February 2011

The Company Men

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The Company Men
  • IMDB: link

the-company-men-posterWritten and directed by John Wells, former West Wing showrunner and once president of the Writers Guild of America, The Company Men takes a look at three men each effected when the company which has employed them for years begins massive downsizing that eventually leaves each of them without a job.

Ben Affleck stars as the hot-shot salesman, with a wife (Rosemarie DeWitt) and family, who can’t accept his new situation and becomes increasingly frustrated when no new opportunities for employment present themselves. Chris Cooper is the longtime company man who worked his way from the factory floor to the boardroom. And Tommy Lee Jones is the best friend of company owner (Craig T. Nelson) who dislikes his life, the compromises being made in the company he helped start, and a wife whose only cares seem to be opportunities to shop – which explains why he prefers the spending time with the company’s hatchet woman (Maria Bello) instead.

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Magneto

/ / Comics

What a waste. Writer/artist Howard Chaykin gives us a glimpse at Magneto‘s first time in costume and what should be electrifying is as bland and forgettable as anything Marvel has put out in the last five years.

Aside from the obvious fact that this story makes no sense whatsoever for anyone who knows X-Men continuity, the idea of Magneto slumming around Brooklyn for a few months, falling in love, and putting on his costume for the first time to fight a Golem formed by the nightmares of the many young mutants (apparently Brooklyn is full of mutants) who live there, is even more ill-conceived than it sounds.

I’m a big fan of the character created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. In fact, when written well, he’s my favorite X-Men character. Sadly, in terms of talent, Chaykin is a far cry from either of Magneto’s creators. This Magneto is roguish, boorish, and less than a pale shadow of the man who would come to torment the X-Men for years to come. Best forgotten, leave this one on the shelf where it belongs.

[Marvel $2.99]

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New Avengers #8

/ / Comics

new-avengers-8-coverWhen Brian Michael Bendis is good he’s really good. First, let me just say this is the best explanation of Doombots I’ve ever seen.

Issue #8 is centered around Luke Cage and Jessica Jones having dinner together, something they don’t often do (Cage even idly wonders if this is their first real date). The pair seriously discuss and playfully bicker over the topic of whether or not she plans to put back on the tights as an Avenger. There’s plenty of laughs including Cage’s suggestion of a possible new super-hero name for his wife which doesn’t go over anywhere near as well as he hoped.

The dinner is interrupted by Ms. Marvel, a falling object and Dr. Doom all crashing into the street across from the restaurant. (That’s Marvel’s New York for you.) What follows is a husband and wife takedown of what is actually a Doombot before the other New Avengers arrive, followed by a group meal, Jones’ decision about being a hero, and Spider-Man getting in the last word at Cage’s expense.

[Marvel $3.99]

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Buffy the Vampire Season Eight #40

/ / Comics

Buffy Season Eight has been an adventure. Almost twice as long as its original intended length, the story has meandered a bit on its way to giving us some great (and less than great) moments over the course of 40 issues.

The conclusion of “Last Gleaming” finds the Buffy and the Scoobies alive (with one big exception), but trapped in a world without magic. The world was saved both from a demon horde and the creation of a new reality but the line of Slayers has been severed as has any connection witches like Willow had with magic.

As final issues go this one’s not half-bad. I grew a little weary of Season Eight, especially when Twilight was revealed to be Angel and he and Buffy started going hot and heavy again. Thankfully, this final issue gives us an end free of the insanity that plagued the final ten issues of this season.

This feels like Buffy again, and sets down the events that lead to Fray as well as foreshadow the fallout which is sure to come in Season Nine (set to begin this summer).

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