2 Razors

Community – Advanced Documentary Filmmaking

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Community – Advanced Documentary Filmmaking
  • tv.com: link

“Enjoy your collective delusion. I’m going to go get a sandwich, which, unlike Changnesia, is real.”

Community - Advanced Documentary Filmmaking

Abed (Danny Pudi) takes up the role of documentary filmmaker (again) focusing on the mystery behind Chang’s (Ken Jeong) amnesia. In order to offset the monetary strain of searching for the cause of “Changnesia” the Dean (Jim Rash) enlists the support of the entire Greendale community to help the school procure a $40,000 grant from the MacGuffin Neurological Institute. And so, despite Jeff’s (Joel McHale) objections, the Study Group decides to help their troubled former enemy.

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Community – Cooperative Escapism in Familial Relations

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Community – Cooperative Escapism in Familial Relations
  • tv.com: link

Community - Cooperative Escapism in Familial Relations

As Britta (Gillian Jacobs) helps Jeff (Joel McHale) spend Thanksgiving with his estranged father (James Brolin) and the half-brother (Adam DeVine) he’s never met, Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown) invites the rest of the Study Group to have Thanksgiving dinner with her family. Trapped in a situation that makes their own family dinners look inviting by comparison, Abed (Danny Pudi) narrates his friends’ plan to survive the ideal and escape in a way designed not to hurt Shirley’s feelings.

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Snitch

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Snitch
  • IMDB: link

snitch-movie-posterSnitch is perplexing. Despite the promise of Dwayne “It’s Okay to Call Me The Rock Again” Johnson, plenty of action, and a poster that’s oddly similar to the The Rock’s last action flick, what writer/director Ric Roman Waugh and co-writer Justin Haythe deliver is a character study that’s short on action and a treatise whose true purpose is to lecture the audience on the the evils of mandatory minimum sentencing for drug-related crimes.

Despite being the most physically intimidating figure in the entire film, The Rock’s role is written as a upper-middle class suburban dad with little to no experience with violence. The Rock’s part seems obviously written for a schlub (Paul Giamatti would have made for far more natural casting). Choosing The Rock for a heavily dramatic role that doesn’t acknowledge, let alone make use of, his natural assets as an action star may allow the wrestler turned actor to broaden his breadth of work, but it’s just one of many odd choices Snitch makes during it’s nearly two-hour running time (which is about half-an-hour too long).

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A Good Day to Die Hard

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: A Good Day to Die Hard
  • IMDB: link

a-good-day-to-die-hard-posterThe original Die Hard did a lot of things very well, but one of the most remarked upon was its simplicity. Isolating the protagonist to a largely empty office building, Johh McClane spent most of the film without guns, gadgets, even shoes. Playing the game this straight let all of McClane’s accomplishments shine harder, and stacked up the stakes even more hopelessly against him.

But you don’t need simplicity for a great film. That’s surely something the filmmakers of A Good Day to Die Hard kept in mind with this fifth film in the series. This time around, McClane flys to Russia hoping to get his ne’er-do-well son (played by Jai Courtney, not great) out some trouble he’s run into.

Turns out that the boy is undercover – John Jr. has become a professional at one of his Dad’s recurring hobbies – saving the world, or something like it. Both McClanes become entangled, despite their estranged relationship, on a mission to rescue a political prisoner.

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Winter Soldier #15

/ / Comics

Winter Soldier #15The first issue launching a new creative team and direction for the characters of the Winter Soldier is a little disappointing. Writer Jason LaTour takes over for Ed Brubaker whose overseen nearly all of Bucky Barnes best moments since his return to comics (at Brubaker’s hands) in 2005.

LaTour has to deal with the fallout of a broken-hearted Bucky whose lost the love of his life due to the mad plans of a Soviet sleeper agent. Without the Black Widow, however, an even more morose than usual Bucky is a far less interesting character.

The comic does include an appearance by the Nick Fury (a rarity in Marvel Comics these days) and a new assignment that ties back into his road to redemption involving saving a longtime undercover S.H.I.E.L.D. agent inside HYDRA.

While Winter Soldier #15 isn’t all that good neither is it a bad comic. However, it doesn’t do nearly enough the sell me on the new direction for the title or the character. Pass.

[Marvel, $2.99]

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