Daily Archives: April 19, 2020

Apr 19 2020

Franchise Weekend – The Librarian III: The Curse of the Judas Chalice (2008)

Director: Jonathan Frakes

Writer: Marco Schnabel, David N Titcher (Screenplay)

Starring: Noah Wyle, Brice Davison, Stana Katic, Bob Newhart, Jane Curtain, Dikran Tulaine, Jason Douglas

 

Plot: Losing his girlfriend because he was at an auction dramatically getting the magical philosopher’s stone instead of a date, he needs a vacation – New Orleans but finds himself busy saving Earth from the curse of the Judas chalice/vampires.


Tagline – The world’s most unlikely hero is back for his biggest adventure.

Runtime: 1 Hour 30 Minutes

 

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Embraces Itself

 

Story: The Librarian III: The Curse of the Judas Chalice starts as Flynn (Wyle) is struggling with balancing his personal life with his career, Judson (Newhart) gives him some vacation time, which sees him heading to New Orleans.

Flynn’s vacation is cut short when he meets singer Simone Renoir (Katic) who has been guarding a relic, which just so happens to be what Kubichek (Tulaine) and Professor Lazlo (Davison) are trying to bring Vlad the Impaler back to life to build their own undead army.

 

Thoughts on The Librarian III: The Curse of the Judas Chalice

 

Characters – Flynn is the Librarian who has been struggling with the stress of everyday life and personal life after getting dumped by his latest girlfriend. He gets to go on vacation, only to find himself in the middle of yet another quest only this time in New Orleans, where he must deal with the idea that vampires could be real. Simone is the beautiful singer that summoned Flynn to New Orleans, she needs help to keep her secret and she has a secret that not even Flynn was ready for. Professor Lazlo is one of the worlds smartest men, he is forced into helping Kubichek until he learns about Flynn, Judson knows this latest quest could well be the one that Flynn makes him or ends his interest in the role.

Performances – Noah Wyle continues to be strong in this role where he can have fun in his role. Bruce Davison is strong enough in his role, while Stana Katic brings us a different love interest for Flynn. Bob Newhart continues to be entertaining in his role through the film franchise.

Story – The story here follows Flynn the librarian as he tries to take a vacation from this job, only to find himself in the middle of another quest against Russians that want to bring vampires back to life creating their own undead army. This story does start to accept that these films are meant to be out there, slightly crazier than Indiana Jones, while not as wild The Mummy movies. We do get a more interesting case than the previous films and we get villains that are fighting for a course that could bring back evil to the world. this is a fun story without being too serious.

Action/Adventure/Comedy – The action is one the largest level with the battles being bigger than before, while the adventure does keep the action closer to home in America. The comedy is mostly light-hearted humour that keep everything running smoothly through the film.

Settings – The film uses the New Orleans setting like we know it to be, one location filled with religious mystery and eerie settings.


Scene of the Movie – Vampire fight.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – The generic accents.

Final Thoughts – This is the most fun of the Librarian movies, it has finally embraced the idea it has been trying to create, making it lighter, while also being darker too.

 

Overall: Fun filled adventure.

Rating

 

 

Apr 19 2020

ABC Film Challenge – Action – S – Snatched (2017)

Director: Jonathan Levine

Writer: Katie Dippold (Screenplay)

Starring: Amy Schumer, Goldie Hawn, Randall Park, Ike Barinholtz, Joan Cusack, Tom Bateman

 

Plot: When her boyfriend dumps her before their exotic vacation, a young woman persuades her ultra-cautious mother to travel with her to paradise, with unexpected results.


Tagline – Mess with me, mess with my mother. 

Runtime: 1 Hour 30 Minutes

 

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Just Painful to Watch

 

Story: Snatched starts when Emily (Schumer) get fired, then dumped by her musician boyfriend Michael (Park), they did have a holiday planned which is no refundable, Emily goes home to see her mother Linda (Hawn) and after learning she used to travel, she invites her mother on the trip.

Emily & Linda head of to Ecuador and after meeting the hunky James (Bateman) Emily believes she has found the perfect man only to find themselves kidnapped and needing to find safety across South America with Roger (Meloni) a man they believe can guide them to safety.

 

Thoughts on Snatched

 

Characters – Emily is a woman who sees her future with her boyfriend, she doesn’t take too much seriously until for everything to fall apart, following the loss of her job and boyfriend. She takes her holiday falling for the same old song and dance a man showed her, which sees her needing to fight to survive. She doesn’t seem to have any idea how to act as an adult though. Linda is Emily’s mother who has closed herself off from the world after her husband left her, she agrees to go on holiday with her daughter pretending she knows how the survive most of the difficult situations.  James is the man that takes Emily on a day out, which sees them being kidnapped. Most of the supporting characters are here for the next comedic roles in the film, showing strange characters in life.

Performances – Amy Schumer continues to leave me questioning how she keeps getting leading roles because she just isn’t funny or a skilled actress. Goldie Hawn mostly likely enjoyed the money for this film, but wouldn’t want to be remembered for it. The supporting cast doesn’t get much better, with the except of Joan Cusack and Wanda Sykes.

Story – The story follows a mother and daughter that go to Ecuador for a holiday only to get kidnapped leaving them to go on the run to escape. This film focuses on the relationship between the mother and daughter who have been going in normal life, which has seen them become slightly more distant. The idea of getting kidnapped in South America has been done before, this relies on too many jokes which all miss. The story is mostly unbearable and fails to capture the relationship side of the film, it only makes the characters, mostly Emily look unrealistic.

Action/Adventure/Comedy – The action is weak chases sequences, the adventure takes us on the holiday with the ladies. The comedy however completely misses.

Settings – The film is set in South America which does the fish out of water location.


Scene of the Movie – Joan Cusack and Wanda Sykes

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Amy Schumer.

Final Thoughts – This is a painful comedy that doesn’t get any laughs, it wastes talent and for some reason keeps Amy Schumer in the leading roles.

 

Overall: Boring unfunny comedy.

Rating