Green Phoenix - Goldfinger Review

 

Hey everybody, its time once again to return to our slow review of the entire James Bond franchise. Over the next three weeks, we will cover another two films in the series (with a book review in between) before moving on and taking yet another break to focus on other subjects. This week, we turn our sights to the film that is widely considered among the best Bond films of all time and the one that truly helped make the James Bond franchise into what it is today.

Released in 1964, Goldfinger was based Ian Fleming's seventh novel of the same name. The film in may ways finalized the formula for the Bond films that would follow and has become a sort of benchmark for the franchise. Even if it wasn't the first film in the series, Goldfinger has managed to carve a place for itself with James Bond franchise as the first quintessential Bond films and has become mandatory viewing for anyone, even with it still possessing some of the more troubling cultural norms which were all to common in films of that era, which I will touch upon in the larger review.

But I am excited and do enjoy watching this film so as you can imagine, the review will be largely positive. Let's take a look at Goldfinger, the third film in the James Bond franchise.

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Green Phoenix - The History of Swear Words Review

 

 THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE WILL OBVIOUSLY POSSESS QUITE A LOT OF OBSCENITY, EVEN BEYOND MY USUAL AMOUNT. 

READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

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It's not often that I come across the trailer for a film or series that makes me immediately go, "I MUST WATCH THIS!!!!". For all that I am a rabid viewer of cinema, my past economic difficulties have fostered in me a deep sense of "Wait and see" when it comes to many films, hoping that word of mouth can entice me into making the effort to see a new film. Even in the age of streaming services, where money is less of a pressing issue, the sheer amount of temporal investment (and time is money) into any movie or TV series is oftentimes difficult for me to get over.

So you can imagine my surprise and excitement when I came across the trailer for Netflix's documentary comedy series The History of Swear Words. Watching Nicholas Cage just scream the word fuck for thirty seconds was apparently enough to completely hook me onto the idea of this documentary series. Released on the 5th of January, 2021 The History of Swear Words is one of the first new releases on Netflix for the year and, as you will see in my review, a fantastic way to start this year.

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Green Phoenix - Clear and Present Danger Review

Towards the end of last year, I had the pleasure of introducing the second episode of my Let's Talk... series of articles by speaking upon my opinions of adapting the Jack Ryanverse series of books by Tom Clancy. In that article, I mentioned my absolute adoration for the 90s Tom Clancy trilogy of films. Now I've written about The Hunt for Red October and Patriot Games previously, so we have only one film left to go.

Released in 1994, Clear and Present Danger has always been a strange film when compared to the other two. One part political thriller and one part military action film, I found Clear and Present Danger the most difficult of the three films to get invested in personally, though the film sees the return of a stunning cast, as well as the introduction of Willem Dafoe as John Clark, a character to actually plays a fairly significant role in the Tom Clancy universe.

Despite being a financial success, this film would mark the end of the Tom Clancy film series until the release of the failed rebooted franchise in 2002's The Sum of All Fears, which I don't have to tell you isn't a very good film and was clearly impacted by the cultural fallout from 9/11.

Which now that I think about it, could really be a summation of the entire Tom Clancy cinematic history. A franchise of excellent political and military thrillers, done in by the inexorable shifting of global politics that drive their stories into obsolescence.

At least...that's what I was going to say until the days leading into the January 6th Capitol Insurrection showed me that apparently a movie about a lone government official combating unconstitutional and illegal activities perpetrated from the very highest offices of government for a personal agenda weren't completely ridiculous. This review was delayed weeks by the change in my review format as well as the shifting sands of the American political climate. It all coalesced to make me reconsider my position on the relevancy of Tom Clancy in an age where internal clear and present dangers are very real and far more deadly than even fiction can come up with.

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Green Phoenix - Soul (2020) Review

 

 THIS ARTICLE SHOULD'VE BEEN RELEASED ON JANUARY 15TH. DUE TO SOME SORT OF ERROR, IT WAS NOT PUBLISHED AS SCHEDULED.

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Welcome everybody to my first proper film review of 2021.

Last week would've been the release of my review for Tom Clancy's 1994 film Clear and Present Danger but 2020 decided that it had a few more surprises left for the world and had to deliver them into 2021's hands. Suffice it to say, that review will be released in a couple weeks time once it has been re-contextualized to fit a post-Insurrection world.

