2 Razors

The Lost Symbol – Diophantine Pseudonym

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: The Lost Symbol – Diophantine Pseudonym
  • IMDb: link

This show is getting dumber by the episode. Along with revealing (the rather obvious and idiotic) true identity of Mal’akh (Beau Knapp), “Diophantine Pseudonym” also showcases the cult leader having the very power he’s been searching for this entire time as he wills a bullet out of his own body. It looks as ridiculous as it sounds. If he already has the power, what the hell has all this been about (other than fucking with the Solomons)? And, of course, he survives a literal cliffhanger into some of the most convenient fog ever captured on film.

…

The Lost Symbol – Diophantine PseudonymRead More »

The Lost Symbol – Diophantine Pseudonym Read More »

American Traitor: The Trial of Axis Sally

/ / Home Video
  • Title: American Traitor: The Trial of Axis Sally
  • IMDb: link

Feeling like a Made-for-TV movie that Al Pacino got suckered into, American Traitor: The Trial of Axis Sally offers a half-hearted attempt to examine the post World War II trial of Mildred Gillars (Meadow Williams), an American actress who worked for the Germans during the war broadcasting Nazi propaganda under different names including Axis Sally.

It’s easy to pick out the two scenes which peaked Pacino’s interest in his character, the lawyer assigned to defend Gillars in an American courtroom on eight counts of treason. It’s harder to find a reason for anyone else getting involved. Williams plays a character who things happen to and we’re left with no better picture of who Gillars was than when the story began. The film is weak in terms of courtroom drama, doesn’t have the time or interest for character study, and doesn’t take a stance of Gillars, leaving the film by writer/director Michael Polish dead on arrival. 

…

American Traitor: The Trial of Axis SallyRead More »

American Traitor: The Trial of Axis Sally Read More »

Halloween Kills

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Halloween Kills
  • IMDb: link

2018’s Halloween offered a final confrontation between a haunted Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Michael Meyers. Better than most of the Halloween sequels, it seemed a fitting end to the franchise offering closure to both Michael and Laruie’s stories. However, with big sequel money waiting to be made, unfortunately the story didn’t end there.

Set immediately following the events of the previous film, Halloween Kills is an unfocused hodgepodge of bad ideas which, bizarrely, comes to the exact opposite conclusion than the previous film. Michael survives the fire thanks to the first responders he gladly murders on his way to cutting a new swath of blood through Haddonfield, Illinois in a three-minute sequence that turns out to have a larger body count than the combined the murders from the original Halloween.

…

Halloween KillsRead More »

Halloween Kills Read More »

Venom: Let There Be Carnage

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Venom: Let There Be Carnage
  • IMDb: link

I wasn’t the biggest fan of 2018’s Venom which reimagined the comic book villain as a standalone horror flick hero. The new sequel, Venom: Let There Be Carnage has many of the first film’s issues, but when it embraces its craziness it can, at times, be fun. Sadly, as with the first film, one of the big failings of the sequel is the writing which takes forever to get the plot moving and, for some inexplicable reason, even abandons its most successful aspect of the series by separating Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) and the symbiote for an extended period this time around.

…

Venom: Let There Be CarnageRead More »

Venom: Let There Be Carnage Read More »

What If…? – Episode Three

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: What If…? – Episode Three
  • IMDb: link

What If...? - Episode Three TV review

The third episode of Marvel’s What If…? offers the most interesting setup of the first three episodes as being more than just swapping out one character for another. Instead we see the systematic murder of various Avengers before the team can be assembled to take down Loki in The Avengers. The deaths are shocking without cluing you into who might be behind the attacks. It’s a great setup, offering an intriguing mystery, only to fall completely apart by a reveal that simply doesn’t work as mastermind behind the entire plot is one of the least likely within all of the MCU (and I’m not buying the motivation suggested here as enough to turn him into a mass murderer). Do I believe the powers/tech within this individual’s hands could do what we see unfold here? Perhaps, but I don’t buy he would be the one to do it (and especially not for the reasons suggested). What started out as the best episode of the series, quickly turns into its worst.

…

What If…? – Episode ThreeRead More »

What If…? – Episode Three Read More »