been confirmed in a few minor role casting sides that Michael will still be lurking around Haddonfield, gruesomely murdering cops and horny teens. And he’ll don the same dirty mask while doing so. Only this time, there’s a small addition to the mask (shown right) which speculators say explains Meyers’ survival of the seemingly-fatal shot to the head at the end of Rob Zombie’s Halloween - a small bullet hole on the right cheek of the mask.

I admit, I’m slightly excited about this flick. Not because I am a fan of Zombie’s first take on the Boogeyman, but because of the freedom and material he has to work with to create something that could potentially be unique and new. My main gripe with his Halloween was the tiring and humanizing origin of what was, in the original, “The Shape” - a soulless, evil monster. Now, I know, it was supposed to be different… what reason, other than change, would merit a “reimagining” of a nearly-flawless classic? But Zombie essentially removed what made Meyers so terrifying by subjecting us to what seemed like hours of a young, slightly-demented boy being tormented by his ridiculously dysfunctional family and middle school bullies, almost as if he wanted us to sympathize with the knife-wielding maniac. Not only that, but it took time away from the fairly decent present day portion of the film. With the origin now out of the way, though, Zombie now has time to do more of what he did right in the first, while also having the elbow room to tell his own story. And I think that may be just what the franchise needs.

H2 is set to release in theaters on August 28th, 2009.

Wolverine Reshoots: More Deadpool ?

IESB is reporting that the reshoots that recently took place in Vancouver for the troubled 'Wolverine' movie mostly involved Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, as new scenes were filmed featuring their respective characters. What these scenes entailed, whether they were dialogue or action based, or indeed both, is not known.

Deadpool was one of the big disappointments for many when footage first appeared online, the fact he was without his trademark suit and mask was a big downer for fans, basically it was Ryan Reynolds in a red tank top and red combat pants.

Harry Knowles has said he has heard that the success of TDK has influenced these reshoots, perhaps letting Gaivng Hood realize his original vision. However I am still very unsure on this movie, I get the feeling we will get a really jumbled mess that will show frustrating potential that suffered from early neutering and "too little too late" fixes.

Wolverine opens on May 1st.

Mike Mignola Joining "The Hobbit" Production

I'm actually surprised at how much director Guillermo del Toro, Peter Jackson & Co. have kept The Hobbit and the currently untitled Lord of the Rings "bridge" film under-wraps.

Now, I say that in a good way. It's actually fun to ponder what's going on down in Middle-Earth (aka New Zealand where the films are currently being prepped!)

With that in mind, del Toro revealed to MTV that his buddy (and HellBoy creator) Mike Mignola will soon come aboard the productions in the designing departments.

Considering their past collaborations, it'll be interesting to see what del Toro and Mignola think up...

"The Shadow" Updates from Producer Uslan

"Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?"

Apparently, Michael Uslan knows.

The producer behind properties ranging from the Batman and National Treasure film-series is now working on a new film version of The Shadow.

And as he reveals to the MTV Movies Blog:

"I think the one thing going in is we all see The Shadow as more of a force of nature than a specific person in a secret identity. The Shadow may actually be many people.

We’ve gone back to the pulp roots, the comic book roots of The Shadow, with a dash of the radio roots. But we’ve deeply ensconced ourselves in the world of pulps and comics."

Uslan also confirms the project is set up over at Sony for him and Sam Raimi to produce. Presumably, this would be after the oft-rumored Spider-Man 4 - which Raimi may or may not helm.

And the idea of having multiple actors as the title character (in one film, no less) is a concept intriguing enough that I'm game to see!