The Librarian III: The Curse of the Judas Chalice

How I love these movies! Sure, there is nothing groundbreaking or revolutionary about them, but the combination of humor (Jane Curtain, Bob Newhart,) Good direction (jonathan Frakes,) and a good solid lead (Noah Wyle,) just makes for enjoyable television. One of the most wonderful things about the series is that it doesn't presume the lowest common denominator on the part of the audience's intellect. It seems to be a series full of historic references that are designed to be aimed at people who can appreciate them.

I very much enjoy the whole setup to the characters themselves. They are each given delightful backstorys that are fun as well as convincing. I have seen this compared to the Indiana Jones movies. While I agree with that in concept, I think there is a certain playfulness in these movies that the more serious...and far more expensive...Indian Jones films lack. My only regret is that these movies only come out every couple of years. I think that it would be great if this were turned into a regular series...or at least a few of them each year. These movies, to me, make up for the wasteland that is most of "normal" television programming.

I enjoyed the 2nd installment of this series better than the original movie (and I enjoyed the original a lot!), but I believe that they've improved yet again with the 3rd installment in the series.

"Curse of the Judas Chalice" had the same light hearted and comic view of Indianna Jones style adventure, but I found the plot to be deeper and more surprising. This series has a surprising character turn as part of its 'formula' in each installment. This time the surprise was two-fold. Although I saw one of them coming well in advance, the other one got me.

These movies are ideal family fare ... amusing and entertaining for adults without including content inappropriate for even young children. Such movies are hard to find these days, but the Librarian series pulls it off solidly.

In bygone days people used to read cheap magazines printed on cheap pulp paper. These were full of stories which, if not particularly literary, were full of action, color and plot. Later these moved to the movie serials and B movies, whence they were lifted, in the 1970s and 1980s, as the inspiration for movies like RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, ROMANCING THE STONE and STAR WARS. This TV movie, third in the series, is in that vein.

CURSE OF THE OF JUDAS CHALICE is no ground-breaking movie, but it is enormous fun, with a script full of hip, self-aware humor -- Noah Wyle explains the key plot points as he goes along, and is twitted for always speaking in complete paragraphs -- action and a sexy vampiress. There is nothing in this that is original -- I could do a little digging and produce a list of where the key plot points and shots were lifted from -- but it is done with such good humor, that the viewer will have few, if any complaints about the result.

My sole complaint is that Bob Newhart is not on screen long enough with his deadpan delivery. You can't do much better for a dull afternoon's time-waster.

The directing/writing team of Jonathan Frakes and Marco Schnabel are back for another movie in the series.

They open with a James Bond tribute. Our little nerd (Noah Wylie) has certainly come a long way. He is no longer a nerd, and has developed an amazing capability with a sword as displayed in a fight with an ex-KGB agent (Dikran Tulaine), who wants to restore Russia to its former glory.

His plan is to restore none other than Dracula, who will lead an army of vampires. With the success of "True Blood" and Twilight, a vampire story is expected, and it really made things exciting. Our villain has the body of Vlad the Impaler, and now all he needs in the chalice made out of the 30 pieces of silver given to Judas (The first I have heard of that!) But, Flynn Carsen (Wylie) is burned out. It is up to Jane Curtin, in a much meatier role, to get him started. But it is a dream sequence with Croation Stana Katic (Quantum of Solace) that gets him moving. What? No English heroine? Not appropriate in a movie involving vampires, you see.

With vampires, the movie is a bit more exciting and the special effects are ramped up. It is set in new Orleans and that is always a plus for the atmosphere and the music.

Oscar nominee Bruce Davison (Longtime Companion, Short Cuts) gives an impressive performance.

We get the expected ending, and are left wondering if this franchise has burned itself out, or if we will see our hero again two years from now.

The magnetic Stana Katic, less camp, and a touching love story.