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I was going to comment on The Phantom, but then I saw the trailer for the new Jerry Lewis movie and I feel like I don't know anything anymore about anything.

If Paul says I'm Irish, then I guess I'm Irish.

It's a fantastic film. It was based on the book "Relic," by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, unread by me, but the book spawned a whole series of books about one of its characters (the character was melded with others into Tom Sizemore's character). I always get it confused with the, superior, Mimic by del Toro, for some reason. Good pick.

Dream a Little Dream, and its sequel, are perhaps the most unexplainable films of a long list of unexplainable films starring the two Corey's. Last Resort comes in close second and Busted, directed by Feldman (and perhaps the worst film of all time) hangs on to third place.

Double Down is, in a way, the spiritual sequel to The Room, mainly because both deal with childhood escapism, but also because they are the work of hubris. While The Room is the classic childish thought of "they will be sorry when I'm dead," which most people can remember having after being yelled at by parents, most notably seen in the film A Christmas Story (although, there the trope has the 'you turned me blind' angle). A child sees itself often as a perfect being, that can do no wrong, and those around it to be villainous, if not pure evil. Thus, Tommy is the perfect guy in The Room--he keeps a steady job, makes the bank money, buys flowers, is a good customer, loves his girlfriend, doesn't drink, has the body of a muscular skeleton, etc. but all those around him are, in a way, out to get him, and yes, they are sorry when he's dead. Neil Breen continues this, I dare say, voyeuristic journey into the childhood psyche by diving into the thoughts of a lonely child, one that does not get to play with the other children. A child shunned by society, but one that will show them all. When it grows up, it will be superspy; a martial art expert; it will be a hacker like the ones it has seen in films, but better; it will topple governments with a broken down laptop while working out of the trunk of a car in the middle of the desert. While The Room has "they will be sorry when I'm dead," Double Down has "I will show them" in aces, with a dash of "my dad can beat up your da," but as thought of by a child that has no father. The Room is a better film, mainly because it has somewhat of a plot, while Double Down does not, but both are very interesting as they give a glimpse into the, we could say childish, minds of their makers. Both films were also made so the unattractive auteurs could film sex scenes.

The reason this movie doesn't make sense is because it didn't happen. After ordering the killing of the man who he saw as a father (shoot through him), Alex is riddled with guilt--guilt that three naked women can't subside. He overdoses on opium and goes into a opium induced coma. In his coma, his subconscious deals with the guilt by creating a scenario where he can redeem himself. This explains why the the bad guy is descendant of Gengis Khan, the world's most famous invader, because Alex invaded a world he didn't belong in by becoming a drug kingpin in China. Shiwan Khan is just the "evil" that Alex became. The knife, well, Alex's stanky ass fingernails. He is itching and, although unconscious, he scratches that itch with those fingernails and his mind creates a living knife. He calls himself "The Shadow" because he is just a shadow of the man he once was.