January 2011

Chuck Vs. the Balcony

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Chuck – Chuck Vs. the Balcony
  • tv.com: link

After a brief winter hiatus Chuck returned with our favorite underachieving geek turned spy looking for the perfect scenario to propose to Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski). The mission to recover the microchip gives us several fun moments including a late twist foreshadowed earlier in a conversation between Sarah and Gen. Beckman (Bonita Friedericy), Sarah pretending to be drunk, and Morgan and Chuck’s (Zachary Levi) homage to The Court Jester as Chuck frantically searches for a “peppery pinot with a stable on the label on the cork.”

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Amazing Spider-Man #651

/ / Comics

You know what? It’s nice for Spider-Man to be fun again. The latest issue finds Spidey and the Black Cat breaking into the Kingpin‘s tower after the stolen Reverbium.

Spidey’s sporting his new stealth suit (something I’m still on the fence about) and the Black Cat is sporting her trademark teammate skills as the two find their secret mission discovered before it even starts when the Kingpin and the new Hobgoblin give the heroes a rather chilly reception.

I’ve really only got minor complaints here such as the length of time Fisk toys with the Black Cat without doing her any real harm (something which could have been fixed by reorganizing the panels a bit). I do like Phil Urich as the new Hobgoblin and the dark mirrored take with him selling footage of his other persona for his job at the Daily Bugle. There’s also a nice moment with Carlie when Parker realizes how naked he feels with all his Spidey stuff stored at his new job instead of his apartment.

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Amazing Spider-Man #651 Read More »

Birds of Prey #8

/ / Comics

Is that a little Batman mixed in with the Birds of Prey? I think it is!

There’s actually quite a lot to like about this issue including Oracle‘s inner monologue about having Bruce help her team and Black Canary‘s reaction (including a sly smile) at seeing “the” Batman back in action.

The entire issue centers around the Calculator‘s goons trying to locate Oracle. There’s also a far less satisfying B-story of Hawk checking up on the Penguin. Everything works fine… until Oracle puts everyone in danger by inexplicably asking Batman to take a dive (which he does?) thus putting her entire team in real jeopardy.

The finally few pages really seem to drop the ball on what was a very fun, engaging story filled with ample amounts of action and internal monologue. It’s still worth a look but ends on a rather disappointing note.

[DC $2.99]

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Stone

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Stone
  • IMDB: link

Odds are you missed Stone in theaters. And, sadly, odds are you’re going to want to pass it up on DVD and Blu-ray as well.

The film focuses on retiring parole officer Jack Mabry (Robert De Niro) and one of his last assignments – an incarcerated arsonist named Stone (Edward Norton). What follows is a twisted tale of Jack being seduced by Stone’s wife (Milla Jovovich) in order to help facilitate his release.

Stone is a bit of a mess. It has its moments, including a strong opening which sets up the personality of De Niro’s character, and several interesting pieces, but the script by Angus MacLachlan never puts the whole story together in an engaging or believable way.

The most troubling aspect is that the movie can never quite decide how smart the title character is supposed to be. At times (even in scenes alone with his wife) he seems just dimwitted and desperate enough to offer up his wife to Mabry in this last ditch effort at early release.

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