1.5 Razors

Justice League #15

/ / Comics

justice-league-new-52-15-coverBecause no one, anywhere, was demanding it, DC begins its Aquaman-centric crossover “Thrones of Atlantis” beginning here with the accidental attack on Atlantis by a U.S. air craft carrier (don’t you hate it when that happens?).

On other fronts, Superman and Wonder Woman are still dating and the Man of Steel takes the opportunity to explain his ingenious disguise as Clark Kent, Hal Jordan is still missing (and it seems no one is looking for him anymore), and the back-up story of the New 52‘s douchebag version of Captain Marvel continues as Billy selfishly turns on Freddy Freeman and is confronted with Black Adam for the first time.

Unless you’re a huge Aquaman fan anxiously anticipating this new event (i.e. your name is Geoff Johns) there’s almost nothing here for you. No Flash. No Green Lantern. Batman saved by Aquaman. The art’s not bad, and we get a little more of Superman and Wonder Woman together on a date, but that’s about it. Pass.

[DC, $3.99]

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Tarantino Unchained

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Django Unchained
  • IMDB: link

django-unchained-posterWith Inglourious Basterds writer/director Quentin Tarantino strode a fine line between between drama and revenge fantasy in his depiction of a select group of Jewish soldiers taking on the Nazis during WWII.

With his latest, Tarantino returns to the well of his revenge fantasy, the theme he’s been stuck on for nearly an entire decade (since 2003’s Kill Bill Vol. 1), to push the envelope even farther with a blaxploitation western that leaves good taste in the dust. If there’s ever a film that so thoroughly argues for a director to be shackled to studio pressure it’s the inarguable trainwreck that is Django Unchained.

Jamie Foxx stars as Django, a slave freed by a bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz) in need of his help to hunt down and kill the Speck brothers (James Remar, James Russo). After Django shows promise, Shultz (Waltz) agrees to train the newly freed slave in the art of bounty hunting and help retrieve Django’s wife (Kerry Washington) from a ruthless plantation owner (Leonardo DiCaprio).

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Batman and Robin #15

/ / Comics

batman-and-robin-new-52-15-coverI cannot express how ready I am for Death of the Family to be over. Seriously, I’m done. The Joker‘s reintroduction to the New 52 has been a gritty, dirty, and awful B-movie horror flick version of Batman I never wanted to see. The latest issue of Batman and Robin features a Death of the Family tie-in as Damian is captured by the Joker.

In much the same tone as nearly every other issue of this crossover, we’re given a bleak story of a captured Damian matching wits with the face-removing Joker who gets to know the newest Robin far better. The comic ends with a reveal that I’m guessing will be explained in one of the other comics (as it certainly isn’t here) before returning to the story next month.

I like Damian, and I certainly like how he stands up for himself against the psychopath, but there’s nothing of note, and certain nothing enjoyable delivered here that makes this one worth picking up. Sadly, this seems to be an all to familiar trend with the Bat-books recently. Pass.

[DC, $2.99]

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Avengers #1

/ / Comics

avengers-marvel-now-1-coverWith the launch of Marvel Now!, Marvel Comics gives us yet another rebooting of the Avengers (which was last rebooted only two years ago). The initial team apparently was chosen solely for their big screen appearances, although the issue teases a much bigger (but perhaps not really more interesting) roster.

For our opening issue we’re given a team of Captain America, Iron Man, Hawkeye, the Black Widow, Thor, and the Hulk, of which only Cap and old Shellhead really are given much to do. The threat involves a weird group of aliens terraforming the surface of Mars, led by what appears to be a Jack Kirby villain that even Dynamite Entertainment wouldn’t be interested in, who have now turned their attention to Earth.

First, let me say I hate, hate, hate the obvious amount of influence the Marvel Studios films have had on this title from the get-go. Not only are we stuck with the, somewhat limiting, movie team, but the comic even finds a way to put Captain America into something far closer in style to the character’s movie costumes than I’d like.

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Red Dawn Redux

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Red Dawn (2012)
  • IMDB: link

red-dawn-remake-posterAfter being filmed in the Fall of 2009 this needless remake to 1984’s Red Dawn sat on the shelf for three years before finally being released in theaters this Thanksgiving. The new version of Red Dawn is an uninspired trainwreck of an incredulous plot mixed with a gritty attempt at character study, draped in the flag of simplistic patriotism that would make Michael Bay proud, that can never decide what kind of movie it actually wants to be.

Where the original film saw the United States invaded by the Soviet Union, the remake chooses China as the new baddies. However, unwilling to lose the lucrative Chinese movie market, the studio spent another $1,000,000 in post production and CGI to recast North Korea as Red Dawn‘s new villains. Because, in Hollywood’s view, all Asian bad guys are so easily interchangeable. Seriously, I’ve seen WWII propaganda films which were more subtle.

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