Alan Rapp

Supergirl – American Alien

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Supergirl – American Alien
  • wiki: link

Supergirl - American Alien television review

There are quite a few takeaways from the Fourth Season premiere of Supergirl along with foreshadowing of where the series is headed. First, fans of Superman: The Animated Series should be happy with the introduction of Rhona Mitra as Mercy (who first appeared on the cartoon as Lex Luthor’s henchman). There was turmoil both inside the DEO and in the government, Kara (Melissa Benoist) made major strides at work taking on the mentorship of a cub reporter (Nicole Maines), and we also got a slight tease of the powerful Russian Supergirl who likely won’t make a major appearance for a few weeks. The bigger takeaway is that Supergirl isn’t shying away from political storlyines as the new alien citizens come under attack from other Americans (who are assisted in the anger and thirst for violence by Mercy and her brother) as the show will apparently take a hard look this year at a divided nation and a rise of bigotry and violence by those who view others as outsiders.

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First Man

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: First Man
  • IMDb: link

First Man movie reviewAdapted from the book First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong, director Damien Chazelle‘s story about the life and career of Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling) is a well-made film highlighting various moments of the astronaut’s life before the fateful first steps of the moon landing. There’s obvious care taken into the look of the film, various historic NASA elements, and capturing Armstrong both at work and with his family. The movie doesn’t delve too deep into what made Armstrong tick (there’s nothing here you won’t find on Wikipedia, for example), and jumps around quite a bit during early segments. That, along with Gosling’s stoic performance, does keep the audience at arm’s length as I struggled to connect emotionally with the factually accurate tale that still left me a bit cold.

First Man isn’t focused solely on Armstrong’s career at NASA, nor his family life, nor even the series of personal and professional tragedies leading up to walking on the moon. Instead First Man attempts a more comprehensive look than it can comfortably deal with in an already long 141-minute running time. This leaves us with a good film, that I enjoyed, but one I’m unlikely to revisit anytime soon.

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Sorry Nina, It’s All About Mary

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: All About Nina
  • IMDb: link

All About Nina movie reviewI really wanted to like All About Nina. I can certainly tell what drew Mary Elizabeth Winstead to the project in which she plays a stand-up comedian struggling with her career and relationships. While Winstead makes the most of the dramatic moments, particularly during an impressive breakdown on stage, the script from writer/director Eva Vives does the actress no favors.

Had Nina (Winstead) been written as an average struggling comic the script may have worked better, but, while Winstead does her best to sell Nina’s material on stage, the jokes aren’t strong enough to sell the character as comedy’s next big thing.

Leaving New York, and a dysfunctional relationship with a married man (Chace Crawford), Nina heads to Los Angeles. Not the actual Los Angeles, but the cliched movie version with hippie roommates and fame and soulmates just waiting to be found. While auditioning for a job that would launch her career, Nina begins an emotional relationship with an LA local (Common) who apparently is the first nice guy Nina has ever met, let alone dated.

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SEAL Team – Never Say Die

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: SEAL Team – Never Say Die
  • wiki: link

SEAL Team - Never Say Die television review

“Never Say Die” marks the return of Mandy Ellis (Jessica Paré), conspicuous by her absence in the season premiere. After completing a mission in Mexico locating a missing DEA agent, Ellis heads with Bravo to Saudi Arabia where terrorists have stolen Anthrax from a government lab and are threatening to release it into the water supply. Unwilling to meet their demands, the Saudis request help from the United States and Jason Hayes (David Boreanaz) and his team find themselves underground in a natural aquifer with a short window that isn’t helped by the team getting separated due to a cave-in and loosing connection with the anxious Saudi Military who begin to consider more drastic back-up alternatives.

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Coming Soon – London Fields

/ / Film News & Trailers
  • Title: London Fields
  • IMDb: link

Based on the 1989 novel of the same name by Martin Amis, Amber Heard stars as clairvoyant femme fatale Nicola Six who begins affairs with a series of men, one of whom she knows will be her killer. Billy Bob Thornton, Jim Sturgess, Theo James, Jason Isaacs, Cara Delevingne, Johnny Depp, and Jaimie Alexander also star. London Fields opens in theaters on October 26th.

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