December 2012

V/H/S

/ / Home Video
  • Title: V/H/S
  • IMDB: link

vhs-blu-rayLike most short film anthologies V/H/S is something of a mixed bag. Structured around a story of a group of criminals hired to retrieve a videotape from what they believe is an empty house, the group of thieves stumble upon the owner’s dead body and an insane collection of videotapes each with a different found-footage-style horror tale captured on film.

As the robbers search and plunder the house for what they’ve been sent to find, along with anything else of value they can steal, one member of the group starts browsing through five of the tapes giving us our five separate horror shorts.

In “Amateur Night” a group of frat boys attempting to make their own amateur sex tape get far more than they expected when one of the women (Hannah Fierman) they pick has a violent episode as the camera starts to roll. Although the set-up is far too long, the payoff works well and Fierman is certainly capable as coming off as creepy as hell on-screen when called upon.

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Bones – The Ghost in the Machine

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Bones – The Ghost in the Machine
  • tv.com: link

bones-the-ghost-in-the-machine

Bones has certainly reached a bit with some of its storylines this season which have included Sweets (John Francis Daley) temporarily moving in with Bones (Emily Deschanel) and Booth (David Boreanaz), and Bones’ obsessions with running for President of the United States and the philosophy of Phil Jackson. “Ghost in the Machine” follows that trend as the Jeffersonian team investigates a murder victim from the perspective of a  14 year-old boy’s remains which begins to haunt the team during the investigation that hits too close to home for many members of the team.

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News and Notes

/ / News

The Playlist has an interview with Christopher Nolan in which the director discusses his Batman trilogy, producing the upcoming Superman film Man of Steel, and the possibility of his involvement in 2015’s Justice League

Variety takes a look at ABC’s mid-season lineup which includes new shows such as Red Widow with Radha Mitchell, Natalia Nogulich, and Rodney Rowland, How to Live with Your Parents (for the Rest of Your Life) starring Sarah Chalke, and Zero Hour (which probably isn’t about Hal Jordan‘s attempt to recreate the entire DCU in his own image)

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Castle – Secret Santa

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Castle – Secret Santa
  • tv.com: link

castle-secret-santa

When a man dressed in a Santa suit drops from the sky and land in Central Park Beckett (Stana Katic) and Castle (Nathan Fillion) work to uncover the identity of Santa Claus and the reasons behind his murder. After identifying the victim as a promising businessman turned professional Santa Claus, Castle and Beckett discover the victim walked away from both a lucrative business and loving wife (Leslie Hope) five years ago to put on a Santa suit, offering no explanation for his sudden behavior.

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FF #1

/ / Comics

FF #1With the Fantastic Four heading out a time-traveling trip Reed, the Thing, Sue, and Johnny recruit a temporary team which will need to take their place for an undetermined amount of time between four minutes and indefinitely. Matt Fraction, who is also taking over the duties for the new Fantastic Four series, earns some points right away from me by choosing She-Hulk, one of Marvel Comics most criminally underused characters in recent years, as one quarter of the new team.

Honestly, I’m less exited about the rest of the team which includes Medusa, Ms. Thing, and Scott Lang who is reluctant to watch over a group of super-children while still greiving the loss of his own daughter.

There’s not much to this first issue other than gathering the new team and re-introducing the members of the Future Foundation (including Bentley and Dragon Man), but Matt Fraction and artist Mike Allred have fun simply showing off the various characters. I’m not sure how long I’ll stay with the title (I felt the last series grew tiresome rather quickly), but I’m glad I picked it up. Worth a look.

[Marvel, $3.99]

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