2 Razors

Who You Gonna Let Go to Voicemail?

  • Title: Ghostbusters
  • IMDb: link

GhostbustersWriter/director Paul Feig‘s lazy adaptation of the much-beloved 1984 comedy Ghostbusters isn’t the complete trainwreck I half-expected. The movie does have its share of laughs, and the CGI ghosts (with a couple of notable exceptions) are impressive. It’s too bad the script is not. While the film offers glimmers of what could have been, we are instead left only with regrets about what is.

Offering us an all-female team-up of three white scientists and one regular Joe who happens to be black, the 2016 lacks the chemistry of the original movie which it attempts to make up for with a variety of cheap body humor jokes and a series of running gags like how hopeless their man-servant (Chris Hemsworth) is. Desperately missing an unscrupulous Bill Murray character on the team to stir the pot, instead we get a stick-in-the-mud (Kristen Wiig), a loud-mouth (Melissa McCarthy), the crazy one (Kate McKinnon), and of course their new sassy black friend (Leslie Jones). I’m almost positive these characters are given names at some point, but they are so paper thin the movie offered me no reason to learn, let alone remember, them.

Who You Gonna Let Go to Voicemail? Read More »

The 5th Wave

  • Title: The 5th Wave
  • IMDb: link

The 5th WaveBased on the young adult novel of the same name, The 5th Wave feels like a mashup of Zombieland (minus the humor) and I Am Number Four. Set in a post-apocalyptic Earth, the movie centers around high school student Cassie Sullivan (Chloë Grace Moretz) whose world is turned upside down when aliens show up to attack the planet with a series of waves, each more devastating than the last. Through an extended flashback, we learn of the previous four waves (including environmental and biological warfare).

A little too much young adult drama and too little science fiction, the script is mainly an excuse for Moretz to look frightened. With a set-up more appropriate to a television movie, the script includes an extended B-story concerning the remaining human children (including Cassie’s baby brother) being turned into a child army by the United States Army. There’s also the age-appropriate fashion model (Alex Roe) who saves Cassie’s life, while harboring a big secret, and a late twist that’s fairly easy to see coming.

The 5th Wave Read More »

Civil War II #2

Civil War II #2So far Civil War II is reminding more of the unnecessary and regrettable Secret War II than any comic should. For a genius Tony Stark makes a boneheaded move by abducting Ulysses from the Inhumans’ home of New Attilan. Nearly causing a full-scare war in the middle of New York City only to service his curiosity of how the man’s powers work and give into his anger over the death of his friend, only the intervention of Carol Danvers prevents things from escalating.

Civil War II #2 Read More »

The Flash: Rebirth #1

Because DC Universe: Rebirth #1 centered around Wally West and his connection the lost pre-New 52 DCU, and did such an amazing job of reintroducing the character back into DC Comics, The Flash: Rebirth #1 feels mostly redundant. There’s simply nothing new for writer Joshua Williamson to introduce.

Covering the same ground of Barry Allen and Wally West’s reunion, the issue also sets up the Flash’s backstory. Sadly in this case, it appears our hero is stuck with his New 52 tragic life story and his awful New 52 costume redesign (complete with the unnecessary groves and yellow lines detracting from his far more simple, and elegant, original costume).

The Flash: Rebirth #1 Read More »

Beauty and the Beast – Beast Interrupted

  • Title: Beauty and the Beast – Beast Interrupted
  • wiki: link

Beauty and the Beast - Beast Interrupted

With Vincent (Jay Ryan) unable to hide his beast abilities (seriously, how has a guy this incapable of not beasting out in public not be outed at this point in the series?), Catherine (Kristin Kreuk) benches her husband while looking into a hacker who stole classified files from Homeland Security. When it becomes apparent Vincent isn’t the target but a celebrity (Amanda Setton) who helped the Federal Government fund witness protection (um… okay?), Vincent and Catherine work together to help save the woman and the witnesses she helped protect from a bomber (Brett Ryan).

Beauty and the Beast – Beast Interrupted Read More »