3.5 Razors

The Hand of God

/ / Home Video
  • Title: È stata la mano di Dio
  • IMDb: link

Filippo Scotti stars as the aimless Fabietto in 80s Naples in this coming of age story from Paolo Sorrentino. We’re introduced to Fabietto’s extended dysfunctional family including his womanizing father (Toni Servillo), prankster mother (Teresa Saponangelo), older brother with dreams of becoming an actor (Marlon Joubert), and lascivious aunt (Luisa Ranieri). The film is beautifully shot by Daria D’Antonio framing our stumbling protagonist disconnected from the world long before tragedy strikes upending his life even more.

Sorrentino doesn’t seem to have a destination for Fabietto in mind. Although he grows over the course of the film taking interest in more than football, it’s hard to tell how much he’s actually learned. The untethered protagonist means the film seems aimless as well, even if that’s the point as Fabietto finally discovers he can no longer allow life to pass him by and must start making hard choices.

…

The Hand of GodRead More »

The Hand of God Read More »

The Mystery of the Vanishing Treasure

/ / Books & Magazines
  • Title: The Mystery of the Vanishing Treasure
  • wiki: link

Way Back Wednesday takes us back to a mystery involving the Three Investigators whose mantra of “We Investigate Everything” leads them into a pair of cases involving a museum robbery in broad daylight and an elderly woman being tormented by gnomes. The museum robbery starts off the Three Investigators story as a large jeweled golden belt disappears, but that crime is put on hold for much of the book as Jupiter Jones, Pete Crenshaw, and Bob Andrews instead investigate the odd appearance of gnomes up to nefarious purposes scaring an elderly woman, while hiding their true purposes for tunneling under her home, which is brought to the trio by their old friend and mentor Hector Sebastian (Alfred Hitchcock in the original printing).

…

The Mystery of the Vanishing TreasureRead More »

The Mystery of the Vanishing Treasure Read More »

The Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries #9

/ / Comics

The recently salvaged pirate ship of Captain Black Jack Paddywhack which was shipwrecked in 1764 along with a treasure map to the pirate’s stash of gold brings out Mystery, Inc., various treasure hunters, and the Riddler. Oh, the ghost of Black Jack Paddywhack shows up as well to scare off all but the most determined of the treasure hunters, forcing Scooby and the gang to team with the villain to try and find the treasure and solve the mystery by deciphering a list of clues and riddles.

Batman only makes a cameo at the end to take the Riddler into custody, while leaving Scooby and the gang working with the super-villain for most of the issue in an unexpected twist. Daphne is able to discover the source of the ghost while Velma uncovers the trick the Riddler has played on them all, but in the end it takes all of them to find the treasure.

…

The Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries #9Read More »

The Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries #9 Read More »

Nightmare Alley

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Nightmare Alley
  • IMDb: link

Adapting the 1946 novel of the same name, Nightmare Alley is more about con men than monsters (which is usually writer/director Guillermo del Toro‘s wheelhouse). The film is split into two halves, the first involving a man running from his past joining a carnival and learning secrets to start his own clairvoyance act. The second, takes place a couple of years later with Stanton (Bradley Cooper) and his wife (Rooney Mara) putting his skills to use in higher-class surroundings by taking advantage of more wealthy marks.

Think of Nightmare Alley as Guillermo del Toro’s attempt at a David Mamet movie filled with con men and grifters, murderers and thieves, all out for their own interests, with plenty of twists and double-crosses thrown in for good measure. The result, more from the limitations of the source material than his direction, are a bit mixed.

…

Nightmare AlleyRead More »

Nightmare Alley Read More »

The Flash – Armageddon, Part 4 & Part 5

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: The Flash – Armageddon, Part 4 & Part 5
  • wiki: link
  • wiki: link

The final two episodes of “Armageddon” deal with the real villain of the arc which, to no one’s surprise, is revealed to be Eobard Thawne (Tom Cavanagh). In “Part 4,” Barry (Grant Gustin) finds himself trapped in a timeline where he is the Reverse-Flash and Thawne has stolen his life. “Part 5” involve deciding what to do with the villain after time is rest by the Flash destroying the Earth in one timeline, thus confirming Despero‘s (Tony Curran) vision of the future.

…

The Flash – Armageddon, Part 4 & Part 5Read More »

The Flash – Armageddon, Part 4 & Part 5 Read More »