3.5 Razors

Halloween (2018)

  • Title: Halloween (2018)
  • IMDb: link

Retconning all the Halloween sequels that came before, 2018’s Halloween is a direct sequel to the original. Set 40 years later, the film’s set-up shares story elements with Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, catches up with Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her family decades after her encounter with Michael Meyers. Taking a page from Terminator 2: Judgement Day, this version of Laurie went into survivalist mode after her experience with Michael, leaving a broken family in her wake, always believing he would eventually return.

The method of Michael’s return involves a bus crash, a pair of true crime podcasters awaking something in the killer that has spent four decades in a mental institution, and Michael’s psychiatrist (Haluk Bilginer) who has far warmer feelings to his patient than Dr. Sam Loomis ever did.

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NCIS: Hawai’i – Pilot / Boom

  • Title: NCIS: Hawai’i – Pilot / Boom
  • wiki: link
  • wiki: link

In an obvious attempt to fill the void left by the conclusion of the Hawaii Five-0 reboot, CBS launches a new spin-off the NCIS franchise set in the Hawaiian islands. Vanessa Lachey stars as Jane Tennant, the first female Special Agent in Charge of the NCIS: Pearl. Alex Tarrant is Kai Holman, the youngest member of the team, an island native returning home after working for the Navy abroad, whose estranged relationship with is ailing father appears to be an ongoing storyline.

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Checkmate #4

The chess game between Checkmate and Leviathan continues in issue #4 as Green Arrow and Manhunter are able to fight off Leviathan agents Guardian and Merlyn who infiltrate the abandoned JLA Watchtower for unknown nefarious purposes. Not only are the heroes successful in driving out the invaders, but they are able to obtain a sample of Guardian’s blood which offers a clue to Mister Bones recognizing a rejected DEO program of splicing alien DNA into agents which may help explain how Mark Shaw has created his own little army.

Although he appears in the cover, we don’t get much from Superman here other than acting as a sounding board for his wife and helping Lois Lane make a discovery which seems important (but I’m not sure how it fits into this storyline). The issue ends on a cliffhanger where Leviathan comes after Checkmate suggesting things are finally heating up.

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Leverage: Redemption – The Mastermind Job

  • Title: Leverage: Redemption – The Mastermind Job
  • wiki: link

The mid-season finale for Leverage: Redemption hits close to home for the team when they discover the existence of a tell-all book that would reveal secrets about the team and their clients to the world. Worst of all, the writer of the book is pretending to be Nate Ford. While I was expecting some nefarious purpose here, possibly an old enemy bringing the team into the light to spring a trap, that’s not what writer Kate Rorick has in mind for us. Instead of finding a con man or villain, the team comes across an accountant (Joey Slotnick) and former friend to Nate.

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The Big Leap – I Want You Back

  • Title: The Big Leap – I Want You Back
  • IMDb: link

The Big Leap - I Want You Back

As I avoid reality-TV like the plague, the idea The Big Leap wasn’t an easy sell. However, with a number of likable stars in Piper Perabo, Teri Polo, and Scott Foley, I decided to give the series’ opening episode a chance. And I’m glad I did. Built around a new reality-TV series about giving dancers a second chance, the drama introduces us to a handful of the key players including Foley as the showrunner Nick Blackburn, Polo as an aging social media influencer, Jon Rudnitsky struggling with depression after being laid of and seeing his marriage fall apart, and Simone Recasner as a talented dancer whose life was derailed by teenage pregnancy and being the last to discover that her high school boyfriend (Raymond Cham Jr.) was gay.

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