August 2011

Birds of Prey #15

/ / Comics

birds-of-prey-15-coverWhile Gail Simone‘s Secret Six has been consistently good, this run of Birds of Prey is best described as a shadow of its former self. Part of the blame has to go Brightest Day which saddled the team with a pair of members (Hawk and Dove) who never really meshed with the group, but although this volume has had its flashes (such as the Catman and Huntress issue) it has seemed in need of major tweaking for awhile now.

I was surprised that Simone wasn’t on hand to do the final two-issue adventure, but writer Marc Andreyko does manage to breathe a little life back into the book (with absence of Hawk and Dove), even if the story itself, involving a Nazi scientist, clones, and mental displacement, is pretty lame.

That said, the issue is an improvement over part one and does have some nice moments between Zinda Blake and the Phantom Lady. I also thought Manhunter worked pretty well with the team. Is it a great finale? No, not really, but for a comic that has struggled to live up to its own legacy (and struggles here without its trademark writer) it’s about what I expected. Hit-and-Miss.

[DC, $2.99]

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Leverage – The Grave Danger Job

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Leverage – The Grave Danger Job
  • tv.com: link

leverage-grave-danger-job

When the team sets out to take down a crooked mortuary director (Anne-Marie Johnson) who is running not one but two cons on her clients and the recently departed they get more than they bargained for. Hardison (Aldis Hodge) ends up buried alive in one of the coffins and it’s up to the team to find him, take down the drug runner (James Martinez) who put him there, and save their friend before he runs out of air.

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Season of the Witch

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Season of the Witch
  • IMDB: link

season-of-the-witch-blu-rayTwo Teutonic Knights (Nicolas Cage, Ron Perlman) who have grown weary of killing innocents and become deserters of the Crusades are given the chance to redeem themselves by transporting an accused witch (Claire Foy) to a far away monastery. The accused is charged with spreading the Black Death across the world.

Along for the ride are a priest (Stephen Campbell Moore), a knight (Ulrich Thomsen), an altar boy (Robert Sheehan) and a swindler (Stephen Graham) as their guide.

There are good Nic Cage films, silly but passable ones, and plenty of gawdawful crap. Season of the Witch fits in the last category. The nature of the witch is given away far too soon, and the twist of the true nature of her evil will seems nothing more than a forced attempt to raise the stakes of a film you’ve given up on long before its climax.

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Batgirl #24

/ / Comics

batgirl-24-coverWriter Bryan Q. Miller’s run on Batgirl comes to an end. Barbara Gordon may be back in the Batsuit starting next month, but Miller sends out Stephanie Brown out in style with almost everything you’d could ask for. Issue #24 includes a terrific final page that not only neatly wraps up the series, and says goodbye to the character, but also fits so naturally into the tone of a comic that’s been one of DC’s best for two years now.

He even manages to squeeze in a cameo for Damian. I’m just sad he didn’t have 20 extra pages to say goodbye to all of Stephanie’s friends and supporting cast as well.

The issue begins with Batgirl confronting her father, the Cluemaster, who’s been behind the Reapers since the beginning and has transformed the Black Mercy into a weaponized hallucinogen. We see the aftereffects of the drug on Stephanie’s system later (in some terrific full-page panels by Pere Pérez), but not before Miller delivers a heartwarming scene between Steph and her mother who has discovered, and come to terms with, Stephanie’s latest alter-ego.

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Torchwood: Miracle Day – The Middle Men

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Torchwood: Miracle Day – The Middle Men
  • tv.com: link

torchwood-miracle-day-middle-men

As Rex (Mekhi Phifer) and Esther (Alexa Havins) discover the truth in the Los Angeles overflow camp Gwen (Eve Myles) and Rhys (Kai Owen) attempt go save her father from the same fate of Vera (Arlene Tur) and countless others who have deemed undesirables and burned alive in giant ovens.

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