The Abominable Dr. Phibes

Directed by Robert Fuest, this B horror movie was released in 1971 and tells the story of a doctor, scientist, organist and biblical scholar, Dr. Anton Phibes, who seeks revenge on the nine doctors he holds responsible for his wife's death.

It stars Vincent Price as Dr. Phibes, Joseph Cotten as Dr. Vasalius, the chief doctor; and Peter Jeffrey as Inspector Trout. 

This is a pretty interesting movie. The plot isn't very original, but the way it's been developed makes it funny to watch and interesting. It reminds heavily to the Saw movies, and could have been an inspiration to that saga. 

Vincent Price is superb, and really creepy at parts. He has to relay heavily on the script and corporal movements to interpret Dr. Phibes as he hasn't facial expresion due to the fact that his face is actually a mask. 

Phibes lair is some high tech two leveled place, that imitates a restaurant in which he and his pretty asistant - where she comes from no one really knows - dance a little bit.

The beauty of this movie doesn't really realy on the coerence of the script, which has some mayor holes in it, but in the precision of every shot, the colors and the inventiveness whith which Phibes kills the nine doctors. 

The comic relieve comes with the police, who manages to always arrive a tad too late. Their comments and playfull banter is actually funny. 

ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES TRAILER

All in all the movie isn't as bad as it could have been for a B movie. The acting is good, the scenography beautiful and the script funny. Yet, don't try to make much sense of it. You won't be able to. 

Phantom of the Opera

This animated version of the Phantom of the Opera was directed in 1988 by Al Guest and Jean Mathieson and it stars Aiden Grenell, Collette Proctor and Daniel Reardon. 

It tells the story of Gaston Leroux's book of a opera singer who's torn between the man she loves and her tutor, a disfigured man who poses as her Angel of Music. 

Same old story. The good thing is that it quotes parts directly from the book. the bad things are pretty much everything else. The animation - the only reason I watched this - sucks big time. You can't really begin to imagine how much it sucks. The arms of the characters are generally too short and don't stop getting longer and shorter with each movement. The Phantom's movements are constant and get on one's nerves from minute one. I've only watched one thing worsely animated than this and it was Hercules - not to be confused with Hercules

The voice of the Phantom isn't bad, and the one of Raoul is pasable, but Christine's wailing pirce your brains. 

PHANTOM OF THE OPERA TRAILER

If you want to watch it, you can find it in youtube with Portuguese subs. 

Darkman

Directed in 1990 by Sam Raimi, this movie tells the story of Peyton Westlake, a hideously scarred scientist who seeks revenge against the crooks who made his lab explode. 

It stars Liam Neeson in the leading role, Frances McDorman as Peyton's girlfriend, Julie; and Colin Friels as their nemesis, Louis Strack Jr.

The plot isn't original at all, it's like your average "avenger-movie", the music is hardly worth mentioning and the dialogues are pasable. 

The acting is not bad. Liam Neeson is pretty credible and the evil guys are really evil. 

The camera work is rather original as are the editing and special effects. A little bit too psychedelic for my taste, but interesting and cool to look at. 

DARKMAN TRAILER

The best thing about this movie is the make up they used to make Liam Neeson's disfigurement. It's love it, it's one of the nasties I've seen, and it appears a lot of times in the movie.

Other than that there isn't much to say about the movie. It's worth checking int out if only for seeing the psychodelic editing, and the make up work. 

The Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge

Directed by Richard Friedman in 1989, this movie tells the story of Melody Austin, a young girl that starts working in a newly opened shopping mall and suspects that her dead boyfriend is still alive and haunting the mall.
Melody is played by Kari Whitman, Eric by Derek Ryndall and the handsome Peter Baldwin is played by Rob Estes.

As you can probably guess from the poster, this is also a Phantomy movie. I seem to be only reviewing phantom related movies lately. But well, nothing can be done now.

Phantom of the Mall is not a bad movie, which doesn't mean it's a good one either. It starts off pretty well with some nasty murder in a shadowy place, and a not badly ingeneered presentation of the characters.

