May 2016

Dark Passage

  • Title: Dark Passage
  • IMDb: link

Dark PassageThe weakest of the four movies starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, Dark Passage is more memorable for its set-up than its film noir story. Bogart stars as wrongly-convicted murderer Vincent Parry who escapes prison in the opening scene. “Star” might be a bit of a stretch as Bogart isn’t seen in the first third of the film, and when he does show up his face is under heavy bandages for another 10 minutes.

After his escape is helped by an unlikely source (Becall), Parry is directed to a plastic surgeon (Houseley Stevenson) who helps the supply the man on the run with a new face allowing the movie to move away from the first-person point-of-view of the first 40-minutes and allow Bogart to appear on-screen.

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Captain America: Steve Rogers #1

Captain America: Steve Rogers #1Marvel’s new Captain America series is getting press for one huge reveal, but we’ll get to that in a second. For those who haven’t been paying attention, Steve Rogers has spent the last several months rapidly aged to a senior citizen with the Falcon taking over the role of Captain America. With Captain America: Steve Rogers #1 Steve is back in action along with the Falcon (still also Captain America, but not in this comic), and a team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents including Agent 13, Jack Flag, Free Spirit, and Rick Jones.

So Cap’s back in action with a questionable costume redesign and new shield, to take on a new Hydra controlled by his old nemesis the Red Skull. Of course the original Hydra, controlled by Baron Zemo, is also still around. Writer Nick Spencer layers the story well juggling flashbacks and several characters (one of whom won’t make it out of the comic alive) while hiding the big reveal until the end.

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Alice Through the Looking Glass

  • Title: Alice Through the Looking Glass
  • IMDb: link

Alice Through the Looking GlassOther than the bizarre Burtonian designs of the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) and the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter) I remember almost nothing of 2010’s Alice in Wonderland. Six years later Tim Burton reassembles the cast for a sequel one studio executive, and possibly some other people somewhere, thought would be a good idea. Six years from now I wonder if I will remember anything about this film.

With Burton taking a backseat as producer this time around, James Bobin (The Muppets, The Muppets Most Wanted) steps into the director’s chair. Burton’s fingerprints are all over the film so we can’t really call it Bobin’s movie, but there are some humorous touches that could come from the director.

Set several years after the first film, Alice (Mia Wasikowska) is now a ship’s captain who is pulled back into Wonderland by either A) a friend in need or B) her inability to deal with the stress losing her ship to her ex-fiance. You can decide for yourself whether you believe Alice is an adventurer or a troubled young woman with mental problems she deals with through detailed hallucinations.

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