Alan Rapp

Game Night

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Game Night
  • IMDb: link

Game Night Blu-ray reviewJason Bateman and Rachel McAdams star in this forgettable comedy as competitive couple Max and Annie who host a weekly game night for their friends Kevin (Lamorne Morris) and Michelle (Kylie Bunbury), and Gary (Jesse Plemons) and his girl of the moment. When Max’s more successful brother Brooks (Kyle Chandler) hijacks game night with an elaborate murder mystery trouble ensues as “coincidentally” Brooks just happens to be kidnapped for real on the same night he hired actors to kidnap him as part of the game. And no one realizes it isn’t a game.

The script by Mark Perez (Accepted, Herbie Fully Loaded) offers some cheap laughs and chuckles, if you can swallow the absurd pretense. Lots of time is given to the relationships of the various couples, but it’s really only when all are involved and the crazy is turned up to 11 (such as throwing a priceless piece of art around a gangster’s mansion) that things get interesting.

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Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider #21

/ / Comics

Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider #21 comic reviewBen Reilly: Scarlet Spider #21 offers two separate storylines for Ben Reilly and Kaine, while leading each down a path which should bring both Scarlet Spiders back together in the next issue. Reilly’s search for the doctor who can cure Abigail Mercury ends in a fight with Sauron, and a cryptic message from the dying scientist about the Diogenes Initiative.

Meanwhile, Kaine still has his hands full with the Mindless One under the control of bratty kid about to cause a whole lot of mayhem in downtown Las Vegas. While not his finest hour, the other Scarlet Spider holds his own until the arrival of a mysterious woman ends the craziness and takes the creature back to her secret lab… which so happens to also be known as the Diogenes Initiative.

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Take Two – Ex’s and Oh’s

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Take Two – Ex’s and Oh’s
  • IMDb: link

Take Two - Ex's and Oh's television review

The latest case hits close to home when Sam’s (Rachel Bilson) ex-fiance (Greyston Holt), the one who dumped her on the red carpet, shows up after his home was burglarized. One of the items stolen from the apartment was the actor’s laptop which just happens to include a sex tape of the pair of them he never got around to deleting. Sam and Eddie’s (Eddie Cibrian) search into the burglary turns up the laptop but also draws the attention of some very bad people and the DEA who believe Sam’s ex may be into heroin smuggling and money laundering. While there’s still plenty of room for improvement,”Ex’s and Oh’s” is the best episode of the series so far offering a rationale for Sam’s overreactions and more enjoyable moments between Berto (Xavier de Guzman) and Monica (Alice Lee).

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The Amazing Spider-Man #1

/ / Comics

The Amazing Spider-Man #1 comic reviewAlthough I like the character, the are a couple of reasons I haven’t been a regular reader on one of his titles for quite some time. The character’s convoluted, and often retconned, history (which has been patched so often you can’t see what it was originally supposed to look like) and writers who focus on making Peter Parker‘s life a struggle without capturing the joy of being Spider-Man, have too often made Spidey comics a chore to read.

The first issue of the newly relaunched The Amazing Spider-Man, to no surprise, throws Peter under the bus once more. Not only is he accused of plagiarism, loses his job at The Daily Planet, living with a super-villain, and earns the disapproval of Aunt May (a character who should never have been brought back), but he also has to deal with the distrust of other heroes once New York City’s Mayor starts fucking with him in the press.

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