1.5 Razors

Gotham – Rogues’ Gallery

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Gotham – Rogues’ Gallery
  • wiki: link

Gotham - Rogues' Gallery

After being disappointed by the first couple episodes of Gotham I decided to give the Batman-ish show a wide berth. News that Morena Baccarin was joining the cast as Dr. Leslie Thompkins and recommendations of others who thought the show had improved over the first-half of the season brought me back. Catching up on a few episodes I missed, and still quite concerned with a number of characters and plot points, I sat down to watch the mid-season premiere “Rogues’ Gallery.” The episode begins with Detective Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie) stationed at the recently reopened Arkham Asylum as punishment where inmate outbursts and attacks on (and possibly by) patients have begun to concern the asylum’s director (Isiah Whitlock Jr.) who holds Gordon responsible for each breach in security.

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Gotham – Selina Kyle

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Gotham – Selina Kyle
  • wiki: link

Gotham - Selina Kyle

Did you ever think there would be a Batman television show so bad you’d rather be watching The WB’s universally derided Birds of Prey? Most of the issues I had with the “Pilot” return here including its inconsistent tone, ridiculous soap opera dialogue, and storylines which do no justice to beloved characters of the GCPD. The episode even includes a bizarre cameo by Carol Kane which seemingly was written and directed by Tim Burton on mescaline.

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Gotham – Pilot

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Gotham – Pilot
  • wiki: link

Gotham - Pilot

Opening on the worst night of Bruce Wayne‘s (David Mazouz) life, Detective Harvey Bullock (Donal Logue) and his new partner Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie) catch the murder case involving the deaths of Gotham’s most prominent citizens and the frightened young boy who was one of two witnesses to the crime. Desperately trying to create the grim feel of Christopher Nolan‘s recent films while featuring writing, acting, and dialogue better fitting a lazy afternoon soap opera than a much ballyhooed new primetime series, the “Pilot” of Gotham is sadly far, far removed from the far more interesting award-winning comic book tales of the GCPD by Ed Brubaker, Greg Rucka, and Michael Lark.

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Rage

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

RageIf you expect anything more from Rage than yet another throwaway B-movie from Nicolas Cage you are bound to be disappointed. Set around the life of a former mobster turned businessman, the film follows the decent of Paul Maguire (Cage) when his teenage daughter (Aubrey Peeples) is kidnapped and later found dead.

After her body turns up shot by a Tokarev traced back to the Russian mob, Maguire believes it must tie back into a hit from the old days involving a dead Russian mobster. Rounding up his old crew (Max Ryan, Michael McGrady) for answers and payback, Maguire’s actions threaten to start a gang war across the entire city.

Starting out like Taken, Rage turns into a revenge flick when the body of Maguire’s daughter is found. The trouble is the script by Jim Agnew and Sean Keller relies far too much on twists and coincidences to be compelling. And despite the number of long-held shots by Paco Cabezas Rage isn’t nearly as deep or dramatic as it aspires to be.

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Transformers: Age of Extinction

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Transformers: Age of Extinction
  • IMDb: link

Transformers: Age of ExtinctionI’m not a fan of Michael Bay‘s Transformers movies. In fact I’ve hated every single one. Transformers: Age of Extinction is not an exception, but on the sliding scale of horrific awfulness that is the Bay Transformers franchise it’s the least objectionable of the lot. Lazy, inane, and almost completely without merit, the latest Transformers film didn’t so much anger me as leave me increasingly confused and apathetic to the “storytelling” that was unfolding before my eyes.

The first film ruined a beloved childhood toy and cartoon franchise by centering the film not on the transforming robots themselves but a lazy 80s teenage sex comedy between Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox and lots of (pointless) robot porn. The sequel lowered the bar with a plot that makes Highlander 2: The Quickening sound plausible involving Transformer reincarnation and various inanity including a sexbot, racist robots, more American flag waving, and even more (pointless) robot porn.

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