The Walk

/ / Home Video
  • Title: The Walk
  • IMDb: link

The WalkThrough the use of interviews, stills, and reenactment footage, the 2008 documentary Man on Wire offered audiences an excellent look back at wire walker Philippe Petit‘s high-wire walk between the two towers of the World Trade Center. The Walk, writer/director Robert Zemeckis‘ biopic starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Petit, may not be as engaging as the documentary, but Zemeckis (using similar set-up same set-up with Gordon-Levitt narrating past events) still manages to capture a bit of the magic by recreating Petit’s improbable stunt.

Without attempting to explain Petit’s obsession or the drive behind it, Zemeckis takes us along on the man’s journey as he attempts to achieve his dream. Beginning with a bit of a backstory for Petit including the relationships with his mentor (Ben Kingsley), girlfriend (Charlotte Le Bon), and the co-conspirators (Clément Sibony, César Domboy, Steve Valentine, James Badge Dale) who would eventually help him pull of his high-wire act, the movie doesn’t kick into high gear until its second hour where the caper truly begins.

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The Big Bang Theory – The Sales Call Sublimation

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: The Big Bang Theory – The Sales Call Sublimation
  • wiki: link

The Big Bang Theory - The Sales Call Sublimation

The latest episode of The Big Bang Theory offers three separate stories, two of which play on long-running storylines. In the main story Leonard (Johnny Galecki) agrees to make an appointment with a psychiatrist (Jane Kaczmarek) to grease the wheels for Penny (Kaley Cuoco) to sell the doctor some prescription drugs. Initially doing so only as a favor to his girlfriend, Leonard finds the experience freeing as he’s able to uncork some bottled anger towards his mother’s bizarre view of child rearing. Penny also ends up on the doctor’s couch before the end of the episode.

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Heartbreakers

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Heartbreakers
  • IMDb: link

Heartbreakers2001’s Heartbreakers, a film about a mother/daughter (Sigourney Weaver, Jennifer Love Hewitt) team of con artists working to scam to separate a wealthy man (Gene Hackman) from his money, is more notable for its cast than its plot. Yearning to get out from under her mother’s thumb Page (Hewitt) decides to target her own mark in a goodhearted bar owner (Jason Lee) she inevitable falls for. The women also must deal with their last previous mark (Ray Liotta) who shows up looking for his money.

More dumb romcom than smart heist/con film, Heartbreakers is a mixed bag, although it does provide some humorous moments. The cast (including appearances by Anne Bancroft, Ricky Jay, and Sarah Silverman) is fine but they’re mostly slumming it here in movie that belongs on home video. Re-released on Blu-ray, the movie includes the previous behind-the-scenes feturettes and deleted scenes but lacks the audio commentary from the DVD release.

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Elementary – Miss Taken

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Elementary – Miss Taken
  • wiki: link

Elementary - Miss Taken

Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) and Watson (Lucy Liu) are called in by the NYPD to help investigate the gruesome murder of a retired FBI agent who, at the time of his body being thrown into a wood chipper, was looking into three of his old cold cases (a church burnt to the ground, a bank robbery, and serial poisoner). Solving all three cases in a single afternoon, Holmes discovers none of the suspects are their killer. However, the victim was also looking into an unsolved kidnapping case whose file wasn’t found in the FBI agent’s apartment. The girl was eventually returned ten years later, but after meeting the young woman (Ally Ioannides) Holmes begins to suspect that she is not the same girl who was abducted at the age of 10 years-old.

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Will Eisner’s The Spirit #6

/ / Comics

Will Eisner's The Spirit #6The latest issue of Will Eisner’s The Spirit delves into the Spirit‘s missing two years from Central City. The first third of the comic is presented from a the point of view of a former soldier turned mercenary in the South Pacific on a small island known as Nawala Pulo where he job for two years was to be the jailer for a single prisoner. Teasing us with only glimpses of our hero, the introduction works to continue to deepen the mystery of who imprisoned the hero and why.

The remainder of the comic, other than a few panels dealing with the Dolans reacting to the hero’s return, is presented from our the Spirit’s point of view recounting his imprisonment and escape to Ebony White and Sammy Strunk. Although he knows even less about his circumstances than his former jailer, the Spirit was able to learn a name which is the only clue he has.

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