Until then, the new plan is to start our reviews off with one of the few newly released films from the holiday season. Originally intended for a theatrical release, the global societal prolapse that was the coronavirus pandemic forced Disney/Pixar's Soul to be billed as the first Disney+ original film, a representation of what I believe may end up becoming the future of film releases even after theaters finally open back up once this pandemic eventually peters out.

This film was something of a mystery for quite a while. I enjoy learning about upcoming releases for films many years in advance and Soul was one of those films that was announced years ago, but was kept very much under the radar. But now that it is out, I have the wonderful opportunity to explore Pixar's latest emotional piece and see how it stands among Pixar's prodigious lineup.

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Green Phoenix - Clear and Present Danger Delayed until January 29th...WTF America!

 Hey everyone!

So this is a quick little update to let you all know that I will be delaying my review of the Tom Clancy film Clear and Present Danger until the 29th of January. Instead, next week I will be releasing my review of Disney/Pixar's Soul and the week after that, I will review The History of Swear Words from Netflix.

My reason for doing so is actually quite simple. It's all because of what happened yesterday. Yesterday, the US Capitol building was invaded by a band of domestic terrorists at the behest of President Trump. For the first time since 1814, the US Capitol fell, even if only for a few hours.

What happened yesterday was nothing short of an attempted coup and will represent in my mind a watershed moment for the coming decade. It is in this mindset that I believe a review of Clear and Present Danger must be completely overhauled to fit with a new and essential perspective. Tom Clancy's Clear and Present Danger is at its heart a story about moral defiance of unlawful governance. About a good man standing up against a corrupt American president and his lackeys. It is a story that somehow rings strangely contemporary given our current climate, and I think we need to really examine that.

But to do so will take time and I need to really give it some serious thought. Thus the delay until the 29th, at least by then the tyranny of Trump will be over in the de facto sense, even if it is far from over in the de jure sense.

I hope you all stay safe out there and hope that the lights and fires of change are soon on the horizon.

Green Phoenix - 2020 in Review

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE!

And good riddance to hot garbage, I say. This year was a trying time for all of us and it is my sincere hope that my articles might have done something to provide entertainment or education for my readership.

As we enter 2021 with, hopefully, brighter expectations than 2020, I would like to take a quick analytical look-back on 2020 in terms of my articles and viewership. Though this year was far from ordinary, perhaps there remains things that I can improve upon and aid in making 2021 a better year than the shit-show we were given in 2020.

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Green Phoenix - Let's Talk...The Rankin/Bass Cinematic Universe

  

Merry Christmas everybody!

As this year finally comes to a close, I figured that I would end the year with a little bit of fun by discussing a topic that was on my mind all the way since last December. The Rankin/Bass Christmas specials have long become a staple of the season, being almost mandatory viewing for everyone despite an almost universally acknowledge lack of quality.

The stop motion animated company was founded in 1960 by Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass. And until their demise in 1987, the company released dozens of cheap animated Christmas specials that have become icons of the holidays. Starting with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in 1964 and lasting until The Wind in the Willow in 1987, the company released numerous animated specials over its tenure.

With this in mind, I began to wonder about the interconnection of some of these Christmas specials. Thanks to Marvel and Disney, the idea of a cinematic universe is incredibly commonplace. But what if I told you that Rankin/Bass may have unintentionally created a Christmas cinematic universe back in the 1970s?

The more I looked into it, the more I just had to talk about it. So Let's Talk...The Rankin/Bass Cinematic Universe.

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Green Phoenix - They Shall Not Grow Old Review

 

My initial plan for this review was to have it released two weeks ago, on the 13th of November. My reasoning was largely symbolic, as the 11th is the anniversary of the Armistice which ended the first half of the greatest and most impactful war in human history thus far. However there ended up being other reviews and delays which had to be taken which ended up messing with my schedule and plans; but at least I was able to give a somewhat symbolic gesture with releasing this review the day after Thanksgiving.

This year is coming to a close, and it has truly been a trying year. Next week will begin my December break and this is to be my last review of the year. To that end, I can think of no more proper send-off for this year than to speak on a film that I not only enjoy but deeply respect for what it sought to accomplish.

