MacGruber – A Good Day to Die

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: MacGruber – A Good Day to Die
  • IMDb: link

Originally conceived as a series of sketches for Saturday Night Live, the MacGyver-inspired spoof MacGruber eventually became a feature film in 2010 which was quickly forgotten by all but its most die-hard fans. Now MacGruber is back with a new series on Peacock. Picking up years later, MacGruber (Will Forte) has spent a decade in prison but is released for a suicide mission to exchange for the President’s kidnapped daughter which he’ll eventually get around to after stopping in to see a few familiar faces.

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The Novice

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The Novice
  • IMDb: link

This character study from writer/director Lauren Hadaway introduces us to obsessive-compulsive college freshman Alex Dall (Isabelle Fuhrman) who joins the university’s rowing team. With goals to make varsity, despite having no experience in the sport, Alex throws herself fully into the project in much the same way she decided to make her weakest subject her college major and overcome what she sees as a shortcoming.

The Novice examines a side normally not highlighted in sports films. While Alex is consumed with winning, the movie is not about her heroic struggle over the odds. Instead, The Novice examines compulsion, fixation, obsession, and the winning at all costs attitude that can be destructive not just in the sport but throughout a person’s life. Alex is often offered help, much of it ignored, as she seems predestined towards proving she will either succeed or fail on her own.

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The Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries #9

/ / Comics

The recently salvaged pirate ship of Captain Black Jack Paddywhack which was shipwrecked in 1764 along with a treasure map to the pirate’s stash of gold brings out Mystery, Inc., various treasure hunters, and the Riddler. Oh, the ghost of Black Jack Paddywhack shows up as well to scare off all but the most determined of the treasure hunters, forcing Scooby and the gang to team with the villain to try and find the treasure and solve the mystery by deciphering a list of clues and riddles.

Batman only makes a cameo at the end to take the Riddler into custody, while leaving Scooby and the gang working with the super-villain for most of the issue in an unexpected twist. Daphne is able to discover the source of the ghost while Velma uncovers the trick the Riddler has played on them all, but in the end it takes all of them to find the treasure.

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Nightmare Alley

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Nightmare Alley
  • IMDb: link

Adapting the 1946 novel of the same name, Nightmare Alley is more about con men than monsters (which is usually writer/director Guillermo del Toro‘s wheelhouse). The film is split into two halves, the first involving a man running from his past joining a carnival and learning secrets to start his own clairvoyance act. The second, takes place a couple of years later with Stanton (Bradley Cooper) and his wife (Rooney Mara) putting his skills to use in higher-class surroundings by taking advantage of more wealthy marks.

Think of Nightmare Alley as Guillermo del Toro’s attempt at a David Mamet movie filled with con men and grifters, murderers and thieves, all out for their own interests, with plenty of twists and double-crosses thrown in for good measure. The result, more from the limitations of the source material than his direction, are a bit mixed.

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The Flash – Armageddon, Part 4 & Part 5

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: The Flash – Armageddon, Part 4 & Part 5
  • wiki: link
  • wiki: link

The final two episodes of “Armageddon” deal with the real villain of the arc which, to no one’s surprise, is revealed to be Eobard Thawne (Tom Cavanagh). In “Part 4,” Barry (Grant Gustin) finds himself trapped in a timeline where he is the Reverse-Flash and Thawne has stolen his life. “Part 5” involve deciding what to do with the villain after time is rest by the Flash destroying the Earth in one timeline, thus confirming Despero‘s (Tony Curran) vision of the future.

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