The Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries #8

/ / Comics

While attempting to eat at one of the few businesses still open on the rundown Gotham Waterfront, the gang runs into a ghost. The search leads Batman and Mystery, Inc. to investigate a former villain lair which has been bought out, along with much of the abandoned land, by a lottery winner with plans for revitalization… or that’s at least what the city wants to believe.

JH Development turns out to be Joker and Harley Quinn constructing a Joker World amusement park which they use to try and kill Batman and those meddling kids. While it’s unclear what the park is for (other than feeding the Joker’s vanity), the creepy super-villain attraction meshes well with Scooby-Doo themes. The villains are caught, and like all classic Scooby-Doo stories, the ghost has a rational explanation as well, leaving Batman the decision of what to do with Joker Land. Thankfully, a little branding goes a long way.

…

The Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries #8Read More »

The Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries #8 Read More »

Legacies – You Have to Pick One This Time / There’s No I In Team, or Whatever

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Legacies – You Have to Pick One This Time / There’s No I In Team, or Whatever
  • wiki: link
  • wiki: link

Both of the first two episodes of the Fourth Season of Legacies focus on plans to free Cleo (Omono Okojie) and Landon (Aria Shahghasemi) from Malivore. Since neither is successful, we can guess this will becoming a running theme. In the first plan, the super squad invade Malivore’s mind in an attempt to rescue the muse, who they believe holds the key to defeating the monster once and for all, only to almost be trapped with Malivore themselves. Malivore continues to do its best using both a stick and carrot to push Cleo to find the answer to its Tribrid problem. The second plan involves a risky spell to syphon Malivore from the Landon body and trap it into Ryan (Nick Fink), but that only creates a new monster and an eventual second hospital stay for Malivore’s least-favorite son.

…

Legacies – You Have to Pick One This Time / There’s No I In Team, or WhateverRead More »

Legacies – You Have to Pick One This Time / There’s No I In Team, or Whatever Read More »

Belfast

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Belfast
  • IMDb: link

There’s a nostalgic feel to writer/director Kenneth Branagh‘s semi-autobiographical film about a young boy growing up in Belfast during the times of The Troubles as communities were torn apart by Protestant and Catholic sides over national rather than religious fervor. The lens which events are shown is the likable schoolboy Buddy (Jude Hill) who loves his home, neighborhood, and family despite the violence that rages around them to a point where soldiers deploy and barricades are erected.

Buddy’s family includes his mother (Caitriona Balfe), mostly absentee father (Jamie Dornan), older brother (Lewis McAskie), and grandparents (Judi Dench and Ciarán Hinds). Despite the tumultuous setting, much of the movie centers around Buddy’s everyday life, his crush on a girl (Olive Tennant) at school, going to the movies with his family, and getting dragged into situations by an older neighborhood girl (Lara McDonnell) he isn’t ready for.

…

BelfastRead More »

Belfast Read More »

Finch

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Finch
  • IMDb: link

Tom Hanks stars as grumpy scientist Finch in a post-apocalyptic future where his only friend is a dog and the robots he builds to help him cope with the desolate landscape. The movie begins with the building of a new robot. Far more complex than the rover Finch has been using, the sentient Jeff (voiced by Caleb Landry Jones) is designed to take care of the dog once Finch is gone.

Boiled down, the movie is basically a road trip trying to stay ahead of a super storm likely to kill them. There’s also a thread of Jeff learning about humanity through Finch’s pessimistic eyes, and even the hard won friendship that eventually develops between the robot and the dog. Other than flashbacks, and very few of those, the film is devoid of other actors as Finch and his friends avoid other humans like the plague while hoping to reach San Francisco.

There are of course questions about the plot concerning the devastation that left the sky scorched, destroyed crops, and yet left roads and highways largely free of any blockages that could possibly interfere with Finch’s journey. And, of course, Finch always finds what he needs (even if that need is to build the most sophisticated robot the world has ever seen). The film’s look is consistent, if far from the most interesting post-apocalyptic world rendered on film.

…

FinchRead More »

Finch Read More »