2 Razors

Batman #29

/ / Comics

Batman #29 comic reviewBatman #29 is a bizarre issue. I never thought I would see Batman offer criminals a huge payday to continue their mayhem in Gotham City. The entire comic takes place at the Wayne Manor dinner table where Bruce Wayne has gathered both the Riddler and the Joker (and some of their top lieutenants). With the War of Jokes and Riddles raging, and Batman impotent to stop it, Batman decides to… throw a dinner party?

The inconsistent use of narration continues, disappearing in an issue that seems to take place more in real time than the narrated series of events Batman is relating to Catwoman years later. The setting is bizarre in the extreme, but I have even more trouble with Batman contemplating throwing in the towel and further facilitating the nefarious deeds of dozens of criminals (offer one side $1 billion). Wouldn’t calling in the Justice League (or literally anything else) make more sense?

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Dunkirk

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

Dunkirk movie reviewChristopher Nolan‘s Dunkirk is surprisingly bad for such an accomplished director. Set during the Dunkirk evacuation of mostly British troops surrounded by Axis forces during World War II, Nolan brings his talents to bear in crafting a visually impressive film. However it’s three-part story, amateurishly cut together in confusing fashion, featuring a migraine-inducing overbearing score (which the director has been infatuated with ever since Inception), without a single trace of emotional resonance, left me detached from both characters and events for most of its running time.

The film inter-cuts three separate plot threads of vastly different lengths creating all kinds of trouble when the threads have to be woven together later in the film. The shortest of these centers around Tom Hardy as a fighter pilot whose action takes place mostly far above the fray. The next, in terms of length, involves a civilian boat hired to help evacuate soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk. And the longest story centers around soldiers on the beach, most notably Fionn Whitehead and Aneurin Barnard, desperately searching for any way off the coastline before the German army arrives.

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Castlevania – Necropolis

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Castlevania – Necropolis
  • wiki: link

Castlevania - Necropolis TV review

Okay, I’m rooting for the vampire. The first episode of Netflix’s Castlevania introduced us to Dracula (Graham McTavish), his wife (Emily Swallow), and the series of events which would lead the vampire to declare war on all humanity. “Necropolis” introduces us to our reluctant hero Trevor Belmont (Richard Armitage) who spends most of the season’s second episode fighting in bars and alleyways. Forced out of his drunken stupor first to defend himself and later to protect an old man from murderous priests, Belmont hardly earns any sympathy from us and really only looks somewhat heroic when compared to Dracula’s murderous army and the religious zealots which directly caused them to be unleashed on the world. I’m sure glad this season is only four episodes long as I don’t think I could stand spending much more time with Trevor Belmont. And, yeah, I’m rooting for the vampire.

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Double Impact

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Double Impact
  • IMDb: link

Double Impact Blu-ray reviewOur Throwback Thursday post takes us back to the action of the early 90s. Double Impact is ridiculous, even for a Jean-Claude Van Damme movie. Playing twins (not the last time he would attempt this) separated for 25 years and brought back together to avenge their parents’ murder, Van Damme stars as both Kung Fu expert and Yoga instructor Chad and seedy criminal type Alex whose girlfriend (Alonna Shaw just happens to hold the keys to get their high-kicking form of justice). Along with the action and ridiculous dialogue the script also makes the most out of Chad being mistaken for Alex on multiple occasions (including by his girlfriend).

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Kill Switch

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Kill Switch
  • IMDb: link

Kill Switch movie reviewThere’s an interesting set-up in Kill Switch that sadly get lost by the one-note gimmick of the film’s first-person presentation. While the flashbacks pull back and allow scenes to unfold naturally, every scene taking place in the present is shot like a first-person shooter (which becomes even more obvious once our protagonist starts to pick up weapons). Had director Tim Smit been more interested in making hard-core sci-fi the results could have been more compelling.

The premise of screenwriters Charlie Kindinger and Omid Nooshin‘s script is a company has found a cheat for clean energy. Their new invention will create a parallel Earth from which we will be able to steal all the resources we need. Will Porter (Dan Stevens) is aggressively approached by the group to join their team. And when things go wrong, like vehicles from the parallel Earth dropping from the sky through portals, it’s up to Will to travel to the other side and set things right. And surprise, the world isn’t devoid of sentient life as the scientists hypothesized. Instead it’s full of doppelgangers (including coworkers Bérénice Marlohe and Tygo Gernandt) in a mirror reality devolving into chaos.

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