Alan Rapp

The Flash – Don’t Run

Alan Rapp / December 7, 2017 / Television Reviews

Title: The Flash – Don’t Run
wiki: link

Christmas comes to Central City, but no one is in a celebratory mood as Barry (Grant Gustin) is abducted by the Thinker and Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) is kidnapped by Amunet Black (Katee Sackhoff). With limited resources at their disposal, Iris (Candice Patton) is forced to choose which one becomes the priority for the team to recover. While the episode is apparently the last we will see of Clifford DeVoe (Neil Sandilands), it’s far from the last we’ll see of the Thinker whose need for new metahumans, one in particular, is finally explained.

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Justice League Action – Skyjacked

Alan Rapp / December 7, 2017 / Television Reviews

Title: Justice League Action – Drivers Ed
wiki: link

“Skyjacked” is a fun Justice League Action short featuring Harley Quinn (Tara Strong) and Poison Ivy (Natasha Leggero) attempting to steal a Javelin from the Justice League which is complicated by the arrival of Batman (Kevin Conroy). Ever since Batman: The Animated Series the team-up of Harley and Ivy has provided some enjoyable moments on both TV and in comics, and “Skyjacked” continues that trend.

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War for the Planet of the Apes

Alan Rapp / December 7, 2017 / Home Video

Title: War for the Planet of the Apes
IMDb: link

The third (and likely final) entry to the modern retelling of The Planet of the Apes saga focuses on the war between remaining human military (this time led by Woody Harrelson) and Caesar’s (Andy Serkis) race of intelligent apes. After an attack on the ape’s base that left his family dead, Caesar sets out on a quest for vengeance against The Colonel (Harrelson) which will become complicated by the discovery of a young human girl (Amiah Miller) and learning his followers have been captured by the enemy.

While the real conflict in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was between the apes themselves, War for the Planet of the Apes focuses instead on painting the humans, particularly Harrelson, as the villains in a more straightforward storyline of revenge leading to a definite conclusion to Caesar’s story. This works in the film’s favor, allowing the series to end on a high note (even if director Matt Reeves misses on several key moments, such as hamfistedly spelling out far too much in the final scene).

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The Post

Alan Rapp / December 6, 2017 / Movie Reviews

Title: The Post
IMDb: link

The Post is unquestionably lesser Spielberg and is more comparable to 1994’s The Paper than Spotlight or All the President’s Men in examining a newspaper room chasing down a story. While there’s nothing wrong with that (lesser Spielberg is still Spielberg), and cast and crew still deliver an entertaining and informative film, it never reaches the the heights to which it aspires.

Based on real events, the film focuses on The Washington Post and their decision to follow the lead of The New York Times and publish the results of a leaked government study that would come to be known as the Pentagon Papers and predicted the U.S. failure in Vietnam years before troops were recalled.

Director Steven Spielberg assembles an impressive all-star cast headlined by a terrific performance by Meryl Streep as the paper’s owner Katherine Graham who is faced with tough choices between balancing corporate concerns and her editor Ben Bradlee‘s (Tom Hanks) desire to print despite the U.S. Government’s legal efforts to stop the leaked documents from making it to the front page.

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Supergirl – Reign

Alan Rapp / December 5, 2017 / Television Reviews

Title: Supergirl – Reign
wiki: link

Supergirl pulls out all the stops for its mid-season finale with a memorable first meeting between Kara (Melissa Benoist) and Reign (Odette Annable) that leaves the Girl of Steel broken, battered, bruised, and defeated. Prior to the “Crisis on Earth-X” crossover we finally got some information about just who and what Reign really is. Despite Sam being taken over by the Kryptonian programming it appears she’s more of Jekyll/Hyde character keeping her humanity and only aware of her other self’s actions in nightmares. Beginning by burning her symbol all over National City and leaving a trail of dead drug gangbangers, eventually this Kryptonian “devil” steps toe-to-to with Supergirl (and more than holds her own).

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