December 2014

Doctor Who – Last Christmas

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Doctor Who – Last Christmas
  • wiki: link

Doctor Who - Last Christmas

With more than a passing resemblance to “For the Man Who Has Everything,” the latest Doctor Who Christmas special reunites The Doctor (Peter Capaldi) and Clara (Jenna Coleman) at the North Pole to deal with Dream Crabs which have infested a small arctic science station and have begun to feed on their hosts while offering each of them dreams of better lives while slowly digesting their brains. Oh, and did I mention Santa Claus (Nick Frost) and his Elves are there, too?

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Batman – The Thirteenth Hat / Batman Stands Pat

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Batman – The Thirteenth Hat / Batman Stands Pat
  • wiki: link
  • wiki: link

Batman - Batman Stands Pat

In honor of Batman‘s 75th Anniversary we continue to look back at the more memorable moments of the 1966 Batman TV-series starring Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin. Based on a 1964 comic story, “The Thirteenth Hat” would introduce fans of the show to another Batman villain with David Wayne making his first appearance as the Mad Hatter. Despite offering the show a menacing villain with a different bag of tricks and motives (which work despite not being at all tied to Alice in Wonderland), the character would only make one more two-part appearance later in Season Two.

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Astro City #18

/ / Comics

Astro City #18So much of Astro City deals with the fringe, normal people on the periphery of the super-hero world, that when you get a comic centered around a particular hero you are always a bit surprised. Beginning a new four-issue arc, “The Dimming of the Day” gives us a peek at aging crimefighters Crackerjack and Quarrel while offering a contemplative look back at the humble origins of the later who used her natural gifts and tragic family history to carve out a life as a super-hero.

Quarrel’s back story takes up much of the first issue of the arc while introducing the idea of two crimefighters whose heroic exploits may be coming to an end. Wiser and more armored, but a bit slower these days, how hard is it for a hero to admit that it might be time to hang up the tights?

Although I’ve quite enjoyed the short one-off issues of the current series, Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson open a door here I’ll gladly walk through and stick around to see what does happen when a super-hero decides (or is forced to) retire? Worth a look.

[Vertigo, $3.99]

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The Imitation Game

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The Imitation Game
  • IMDb: link

The Imitation Game

Code breaking is an art as much as a science and never was it needed, or more artfully accomplished, than by the British during World War II. Set during the middle of Second World War, The Imitation Game follows an unlikely group of scholars, mathematicians, linguists, chess champions, and intelligence officers who were thrown together with the singular goal of breaking Germany’s unbreakable code known as Enigma. Enter Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) who might have been the biggest hero of the war if every advancement he made in cryptology (including the creation of the first computer) hadn’t been state secrets until well after his death.

Based on the novel by Andrew Hodges and adapted by Graham Moore, the film is anchored by Benedict Cumberbatch who lends a vulnerability to the abrasiveness of Turing whose own co-workers often struggled to get along with. In one of her most understated roles Keira Knightley stars as Joan Clarke, the lone female member of the team to break Engima, even if she had to officially work as a secretary in order to do so.

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