Alan Rapp

Legacies – All’s Well That Ends Well

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Legacies – All’s Well That Ends Well
  • wiki: link

Legacies - All's Well That Ends Well television review

The arrival of a Banshee (Elinor Gunn) confirms Hope‘s (Danielle Rose Russell) suspicion that the monsters from Malivore aren’t after Landon (Aria Shahghasemi) this time around. They want Cleo (Omono Okojie) whose abilities as a Muse Malivore covets as a means to breaking out of the prison world. The episode also marks Hope’s first encounter with the mysterious shaman/hunter who kidnaps Cleo once she leaves the school while attempting to protect the others. Cleo’s selfishness helps cement her role as part of the Super Squad while the nature of her abilities helps explain the nagging mystery about her character which is finally revealed. Hope’s familiarity with the hunter also suggests his identity is known to the group (even if it has yet to be reavealed).

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Mortal Kombat

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Mortal Kombat (2021)
  • IMDb: link

Mortal Kombat movie review

The 2021 adaptation of the Mortal Kombat video games has a higher budget, better special effects, and a cast at least as talented as the 1995 film. So why is it less entertaining? It probably has something to with the flaws of the earlier film feeding into joys of a B-movie, while the more serious approach this time around is just flawed. Oh, and if you are going to do a Mortal Kombat movie, you may want to include a Mortal Kombat tournament in it.

The entire film takes place prior to a tournament and involves the minions of Shang Tsung (Chin Han) being sent to kill the warriors of Earth despite the fact that all evidence suggests Earth has no chance in winning the tournament. However, there’s a prophecy that a descendant of Hanzo Hasashi (Hiroyuki Sanada), who we see murdered in the opening scene, will prevent Outworld from winning Mortal Kombat.

Our heroes are former MMA fighter Cole Young (Lewis Tan) who turns out to be a poor substitute for Liu Kang as the hero of destiny, and Special Forces officers Jax Briggs (Mehcad Brooks) and Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee).

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Mortal Kombat

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Mortal Kombat (1995)
  • IMDb: link

Mortal Kombat movie reviewThrowback Thursday takes us back to 1995 to the first attempt to adapt the Mortal Kombat video game into a feature film. Director Paul W.S. Anderson‘s Mortal Kombat is a flawed, but nonetheless enjoyable, B-movie. The story involves former Shaolin monk Liu Kang (Robin Shou), Hollywood action star Johnny Cage (Linden Ashby), and Special Forces officer Sonya Blade (Bridgette Wilson) being chosen by Thunder God Lord Raiden (Christopher Lambert) to defend Earth against an evil dimension in a tournament known as Mortal Kombat.

Each fighter has a different purpose for entering the tournament. Cage wants to prove his ability as a fighter (in a secret tournament no one will know about?), Kang is after revenge for the death of his brother (Steven Ho), and Sonya is chasing another competitor in the mercenary Kano (Trevor Goddard). The story is simply a loose structure to fit the various fight sequences, locations, and set pieces. An unapologetic B-movie memorable for Lambert’s mugging and some not too shabby special effects for the time, the film works as a tribute to the video game series without anyone in front, or behind, the cameras, or in the audience, taking the very ridiculous premise seriously.

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Angel – Dear Boy

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Angel – Dear Boy
  • wiki: link

Angel - Dear Boy television review

Throwback Thursday takes us back to Los Angeles and the adventures of a vampire with a soul. The Second Season of Angel is fixated on Darla (Julie Benz) and the return of Angel’s sire. After being gaslit for several episodes, an already shaky Angel (David Boreanaz) discovers that not only is Darla alive but is human. We witness Wolfram & Hart’s plan to turn Angel evil by framing him as an unhinged obsessive responsible for the murder of Darla’s husband (an actor hired, and promptly killed by Wolfram & Hart). The crime leads to the return of Detective Kate Lockley (Elisabeth Röhm), a character that never quite worked and would exit the show just a few episodes later. “Dear Boy” also highlights Angel’s disgust at the seedier side of being a private investigator when he’s hired to spy on a cheating spouse supposedly abducted by aliens.

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Black Cat #5

/ / Comics

Black Cat #5 comic reviewTwo series worth of heists (and Marvel’s ridiculous need to reboot and restart numbering comics arbitrarily) has led us here. Over 17 issues, when not distracted by the world being attacked by some weird symbiotic entity, Black Cat has carefully chosen specific targets within the super-hero community to aquire the tools necessary to rob Odessa Drake and the New York branch of the Thieves Guild. However, it seems her mentor the Black Fox hasn’t told her everything about his plans.

Opening with a look back at Felicia and the Fox as student and mentor, then discovering the Fox has been keeping secrets from her, I half expected some kind of double-cross here. Instead, the Black Fox’s true motives are revealed to rob the Guild not of their jewels but the immortality they receive from their partnership with the Guilded Saint (an extradimensional creature) by offering the creature a prize like none other – the island of Manhattan.

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