2.5 Razors

Guardians 3000 #2

/ / Comics

Guardians 3000 #2Only two issues in the latest series featuring the original team of the Guardians of the Galaxy begins to stall. Although Guardians 3000 #2 ends on an interesting note involving a Tony Stark reference, the events of the latest issue don’t do much to push forward the near-identical (but now less interesting) series of events from the first issue. Plus we don’t get any dimensional swapping meaning we’re left with a version of the Guardians with a female Starhawk and no Aleta that just feels wrong.

Featuring plenty of action, the second issue suffers from the same roid rage muscle art from Gerardo Sandoval that hurt last month’s issue. And when he attempts to tone down that style characters often look oddly stretched as if they are standing in front of a fun house mirror. I gave the art in the first issue a pass because I was so happy to have the Guardians back, but with this issue no missing three of its core members (the real Starhaw, Aleta, and Nikki) while dragging its feet while developing its reality-bending plot it feels less and less like the team I know and love. Hit-and-Miss.

[Marvel, $3.99]

Guardians 3000 #2 Read More »

Mockingjay Part 1

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1
  • IMDb: link

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1After two films of murder games by children building up to a rebellion stoked by class warfare the latest entry into The Hunger Games franchise offers only more build-up. Deciding to break the final book of the series into two parts, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 is nearly all set-up with no payoff in sight for at least a full year until next Fall (if ever).

Set an indeterminate period of time following the events of the last film, Jennifer Lawrence returns as reluctant hero Katniss Everdeen rescued at the end of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and recruited by the survivors of District 13 (the most well-funded and fully stocked secret underground rebellion in the history of cinema) to be the face of their revolution against President Snow (Donald Sutherland) and the Capitol.

Mockingjay does offer something new as it delves into rebellion, propaganda, and the physical and emotional toll of Snow’s policies towards those who defy him. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Woody Harrelson, Liam Hemsworth, and Elizabeth Banks return as Katniss’ support system and Julianne Moore steps in as the leader of the rebellion with access to enough hair products to never have a single strand out of place.

…

Mockingjay Part 1Read More »

Mockingjay Part 1 Read More »

Arrow – Guilty

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Arrow – Guilty
  • wiki: link

Arrow - Guilty

More than any episode of Arrow in recent memory, “Guilty” struggles with a pair of stories that move forward character development but struggle to in terms of creating a compelling hour of television. Much of the problem can be laid at the feet of J.R. Ramirez as Ted “Wildcat” Grant who is simply too young to sell the premise of the city’s long-forgotten vigilante when he’s basically the same age of as every member of Team Arrow rather than a contemporary of Quentin Lance (Paul Blackthorne) which would make a hell of a lot more sense. The storyline involving gang members murdered in a manner to point the police in Wildcat’s direction is awkward because never once are we given any reason to suspect that he could be the person responsible (and proof of his innocence).

…

Arrow – GuiltyRead More »

Arrow – Guilty Read More »

Less Than Heavenly

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Kingdom of Heaven
  • IMDb: link

Kingdom of HeavenOrlando Bloom as a blacksmith turned soldier defending a stone fortress against a vast army, or a man who falls in love with a married queen from across the ocean? Liam Neeson as a dying knight with an apprentice? Haven’t I already seen this before?

Kingdom of Heaven features a fine cast and some good visuals, but I think you will find, as I did, that much of the story is a little too familiar, much too preachy, and more than a little dumb.

Okay, so Godfrey (Neeson) is a crusader except he’s about as pleasant and courteous one as you could ever expect to find.  He doesn’t rape and pillage but just kills people to keep the peace. On a short vacation he takes a horse ride up from Jerusalem to France to find his son (the result of the raping a pillaging he did before he grew one with the Force, um, I mean matured) who is the blacksmith from Pirates of the Caribbean (Bloom) whose name is now Balian.

…

Less Than HeavenlyRead More »

Less Than Heavenly Read More »

Kill the Messenger

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Kill the Messenger
  • IMDb: link

Kill the MessengerBased on accounts written by Nick Schou and Gary Webb, Kill the Messenger offers a rather one-sided look at San Jose Mercury News reporter Gary Webb’s (Jeremy Renner) investigation and publishing of a story concerning the CIA supporting the cocaine smuggling of Nicaraguan Contra Rebels and the sale of those drugs inside the United States.

After a brief set-up introducing Webb’s family and co-workers, the movie follows his journey uncovering the biggest story of his career, the initial success garnered by its publication, and his quick fall from grace as the media at large began to poke holes in the story (which the script suggests were at the behest of the CIA and the United States Government).

When Kill the Messenger is focused on the story itself it works well. When the focus shifts to Webb’s decline, making him, rather than his work, the story (going against the overall message of the movie), it starts to falter down dark conspiracies and paranoia. Unwilling to see the gloom to its inevitable conclusion the script by Peter Landesman simply stops offering an ultimately unsatisfying ending.

…

Kill the MessengerRead More »

Kill the Messenger Read More »