September 2017

The Blacklist – Smokey Putnum

  • Title: The Blacklist – Smokey Putnum
  • wiki: link

The Blacklist - Smokey Putnum TV review

The Blacklist returns with a quirky season premiere with Liz (Megan Boone) tagging along with Reddington (James Spader) on a road trip. Following the dismantlement of his criminal empire, Red has decided to live in a motel and become a bounty hunter while pressuring the FBI to help him rebuild that which Mr. Kaplan (Susan Blommaert) burned to the ground. It’s an odd episode with no real stakes other than finding and transporting a fugitive (Michael Aronov). Despite his recent turmoil, and the knowledge that the corpse suitcase is still out there somewhere, there’s a freedom to our master criminal we haven’t seen in quite some time. Despite everything, he’s decided to make the best of his situation. And, as always, there is an ulterior motive at work.

The Blacklist – Smokey Putnum Read More »

SEAL Team – Tip of the Spear

  • Title: SEAL Team – Tip of the Spear
  • IMDb: link

SEAL Team - Tip of the Spear television review

SEAL Team is one of two new high-profile military action-dramas hitting network television this Fall. David Boreanaz leads the cast as the troubled leader of a SEAL team following the loss of one of their own. The first episode gives us Senior chief petty officer Jason Hayes (Boreanaz) struggling with the loss of a man under his command, a new joint CIA mission involving the capture of a high-profile target and rescue of an American citizen, his dislike for therapy, and a new member thrown into his unit whom he has plenty of reason to distrust. While there’s not much original about the show’s pilot episode, the episode’s action sequences are all well-staged and the emotional moments (while over-simplified at times) work well enough to make it a better alternative to NBC’s The Brave.

SEAL Team – Tip of the Spear Read More »

American Made

  • Title: American Made
  • IMDb: link

American Made movie posterWe’ve seen this all before. And even if we’ve seen it done better at times (see Charlie Wilson’s War, The Wolf of Wall Street, The Big Short, American Hustle, and others), American Made certainly entertains. Director Doug Liman and screenwriter Gary Spinelli come together with star Tom Cruise to offer us another one of those stories too crazy not to be true.

Cruise is in fine form. I’ve remarked before that I have always enjoyed the movie star more when he’s able to unleash a bit of the crazy. And American Made certainly has enough crazy to go around. The film is based somewhat loosely on the real experiences of former TWA pilot Barry Seal (Cruise) who went to work for the CIA in the late 70s and 80s running clandestine reconnaissance missions in South America while also working on his own making money smuggling drugs into the United States from Columbia. After introducing us to his Seal, his wife (Sarah Wright) and the CIA agent (Domhnall Gleeson) who enlists him and funds the dubious enterprise, the insanity begins in earnest. What makes things work is Seal is just smart enough to know when to take advantage of the situation and just dumb enough to not know when he’s over his head.

American Made Read More »

The Big Bang Theory – The Proposal Proposal

  • Title: The Big Bang Theory – The Hot Tub Contamination
  • wiki: link

The Big Bang Theory - The Proposal Proposal TV review

Picking up immeadiately following the Tenth Season finale, The Big Bang Theory returns with Amy (Mayim Bialik) giving the expected answer to Sheldon (Jim Parsons) proposal. While there are certainly no suprises there, Howard (Simon Helberg) and Bernadette (Melissa Rauch) deal with some unexpected news and Raj‘s (Kunal Nayyar) loneliness continues.

The Big Bang Theory – The Proposal Proposal Read More »

The Wild Storm #7

The Wild Storm #7 comic reviewThe Wild Storm #5 offers a bit of breather for readers. And murder. Lots of murder. The introduction of Jackie King, Chief Analyst at I.O. allows the comic to go over the events of recent issues and the growing number of threats I.O. has to solve, primarily that of Angela Spica. While not dwelling too much on what we already know, this works as a nice refresher for those who have read the previous six issues and a primer for those just coming on-board for the first time.

The issue gets nearly all its action from another new character. One of the team who Angela has found herself with gets in trouble while on an undercover mission discovering a dangerous weapon at an I.O. black site. There’s plenty of hallway mayhem and murder before John Colt can find a location safe enough for extraction.

The Wild Storm #7 Read More »