Alan Rapp

Shockingly, R.I.P.D. isn’t D.O.A.

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: R.I.P.D.
  • IMDB: link

R.I.P.D.Based on the comic series by Peter M. Lenkov, R.I.P.D. stars Ryan Reynolds as a recently slain dirty cop who is drafted by the Rest In Peace Department for his unique skill set and sent back into the land of the living to catch escaped souls hiding out on Earth. To teach him the ropes, Nick (Reynolds) is paired with Roy Pulsipher (Jeff Bridges), an persnickety lawman straight out of the Old West who has hunted souls for centuries.

The comparisons to Men in Black are too obvious to ignore, but R.I.P.D. does have one thing going for it that the MIB franchise has been missing since the late 1990’s: a fresh take. As goofy and unoriginal as the concepts behind R.I.P.D. are, the movie puts its own spin on things while delivering an impressive production design as well as sense of fun missing from far too many of this summer’s movies. The weapons of the film are a mix between MIB and Hellboy while the design of R.I.P.D. headquarters, once again borrowing heavily on other films (most notably MIB), creates a nice mix of out-of-control underworld bureaucracy and an incredibly clean police station.

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Red 2

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Red 2
  • IMDB: link

Red 2Not every movie deserves a sequel. Based on the early 2000’s comic from Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner, Red was good dumb fun about retired spies forced to get back into the game when their past caught up with them. Not straining any brain muscles, the sequel is roughly the same premise as Frank Moses (Bruce Willis), Marvin (John Malkovich), and Frank’s girlfriend Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker) find themselves marked for death based on Frank and Marvin’s part in a secret operation more than three decades ago.

The movie begins in much the same way as another of Willis’ regrettable sequels as the former spy attempts to lay low in the suburbs with a girlfriend who wants more crazy adventures. Forced on the run, the threesome are pursued by the world’s best hitman (Byung-hun Lee) with a personal score to settle, as well as Victoria (Helen Mirren) who is ordered by MI6 to put Frank and Marvin in the ground. Brian Cox reprises his role as Ivan, and the movie also offers up Catherine Zeta-Jones as the Russian spy who has Frank wrapped around her little finger and Anthony Hopkins as a mad scientist locked away for 30 years.

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Daredevil #28

/ / Comics

Daredevil #28When Matt Murdock is approached for help by his childhood bully, Daredevil has grave reservations about defending the person who made his childhood a living hell, and is responsible for the nickname “Daredevil,” from charges that he belonged to a terrorist organization. Beginning with Matt visiting Foggy in the hospital, the issue certainly focuses more on Matt than his horned alter-ego.

Although he originally turns down the case, Murdock’s conscience gets the better of him and he finally agrees to prep Nate Hackett to defend himself in court (which turns out to be quite entertaining). The emotions of Matt’s struggles to both sit at Foggy’s bedside and help an old enemy each work well (even if I’m not comfortable with yet another retcon of where Daredevil got his name).

The issue ends in bizarre fashion as the Sons of the Serpent make sure Hackett doesn’t give away any privileged information about their society by having the judge shoot the defendant in the middle of the courtroom. I was thrown off a little by these last few panels, but I trust that Waid knows where he’s going. Worth a look.

[Marvel, $3.99]

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Perception – Toxic

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Perception – Toxic
  • tv.com: link

Perception - Toxic

To get out of helping Kate (Rachael Leigh Cook) on a case involving a millionaire who made his fortunes stealing from nursing home residents, and dealing Donnie’s (Scott Wolf) suggestion that she has romantic feelings for her former professor, Daniel Pierce (Eric McCormack) agrees help to help an environmental activist (Lisa Sheridan) with a bizarre case of several young women in a small town all developing ticks and mannerisms similar to Turrets Syndrome in the space of only a few days (even if that means braving planes, hotel rooms, and angry mobs of locals who will go to any lengths to make sure the plant isn’t closed). The activist believes their conditions may have been caused by harmful chemicals from a nearby plant, but the more he investigates the more Daniel begins to think something entirely different is at play.

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine #23

/ / Comics

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine #23Season Nine‘s final arc continues to heat up as Buffy and the demon council head into the depths of The Deeper Well to stop Severin from stealing enough power from the sarcophagi of the Old Ones to tear a hole in reality in order to bring his girlfriend back to life. Buffy also searches desperately for the magic which will stop Dawn from disappearing and must stop Simone‘s whose dark plans which involve an army of Slayer Zompires and the demon who created the first vampire – Maloker.

There’s quite a bit of action here balanced by some tough choices for the Slayer as she must abandon her mission to save her sister in order to once again save the world and a tender moment between Dawn and Xander who tries desperately to get the woman he loves to fight against disappearing into nothingness.

Despite some ups and downs, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine is looking as if it will end on a high note as well as the possibility that some form of magic will be returned to world helping to set up a new storyline when the characters move on to Season Ten. Worth a look.

[Dark Horse, $2.99]

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