Risen (2016), Double Indemnity (1973), Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993)

Risen (2016)

Clavius (Joseph Fiennes) is a world weary Roman Tribune stationed in 1st century Palestine who arrives back in Jerusalem (after putting down a Passover timed Jewish insurrection in the hinterland) just in time to see Jesus of Galilee die on the cross. When the body of the reputed Messiah disappears the next day, Clavius is put in charge of the investigation to determine who removed the body from the tomb and to get it back, least this apparent fulfillment of prophecy stir further unrest in the troubled province. Risen is the type of 'tale of the Christ' film Hollywood has been making since near its beginning, and like too many a biblical epic it is often slow and boring. What sets Risen apart however is that it is in essence a cop movie, and if you approach it as such it is much more enjoyable then it otherwise would be. Clavius is a jaded long time cop, Pontius Pilate (Peter Firth) his grumpy chief and Lucius (Tom Felton, better known as Draco Malfoy) his rookie partner. In course of the story the cops visit the 'scene of the crime', interrogate various witnesses, employ a snitch, and even bust into a brothel in search of a prostitute (María Botto as Mary Magdalene). The film has a gritty realistic look, and the performances are generally good, though it all but inevitably stretches things out too long and its resolution is of course a pious one, I think it may have been more effective if it had left things more ambiguous. Still as Christian targeted theatrical release go, likely one of the best to come out this year. **1/2

Double Indemnity (1973)

Included as a bonus feature in Universals special edition DVD release of the classic 1944 Billy Wilder film, this remake of Double Indemnity gives one the rarish opportunity to both experience a different take on the classic story, as well as to watch a 1970's TV movie. This version uses a surprising amount of dialogue form the originally film, which sometimes plays funny given that its been updated to a then contemporary setting. Samantha Eggar seems like she may be giving less to the proceedings then her costar Richard Crenna, who almost pulls of his dated and stylized dialogue. Lee J. Cobb is as a perfect a replacement as you could hope for in Edward G. Robinson's part. Not nearly as good as the original, but it's still enjoyable, though I'm sure it helps that they cut the thing down to 1hr 15minute run time. **1/2

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993)

I remember that my brother saw this movie in the theater with a friend of his when it first came out and that I was kind of jealous because I had wanted to see it to. Well 22 1/2 years later I finally got around to viewing Batman: Mask of the Phantasm and it's pretty good. The film is a kind of  midquel to the  early 90's Batman: The Animated Series, which was still in production at the time and in my opinion one of the highest quality children's TV series ever made. This movie uses much the same voice cast as the series and tells what for the time is a pretty sophistic story for an animated film, this being long before all those direct to DVD animated comic adaptations we see now days.

The story has to deal with a new villain called The Phantasm and the reintroduction of Bruce Wayne's lost love Andrea Beaumont into his life, she occupies a kind of similar role to that of the Rachel Dawes character in Nolan's Batman films. The film had a surprising amount of critical love at the time and since, but it under performed at the box office and is now largely forgotten. The Nostalgia Critic recently did a review on this (which came out a few days after I watched this by the way) in which in argues that Phantasm can be considered arguably the best Batman movie as far as its characterization of Batman goes, and he actually has a point there. (see video here) I didn't love the movie but I did like it, and if anything it made me want to watch some of The Animated series again, that was a great show. Worth it for the interested, I image this would have been more impressive at the time it came out, subsequently a lot of what this movie does for Batman has been done other places. **1/2.