Alan Rapp

Furious 7

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Furious 7
  • IMDb: link

“Cars don’t fly.”

Furious 7The latest entry is neither the best (Fast Five) nor the worst (2 Fast 2 Furious) of the franchise. Taking place after the events of Fast & Furious 6, Furious 7 introduces Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) as the brother of Owen Shaw (Luke Evans), who the team took down in the last movie, and the man responsible for killing Han (Sung Kang) in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. Now Shaw is targeting Hobbs (Dwayne “It’s Okay to Call Me The Rock Again” Johnson) and every member of Dominic Toretto‘s (Vin Diesel) team.

Despite Paul Walker‘s death during filming, Brian O’Conner‘s role in the film isn’t truncated thanks to the use of CGI and a little trick photography involving his two brothers. The film ends with a nice farewell for its fallen star although, despite discussion of making more Fast & Furious films, the character isn’t killed off on-screen making you wonder what kind of role Brian could possibly play going forward.

As with all the previous movies, the strengths of the latest film are its stunts which get larger and more ridiculous. Like the last film, this one stretches all credibility during its climax.

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Morning Glories Volume 8

/ / Comics

Morning Glories Volume 8“Assembly” opens up a new path for Casey Blevins with Morning Glories #39‘s introduction of her old rival Isabel and the idea of running for student president to earn access to the school’s elusive Director. Although initially against the idea, Casey comes to see the wisdom in such a move.

The latest volume of Morning Glories also gives us the arrival of Oliver Simon and Ellen Richmond and begins to define the characters of Vanessa and her brother Ian. Vanessa and Ellen’s story continues to grow in importance in the comic’s most recent issues while Ian’s odd nature suggests he’ll have an important role to play before all is said and done.

We also get the introduction of the school’s unique sport Towerball which another of the students plans, like Casey, to use for his own ends to stand-up to the faculty. Whether or not any of them are successful, this volume begins to see various characters banding together in different ways to fight back against the oppressive authority of the school. But when you’re dealing with fate, gods, and weird mysticism do they really have a chance? Worth a look.

[Image, $12.99]

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Jimmy Fallon – Like A Prayer vs. The Rock – Staying Alive (Lip Sync Battle)

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Lip Sync Battle
  • IMDb: link

Here’s Jimmy Fallon‘s lip-sync version of “Like A Prayer” and Dwayne “It’s Okay to Call Me The Rock Again” Johnson‘s version of “Staying Alive” from the opening episode of Lip Sync Battle. The first two episodes of the new show aired last night on Spike TV. Fun but full of a tremendous amount of filler between four musical numbers over a half-hour, and the bizarre choice of Chrissy Teigen as co-host (she flubbed her only real line in the opening episode), the show could use a little reworking. That said, the numbers themselves are fun (especially The Rock’s opening rendition of Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” which has yet to be uploaded to the official YouTube Channel).

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The Blacklist – Vanessa Cruz

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: The Blacklist – Vanessa Cruz
  • wiki: link

The Blacklist - Vanessa Cruz

As Reddington (James Spader) attempts to stop events with the secret cabal from spiraling completely out of control he alerts the FBI to the latest name on The Blacklist. Vanessa Cruz (Ana de la Reguera) is a ghost with means, motive, and opportunity to frame several one-percenters with crimes destroying their lives just as they destroyed the life of her husband. Talking with one of her former victims (Stephen Schnetzer), one that she left alive serving years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, leads Lizzie and Ressler (Diego Klattenhoff) to her latest targets one of whom she become so emotionally attached she’s unable to complete the job. Cruz may escape FBI custody but from the offer she recieves near the end of the episode suggests we’ll be seeing her again very soon.

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Arrow – Public Enemy

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Arrow – Public Enemy
  • wiki: link

Arrow - Public Enemy

Oliver Queen‘s (Stephen Amell) world crumbles as the murder of Starling City’s mayor and wounding of Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh) by arrows leads Captain Lance (Paul Blackthorne) to declare Green Arrow the city’s most wanted fugitive and rally the entire police force for the vigilante’s capture, dead or alive. Realizing Maseo (Karl Yune) is leading Ra’s al Ghul‘s (Matt Nable) army of Arrow killers, Oliver enlists the help of Nyssa (Katrina Law) to track down his old friend believing he can put a stop to the killing. He’s wrong, and when Oliver refuses to accept Ra’s offer again the Demon’s Head lets Lance in on the truth of just who he’s hunting making Oliver Queen, not just the Arrow, the focus of a citywide manhunt.

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