Star Trek: Discovery – Scavengers

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Star Trek: Discovery – Scavengers
  • wiki: link

I’m growing weary of “Michael breaks the rules” episodes. In “Scavengers,” Michael (Sonequa Martin-Green) ignores her orders and goes off in search of Book (David Ajala) who was captured while searching for another black box, on a salvage planet (sadly not named Junkion). The facility makes use of The Running Man prisoner-control technology, and may have another box with information about the Burn. Michael and Philippa (Michelle Yeoh) are able to retrieve Book and the intel, while also rescuing other enslaved workers. However, the conflict makes Michael aware of Philippa’s condition and also has lasting ramifications on her role on the ship as she finds herself demoted for ignoring Saru‘s (Doug Jones) orders and threatening the Federation’s acceptance of Discovery. The only subplots, as the mission Michael missed isn’t shown on-screen, are the ship’s upgrades and the show setting up a friendship between Nhan (Rachael Ancheril) and Stamets (Anthony Rapp).

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Batman Beyond #50

/ / Comics

Batman Beyond #50 comic reviewThe latest volume of Batman Beyond concludes with Batman framed for multiple attacks around Gotham City by Inque, one of which puts Bruce Wayne and Terry’s younger brother in the hospital. Wonder Woman arrives to help solve the mystery, and clear Batman’s name (thankfully we’re saved from a lengthy heroic misunderstanding as Diana sizes up Terry in short order).

Inque was one of the stand-out villains from Batman Beyond and although her motivations seem a bit muddled (blaming Bruce Wayne for preventing the villain a chance to cure her condition) she’s put to good use against the formidable duo of Batman and Wonder Woman.

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HBO’s Perry Mason – Chapter One

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Perry Mason – Chapter One
  • IMDb: link

HBO's Perry Mason - Chapter One television review

Bearing little to no resemblance to either Erle Stanley Gardner’s original novels nor CBS’ long-running television show, the first episode of HBO’s Perry Mason reimagines the famous defense lawyer Perry Mason as a low-rent private detective (Matthew Rhys) who only steps into the courtroom once, as a witness. Down on his luck, with questionable morals, and in need of money (that he unsuccessfully attempts to extort from a client), Mason accepts a job from an old friend (John Lithgow) to look into a case involving the kidnapping and ransom of a baby that goes horribly wrong.

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News of the World

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: News of the World
  • IMDb: link

News of the World movie reviewThe idea of a man travelling from town to town to read newspapers may seem quaint in today’s information age, but the collaboration between Paul Greengrass and Tom Hanks offers a classic low-key western that is the dramatic equal to their previous collaboration, Captain Phillips. It may not be The Searchers, but Greengrass offers a wide-open canvas for Hanks to provide one of his better performances in recent years.

Traveling from town to town, reading his collection of recent newspapers, Captain Kidd (Hanks) comes across a lynched soldier and a young girl (Helena Zengel) who, as one character succulently put it, has been orphaned twice. Raised by the Kiowa people who killed her family, only to see the tribe wiped out by Union soldiers, Johanna’s only living relatives live far south towards the home Captain Kidd has avoided since the end of the Civil War.

The set-up is fairly simple, the reluctant Kidd decides to deliver the wild girl no one else seems to be able to control, home. On the road, the pair encounter various obstacles while learning a bit about each other, themselves, and where they belong.

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Action Comics #1028

/ / Comics

Action Comics #1028 comic reviewAction Comics #1028 offers an epilogue to “The House of Kents,” and really Brian Michael Bendis and John Romita Jr.’s entire run on the title. Most notable for some small moments, the issue works to both catch-up readers who may have not read every issue as well as set-up a new status quo within The Daily Planet whose new owner is… Jimmy Olsen?

Aside from Jimmy summarizing the storyline from his Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen series which gave him half of Lex Luthor’s fortune (and provided the capital needed to buy The Daily Planet), the comic also catches readers up on Conner Kent suggesting that the clone’s powers may have a shelf-life. It also takes Connor back to the Kent Farm (which seems a little odd given his reunion with the Kents was already covered in Action Comics #1022) and also reintroduces him to an old friend.

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