There are only a handful of times in life when you truly get a second chance at making things right. So, when that opportunity is given to you, you have to jump at it, because it may never come back around again. But what if your second chance is forced upon you? Will you be ready to make your path back to redemption or will you fight it with all of your power and remain the person that you are? If you are given a choice, you may be able to look deep inside and see who you are supposed to be and if you choose a new path, it may be more beneficial to you and your followers. 

The powerful Ying Ko, once known as Lamont Cranston, is planning his next barbaric adventure when he is kidnapped by agents of the mysterious Tulku. With his great power, Ying Ko believes that he can accomplish anything he puts his mind to, but when the much smaller Tulku is able to infect his mind and show him how to harness his power for good, his life takes a drastic turn. Returning to New York, Ying has returned to his former identity and Lamont now lives the high life, but he has hidden his past from everyone that he cares about. Becoming The Shadow and having no equal in the city, the criminal element and police are not the only ones looking for his true identity. 

When a new sarcophagus is delivered to the museum, the curator sees that it may be the final resting place of Genghis Kahn and he leaves to make a few calls about this recent discovery, but when he comes back to see that the coffin is gone and one of his men has been killed, he has to call in the police. After arriving on the scene, the police do not know how to categorize the crime and one of The Shadow’s agents sends word to his boss to make sure he is on the case as well. Arriving at his secret sanctum, Lamont is greeted by Shiwan Khan who tries to recruit the old war lord to fight for his cause. Lamont is not willing to give up the life that he has built and now knows the face of his enemy and will have to stop Khan before he is able to fulfill his destiny. 

As Shiwan Kahn has his plan to level the city to demonstrate his power, he needs to find people to help make the bomb a reality. Finding out that scientist Reinhardt Lane is working on a project that could benefit him, Kahn is able to enter the old man’s mind and get a finished product before time runs out. With the help of Farley Claymore, Kahn has a regular person on his team that does not need to be controlled, since he has the same aspirations of absolute power. But The Shadow is not far behind in the hunt for Kahn and with his own private army of agents, he is able to find out what Kahn is planning and now with the help of Margo Lane, he is able to crack to code and make a final push on Kahn before time runs out and his city is destroyed. 
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I had never heard about The Shadow before this movie came out and I am ashamed. Such a powerful character, it is great to see what the movie did for his reputation. There are a ton of haters for this movie and I do not understand why since it flows the way a superhero movie should, and you have a very strong supporting cast that brings this story to life. You have got to love the interactions between Margo and Lamont in this movie, but you have also got two huge scene stealers in Farley Claymore and Moe Shrevnitz (The Shadow’s driver), I don’t think the movie would have been the same without them. With plenty of action, you also gather some street smarts about what it was like to live in the 1930’s and possibly how to defeat evil if it ever comes knocking at your door. Not a bad hero to have on your side when things hit the fan and maybe you will be able to see past his shadow and find out that there is just a regular guy trying to do something right for himself and the innocents of the city.

​Discovering something that nobody has ever found before can be life changing. Being the first person to set eyes on something new, you don’t know what to expect and everything from there on is brand new to the world. Once word gets out and the world has found out what you have, they will send cameras and reporters to document everything about it, making you a star in your field. This kind of fame is wanted by so many people, but if you have found something that the world is not ready for, you may want to keep it to yourself to make sure that the message you send out will not harm you or any of your loved ones.

During a dig in the arctic, a research team has uncovered another life form from the ice. Putting a hold on everything, they transport the body back to the lab to find out what it really is. After being able to uncover a mammoth, the group has high hopes in what they have found, since it is looking more and more like a man. Cutting the ice back, the group sees that it is a Neanderthal and are ready to start performing tests on the caveman to see what he was doing so far north from his natural habitat.

Doctor Shephard watches as the medical team starts to do their thing, trying to find out what happened to the iceman so many years ago. When Doctor Brady watches the monitors when injecting synthetic blood into the caveman, unexpected results start popping up on her screen. Seeing that the man has active brain waves, the group must now try to resuscitate him, not only for the sake of science, but because he is alive. Knowing that there is something special about this frozen man, the group wants to run tests on him, along with cutting him up and sending his parts all over the world to be analyzed, but Shephard knows that this is the wrong thing to do since they can learn so much from the forty-thousand year old man.

