3.5 Razors

Doctor Sleep

  • Title: Doctor Sleep
  • IMDb: link

Doctor Sleep DVD reviewSet decades after the events of The Shining, Doctor Sleep catches up with the troubled Dan Torrance (Ewan McGregor) years after his visit to the Overlook Hotel. Director Mike Flanagan is smart in letting the story stand on its own without feeling the need to offer too many flashbacks or recreations to the Stanley Kubrick film, at least until the film’s final act which is where Doctor Sleep begins to struggle a bit matching its own style to that of Kubrick.

Both movies were adapted from novels by Stephen King. Whether its simply the script treatments or the original source material, Doctor Sleep is much more straight-forward and linear in its plot progression (even while showcasing events from different group perspectives within the film).

After finally putting his life back together, Dan is made aware of a cult led by Rebecca Ferguson hunting down and stealing the “steam” of those with psychic abilities and the teenage girl (Kyliegh Curran) who is their next target. To save both their lives, Dan will be forced to confront the ghosts of his past.

…

Doctor Sleep Read More »

Supergirl – Reality Bytes

  • Title: Supergirl – Reality Bytes
  • wiki: link

Supergirl - Reality Bytes television review

In “Reality Bites” Supergirl shifts focus away from the Maid of Might to feature two separate storylines on supporting characters who have faded into the background a bit this season. Continuing the thread of dangerous technology, the approaching roll-out of Obsidian North Platinum offers an alarming example of how the technology could be misused as a computer programmer has found a way to hack the virtual reality world and torture his wife’s AI lover which leads Alex (Chyler Leigh) inside the shared simulation. The story offers yet another way Obsidian North may be dangerous to people, aside from Leviathan or the Luthors using it to control minds, while alerting both Alex and that the company isn’t taking issues with the technology seriously. Judging by the trailer for next week’s episode, it looks like this is a theme isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

…

Supergirl – Reality Bytes Read More »

Giant-Size X-Men: Jean Grey and Emma Frost #1

Giant-Size X-Men: Jean Grey and Emma Frost #1 comic reviewGiant-Size X-Men: Jean Grey and Emma Frost #1 kicks off a series of comics from Marvel highlighting various X-Men characters and artists. Russell Dauterman does the art for this mostly silent tale involving the interesting team-up of Jean Grey and Emma Frost traveling inside Storm‘s mind to rescue their fellow X-Men who has been attacked by the Children of the Vault. Although there are cameos from other characters, the issue is devoted to Frost and Grey to stop the attack by a machine virus threatening to kill Storm in the next 30 days.

…

Giant-Size X-Men: Jean Grey and Emma Frost #1 Read More »

Extra Ordinary

  • Title: Extra Ordinary
  • IMDb: link

Extra Ordinary movie reviewExtra Ordinary has the advantages and disadvantages one would expect from a writing and directing team working on their first feature. There’s certainly style and out-of-box thinking on display here, although the film is still quite rough around the edges.

We’re offered two stories that will eventual intertwine. The first, and more successful, involves lonely Irish driving instructor Rose Dooley (Maeve Higgins) whose paranormal powers she has been afraid to use since childhood. Meeting a likable-enough bloke (Barry Ward), who has troubles both with a home haunted by his deceased wife and a daughter (Claudia O’Doherty) under possession, forces Rose to dig back into her childhood skills (and pull out the old VCR tapes of her father’s paranormal infomercials).

The movie’s other story ties into possessed Claudia (O’Doherty) whose current plight was caused by one-hit wonder Christian Winter (Will Forte) hoping that sacrificing a virgin to Satan will provide him with inspiration for another hit. It’s in Forte’s segments that the film veers closest to going off-course, but Mike Ahern and Enda Loughman keep things on track.

…

Extra Ordinary Read More »

Falcon & Winter Soldier #1

Falcon & Winter Soldier #1 comic reviewFalcon & Winter Soldier #1 unites two former Captain America stand-ins as an attempt on Bucky Barnes‘ life and a separate investigation by the Falcon put the heroes on the same path investigating why someone attacked an entire office of covert American agents and also tried to assassinate both the Winter Solider and his cat.

The issue reminds us in their first interaction that while the two are friendly with each other, the heroes aren’t exactly friends. This sets up the basic odd couple dynamic with the pair being forced to work together until they uncover what is going on and what it has to do with an exceptionally skilled teenage fan of theirs with lots of blood on his hands.

…

Falcon & Winter Soldier #1 Read More »