Melody - the Christine of this movie - is portraited as a nice girl, still in love with her dead boyfriend. She's a hard, levelheaded worker, in oposition to her friend Suzie - played by Kimber Sissons - , who's more the impulsive type. They are also friends with a guy called Buzz - played by Pauly Shore - who's the comic relieve of the movie, playing stupid pranks on Suzie to get her to notice him. The Raoulesque character is Peter Baldwin, a reporter who takes an interest in Melody. Their relationship is hindered by the fact that Melody still thinks of her dead boyfriend and starts to think he's alive.
Eric - who is alive and hiding in the mall - stalks Melody through half the movie, which proves to be of some use for the main female character. He's been disfigured in the fire that was supposed to kill him, so he wears a mask to conceal the deformity. Why the hell he didn't go to her and let her believe he was dead is kind of a mystery.
The characters are not bad for a 80s teenage movie. They're kind of consistent, up until the last 20 or so minutes, where Melody and Eric decide to go ooc and against all that they had said during the resto of the movie and just be total and incoherent jerks.

The music is 80s pop music, with a not bad main theme.

The make up is cool too, very well done. I don't get why it only covers half his face as he was exposed whole to the fire, but it's way better than other disfigurements I've seen.

PHANTOM OF THE MALL SPANISH TRAILER

The trailer is in spanish this time, as I couldn't find it in english. But the dub is so bad and the voice in off is just hilariously serious compared to the images. Plus the title is completely wrong.

All in all, the movie is acceptable. I don't really recommend it to you, but if you stumble across this movie one satrudray night and there's nothing better on, you can keep it on and just disconect the brain. There are a lot of beautiful fire and blood scenes.

The Godfather

Directed by Francis Ford Coppola in 1972, this movie is based on the homonym novel by Mario Puzo. It tells the story of the ageing patriarch of an organised crime dynasty who transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son. Its main characters are played by Marlon Brando, Al Pacino and James Caan. 

There isn't much I can say about this master piece. 

The action is pretty good balanced so that, even it's a pretty long movie - it's nearly 3 hours long - the viewer doesn't get bored of it. 

The dialogues are very cool. And Marlon Brando as Don Vito Corleone has some really creepy lines. The characterisation of is really well done and his acting before dying is awesome. 

Also the whole camera work is really good. Plus the lighting is really cool. Specially how it gets darker around Michael Corleone, played by Al Pacino as the whole movie progresses. At the beginning, when all his mafia family are dressed in black tux, he's the only one that dresses in green, with his uniform. He starts off as a young man who rejects the crime empire his father is the head of. And then, slowly he  starts wandering into the darkness, and in every scene he's less and less lit, the colours surrounding him turning dark and opaque, until the last scene.

I really love the last scene between Michael and his wife. And it portraits the characters very well, how they've evolved from the first scene in which the main character trusted her with all the dark family secrets. 

The part I liked less of the movie is when Michael is sent to Italy for a whole year. Yet it's beautifully acted and the scenery is very beautiful.

THE GODFATHER TRAILER

The acting, the camera, the light and the music, everything in this movie is worth being checked up. But you'll better don't be very tired, for it is rather long and every second of it demands full attention.

Ye ban ge sheng

Also known as "The Phantom Lover", this Chinese movie was directed by Ronny Yu in 1995 and tells the story of a nearly bankrupt drama troupe that starts performing in a burned-out theatre where the great actor Song Danping was killed. The leading actor of the troupe, Wei Quing, hears the story of Danping from his former employee, Ma, who is now the caretaker of the theatre.

Leslie Cheung plays Song Danping, Lei Huang is Wei Qing and the female leading role, Yun-Yan is played by Chien-Lien Wu. 

This movie is considered the Chinese version of the Phantom of the Opera, but it's only loosely based on the original Leroux novel. 

I 've been meaning to watch this movie for some time now and got only yesterday to it. Again, this movie was in V.O., so I had to watch it subtitled. The subs were completely and utterly desynchronized, so I had to make great efforts to understand everything as I don't know any Chinese.

The second worst thing of this movie is the music. The main song is supposed to belong to the opera "Romeo and Juliet", although it was specially composed for the movie. The song is not bad at all, but it's repeated so often through all the movie, that at the end you end up a little bit sick of it.

