2.5 Razors

Suicide Squad #1

/ / Comics

Suicide Squad #1 comic reviewDC launches a new version of the Suicide Squad pitting a makeshift team against a group of super-powered terrorists known as the Revolutionaries. There are a few familiar faces in Deadshot and Harley Quinn but the rest of the team, chosen not by Amanda Waller but by her replacement Lok, features questionable members like the Cavalier, the Shark, Zebra Man, and Magpie.

As we’ve seen in several previous versions of the series, not all of the members will make it through the first issue alive. The twist here is that most are used as nothing more than cannon fodder in order for Lok to recruit the Revolutionaries as their replacements. My trouble here is that most of the Revolutionaries don’t seem much more interesting that the Squad members who they are replacing (at least the D-Listers were worth making fun of).

…

Suicide Squad #1Read More »

Suicide Squad #1 Read More »

Bombshell

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Bombshell
  • IMDb: link

Bombshell movie review Bombshell offers a matter-of-fact, but ultimately not all that illuminating, look at the sexual harassment at FOX News under Roger Ailes (John Lithgow). The film primarily focuses on three woman (Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, and Margot Robbie), only one of whom we see Ailes abuse his power to manipulate and harass (Robbie, in the film’s best, and most skin-crawling and heartbreaking, scene). Undercutting the film’s moral stance more than a little is the fact that the focus of the lawsuit that kicked-off the media storm that eventually led to Ailes departure was less about Gretchen Carlson (Kidman) being harassed and more about seeking revenge for her dismissal from the network due to creative differences.

While Theron gets far more screentime, Robbie steals the film as the naive Kayla Pospisil just starting out in the business who gets a harsh reality check at how things are done. Kate McKinnon has an intriguing role as her friend/lover whose balance of being a lesbian Democrat working at Fox News is actually far more interesting material than most of what is explored over the course of the film surrounding Ailes and the lawsuit. Lithgow is properly slimy as seedy Ailes who is incapable of admitting he’s done anything wrong.

…

BombshellRead More »

Bombshell Read More »

21 Bridges

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: 21 Bridges
  • IMDb: link

21 Bridges movie review21 Bridges is an action film that thinks it’s a drama. The film from director Brian Kirk stars Chadwick Boseman as tough cop with a heart of gold Andre Davis. Adam Mervis and Matthew Michael Carnahan‘s script goes out of its way to tell us about Andre, including the opening funeral of his father years before (complete with narration talking more to the audience than the young boy who has lost his father) and 19 years later sticking up for himself to Internal Affairs. Davis is the latest in a long line of movie cops who get the job done, even if that means leaving a pile of bodies in his wake.

Our protagonist’s latest case involves an odd robbery by two former soldiers (Stephan James and Taylor Kitsch), a stash house full of too much cocaine, and several dead cops (who we see the soldiers shoot out with early in the film). It doesn’t take long for Davis to figure out something about the night’s events just doesn’t add up. Trapping the crooks in Manhattan, the city closes down the island (including all 21 bridges) as Davis hunts down the killers with the help of a narcotics officer (Sienna Miller) and a city full of trigger-happy cops.

…

21 BridgesRead More »

21 Bridges Read More »

Batwoman – I’ll Be Judge, I’ll Be Jury

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Batwoman – I’ll Be Judge, I’ll Be Jury
  • wiki: link

Batwoman - I'll Be Judge, I'll Be Jury television review

When the Executioner starts targeting city officials both Kate (Ruby Rose) and the Crows will scour the city, but while Jacob Kane‘s (Dougray Scott) men are more than willing to pin the activities on a recently-paroled convict Kate suspects there is far more going on. “I’ll Be Judge, I’ll Be Jury” features what we’ve come to expect from the series with Ruby Rose getting more comfortable in her Bat-gear and continuing to be the one standout of the show. While the Executioner works fine as a one-off baddie, his elaborate death traps (including the opening scene where the victim could have simply run to either the left or the right instead of trying to climb a metal fence to avoid electrocution) still leave something to be desired.

…

Batwoman – I’ll Be Judge, I’ll Be JuryRead More »

Batwoman – I’ll Be Judge, I’ll Be Jury Read More »

Batwoman – Mine Is a Long And a Sad Tale

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Batwoman – Mine Is a Long And a Sad Tale
  • wiki: link

Batwoman - Mine Is a Long And a Sad Tale TV review

The awkward placement and timing of events, something the show has struggled more with than any of the other super-hero series on The CW, bites Batwoman again in the odd episode of Kate (Ruby Rose) easily capturing Alice (Rachel Skarsten) but not turning her in. Instead we get the beginning of the story of what happened to Beth Kane years ago, halfway through Alice gets the upper-hand and lures her father into yet another trap. Despite the creepy opening, the story turns out to be rather bland (with some questionable plot choices such as Alice returning her sister and father to the house where they could have rescued her years before… but didn’t because of Beth’s own inaction?). I know she’s a sociopath, but blaming her family for these events is crazy, even for a crazy person (who is remarkably sane when the script needs her to be).

…

Batwoman – Mine Is a Long And a Sad TaleRead More »

Batwoman – Mine Is a Long And a Sad Tale Read More »