Released on the anniversary of the 100th year following Armistice, They Shall Not Grow Old brought Peter Jackson's filmmaking talents to bear against the memories of the First World War. Utilizing revolutionary digital effects and restoration techniques, Jackson and his team sought to bring the lives and tribulations of soldiers from both sides of the trenches into vivid detail. What WingNut Films shows is both stunning in its humanity and in its horror and as we give thanks for all that we have, perhaps we can use this occasion to also give thanks to those souls who are with us no longer.

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Green Phoenix - The Future of Film Reviews

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to give you all a little heads up regarding the lack of article this week and the plans for Film Reviews going forward into the new year.

My review of Clear and Present Danger was originally going to be released yesterday, but sudden delays and unexpected prior commitments made that date impossible. In addition, I've been thinking long and hard about changing up the structure of my film reviews and this latest review was the straw that broke my back as it were.

And it largely has to do with the points system I have been using. For those of you who have been following my reviews for the past couple of years, you would know that I split the reviews into four specific categories for consideration: Visuals, Soundtrack, Characters, and Story. And when it comes to actually score the film, these points work out fantastic and with little issue. I have no desire to remove the point system on its own.

But where I have been growing dissatisfied with articles is in my splitting up of my review to talk about each category specifically and independent of each other. I just don't personally think of films in that divided and isolated way and it has begun to seriously impact my emotional conveyance of the quality of films.

As a writer and critic, I feel motivated to give you guys the best possible portrait of my opinions on any subject I discuss, and in my editorials and more free-form articles, I feel like you all get a better grasp of my humor and thought-process on any particular subject. So I want to adopt a similar approach to reviews going forward with the hopes that my emotions and enthusiasm will be better conveyed.

I already employ a similar style with my Literary Recommendations, this will simply extend, with modification, the format to Film and TV reviews. But in order to do these things, I will need to switch up my expected schedule for the rest of the year.

So my review of Clear and Present Danger will be pushed to the 8th of January, 2020, being the first film review of the new year. Next week will be my experimentation with the new format with a review of the 2019 documentary They Shall Not Grow Old before I join the rest of the Emerald Rangers in taking December off, with a special Christmas editorial being the last article of the year.

I want to thank all of my readers for sticking with me through this absolute pisser of a year and hope that my new style will help to better entertain and inform.

Green Phoenix - Let's Talk... Adapting The Jack Ryanverse

 Welcome back to another edition of Let's Talk...

I have spent the last few weeks intermittently reviewing the 1990s Tom Clancy film adaptations, with plans to conclude the series by reviewing Clear and Present Danger next week. However whilst reviewing this series, I was struck upon a particular thought. The possibilities of adapting the entire Jack Ryanverse into a film or television series, ala the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

This has been a thought that has long dominated my mind, with the current reviews only being a further impetus for my thought experiment. Could such an adaptation occur in today's cinematic climate? What alterations might have to be made in order to forward such an adaptation? What restrictions might exist that could hinder such an adaptation?

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Green Phoenix - Let's Talk...The West Wing

Hey everybody!

I hope that you have managed to keep yourselves in high spirits and good health given all the anxiety and stress that this last week has likely given quite a few of you. I know that I personally had some serious anxiety attacks as thoughts of the election have continued to pervade the back of my mind. Thankfully, some R&R and loved ones has ensured that I am in decent mental form for you all and enabled me to focus on providing you all with a different kind of article this time around.

Up until now, my style of articles have been of four general varieties: Reviews, Countdowns, Editorials, and Literary Recommendations. Today's article is going to be a variation of Editorials that I'm calling "Let's Talks". Whereas my editorial articles are usually me trying to discuss a specific point or debate a topic that I'm focusing on in that article, Let's Talks will be much lighter in tone and more free-form. Let's Talks have no objective or point beyond me talking about some topic on my mind, be it a review or a rant, etc.

And for my very first Let's Talk, the recent election drama has brought my mind to one of television's greatest Presidents. So we are going to talk about just how great of a show The West Wing was and what I liked and missed about it.

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Green Phoenix - The Nightmare Before Christmas Review

Happy Halloween everybody!

I was struggling to figure out what would be the best film to review for the season. While I absolutely could have done your standard horror film, those films have never really been my thing. I can certainly appreciate the nuances and subtext and many classic horror films but for this particular Halloween, I think I will go for a more light-hearted fare.

