Alan Rapp

Thor: The Dark World

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Thor: The Dark World
  • IMDb: link

Thor: The Dark World

Trading in directors and screenwriters (only one of the six credited here for story and screenplay were involved in the first film), Thor: The Dark World proves to be a solid follow-up to director Kenneth Branagh‘s 2001 origin story for Marvel Studios’ version of Thor. With nearly the entire cast of characters already introduced in the first film director Alan Taylor and his half-dozen writers can take the time to delve a little deeper in the supporting cast and give several characters from the previous film stand-out moments in the sequel.

I keep mention the number of writers on Thor: The Dark World because the script itself does feel like an odd mix of concepts and mashed-up designs that don’t always quite work. There is plenty to question in both film’s villain (Christopher Eccleston), an odd amalgam of Star Trek and Lord of the Rings, which to be fair so is much of Thor’s lore which jumbles sci-fi and fantasy with relish, and His quest to destroy all of creation with magic floaty water (that is shown mostly as smoke because apparently the CGI folks couldn’t decides what the “Aether” should actually be).

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In a World…

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: In a World…
  • IMDb: link

In a World...

Premiering at Sundance earlier this year first-time writer/director Lake Bell‘s In a World… quickly became a critical darling taking home the festival’s award for screenwriting. I’ve been largely unimpressed with Bell and her forgettable career which includes one of the worst comedies I ever had the misfortune to sit through, so I can definitely understand her reasoning for wanting to but together the kind of role no one else was offering her.

As the film of a first time director In a World… shows promise and centering the story around the largely untapped world of voice-over artists gives the otherwise by-the-numbers romantic comedy something of an unique feel. Bell’s time in the industry also allows her to put together a pretty strong indie cast of familiar faces.

But despite the intriguing set-up and good performances, most of the promise of In a World… is unfulfilled. Bell’s creativity in one part of the story is balanced by laziness in another as she fails to do much other than offer up what amounts to a slightly better than average romcom.

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Arrow – League of Assassins

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Arrow – League of Assassins
  • wiki: link

“There’s only one way that you leave the League.”

Arrow - League of Assassins

Beginning with the shipwreck, the latest episode’s flashbacks begin to fill in the gaps of Sara‘s (Caity Lotz) journey from the the helpless survivor near death lost in the middle of the ocean, to her time on the freighter under the care of Dr. Anthony Ivo (Dylan Neal), and her journey to Nanda Parbat and membership in the League of Assassins who have come to Starling City in search of their missing member.

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #27

/ / Comics

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #27Things are looking bleak for the Turtles and their friends. The city has fallen to the Foot Clan, Leonardo is still under the control of the Shredder, and Angel has lost control of the Purple Dragons to Casey‘s father Hun, who like all the other gangs still standing have sworn allegiance to the Foot.

On the night of celebration, Shredder demands the mandatory audience of all the gangs to witness the public execution of the Savate. However, just as Shredder begins tightening his grip on his new spoils small cracks begin to emerge such as possible collaboration and ulterior motives for Alopex and Kitsune and the increasingly conflicted nature of Leonardo.

With the help of Old Hob and Slash, Splinter, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael crash the party to rescue Leonardo. However, they don’t plan on Karai showing up with her two new mutant soldiers: Rocksteady and Bebop. Now things are gonna get interesting. Worth a look.

[IDW, $3.99]

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Person of Interest – The Perfect Mark

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Person of Interest – The Perfect Mark
  • wiki: link

Person of Interest - The Perfect Mark

The latest number delivered by The Machine is a hypno-therapist (Aaron Staton) who uses the vulnerable state of his clients to phish for personal information he later uses to break into their personal accounts and steal by creating fake donations to a charity that doesn’t exist. While shadowing him, Reese (Jim Caviezel) and Shaw (Sarah Shahi) discover this isn’t the only con the man is playing as he and his partner (James Joseph O’Neil) rip-off an investor to the tune of $50,000 in a single afternoon.

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