Seven Secrets #13

/ / Comics

Caspar, Eva, and the other manage to survive the destruction of the Seekers’ headquarters, although it does lead to Caspar making a startling discovery about himself and an eventual confrontation between mother and son over her actions and what Eva is keeping from him. And, as we’ve seen before, we get another reference to Caspar’s impending death.

All doesn’t go as well for other separated members of the Order as the inside man is revealed and another secret falls into the hands of Amon. I’ll admit to not being surprised by the reveal of the traitor, but how Amon convinces others to join him (through the use of the future-seeing secrets) is certainly of interest. Not only does it garner more support to the traitor’s side it raises the question of whether or not Caspar is indeed on the right side (although Amon’s hardon to kill him doesn’t exactly paint the Seeker as heroic).

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Naomi – Zero to Sixty

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Naomi – Zero to Sixty
  • IMDb: link

While searching for answers about herself and her connection to the mysterious disc, Naomi McDuffie (Kaci Walfall) gets stuck in a bit of cliched teenager loop getting herself into trouble and not coming clean to her parents about the reasons why. As for her parents, despite initially seeming to have no conception of their adopted daughter’s origins, “Zero to Sixty” seems to quickly reverse course for the series (even if the big reveal is far less impressive or emotional that what we got in the original comic).

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Red Sonja: Black, White, Red #6

/ / Comics

While these anthologies can be a bit hit-and-miss, I actually enjoyed all three of the black and white (and of course red) Red Sonja tales presented here. Red Sonja becomes increasingly agitated in my favorite of the three stories, “Morgona the Crimson,” when she learns someone is profiting off her likeness and claiming payment for her heroic deeds.

In “The Daring Rescue of Crown Prince Maximilian (Beloved of All The Peoples),” Red Sonja is hired by emissaries from the Kingdom of Levkoy to rescue their captured prince (who turns out to not be exactly what our hero was expecting). And following a fortune told, Red Sonja journeys to battle a giant who (along with her arrogance) was said be her demise in the appropriately titled “The Giant.”

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Reacher – Welcome to Margrave

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Reacher – Welcome to Margrave
  • IMDb: link

Adapted from The Killing Floor, Lee Child‘s first Jack Reacher novel, Reacher introduces us to the title character by having the former military investigator turned drifter (Alan Ritchson) arrested in the southern town of Margrave, Georgia, for a murder he didn’t commit. While an alibi eventually clears him, his demeanor doesn’t endear him to Chief Detective Oscar Finlay (Malcolm Goodwin) who locks him upon along with another suspect who admits to the crime but also obviously isn’t guilty. While some might see this as Finlay using Reacher to get the truth out of the other suspect, that’s not how the episode presents things with Finlay mainly wanting both men out of his hair.

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Yakuza Princess

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Yakuza Princess
  • IMDb: link

Yakuza Princess is as dumb, although sadly not nearly as bonkers, as its title suggests. The straight-faced Brazilian martial arts film is a joyless experience that struggles with a heavy dramatic tone that simply doesn’t fit the B-Movie plot of a Yakuza leader’s daughter (MASUMI) and an amnesiac assassin (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) coming together to find their destiny.

The tone is completely wrong for a film that struggles to entertain for more than a few minutes at a time over its near two-hour running time. While there is some action to be had, it’s few and far between and nothing compared to the Japanese films Yakuza Princess hopes to emulate. Instead we’re left with a dour drama about destiny as not one but two characters previously oblivious to their connection to the Yakuza discover their path in the world as they get caught up in a war within the syndicate. 

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