Alan Rapp

The Toys That Made Us – Star Trek

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: The Toys That Made Us – Star Trek
  • IMDb: link

The Toys That Made Us - Star Trek

While the other episodes of the documentary series look at the phenomenally successful toy lines that defined a generation (or several generations), the Star Trek episode is an interesting departure that focuses far more on the franchise’s mistakes, false starts, stumbles, and decades of poor marketing that led to frustration from their target audience. While there are some interesting items here and there, and the quality did improve in later years, the stand-outs here are the toys that either failed (such as the constantly beeping walkie-talkie tricorder) or the bizarre (what exactly is that flashing helmet for?). Of the three episodes I’ve watched from the show’s Second Season, it’s the most interesting allowing collectors and toy makers to celebrate and bemoan the byzantine ups and downs of Star Trek merchandise.

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Deception – Code Act

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Deception – Code Act
  • wiki: link

Deception - Code Act television review

The Mystery Woman’s (Stephanie Corneliussen) quest, and her connection to the Black family is revealed in “Code Act” as she successfully pulls a bank heist under the nose of the Amazing Cameron Black (Jack Cutmore-Scott) and the FBI searching for the final piece of her puzzle. It appears, along with being a horrible father and renown magician, Cameron and Jonathan’s father (Jack Davenport) was also a thief who used the cover of the stage shows to help steal millions all over the globe. And, for decades, those millions have been hidden away behind an elaborate set-up that requires a very specific set of artifacts to open.

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Krypton – The Phantom Zone

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Krypton – The Phantom Zone
  • wiki: link

Krypton - The Phantom Zone television review

This show gives me a headache. Like Gotham, Krytpon is set years before one of DC’s trademark heroes makes his debut. And, like Gotham, writers of Krypton can’t stop themselves from shoving references and canon for his tenure as a hero decades prior to his tenure as a hero (when it makes any sense to introduce them). In Krypton‘s case that means Brainiac (Blake Ritson) attacking the planet, and Zod (who should be a contemporary of Superman’s father) establishing his rule both in the time of Superman’s grandfather. The main thread of the first season was for Seg (Cameron Cuffe) to save Superman’s timeline. While trouble is momentarily averted, with Seg stuck in the Phantom Zone with the Collector of Worlds to end the season, once again Kal-El’s birth has been wiped from the timeline. And now Zod is somehow part of Superman’s family tree? And Doomsday is on Krypton? WTF is going on?

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Anon

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Anon
  • IMDb: link

Anon movie reviewThere’s an interesting idea inside of writer/director Andrew Niccol‘s (Gattaca, In Time) Anon but the film, released straight to Netflix without a theatrical release, flounders. A sci-fi whodunit, Anon takes place in the future where every person has a camera inside their eyes which records every waking moment of their life. When a crime happens, police are able to view the events from the victim’s perspective. However, a hacker has learned how to hack the cameras not only giving them access to an incredible amount of sensitive data but also allowing them to kill without leaving a trace.

Clive Owen stars as Police Detective Sal Frieland who searches for a hacker (Amanda Seyfried) who can alter a person’s recorded history for a price. Going undercover, Sal hopes to find the hacker and murderer who the department believes is the same person (although Sal’s bosses are far more interested in plugging the leak into how the hacker is breaking into the network than solving the murder). Part post-noir mystery and part attempted indictment on social media and sharing your life online, Anon fails on both counts.

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