Alan Rapp

The Old Man and the Gun

  • Title: The Old Man and the Gun
  • IMDb: link

The Old Man and the Gun movie reviewBased on the life of career criminal Forrest Tucker (Robert Redford), who in his 60s (after escaping from prison yet again) put together dozens of bank heists across the country until finally being captured by the FBI, writer/director David Lowery‘s film offers a look at the criminal’s “last hurrah” (although he would commit one more crime spree at the ripe old age of 79) and the Dallas Police Detective (Casey Affleck) instrumental in capturing him.

Redford is put to good use here as the gentlemen robber who never fires a shot (in fact, in every bank robbery sequence he alludes to, but never draws, a gun). The actor easily captures the charm of the man who robbed more for the thrill than the money, always with a smile on his face. Over the course of the film we watch Tucker rob several banks, sometimes by himself and sometimes with the help of two other elderly gentlemen (Danny Glover and Tom Waits) who gain notoriety for the four-year bank robbing spree. The movie also includes a subplot involving Tucker’s interest in a widow (Sissy Spacek) who, like the previous loves of Tucker’s life, never knew or believed what Tucker did for a living.

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Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

  • Title: Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
  • IMDb: link

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald movie reviewThe sequel to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them spends most of the first half-hour getting the previous film’s major characters together once again. Mixing in a younger Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) and introducing, but failing to develop, Johnny Depp as the villain Grindelwald, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald then attempts to steal a bit of the magic from the Harry Potter films.

While it provides more imaginative creatures and amusing awkwardness from Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), the film is littered with problems including an awkwardly-structured plot, a ponderous opening act, a disinterest to do anything more than hint at the core relationship that fuels the plot, and a lack of any sort of conclusion.

Much like the previous film, The Crimes of Grindelwald offers fun, but mostly forgettable, entertainment. There are some nice additions here, including Law as the younger Dumbledore and Zoë Kravitz as a woman with feelings for both the Scamander brothers, but the script fails to make the best use of the talent at hand.

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The Flash – All Doll’d Up

  • Title: The Flash – All Doll’d Up
  • wiki: link

The Flash - All Doll'd Up TV review

Barry (Grant Gustin) and Iris (Candice Patton) work together on a series of crimes committed by a new meta-human Cisco (Carlos Valdes) names Rag Doll (Troy James and voiced by Phil LaMarr). Although he lacks the dark humor and talkative nature from Gail Simone’s Secret Six run, Rag Doll definitely succeeds as one creepy ass villain. The episode also offers a couple of humorous scenes involving Ralph‘s (Hartley Sawyer) help with the threat once Barry is captured by Rag Doll. (Elongated Man, Elongated Man, does whatever a Spider-Man can.) This leaves the rest of Team Flash to work on other mysteries as Ralph, “Sherloque” Wells (Tom Cavanagh), and Cisco all help in Caitlin‘s (Danielle Panabaker) search for answers about her missing father. The B-story also provides a chance for Caitlin to help Cisco rediscover his use to the team now that his powers have been fried by Cicada (Chris Klein).

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First Look – Pokémon Detective Pikachu

  • Title: Pokémon Detective Pikachu
  • IMDb: link

Here’s the first look at the live-action Pokémon movie starring Ryan Reynolds as the voice of Pikachu who helps a new friend (Justice Smith) search for his missing father. Kathryn Newton, Ken Watanabe, Suki Waterhouse, and Bill Nighy also star. Pokémon Detective Pikachu opens in theaters on May 10th.

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Arrow – The Demon

  • Title: Arrow – The Demon
  • wiki: link

Arrow - The Demon television review

The season’s theme of unexpected alliances continues as Oliver (Stephen Amell) finds an old frenemy on Level 2, and Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) enlists the help of both Laurel (Katie Cassidy) and Dinah (Juliana Harkavy) to discover what off-the-books experiments Dr. Jarrett Parker (Jason E. Kelley) is doing with inmates on a facility the prison doesn’t even admit exists. Although the show has really short-changed the character, the return of Talia al Ghul (Lexa Doig) offers some nice prison escape fight sequences and helps give closure to Talia’s storyline (and continue to tease a Batman connection to the Arrowverse that The CW has shown no actual interest in ever exploring). The torture Oliver endures also opens a new possible legal recourse to get him out of prison.

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