Morning Glories #21

/ / Comics

morning-glories-21-coverMorning Glories #21 picks up the Hunter storyline that ended with the death of Zoe and the arrival of a new group of students in the final issue of the “P.E.” arc. Over the course of the issue we’re introduced to the various members of the group as reunite with Jun (really Hisao) and get ready to stop a dangerous sacrifice involving his brother Hisao (really Jun).

We’re giving quite a bit of information into the new group’s time in Abraham’s school preparing them for their entrance to Morning Glories. We’re also shown the first few days of their leader, Irina, at Morning Glories Academy and see the motivation of dead and tortured parents is a regular technique to motivate the students, although her reaction is anything but typical.

Even with the death of one of the major characters the support cast is growing a bit unwieldy, especially as some of the young female students drawn by Joe Eisma look very similar and given the fact that the structure of the book means leaving subsets of characters for months while dealing with separate story arcs.

…

Morning Glories #21Read More »

Morning Glories #21 Read More »

Assassin’s Bullet

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Assassin’s Bullet
  • IMDB: link

assassins-bullet-blu-rayAssassin’s Bullet is a dumb B-movie action flick starring Christian Slater as former FBI Agent Robert Diggs now assigned to the American Embassy in Bulgaria four years after the death of his wife. When a dormant assassin returns and starts killing several high-priority terrorists from America’s Most Wanted list Diggs is chosen to head up the investigation by the US Ambassador (Donald Sutherland).

Filled with far too many coincidences and awful ideas (like a multiple personality storyline that has Elika Portnoy playing three roles that, despite looking nearly identical, no one can tell apart) the script by Nancy L. Babine, Hans Feuersinger, and Elika Portnoy is a ridiculous mash-up of bad soap opera and forgettable action movie cliches.

Slater, Sutherland and Timothy Spall are all slumming it here. Available on both DVD and Blu-ray, extras include a short behind-the-scenes featurette (that does nothing to make the story more bearable or believable) and the film’s trailer.

[Xlrator, Blu-ray $26.99 / DVD $20.99]

Assassin’s Bullet Read More »

Doctor Who – Asylum of the Daleks

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Doctor Who – Asylum of the Daleks
  • tv.com: link

“Don’t be fair to the Daleks when they’re firing me at a planet!”

doctor-who-asylum-of-the-daleks

When the Daleks need assistance they turn to their greatest enemy, “the predator of the Daleks,” and separately kidnap The Doctor (Matt Smith), Amy (Karen Gillan), and Rory (Arthur Darvill), whisking off the threesome to the Asylum – a planetary prison even the Daleks are too afraid to enter because it contains the most unstable and terrifying Daleks ever created. And somewhere, admist all that insanity, is a single ship, with a single human crew member who has managed to survive and cause no end of trouble to the Daleks for the better part of a year. Ladies and gentlemen, Doctor Who introduces you to its newest companion – Clara Oswin (Jenna-Louise Coleman).

…

Doctor Who – Asylum of the DaleksRead More »

Doctor Who – Asylum of the Daleks Read More »

Justice League #12

/ / Comics

justice-league-new-52-12-coverAlthough I have problems with some of the choices made in the latest issue of the New 52‘s Justice League, the story makes sense in the new version of the DCU and is more consistent and better thought-out than several issues of the series have been.

The main news is the decision to put Superman and Wonder Woman together as couple. While I’m opposed to this being done with classic versions of these characters, the logic writer Geoff Johns uses to put the New 52 versions together holds up pretty well. Of course I think this has more to say about the lackluster redesigns of several of DC’s top name heroes than any great storytelling, but it still works.

The rest of the story has to deal with the team taking down Graves by believing in Christmas (or some such nonsense – this isn’t the strongest part of the comic). What’s important to note, however, are the big changes following the battle and the public’s shaken faith in the team. Hal Jordan quits, Steve Trevor is fired, and we’re teased with the introduction of a new Justice League of America which will premiere next year (and Captain Marvel beating the emo out of The Big Blue Boy Scout). Worth a look.

[DC, $3.99]

Justice League #12 Read More »

Coming Soon

/ / Film News & Trailers
  • Title: Seven Psychopaths
  • IMDB: link

The latest from writer/director Martin McDonagh (In Bruges) stars Colin Farrell as a strggling screenwriter who gets drawn into the Los Angeles underworld when his friends (Sam Rockwell, Christopher Walken) mistakenly kidnap a gangster’s (Woody Harrelson) dog. Abbie Cornish, Olga Kurylenko, Tom Waits, Helena Mattsson, and Gabourey Sidibe also star. Seven Psychopaths opens in theaters on October 12th.

Coming Soon Read More »