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Phantom of the Opera (1943), a review by Tom

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Phantom of the Opera (1943/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia Universal Pictures (United Kingdom) Director: Arthur Lubin Writing: Eric Taylor (Screenwriter), Samuel Hoffenstein (Screenwriter), Gaston Leroux (Original Material By) Length: 93 min. Video: Full Frame 1.33:1 Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 1, French: DTS 1, Italian: DTS 1, German: DTS 1, Spanish: DTS 1, Commentary: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: Danish, English, French, German, Finnish, Italian, Commentary, Norwegian, Spanish

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Stars:
Nelson Eddy as Anatole Garron
Susanna Foster as Christine DuBois
Claude Rains as Erique Claudin
Edgar Barrier as Raoul Daubert
Leo Carrillo as Signor Ferretti

Plot:
This spectacular horror tale stars Claude Rains as the masked phantom of the Paris opera house in a lavish production that remains a masterpiece of the genre.

Awards:
Won:

Academy Award (1943)		Best Art Direction, Color (John B. Goodman, Alexander Golitzen (Art Direction), Russell A. Gausman, Ira S. Webb (Interior Decoration))
Academy Award (1943)		Best Cinematography, Color (Hal Mohr, W. Howard Greene)

Nominated:

Academy Award (1943)		Best Music, Musical Picture (Edward Ward)
Academy Award (1943)		Best Sound Recording (Bernard B. Brown (Sound Director, Universal Studio Sound Department))

Extras:

• Scene Access
• Commentary
• Trailers
• Photo Gallery
• Featurettes

I was quite bored with this movie. I just couldn't get into it. I was surprised though, that it was in color, as so far all the movies in the set were black and white. Though I have to say, that I am not sure if this movie fits thematically into the classic monsters movie set.

Rating:

(From Tom's 2013 Horror Marathon on October 27th, 2013)

Oz the Great and Powerful, a review by Dragonfire

Oz the Great and Powerful



Oz the Great and Powerful is a prequel to The Wizard of Oz that tells the story of how the Wizard became the Wizard.  Some people may expect the story be more like the story from Wicked - the musical and the book it is based on.  Other than the setting and focusing on things that happen before Dorothy ends up in Oz, the two tell different stories tied to the same characters and location.  I have read Wicked and I have the musical soundtrack, so I do know a bit about that version. 

Oscar Diggs works as a magician - stage name of Oz - in a traveling carnival.  Oz tends to chase after anything in a skirt, which leads to him fleeing the carnival in a hot air balloon.  He flies right into a tornado that takes him to Oz.  He meets Theodora, a beautiful young witch who believes that Oz is the wizard everyone in Oz has been waiting for to defeat the Wicked Witch.  Oz has to decide what he is going to do, though he can't seem to stop himself from chasing women, which causes even more complications.

The movie was released in 2D and 3D.  I saw the 2D version. I did not some images that had the potential to look cool in 3D.  The graphics are done well, making the locations in Oz look gorgeous.  The beginning of the movie, when Oscar is still in Kansas, is in black and white, like the original movie, and it only turns to color once he arrives in Oz.   

The story is interesting and entertaining, connecting to things from the original movie as well as things from the book that were left out of that movie - like the village where everyone is made of China.  In addition to showing how the Wizard comes to power, the rise of the Wicked Witch is also covered.  Something with that is a little predictable, though children or people who haven't seen the original movie may find that more surprising.  The story makes sense.  Things are resolved while also leaving some things open for possible sequels.  This is a good family friendly movie, though a few scenes could be scary to younger children.  The flying monkeys are now vicious flying baboons that are freaky.  The characters work and the casting is good overall.  Oscar is hard to like since he is a bit of a jerk. 

I really enjoyed Oz the Great and Powerful.  It is entertaining overall and worth checking out.  I did pick up the movie on blu-ray/DVD.  I believe there are several extras, but I haven't taken the time to check them out yet.



I did post a longer review at Epinions after seeing the movie in the theater.

Oz the Great and Powerful

(From Oz the Great and Powerful on June 24th, 2013)

Smallville Marathon #2, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: By destroying Brainiac with the kryptonian knife, Clark opened the portal for Zod. Zod has taken over Lex's body and is now trying to conquer the world by removing its technology. And there's no one who can stop him, because Clark was banished to the Phantom Zone.

My Opinion: This was a great conclusion to the cliffhanger, although once again it could have lasted longer. I see the problem that if Clark would have remained longer in the Phantom Zone, Zod would have caused more havoc and probably more people would have seen him, which would be devastating for Lex. But still, two or three episodes would have been cool.
I find it funny that Aaron Ashmore is playing Jimmy Olsen, while his identical twin brother Shawn has been a recurring FotW in the early seasons, yet no one seems to see the resemblance.

Synopsis: Clark vigorously tries to repair the damage that has been caused by Zod. But even he gets exhausted at one point and his immune system was weakened due to his stay in the Phantom Zone. Clark has catched the "common" cold and now sneezes barn doors halfway across the county.
Meanhwile Lex gets abducted because some people want to find out how he has done the things he has done while he was being possessed by Zod.

My Opinion: They skipped that episode in the last season, probably because there aren't many abilities left and also probably because he has been human during a few episodes. When I first watched this episode I thought Oliver Queen would just be another adversary of Lex's, just as Victoria Hardwick or Jason Teague. How wrong I was.

BTW: When Justin Hartley (Oliver) smiles, don't you think that he has a striking resemblance to the young Ben Affleck?

Synopsis: Someone - or something - is killing a young woman near a make-out-zone and her friend has mysteriously vanished.  But then is found, but he dies at the hospital because a plant is growing out of his stomach. And this plant can hurt even Clark.

My Opinion: Instead of FotWs we will see beings from the Phantom Zone in this season. While I found this episode to be entertaining, I still think that Pa'u Zotoh Zhaan was the more interesting plant.

(From Smallville Marathon #2 on June 15th, 2008)