Convincing Brady and her team to clear out the bear paddock, the area is conformed to a lush jungle where the iceman can be observed. But the iceman starts to find things around his living area that are new to him and sees that he is not alone in his new world.  Not wanting the experiment to end, Shephard decides that he will join the iceman in his confines and gains the old man’s trust. Not being able to communicate with him, but finding out that his name is Charlie, Shephard knows that the breakthroughs will be monstrous and needs more help. As Shephard seems to get what he wants, the science team continues to run tests on Charlie, since he is the first frozen mammal to be resuscitated successfully. Shephard does not believe that this is right and wants to find a way to free his new friend before the scientists get what they want, a living subject to be shown to the entire world.

Not a bad movie that shows how one man’s morals should win outright when being challenged by a greater force. Watching as Charlie becomes alive again, he quickly finds out that he is in a place where he does not belong and with his new friend Shephard, he may be able to find a way out one way or another. The science crews’ constant picking on Shephard is hilarious in this movie, since he seems to be their own caveman, and it never ends, even when Shephard is making massive strives with Charlie. The interactions between Charlie and Shephard are great and the trust between the two grows at an alarming rate. I really wish that Charlie got a better look around the labs when he was able to free himself and learn something about the time he was in, but alas, it was not his destiny, at least not in this movie.

​If you aren’t already planning to, you should find time to go see Rocketman, and here are top 5 reasons why! No spoilers.

5. The visuals. That’s right, the very thing you go to a movie for is my first reason as to why you should see this movie. Not only did the costume design team to an amazing job with their period accurate pieces, the visual effects are just amazing. Now you’re probably thinking to yourself, ‘But Shae, what does visual effects have to do with a movie about a pop singer?’, and my answer is literally everything. This movie is a masterpiece with the way it moves seamlessly from scene to scene and incorporates some rather interesting effects that add to the story. After all, movies are a very visual thing, but what they did here really pushes it into a different category.

4. The music. The soundtrack to this film is seamlessly beautiful. Of course, it’s a movie about Elton John, so why wouldn’t the music be stunningly beautiful? This film combines the amazing music that you know, and love and it works it into the story in a great, innovative way that doesn’t make it campy. The music actually adds to the story instead of taking away, which is really what music should do. Enhancing this autobiographical film, the music is interlaced in such a way that without it the story just falls. Plus, maybe you’re like me and you secretly sing along under your breath, because how can you not!? On top of the stunning visuals it’s a must see for any Elton John fan.

3. Nan. Right about now many of you just quirked your eyebrows and tilted your heads like, ‘WTF is she talking about?!’ But just trust me on this. Nan is the single best part of this film. Everyone has someone in their life like Nan and we should all appreciate that person! Whether they’re your Nan, your best friend, your grandpa, your mom, your dad or even a sibling or cousin, whoever they are, cherish them. Nan is precious and amazing. So, if you don’t go see this movie for any reason, go see it for Nan.

2. Taron Egerton. Taron has been in TV and movies since 2012, but most of us didn’t know who he was until his role in Kingsman with the lovable, and deadly, character of Eggsy. Since then he’s had quite a number of starring roles. I don’t care what anyone says, Robin Hood is underrated, and you should rent it right now. Taron’s talents aren’t just limited to being the action star as we found out in Sing when he lent his voice and ironically sang an Elton John song. Audition before the audition perhaps? Well, if Taron was worried about being type cast into the action star roles he shouldn’t be. He’s representation of Elton John is one of the finest performances. It’s a stark contrast to the spy we’ve come to know and love. It has to be daunting playing someone so famous and yet Taron made it look effortless. There were times his smiles and facial expressions were so similar to Elton’s that it was surreal!

1. Elton John. While he’s technically not in this movie, it is about him, so I feel that counts. Elton himself had stated that he wanted to film to be as accurate as possible, and it really is. The singer even admitted in a few articles that the movie was hard for him to watch. Well, he doesn’t hold back on his past that’s for sure. Still, this was done in such a creative way that it’s easy for me to recommend it to anyone. Warning, this film doesn’t sugar coat things the way others do. Elton was very open about the life of a rock star and all that entails. While some scenes are not as graphic as others, it doesn’t shy away from what you expect the life of a musician to be. It also really showcases his talent in ways I never truly understood until now. The mind of an artist is quite the interesting one.