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Injustice

  • Title: Injustice
  • IMDb: link

Adapted from the 2013 video game and subsequent comic series, Injustice offers a look at a dark future where tragedy befalls Lois Lane (Laura Bailey) which changes the path of Superman (Justin Hartley) and the DCU. The game was far from the first to examine this idea.

Kingdom Come, in which the Joker (Kevin Pollak) is also responsible for Lois’ death, gives us a future where Superman retreats and a new generation of less-honorable heroes take his place. Justice League‘s “A Better World” gives us an alternate Earth where the League has become Lords of a dystopian future. Both are more effective versions of similar themes than what we are given here.

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Kung Fu – The Complete First Season

  • Title: Kung Fu – Season One
  • wiki: link

The CW’s reboot of Kung Fu casting Olivia Liang as Chinese-American Nicky Shen provided a solid 13 episode arc as Nicky discovers a destiny in a Chinese monastery of protecting sacred artifacts. Leaving, Nicky reengages (and discovers secrets about) her family as she returns to her home to California, while seeking to avenge the death of her mentor (Vanessa Kai) and putting her skills to use week to week in San Francisco helping those in need.

All episodes are collected on DVD and Blu-ray. The Blu-ray also includes digital copies of the episodes. Highlights of the First Season include the exploration of the motives of villains Kerwin Tan (Ludi Lin) and Zhilan (Yvonne Chapman), Althea’s (Shannon Dang) bachelorette party, Nicky’s search for her aunt, and the season finale big showdown between Nicky and Zhilan. 

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WWE Extreme Rules 2021

  • Title: WWE Extreme Rules 2021
  • wiki: link

Extreme Rules is one of the WWE’s gimmick PPVs created to highlight specific kinds of matches on that night. What makes the 2021 edition so perplexing is only one of the seven matches on the night’s card is actually an extreme rules match. Instead, the card is filled with relatively forgettable matches such as the opening six-man tag involving the New Day defeating Bobby Lashley, AJ Styles, and Omos more fitting Raw or Smackdown.

The night is mostly memorable for some odd endings ruining the night’s two best matches. First, Charlotte Flair defeated Alexa Bliss (at one time a dream match-up for WWE fans) in a match that couldn’t ever figure out what do do with Bliss’ current witchy persona. The match would be immediately overshadowed by the extended bizarre post-match mourning by Bliss for the loss of her doll Lily which was destroyed by Flair after a rushed end to an otherwise solid, if uneven, match. Then there’s the incredibly awkward ending to the main event involving the ring malfunction allowing Roman Reigns to successfully defeat Finn Balor. While both matches had their moments, it’s hard not to look at each as missed opportunities that WWE really botched in the end.

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Finch

  • Title: Finch
  • IMDb: link

Tom Hanks stars as grumpy scientist Finch in a post-apocalyptic future where his only friend is a dog and the robots he builds to help him cope with the desolate landscape. The movie begins with the building of a new robot. Far more complex than the rover Finch has been using, the sentient Jeff (voiced by Caleb Landry Jones) is designed to take care of the dog once Finch is gone.

Boiled down, the movie is basically a road trip trying to stay ahead of a super storm likely to kill them. There’s also a thread of Jeff learning about humanity through Finch’s pessimistic eyes, and even the hard won friendship that eventually develops between the robot and the dog. Other than flashbacks, and very few of those, the film is devoid of other actors as Finch and his friends avoid other humans like the plague while hoping to reach San Francisco.

There are of course questions about the plot concerning the devastation that left the sky scorched, destroyed crops, and yet left roads and highways largely free of any blockages that could possibly interfere with Finch’s journey. And, of course, Finch always finds what he needs (even if that need is to build the most sophisticated robot the world has ever seen). The film’s look is consistent, if far from the most interesting post-apocalyptic world rendered on film.

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Free Guy

  • Title: Free Guy
  • IMDb: link

While you could certainly turn down some of the Deapool-esqe winking at the audience, and the plot is certainly not breaking the mold on the type of story we’ve seen done before, Free Guy is easily one of most fun movies of 2021. Ryan Reynolds stars as a non-player character in the world’s most popular video game who breaks outside of his programing and starts to become more than he was designed to be. What makes things work is Blue Shirt Guy, or simply Guy, is immensely likable. He’s just a good guy whose head has been turned by a beautiful girl (Jodie Comer) and begins making changes to his life that effect both the video game world and the perception of it in the real world.

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