First developed as a poem by Tim Burton in 1982, The Nightmare Before Christmas would stew at the back of Burton's mind throughout the 1980s; the director slowly developing a name for himself with films like Batman (1989) and Beetlejuice (1988). In 1990, Burton approached Disney, slowly coming into its own with its animation department, with the idea to adapt his poem into a stop-motion animated movie, inspired by animated shorts like the Rankin-Bass Christmas specials. Disney accepted the idea under their Touchstone Pictures production company, which catered to those films which were considered more "grown-up" than was appropriate for the Disney brand.

As Burton was busy with the production of his sequel to Batman, Batman Returns, he got his friend Henry Selick to direct The Nightmare Before Christmas, which released in 1993 as an enormous financial and critical success. And in the decades have followed, the popularity of this movie has only gotten stronger, with The Nightmare Before Christmas now being considered a cult classic. the film helped to not only solidify Burton's unique visual aesthetic but paved the way for future high-budget stop-motion animated feature films. Films like Coraline, Kubo and the Two Strings, and Paranorman owe so very much to their spiritual ancestor.

But how good is this movie? Does its influence on the modern zeitgeist far out shadow its standalone presence?

Let's take a look and find out.

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Green Phoenix - Halloween Article Released Tomorrow

 Hey everybody,

With Halloween tomorrow, I felt that it was better for me to release my Halloween-oriented film review on the actual holiday. As such, my usual Friday review will be rescheduled for this Saturday at noon.

Be sure to check back this Saturday for my review of The Nightmare Before Christmas and the following Friday will hopefully be a return to form.

I hope all of you stay safe out there while you spend some time with family and friends. Take care of yourselves as this holiday season approaches, as it is likely to be a tremendously difficult and stressful time for many.

Green Phoenix - Patriot Games Review

I am so excited to finally get a chance to review Patriot Games. When I decided to do a review of the Tom Clancy trilogy of films, this was the reason I ultimately decided to do it. I make no secret of my love for this film in particular and honestly just want to give it the most amount of love and affection that I can honestly give it. So much so, that I've actually given myself two weeks to work on this review rather than the usual one week and decided to leave this as something of a birthday present to myself.

Released in 1992 as the sequel to the 1990 film  The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games was itself an adaptation of Tom Clancy's 1987 bestselling novel. Though disavowed by Clancy for being too different from his original story, the film was critically and commercially well-received upon its release, considered a much more emotional and engaging viewing experience when compared to the much slower The Hunt For Red October.

While the general consensus of the film post-release has leaned towards its many differences to the source material, the quality of its set pieces and strength of performances, especially by Harrison Ford, has endeared this film in the hearts of many, myself included. With the opportunity to sing the praises of this film and share it with a wider audience now available to me, I cannot wait to go into a deeper dive with the film that I believe to be the best of the Clancy adaptations.

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Green Phoenix - Songs That Sound Like Bond Themes

I have now reviewed two James Bond films and one of the elements that I haven't quite been able to speak on, but am deeply excited to explore once we reach it in the third film in the series Goldfinger is the theme songs.

The unique theme songs have always been an iconic element of the franchise and the first and best way to distinguish one movie from another. It is so essential to the James Bond franchise that more often than not, the first thing asked when a new Bond film is announced after who is playing Bond is usually who is performing the opening theme.

Given that the James Bond series is such a cultural touchstone and the music is tied so definitively into that identity, it should come as no surprise that other musicians will often draw inspiration from the iconic sounds of the Bond franchise in their own songs. This is what I mean when I talk about a song that sounds like a "Bond theme". That unique mix of eroticism and action that is distinctly Bond is what I am searching for in this list of songs that, to my ear, sound so much like the themes to James Bond films.

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Green Phoenix - From Russia with Love Review

Released one year after Dr. No, 1963's From Russia with Love drops many of the more science fiction and exploitative elements from Dr. No in favor of a more grounded and realistic James Bond outing, at least for the time. 

 

Back again with yet another look at the James Bond franchise. This time, we turn our attention to the second entry in the series. Where Dr. No was a prototype for the James Bond formula, it is really From Russia with Love that would become the benchmark for future entries in the series. It showed the series creators what worked from Dr. No and what truly needed to be workshopped.

 

With that in mind, let's take a look at From Russia with Love and see if its better or worse than its prototypical predecessor.

