2.5 Razors

Guilty Pleasure – How to Beat the High Cost of Living

/ / Home Video
  • Title: How to Beat the High Cost of Living
  • IMDb: link

how-to-beat-the-high-cost-of-living-blu-rayReleased in 1980, How to Beat the High Cost of Living starred Susan Saint James, Jane Curtin, and Jessica Lange as an unlikely trio of friends who turn to crime to pay for the high cost of inflation slowly strangling each of their lives when Jane’s (Curtin) husband drains their bank account to run off with his secretary, Louise (Lange) is being sued by her husband (Richard Benjamin) fighting off an IRS audit, and the divorced Jane (Saint James) with a homeless father (Eddie Albert) and three kids is struggling to make ends meet with another baby on the way.

The goofy screenplay by Robert Kaufman involving the three women working to rob a giant glass ball full of money in the local mall during its anniversary sale isn’t exactly high concept, but the three leads, and a supporting cast that includes Benjamin, Albert, Dabney Coleman, and Fred Willard, somehow makes (most of) it work as a guilty pleasure heist flick most memorable for Jane Curtain’s striptease during the middle of the mall robbery.

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Furious 7

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Furious 7
  • IMDb: link

“Cars don’t fly.”

Furious 7The latest entry is neither the best (Fast Five) nor the worst (2 Fast 2 Furious) of the franchise. Taking place after the events of Fast & Furious 6, Furious 7 introduces Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) as the brother of Owen Shaw (Luke Evans), who the team took down in the last movie, and the man responsible for killing Han (Sung Kang) in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. Now Shaw is targeting Hobbs (Dwayne “It’s Okay to Call Me The Rock Again” Johnson) and every member of Dominic Toretto‘s (Vin Diesel) team.

Despite Paul Walker‘s death during filming, Brian O’Conner‘s role in the film isn’t truncated thanks to the use of CGI and a little trick photography involving his two brothers. The film ends with a nice farewell for its fallen star although, despite discussion of making more Fast & Furious films, the character isn’t killed off on-screen making you wonder what kind of role Brian could possibly play going forward.

As with all the previous movies, the strengths of the latest film are its stunts which get larger and more ridiculous. Like the last film, this one stretches all credibility during its climax.

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Backstrom – Give ‘Til It Hurts

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Backstrom – Give ‘Til It Hurts
  • wiki: link

Backstrom - Give 'Til It Hurts

While avoiding his latest mandatory appointment with Dr. Deb (Rizwan Manji), Backstrom (Rainn Wilson) and his unit investigate a rather pedestrian hit-and-run that leaves one wealthy woman dead. Believing the motive for the socialite’s murder is tied to one of the various charities she was involved in, Backstrom and his team go undercover (sort of) and a swanky charity benefit in hopes of discovering the real motive for the murder.

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Battle Creek – Heirlooms

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Battle Creek – Man’s Best Friend
  • IMDb: link

Battle Creek - Heirlooms

Despite learning something about his new FBI buddy’s past last week that doesn’t stop Russ (Dean Winters) from continuing to pry and illicit information from Milton Chamberlain (Tad Hamilton) about what really brought him to Battle Creek, Michigan. While working to solve a case involving the natural death of a rich old man and the brutal murder of a former hooker (which takes them a little too long to find the proper motive of greed) the pair trade a few lies about their pasts leaving no one the wiser.

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Retreat!

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Retreat!
  • wiki: link

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Retreat!Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Retreat! collects the first seven episodes of the show’s Third Season which is most, but not quite all, of Leonardo (Seth Green), Raphael (Sean Astin), Michelangelo (Greg Cipes), and Donatello‘s (Rob Paulsen) time in the country licking their wounds following the Kraang mutation of New York City.

Seth Green takes over the voice of the injured Leonardo with “Into the Woods” whose rehabilitation is one of the major storylines of the set. The Turtles also meet Bigfoot, deal with leftover Kraang tech which takes the appearance of April‘s (Mae Whitman) mother, fight to survive their dreams, and deal with new mutants including mutant frogs, Casey’s car, and the bizarre Chimera. The episodes aren’t without charm (such as the introduction of Crognard the Barbarian) but they’re among the weakest of the series lacking any of the trademark villains. I also find it quite odd that “Vision Quest” (the last episode of the arc) isn’t part of this collection. The single-disc DVD does include short featurettes for each of the episodes included.

[Nickelodeon, $14.98]

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