2.5 Razors

V/H/S

/ / Home Video
  • Title: V/H/S
  • IMDB: link

vhs-blu-rayLike most short film anthologies V/H/S is something of a mixed bag. Structured around a story of a group of criminals hired to retrieve a videotape from what they believe is an empty house, the group of thieves stumble upon the owner’s dead body and an insane collection of videotapes each with a different found-footage-style horror tale captured on film.

As the robbers search and plunder the house for what they’ve been sent to find, along with anything else of value they can steal, one member of the group starts browsing through five of the tapes giving us our five separate horror shorts.

In “Amateur Night” a group of frat boys attempting to make their own amateur sex tape get far more than they expected when one of the women (Hannah Fierman) they pick has a violent episode as the camera starts to roll. Although the set-up is far too long, the payoff works well and Fierman is certainly capable as coming off as creepy as hell on-screen when called upon.

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Daredevil #20

/ / Comics

daredevil-20-coverAfter literally loosing his head in the pocket dimension Coyote has trapped him in, Daredevil begins plotting his escape a his body moves through the villain’s realm while his head keeps Coyote distracting in a Bond villain style rant (in which he explains every detail of his nefarious enterprises).

In the B-story Kristen McDuffie, who apparently works the offices of Mad Men, finds it impossible to get her bosses to take a crazy Daredevil seriously when they accuse her of having a lover’s spat with her boyfriend. Although it skirts the issue of Foggy‘s drunken confession, the McDuffie outcome is troubling at best as writer Mark Waid and Marvel Editorial have deciding the New York District Attorney’s Office is perpetually stuck in (an overly cliched version of) the 1950’s.

The Coyote story works far better, although bringing up (and showing) human trafficking as one of Coyote’s new interests does feel a little unseemly for what has been up until now a pretty safe all-ages book. Hit-and-Miss.

[Marvel, $2.99]

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Captain America #1

/ / Comics

captain-america-marvel-now-1-coverAfter growing disinterested in the end of Ed Brubaker‘s run on the character I was ready for a new writer to breathe life into Captain America. The first issue of the new series written by Rick Remender is a bit of a mixed blessing as Cap contemplates marriage to Sharon Carter and take on an old enemy in Armin Zola.

Yes, Remender takes the character in a new direction, but he also gives us a questionable introduction of Steve Rogers abusive father and a message (hamfistedly delivered at least three times over the course of the issue) that has been Cap’s guiding philosophy since childhood. I understand what Remender’s going for, but to start out a new series with a gross oversimplification of a character’s origins isn’t the best way to begin.

Although I don’t hate the art, I’m not sure John Romita Jr. is the right choice for the comic if, as Remender states in the afterward, the point is to take the series into the weird sci-fi stories the character enjoyed under Jack Kirby‘s run in the 1970’s. Hit-and-Miss.

[Marvel, $3.99]

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Batman #14

/ / Comics

batman-new-52-14-coverWriter Scott Snyder’s Batman #14 is problematic as it seems to suggest, but carefully never directly prove, that the Joker has far more knowledge about the true identities of the men and women who are part of the Bat-Family than has ever before been stated. Is this simply the writer toying with us, or is Snyder about to implement yet another major New 52 deviation that I simply can’t get on-board with?

The classic take on the Joker is a villain obsessed with Batman who doesn’t want to know the Dark Knight Detective’s secret identity, as that would ruin all the fun. This is exactly what happens in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker when the Clown Prince of Crime admits that he wished he had never peeked under the cowl.

Snyder is careful by giving us an alternative explanation for the Joker’s abduction of Alfred as well as the Joker never naming names when he “reveals” he knows Batman’s secret identity. I’m hoping for a huge bait-and-switch. But seeing how the New 52 has given me very little of what I actually want, I’m not too hopeful. Hit-and-Miss.

[DC, $2.99]

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Nashville – You’re Gonna Change (Or I’m Gonna Leave)

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Nashville – Someday You’ll Call My Name
  • tv.com: link

“Sometime you’ve got to blow up the box.”

nashville-youre-gonna-change-or-im-gonna-leave

The amazing thing about soap operas is you can miss a couple of weeks of episodes and not miss a single beat. And, in both good ways and bad, Nashville is very much a soap opera. Despite not watching the previous two episodes of the series it took me less than 2-minutes to get caught up on the show’s ongoing stories, which (in typical soap opera fashion) haven’t made all that much progress in my absence. That said, “You’re Gonna Change (Or I’m Gonna Leave)” works well enough that I may return in a couple of weeks to see what else Nashville has in store when it returns after a short Thanksgiving break.

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