Re-released on Home Video: The Last Samurai

/ / Home Video
  • Title: The Last Samurai
  • IMDB: link

The Last SamuraiReleased in theaters in 2003, director and co-writer Edward Zwick‘s film stars Tom Cruise as a former U.S. Army captain slowly drinking himself to death while hiding from the ghosts of his past and the massacre of Indian tribes in the American West which his intelligence helped facilitate. Brought out of his stupor by his former commanding officer (Tony Goldwyn), Nathan Algren is given the opportunity to travel to Japan and instruct the Imperial Japanese Army in modern warfare to suppress a samurai uprising.

Through a twist of fate Algren is captured by the samurai and taken deep into the mountains where he spends the winter as a guest of Lord Moritsugu Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe) and living in the home of a woman (Koyuki) who his actions have turned into a widow. Algren and Katsumoto’s unlikely friendship is the cornerstone to the film as the pair learn, despite cultural differences, they have far more in common than either initially realizes.

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The Status Quo Combustion

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: The Big Bang Theory – The Status Quo Combustion
  • wiki: link

The Big Bang Theory - The Status Quo Combustion

The Seventh Season finale begins with big news as Leonard (Johnny Galecki) and Penny (Kaley Cuoco) announce their engagement to their friends. Although happy for the couple, the group is much more surprised and joyous for Raj (Kunal Nayyar) who announces he has finally slept with Emily (Laura Spencer).

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Batman – Hi Diddle Riddle / Smack in the Middle

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Batman – Hi Diddle Riddle / Smack in the Middle
  • wiki: link
  • wiki: link

Batman - Hi Diddle Riddle

Continuing to take a look back at Batman’s more memorable moments on the big and small screen we turn our attention to the 1966 Batman TV-series starring Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin. Airing twice a week, the show was built mostly around two-part episodes almost always featuring a cliffhanger with at least one, if not both, members of the Dynamic Duo in jeopardy. The show’s first two episodes, “Hi Diddle Riddle” and “Smack in the Middle,” would center around the character who would arguably become one the series’ most beloved villain and introduce millions of non-comic-readers to Batman and Robin for the first time.

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The 7th Sword #1

/ / Comics

The 7th Sword #1Screenwriter John Raffo teams up with artist Nelson Blake II to deliver an intriguing first issue of the new IDW seven-issue mini-series The 7th Sword. Set in the far future on the colony world of Helios, we’re introduced to former United Nations soldier turned samurai Daniel Cray who, as the comic opens, is working as a guard on a Methane shipment through the desert by Mechanoids (robotic warriors with skull heads).

Loosing the shipment, Cray makes his way across the wasteland with the convoy’s only other survivor to awake in the mythical city of ZenZion. Distrustful of outsiders (espically those who worked as soldiers for Earth), and believing Cray to be a spy from the city’s enemy in a greedy warlord named Kavanaugh, the city puts the warrior on trial which Kavanaugh’s real soliders led by the bizarre Superfecta Five interrupt.

Part fantasy, part sci-fi, part western, with swordplay, killer robots and monsters and a reluctant hero all thrown in, The 7th Sword #1 is a strong opening to the series. I’m curious to see more of Cray and his journey. Worth a look.

[IDW, $3.99]

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Gugu Mbatha-Raw is the Belle of the ball

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Belle
  • IMDB: link

BelleInspired by the 1779 painting of mixed-raced aristocrat Dido Elizabeth Belle (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) beside her white cousin Lady Elizabeth Murray (Sarah Gadon) with whom she was raised by her uncle William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield (Tom Wilkinson), Belle is an interesting look at a woman who grew up in lavish luxury but still searched long and hard for her true place both within her family and the wider world to whom she was seen as (at best) an outcast.

With no diary to draw directly from and only scattered reports of what the woman’s life would have been like under her uncle’s roof (such as not being allowed to dine with guests), screenwriter Misan Sagay certainly takes liberties with the story. At its best Belle is a strong character drama although it also devolves at several points into a time-period-specific romance novel. The rougher moments of Sagay’s tale are saved by the terrific performance of Gugu Mbatha-Raw who infuses the character with passion, strength, and a dogged determinedness which serves her well (but also gets her into spots of trouble).

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