Alan Rapp

Motive – They Made Me a Criminal

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Motive – They Made Me a Criminal
  • tv.com: link

Motive - They Made Me a Criminal

The police procedural Motive puts as much emphasis on the killer’s actions both before and after the crime as the detectives attempting to solve the case. Jennifer Beals guest-stars as a dance studio owner in “They Mad Me a Criminal.” Revealed to be the killer in the opening scene, the episode slowly winds its way to explain the motive for the crime and why her estranged husband (Martin Donovan) would be willing to take the fall for killing the young man (Sebastian Gacki) who the police wrongly believe to be his wife’s lover.

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Edge of Tomorrow

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Edge of Tomorrow
  • IMDB: link

Edge of TomorrowAdapted from the Japanese graphic novel All You Need is Kill, Edge of Tomorrow stars Tom Cruise as military recruiter Major William Cage forced into service on the front lines of a war between humanity and an unstoppable alien race known as Mimics. Despite dying rather early on his first day in the field, Cage finds himself somehow still alive reliving the previous day’s events over and over, each time more aware of events and what what must be done to win the war.

With the bad taste of Oblivion still fresh, I wasn’t expecting too much from Cruise stepping so quickly back into a sci-fi film. With a structure which will get it compared to Groundhog Day and Source Code, Edge of Tomorrow delivers a smarter-than-expected summer flick which relies heavily on Cruise and co-star Emily Blunt as the kick-ass face of the United Defense Force who alone understands what his character is going through. Although I think the end is a bit too cute for its own good (much like Source Code) director Doug Liman balances action, suspense, and horror with a surprising amount of humor.

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Teen Titans Go! #3

/ / Comics

Teen Titans Go! #3Parties and business are the themes for the latest issue of Teen Titans Go! In the first story the team attempts to throw a party without a theme, a party-party, if you will. Leaving Starfire to handle the guest list leads to as many super-villains at the party as heroes.

The second story features Cyborg becoming a Bill Gates-style inventor and putting the rest of the Titans to work for his Silicon Valley start-up ChirpFolio. Although he shows no initial interest, eventually even Robin joins the team to cash-in on the profits. However the group’s overspending on blimps, diamond-encrusted bo-staffs, and ponies for Raven eventually brings the house of cards tumbling down.

The party story works a little better than Cyborg’s start-up (with references most young readers aren’t going to get), but Teen Titans Go! #3 delivers another fun issue based on the current cartoon. Worth a look.

[DC, $3.99]

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Serenity: Leaves on the Wind #5

/ / Comics

“I start fightin’ a war, I guarantee, you’ll see somethin’ new.”

Serenity: Leaves on the Wind #5As with many of Mal‘s plans, sneaking into a secret Alliance facility to rescue others like River Tam who were taken to be programmed into unstoppable killing machines gets the captain, Jayne, and their new friends in quite a bit of trouble when the scientist unleashes his prize possession against the intruders.

Featuring quite a bit of action and death as Browncoats go down to both the Alliance soldiers and the assassin, while the Operative finishes off another member of his ilk, Serenity: Leaves on the Wind #5 also offers a short flashback to “Out of Gas” as Mal dusts off the big red button to save the lives of himself and his crew one more time (and offers a nice cameo of Wash).

With only one issue remaining, and Zoe still locked in an Alliance prison somewhere, the Alliance has finally made Mal Reynolds angry enough to join the fight as both he and Bea discover just how many of the Browncoats the Alliance has killed. Worth a look.

[Dark Horse, $3.50]

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