Other than that I find this movie very cool and interesting.
The lighting and colours differentiates the flashback - with it's brilliant reds, and golds and blacks - from the 'present' - which is nearly monochromatic, full of brown. The past is presented like a dreamworld, a place cherished and beautiful in a rather crude present.

The make up work is very nicely done. Danping's disfigurement is not the best I've seen, but it's pretty  realistic. 

The camerawork is actually very cool. Towards the end, when Yun-Yen reappears as a mad woman, the camera work is very very impressive, with new angles and movements. I really love that part, it gives a sense of desolation and sadness, plus it's creepy as hell.
The whole technical aspects of this movie are original and fresh.

The politic background of this movie is very strong in the Phantom Movie, showing the evilness of the corrupt political system that kills every dissident with or without a political reason. 

************************ATTENTION: MILD SPOILERS AHEAD********************

As a "Phantom movie", "Ye ban ge sheng" has a somewhat new story: Christine isn't the Phantom's secret love - it isn't even a she. Christine's role is taken by Wei Qing, whom the Phantom teaches to sing in order to help the bankrupt troupe. Actually this is more a Romeo and Juliet movie, than a Phantom one, but...
The politic background of this movie is very strong in the Phantom Movie, showing the evilness of the corrupt political system that kills every dissident with or without a political reason.
The Phantom isn't some evil, murderous, punjabing freak, but a nice actor, who haunts the theatre he built in order to keep his promise to Yun-Yen.

Yun-Yen is a mix between Christine - without the whole singing and in-love-with-someone-else part and Juliette. She's brilliantly interpreted by Chien-Lien Wu, and pretty much every shot of her are worth of a poster.

Her maid, who should have been the comic relieve of the movie, turns into a very tragic and sweet  character, whose loyalty should be praised above everything else. I really like her.

*********************************BIG SPOILER AHEAD************************

I love the fact that this movie has a somewhat happy ending. I think this is the only Phantom movie in which both Phantom and Christine - Yun-Yen in this case - end up riding into the sunset. 

******************************END OF SPOILERS*****************************

YE BAN GE SHENG TRAILER

I really liked this movie, and I recommend it to you. It is original, romantic and sad, so you would like to invest in some handkerchiefs. The acting is pretty good and the directing neat, the camera work is really worth the effort of the badly synchronised subtitles.

The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall

This performance was directed by Nick Morris and Laurence Connor in 2011 and sold as a DVD for the 25th anniversary of Andrew Lloyd Webber's most famous musical: "The Phantom of the Opera". It tells the story of a disfigured musical genius hidden away in the Paris Opera House, who terrorises the opera company for the unwitting benefit of a young protegee whom he trains and loves. 

It stars Ramin Karimloo as Erik [the Phantom], Sierra Boggess as Christine Daae and Hadley Fraser in the role of Raoul the Chagny. 

Again this may be a little bit long - yet not nearly as long as the Love Never Dies review.

Well as some of you may know by now, the Phantom of the Opera is one of my favourite musicals. And movies. And books... and everything else too. So, the very moment I saw the DVD of the 25th Anniversary I had to buy it. I had seen the 2004 version directed by Joel Schumacher and I had also seen it live on Broadway. Yet my memories of those pale before the magnificence of this production. 

With the excuse of their 25th anniversary, the producers 'threw the house out of the window' as we say in Spain. 120 actors take part in this grand production, instead of the 50 actors who normally form the crew of the Phantom of the Opera on the West End and Broadway. Among them was Sergei Polunin - one of the best dancers in the British Royal Ballet. In order to show him off, the meddling of the Managers in the ballet scene at the beginning of the musical was cut short, replaced by a beautiful ballet led by Polunin.

As he title says, this was filmed live at the Royal Albert Hall, which is a concert hall and not a theatre. Other anniversary productions of musicals, like Les Miserables 10th and 25th anniversary concerts where also staged in the Royal Albert Hall. The difference between those and this production is that Les Miserables was staged as a concert, and the Phantom as the musical.

