2.5 Razors

Grendel: Devil Quest

/ / Comics

“In a place where everyone claims to be such a bad-ass…you’ve got to do something to get their attention.”

Grendel: Devil Quest is a curiosity, the less interesting alternative view of Grendel Prime’s travel through time searching for the original Grendel, Hunter Rose.  Told through the perspectives of other characters in the future world first established in previous works such as Grendel: God and the Devil, Grendel: Devil’s Reign, and Grendel: War Child.

Those unfamiliar with the convoluted history of the futuristic versions of Grendel in the 26th Century may want to take a pass, or at least do some research before jumping into Grendel: Devil Quest.

The story’s main function is to show what is happening in the future after Jupiter’s coronation as the new Grendel-Khan.  Most of the story revolves around the unsuccessful search by various factions for the missing cyborg Grendel Prime, who only makes the shortest of appearances here before vanishing in a time travel experiment before reappearing on final page (those wanting to know what happened should pick up Batman/Grendel).

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Indiana Jones and the Disappointing Adventure

/ / Movie Reviews, Theme Week
  • Title: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
  • IMDB: link

“What does God need with a starship?”

indiana-jones-and-the-kingdom-of-the-crystal-skull-posterThe film opens at the height of the Red Scare as Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) fights off Soviet agents, led by Cate Blanchett, who show up to steal a crystal skull from a secret government warehouse.  Indy’s failure to stop the theft brings up questions of his loyalty and he finds himself on forced sabbatical from the university.

Indy quickly finds a new outlet when a kid named Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf) asks Indy for help in retrieving another crystal skull found by one of Indy’s colleagues (John Hurt) to save his mother Marion (Karen Allen) from the Nazis.

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Guilty Pleasure – Stroker Ace

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Stroker Ace
  • IMDB: link

“Who gives a cluck?”

stroker-ace

Burt Reynolds stars as hot-shot race car driver Stroker Ace whose talent for winning is only surpassed by his inability to get along with his sponsors.

After burning bridges with every other race team Stroker finds himself forced to sign with fried chicken franchise mogul Clyde Torkle (Ned Beatty) who gets the most out of his new star attraction by parading him around like a prized bird (sometimes literally).

Unable to get out of the binding contract Stroker is forced to put up with his new situation.  However, things aren’t all bad.  He’s still got his mechanic buddy (Jim Nabors) and his new position did introduce him to Torkle’s secretary Pembrook Feeney (Loni Anderson), a woman with an unlikely secret.

Aside from many Nascar drivers who show up in cameos during the film there are a couple of small performances worth mentioning including Bubba Smith as Torkle’s chauffeur Arnold and Parker Stevenson as the new hot-shot driver gunning for Stroker’s spot as Nascar’s #1 driver whose name Stroker can never quite remember.

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Smart People Can Be Dumb Too

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Smart People
  • IMDB: link

“You told me my paper was sophomoric.  I was a freshman.”
“That’s not what sophomoric means.”

smart-people-poster

The basic premise of the film is that smart people can be dumb too.  As premises go, it’s not exactly insightful.

Lawrence Wetherhold (Dennis Quaid) is a grumpy professor of English literature who finds himself in need of assistance after an accident involving his car, the campus impound lot, and a fence.  His children are both as miserable as he is (although the film is less sure why) including his Young Republican daughter Vanessa (Ellen Page) and his son (Ashton Holmes) who wants to be a poet.  Enter Lawrence’s brother, by adoption, Chuck (Thomas Hayden Church) the free spirit and a former student, now doctor (Sarah Jessica Parker), to further stir the pot.

I know these characters; you know these characters.  We’ve seen them in countless films.  We’ve got the grump who learns to care.  The uptight kid.  The misunderstood kid.  The smart and attractive woman entering their screwed-up world.  And the dummy with more simple wisdom then all of them combined.

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Street Kings

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Street Kings
  • IMDB: link

“We can get these guys!”

street-kings-poster

Detective Tom Ludlow (Keanu Reeves) is a problem solver.  Part of a specially trained unit put together by his boss (Forest Whitaker), Tom is asked to do the dirty work which needs to be done.

Tom’s life gets complicated when a former member of the unit (Terry Crews) is killed while he is tailing him and looking for payback.  Tom instantly becomes part of an Internal Affairs investigation led by Hugh Lurie (without a cane), is forced to destroy evidence, and begins questioning his role as a cop as he searches for the killers who no one wants found.

This film, based on a story by James Elroy, has been passed around Hollywood for years before landing in the lap of director David Ayer.  What he gives us is an okay action flick which wants desperately to also be a stark drama, for which they cast Keanu Reeves.  Reeves does what he can with the material, but he isn’t able to elevate it to make it mean something more. At least it’s better than Ayer’s last attempt at a self-destructive cop on the edge (read that review).

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