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Jack Reacher

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  • Title: Jack Reacher
  • IMDB: link

Jack ReacherBased on the character created byLee Child, Tom Cruise stars as former Military Police officer turned professional nomad Jack Reacher who shows up after an old enemy (Joseph Sikora) is arrested for killing five people. What follows is part dumb action movie and part conspiracy thriller as Reacher uncovers the troubling fact that, as much as he wants the man to be guilty, the Army sniper the police have in custody was framed for the crime (which itself has complicated reasons far beyond a random crime by a lone gunman).

Reacher is the typical old school 80’s action hero, smarter than everyone else and able to take down five men without even breaking a sweat. Rosamund Pike stars as the man’s attorney, who also happens to be the daughter of the city’s cutthroat District Attorney (Richard Jenkins). Pike’s main job in the film is to get Reacher engaged in the case and then constantly question his theories before finally being relegated to the damsel in distress.

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Rookie Blue – The Complete Third Season

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  • Title: Rookie Blue – Season Three
  • tv.com: link

Rookie Blue - The Complete Third SeasonThe Third Season of Rookie Blue continues to looks at the latest crop of police academy graduates now serving in uniform with the 15 Division. Three seasons in you can’t really call the group rookies any more, but the show’s continued focus is the growth and development of its five young officers (and their, at times soap operatic personal lives): Andy McNally (Missy Peregrym), Gail Peck (Charlotte Sullivan), Traci Nash (Enuka Okuma), Chris Diaz (Travis Milne), and Dov Epstein (Gregory Smith).

Season Three includes more romantic troubles for the rookies. Nick Collins (Peter Mooney) in introduced as a new rookie as well as the Gail’s old flame (and potential new love interest). We also get an annoying amount of Andy’s on-again/off-again relatinship with Sam Swarek (Ben Bass), Epstein getting romantically involved with the sister (Mouna Traoré) of a gangbanger he shot and killed, and the tragic end of Traci’s relationship with Jerry Barber (Noam Jenkins) when Barber is killed in the line of duty.

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Dirk Gently

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  • Title: Dirk Gently
  • tv.com: link

Dirk GentlyBased on the novels by Douglas Adams (Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul) Dirk Gently was an all-too-short TV-series starring Stephen Mangan as the title character, a detective who relies on random chance and finding connections in the seemingly unconnected nature of things to solve the cases brought to him which includes a missing cat which leads him to solve a double-homicide, a man whose horoscopes are coming true, the theft of a valuable robot, and the murder of several of the detective’s former clients.

Managan is terrific in the leading role of a swindler whose methods, almost inextricably, get results. The show also starred Darren Boyd as Dirk’s old friend turned partner Richard MacDuff, Lisa Jackson as Gently’s secretary Janice, and Helen Baxendale as MacDuff’s girlfriend Susan.

Although the show only lasted four episodes (all included on this two-disc set), it managed to capture the quirky nature of Adams’ characters and is certainly worth a look for fans.

[Acorn Media, $39.99]

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Doctor Who – The Mark of the Rani

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  • Title: Doctor Who – The Mark of the Rani
  • Wikipedia: link

Doctor Who - The Mark of the RaniIn honor of the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who we continue to look back at some old episodes of the series. Although Colin Baker‘s run as the Sixth Doctor was short, and not without its share of controversy, there are a few Doctor Who gems during his three-year stint on the show. One of the best, “The Mark of The Rani” pits The Doctor as his companion Peri (Nicola Bryant) up against not one but two evil Time Lords when The Doctor begins investigating a time distortion and a series of deaths (each bearing an unusual red mark) during the Luddite rebellion in the 19th Century.

Although she only appeared in two episodes of the series, the Rani (Kate O’Mara) is a fan favorite. Just as devious as the Master (Anthony Ainley), the Time Lord arrives in the coal town of Killingsworth to steal neurochemicals from the miners in order to continue her immoral experiments which have left the entire population of the planet Miasimia Goria without the ability to sleep. The Master and the Rani come to an uneasy alliance based on lies, deception, and blackmail, targeting The Doctor.

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Hidden Gem – Playing by Heart

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  • Title: Playing by Heart
  • IMDb: link

“Talking about love is like dancing about architecture.”

Playing by Heart

Released in 1998, Playing by Heart follows the formula of several romantic dramedies (Love Actually being the best) which feature interlocking stories of couples in various states of their respective relationships. Written and directed by Willard Carroll, the film is notable for it’s impressive ensemble cast as well as a pair of the six stories which slowly come together during the film’s final act.

My favorite of the group features Angelina Jolie, as the beautiful but high-maintenance Joan, and Ryan Phillippe as the aloof young man with a dark secret who seems immune to her obvious charms. Also worthy of note are Sean Connery and Gena Rowlands as an elderly couple dealing with both the looming specter a life-threatening medical condition and a long-simmering old argument as the pair prepare to renew their vows on their 40th wedding anniversary.

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