The main change there had to be made was the fall of the chandelier, which is a key point in any 'Phantom movie'. Normaly the chandelier would plunge down to the stage, nearly gracing the audience. Yet this couldn't be done for fear that the chandelier plunged actually ontop of some poor fellow of the audience. So they made a pretty shiny explosion instead. It's not really bad, but it's not the same as seeing the thing falling down. 

Another problem for the staging is the lack of the basic infrastructure as for example a decent backstage, orchestra pit and props. The second point forced the use of screens as backgrpund images. They make a  rather decent substitute except for a few moments. I don't really like how it looks in the short shots. But it's acceptable. The screens helped giving the audience that was watching the musical live close ups on the phantom - for example in the Masquerade scene, which is pretty cool and considerate for those sitting far away from the stage.


They also did a great job with the location of the orchestra. The background was divided in two section and between both sat the orchestra, so tath you can see the conductor in all general shots. Plus they put some beautiful shots of the muscicians. I really love those shots as they are proof that the music isn't just played on a CD but live. In the DVD of Love Never Dies, you can't see neither the orchestra nor the audience, and it sort of gives the sensatione that it's been faked.

Anyway, another great thing about this production is the cast.
The Phantom is played by Ramin Karimloo, Christine is Sierra Boggess and Raoul is Hadley Fraser.
As I've said before, this is my favourite phantom cast. And yes I've listened to the original cast with Michel Crawford, Sara Brightman and Steve Barton.

I think that Ramin's interpretation is just badass rock'n roll and his screaming-singing voice gives me shudders. Plus his acting in 'Point of no Return' and 'The Final Lair' are both so full of feeling, that one can only feel pitty for the poor fellow. Take notice of how his hands tremble, it's just cute.
The makeup of the phantom is the same used in Broadway and the West End and it's pretty impressive. It only covers half the face of the actor - instead of all the face as it is described in the book, but it looks nasty as hell and waaaay better than the 2004 version, which isn't worth the bother.

Moving on we get to Sierra Boggess. The actress has the hell of a strong voice and a believable scared face. She's very pretty too. I love her as Christine in both this movie and the sequel. The best song in the whole production  is sung by Boggess: 'Whishing you where somehow here again', which gets one whole minute ovation. The longest ovation during the   whole performance.

As I said Raoul de Chagny is played by Hadley Fraser, who played Tiernan in The Pirate Queen. He has a sweet air about himself that makes him automaticly likeable. I think he's interpretation is really close to the image that appears in the book. I like his voice alright. I like Steve Barton's voice better, but I think that  Fraser's pitch is more suitable to Bartons in this role.  [I'd like to remember everybody that my knowledge of music is close to null, so don't light your torches yet].

Carlotta Guidiclli is played by Wendy Ferguson, and she's very, very cool. Her acting is good, and at least in this version one understands the lyrics of Notes and Prima Donna', which is something that can't be said from the 2004 version in which it's all a strange cacophony of very loud and high notes. Ferguson's faces show plainly what she's thinking all the time. And her expression at the las "once more" at he end of 'Prima Donna'.

Other characters I really like are Monsieur Firmin (played by Barry James) and Monsieur André (by Gareth Snook).  The comic relieve is very accomplished, and I really liked in some of their scenes. And a very big plus is the lack of French accent in Madame Giry, played by Liz Robertson.

The camera work is very nice, it really shows off the great stage, the big effort put in all sets and costumes and acting, without neglecting showing some shots into the orchestra and the audience.
The costumes and make up alone are worth the whole two plus hours of this movie.

Finally I'd like to say a few words about the story and the songs. Altough I love the Phantom of the Opera, I have to admit that the book is not one of the best written ones and that the musical is most deffinitively not the best one. The plot has some nice holes in it. The music is rather repetitive - if you've listened to the first act, you pretty much know every song that comes in the second one. The whole thing relays heavily on the sentimantalism and shinny presentation rather than on a good script.

All in all I love this movie, this musical and this story. I really recomend it to you, you should deffinitively check it out. And if you have some doubts between wathching this or the 2004 version, I really, really encourage you in watching - if you really must - first the 2004 version. If you watch this one and then the 2004, you're up to a mayor disappointment.
You've been warned.

PHANTOM OF THE OPERA TRAILER