 

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Green Phoenix - 1634: The Baltic War Review

 

 

 Looking at the analytics for my various articles, my book recommendation tend to be the least viewed of all of my article formats (though given the usual content of the Emerald Rangers, perhaps that isn't too surprising). In truth, these book recommendations are designed more along the lines as a passion project, where I get to promote some literary properties that I might not otherwise get to do.

The fact that my book recommendations also tend to be the easiest articles to write and be very brief and succinct is also not a bad reason to continue them, though I do hope that more people will check out some of the series I recommend and review and come to appreciate them as I do.

Which brings me to 1634: The Baltic War. I've made it no secret of my absolute adoration of Eric Flint's Ring of Fire series. The fantastically detailed of world-building built around countless well-grounded characters and a truly unique and strange point of divergence make it both inviting for new readers and very memorable in terms of its dedicated fans, with many people having favorite story threads, characters, and arcs.

In this particular field, 1634: The Baltic War is my favorite book in the entire series. It is the culmination of baseline trilogy that forms the narrative core of the every other book in the series. After 1634: The Baltic War, the 1632 series would begin to diverge into its countless varying story-lines and character arcs. As such, The Baltic War serves as a conclusion to the old model for the series and the introduction to how the succeeding books will work from thereon out.

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Green Phoenix - Building Better Backstories V

So this editorial was always going to be a real pain in my ass. For one, it seems to have become culturally "cool" to rip into the Star Wars sequel trilogy and mock it relentlessly without taking into account any of the positive traits that the series does possess. And there are a few truly positive elements of the sequel trilogy that I think need to be given their due credit, especially if we are going to try and improve upon the franchise. The trilogy has some truly inspired cinematic and narrative moments that, if properly explored, would've been absolutely inspired.

That being said, I would be lying if I didn't understand and at the very least agree that the Star Wars sequel trilogy overall wasn't a steaming hot mess almost from the word go. Which is a damn shame because the acquisition by Disney had all the hallmarks of being a momentous achievement and a chance to restart the series from all of the enormous weight of the Legends canon; that is the Star Wars material released independent of the Lucas-era films up until the Disney acquisition.

I've known ever since the release of The Rise of Skywalker that some kind of Building Better Backstories was going to be necessary for the sequel trilogy, but I also struggled to figure out how best to fix the franchise.

It will be difficult, but I think I have a solution. It may not contain many specific narrative elements, but we will take a look at what went wrong, what they could've used, and how that might have worked for a better trilogy overall.

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Green Phoenix - Walking With Beasts Review

 

A few weeks back, I took a look at the BBC Documentary series Walking with Dinosaurs. I've gone on record stating just how much I adored that series and its influence on my cinematic tastes and experiences.

Knowing how important Walking with Dinosaurs was to my childhood and cinematic sensibilities, it really should come to no surprise that I would keep the show going by taking a look at the other entries in the Walking with... franchise at some point down the line.

Well...today is the day.

Released in 2001, 2 years after its predecessor, Walking with Beasts uses the same combination of animatronics and computer-generated imagery to tell the story of life after the extinction of the dinosaurs. With Kenneth Branaugh reprising his narrator role from Walking with Dinosaurs for the British version of the series, Walking with Beasts brings together much of the same crew and team that brought dinosaurs back to life to tell the story of the rise of mammals and their transition into a world dominated by human beings.

But does Walking with Beasts live up to its predecessors legacy? Or was Walking with Dinosaurs to big of a shadow to shine against?

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Green Phoenix - Dr. No Review

 

Last week, I discussed several times how the character of Jack Ryan, from Tom Clancy's most popular works, is a bit of a parody and critique of the 1960s spy archetype best exemplified by the likes of James Bond. 

Following that review, I figured that it might be rather interesting to take a closer look at the titular spy's movie franchise to see whether or not this groundbreaking franchise still holds up.

Now I want to be fully transparent and admit that I grew up watching the James Bond series with my mother, so this has always been a franchise that has possessed something of a soft spot with me. I absolutely recognize that, especially among the older movies, the series has some very questionable and dated narrative and character decisions. And I will not hesitate to judge the film with that in mind.

All this being said, I feel like we obviously should begin our look into the James Bond franchise with the first film in the series. Released in 1962 and based of the 1958 Ian Fleming novel of the same name, Dr. No created nearly every precedent that the series would become infamous for. But even if it began the formula, does it do that formula as well as the rest of the series?

Let's find out.

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