Despicable Me 2

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Despicable Me 2
  • IMDB: link

Despicable Me 2It seems sequels are taking over the summer, even animated ones. 2010’s Despicable Me gave us super-villain Gru (Steve Carell) who, to further his latest evil plan of stealing the moon, adopted three young girls only to discover he was far better at being a father than a career criminal. Despicable Me 2 takes place with Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Agnes (Elsie Kate Fisher), and Edith (Dana Gaier)  firmly entrenched in Gru’s home and heart and his countless minions working on his latest enterprise (a less than delicious brand of jams and jellies) when an agent from AVL (The Anti-Villain League) approaches the former super-villain about coming to work for them.

Despite his initial reluctance, Gru accepts the invitation to work alongside Agent Lucy Wild (Kristen Wiig) and search for the super-villain hiding out at the local mall while experimenting with a dangerous stolen chemical that can turn those effected in monstrous killing machines.

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Tonto (and The Lone Ranger)

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The Lone Ranger
  • IMDB: link

The Lone RangerAfter some success taming the high seas, director Gore Verbinski and Johnny Depp reunite for this new interpretation of The Lone Ranger. The meandering 149-minute tale is more than a little liberal in its depiction of the Masked Man and his faithful Indian companion. Those looking for a classic western may be disappointed as Verbinski’s The Lone Ranger is an action-adventure similar to the Pirates of the Caribbean that just happens to be set in the Old West.

The entire film is framed from Tonto’s (Depp) perspective, as a far older version of the character (Depp in some pretty good old-age makeup) relates the legend of The Lone Ranger to a young boy (Mason Cook) at a Wild West show. Much like The Princess Bride, at times the tale is interrupted for more interaction between the narrator and his captive young audience. The choice to give us the legend from a trusted, but not necessarily trustworthy, source and allows us to choose how much of Tonto’s story to believe.

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Legends of Awesomeness – The Break-Up

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness – The Break-Up
  • tv.com: link

Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness - The Break-Up

Po (Mick Wingert) begins to fear his father has replaced him when Gahri (Fred Tatasciore) has a falling out with Fung (John DiMaggio) and the rest of the crocodile bandits and Mr. Ping (James Hong) decides to adopt the former bandit and give him a job at the noodle shop.

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King & Maxwell – King’s Ransom

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: King & Maxwell – King’s Ransom
  • tv.com: link

King & Maxwell - King's Ransom

Rigby (Michael O’Keefe) calls in King (Jon Tenney) and Maxwell (Rebecca Romijn) to help on the kidnapping of the young son of an oil executive (Andrew Airlie) by a high-end kidnapping ring from Columbia when he starts to butt heads with the K&R agent (Catherine Bell) the parents hire to negotiate with the kidnappers who just happens to be an old friend of King’s from his days in the Secret Service. Although we don’t get much interaction between the pair, Tenney and Bell work well together and provide Maxwell to do some of her own speculating over the course of the episode as to the nature and duration of their relationship.

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Scarlet Spider #18

/ / Comics

Scarlet Spider #18Murderous Marvel Team-Up! Last issue the Scarlet Spider was sent to kill Wolverine. In this issue our hero teams up with the X-Man to take on the Assassins Guild. After explaining that Wolverine and (some) of the X-Men were in on the Scarlet Spider’s attack via Aracely‘s telepathy, the two heroes finish faking his death and then set out together to take down and the Guild together (as Aracely stays behind to creep out and/or annoy the rest of the X-Men).

Writer Christopher Yost is in fine form here providing several fun moments between the two heroes including Kaine’s apt description of Logan, Logan’s reaction to Kaine being a clone of Spider-Man, and Wolverine’s reaction to the brilliance of the Scarlet Spider’s plan.

Next month’s issue concludes this arc, but I have really enjoyed Wolverine and Scarlet Spider together and hope we see the pair get another team-up somewhere down the line. (And it’s always interesting to see Wolverine team with someone who is arguably more murderous than he is.) Worth a look.

[Marvel, $2.99]

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