November 2012

The Habitation Configuration

  • Title: The Big Bang Theory – The Habitation Configuration
  • tv.com: link

big-bang-theory-the-habitation-configuraton

The return of Will Wheaton (once again playing himself) causes a dust up between the Star Trek: The Next Generation celebrity and Amy (Mayim Bialik) when Will agrees to make an appearance on Sheldon’s (Jim Parsons) webseries “Fun with Flags.” Looking for guidance from Penny (Kaley Cuoco), who offers him one too many Long Island Ice Teas, a drunken Shelton shows up at Wheaton’s home to defend his girlfriend’s honor.

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Iron Man #1

iron-man-marvel-now-1-coverReacting to the success (at least in terms of the money raked in) of DC Comics’ New 52, Marvel moves forward with their own soft-reboot of several characters and titles starting with Iron Man. This new version, written by Kieron Gillen, is certainly meant to appeal to the fans of the current Iron Man movie franchise. Not only does it (not so subtley) introduce one of the big pieces to the upcoming movie but it gives us the Tony/Pepper relationship from the first two films that most mainstream fans are familiar and most comfortable with.

As first issues go Iron Man #1 is actually pretty good. I’m not sure it’s good enough to justify multiple issues a month at $41 (issue two hits stores in two weeks), but I’ll admit I did enjoy this issue. Gillen doesn’t quite have Stark’s voice right but the story plays out well even for those jumping on with the character after a long absence from regularly reading his title (like me). I was also pleasantly surprised by the art of Greg Land. Sure, the woman look porny as hell (it is a Greg Land comic), but I actually really like the look of his version of Iron Man’s current armor.

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Bond is Back (and he’s brought the Joker with him)!

  • Title: Skyfall
  • IMDb: link

skyfall-posterI wasn’t the biggest fan of Quantum of Solace which I felt stayed far too focused on the fallout of the first movie in the reboot James Bond franchise without moving our new version of British Secret Agent James Bond (Daniel Craig) forward. Skyfall certainly isn’t a perfect Bond film, in fact it may be the first of the franchise that I’ve enjoyed without liking its choice of villain. However, it does make a concerted effort to blend in elements of the classic Bond franchise with the new version making it feel, really for the first time, that James Bond is truly back.

The film borrows heavily from themes, elements, and even specific props from previous Bond movies. Some of these callbacks include the Aston Martin from Goldfinger, a signature gun (which we saw before in Licence to Kill), an assassin’s with signature bullets (a major plot point used in The Man with the Golden Gun), and even the recreation of M’s classic office. The movie also begins incorporating Bond’s original supporting cast including finally delivering a new Q (Ben Whishaw).

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The Sessions

  • Title: The Sessions
  • IMDB: link

the-sessions-posterSex is a mysterious, terrifying, and wondrous thing, especially for someone like Marc O’Brien (John Hawkes) who has lived nearly his entire life unable to move a single muscle below his neck. After contracting Polio at the age of six, Marc has spent most of his life in an iron lung or strapped to a gurney. At the age of 38, inspired while writing an article about the sex lives of people with physical disabilities, he decides it’s about time he lost his virginity.

After getting the consent of his priest, Father Brendan (William H. Macy, in another terrific supporting performance), Marc engages the services of Cheryl (Helen Hunt), a sex surrogate. Marc’s journey is far from an easy one, with both sad and humorous obstacles to be overcome.

Based on the true experiences of Marc O’Brien, adapted and directed by Ben Lewin, this little film about sex turns out to be a funny and sweet character study of a man and his relationships with the three most important women in his life (Hunt, Moon Bloodgood, and Annika Marks).

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Arrow – Damaged

  • Title: Green Arrow – Damaged
  • tv.com: link

“He blames me for the death of his daughter. He also thinks I dress up in a green hood and shoot people with arrows.”

arrow-damaged

After being arrested by Detective Lance (Paul Blackthorne) on suspicion of being Starling City’s new vigilante, Oliver (Stephen Amell) denies any assistance Walter (Colin Salmon) and his mother (Susanna Thompson) can offer and demands the only lawyer he can trust to defend him – Laurel (Katie Cassidy). Believing in Oliver’s innocence, and sure the self-centered rich boy she’s known her entire life is no do-gooder, Laurel agrees to take the case even if it means squaring off against her father over the man he still blames for the death of Laurel’s sister.

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