Thanos #1

/ / Comics

Thanos #1Given the power of the character and his wide-ranging plots from taking over the entire universe to killing everything in his path, Marvel Comics periodically shelves Thanos in a variety of ways. Sometimes this means killing the character, sometimes this means trapping him in an alternate universe, sometimes this means having the character go missing or even retire. Whatever the case, Thanos always returns.

The new series from writer Jeff Lemire and artist Mike Deodato is about precisely that. Thanos is back, and back with a vengeance. Not attacking Earth, not going after the Cosmic Cube or the Infinity Gems, this time Thanos is going home. Retracing his steps to rebuild a power base, Thanos quickly dispenses with the former lieutenant Corvus Glaive and reassures his control over the Black Order. The question is, what does Thanos have planned?

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The Handmaiden

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The Handmaiden
  • IMDb: link

The Handmaiden

Presented in three acts, director Chan-wook Park‘s erotic thriller inserts a new handmaiden (Tae-ri Kim) into the home of a Japanese heiress (Min-hee Kim) in Victorian-era Korea as part of a larger plot to steal the woman’s vast fortune. Part crime drama, part thriller, and part love story, The Handmaiden offers a tale of complicated motivations (where almost no one is exactly who they initially appear to be), betrayal, greed, sex, and love.

The first act of the film is presented from the role of the handmaiden, who is actually a plant to help steer the heiress into marrying her partner (Jung-woo Ha) to steal her money away from the lonely woman and her perverted uncle (Jin-woong Jo) who has his own plans for that wealth. However, when the handmaiden and her mistress begin falling for each other it throws a wrench into everyone’s plans.

The film’s second act offers a slightly different take on events from the perspective of the heiress, offering new motivations and insights, and setting up the film’s final act in where each member of the small cast will face the consequences of their actions.

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Moana

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Moana
  • IMDb: link

Moana

Moana is your typical Disney Princess animated feature set around the coming of age story of its heroine. Our title character is Moana (Auli’i Cravalho), the daughter of a Polynesian chieftain (Temuera Morrison) who is drawn to the ocean despite her father’s strict rules about never journeying farther than the reef. However, circumstances force Moana to defy her father’s wishes and go in search of the legendary demi-god Maui (Dwayne “It’s Okay to Call Me The Rock Again” Johnson) whose help she will need to save her home from a decay that began centuries ago because of the god’s rash actions.

Aside from working in some local culture and flavor, as it did with The Princess and the Frog, Mulan, and Pocahontas, Disney doesn’t stray too far from its comfort zone here. We get a couple cute animal sidekicks, some big musical numbers, and a hero’s journey. (Although the film lacks a true Disney villain.) However, with the number of these the studio has churned out over the years it knows how to hit the right notes. It’s also worth noting this is the first time since Aladdin where Disney has embraced a larger-than-life sidekick voiced by such a strong personality.

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Allied

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Allied
  • IMDb: link

AlliedThere’s so much wrong with Allied it’s hard to know where to start. At times director Robert Zemeckis‘ film is laughably, occasionally excruciatingly, bad. In its best moments Allied is ill-conceived, and it doesn’t have many of those.

Who thought it was good idea to set a WWII movie in Casablanca? The script by Steven Knight (Burnt, Seventh Son, Eastern Promises) plays like a bad romance novel mashed-up with a hollow spy thriller. The result might make for an okay trashy vacation read on the beach but fails spectacularly on film.

Reminding you immediately of Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Casablanca, spies Max Vatan (Brad Pitt) and Marianne Beauséjour (Marion Cotillard) meet in Casablanca. Assigned by their respective countries to work together to kill a high-ranking Nazi officer, the pair play husband and wife while falling into causal sex which I guess is supposed to look like love on film. (It doesn’t.) In a move that seems completely out of the blue, after completing their mission, Max invites Marianne to return to England with him and be his wife. And life is good, for awhile, until Max discovers that his wife may be a German spy.

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Supergirl – The Darkest Place

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Supergirl – The Darkest Place
  • wiki: link

Supergirl - The Darkest Place

“The Darkest Place” is another busy episode. Superman’s black friend James “Don’t Call Me Jimmy” Olsen (Mehcad Brooks) and Winn‘s (Jeremy Jordan) super-hero experiment runs into a snag with the arrival of a new deadly vigilante whose body count gets wrongly attributed to Guardian. J’onn (David Harewood) begins having after-effects from his blood transfusion which lead him to discover the truth about Miss Martian (Sharon Leal). Mon-El (Chris Wood) is used as bait by Cadmus to capture Kara (Melissa Benoist). And Alex (Chyler Leigh) blows off some steam and gives Maggie (Floriana Lima) a well-deserved scolding for leading her on.

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