3.5 Razors

Carmen Sandiego – The Sticky Rice Caper

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Carmen Sandiego – The Sticky Rice Caper
  • IMDb: link

Carmen Sandiego - The Sticky Rice Caper television review

Following the two-part opener explaining Carmen‘s (Gina Rodriguez) origins, the show sets in on a more straightforward episode with “The Sticky Rice Caper” which sends our thief to Indonesia. The episode introduces two new characters as part of Carmen’s team in a brother and sister (Michael Hawley and Abby Trott) who first help Carmen allude some mysterious agents in Paris and later help her prevent V.I.L.E. Academy‘s sinister plot to wipe out the rice crops on the island of Java for the sole purpose of profit. Both Crackle (Michael Goldsmith), who gets a harsh lesson about failure from V.I.L.E., and the pair of Chase Devineaux (Rafael Petardi) and Julia Argent (Charlet Chung), and their continued pursuit of Carmen, return in limited roles in subplots not connected to the main storyline.

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Legacies – Maybe I Should Start from the End

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Legacies – Maybe I Should Start from the End
  • wiki: link

Legacies - Maybe I Should Start from the End television review

The first, and possibly only, appearance by Landon’s mother (Ayelet Zurer) fills in some of the remaining blanks about Malivore and Landon’s (Aria Shahghasemi) connection to it. Heading in as back-up when Landon gets into trouble, Hope Mikaelson (Danielle Rose Russell) and Alaric (Matthew Davis) are able to help convince Seylah than Landon is indeed the son she gave up years ago (while also learning the dark secret behind Landon’s birth and why he is tied to artifacts of the Hell dimension). “Maybe I Should Start from the End” also reveals the existence of a shadowy government agency protecting the pit while also secretly taking out magical creatures on the down low.

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Cold War

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Cold War
  • IMDb: link

Cold War movie reviewCold War, at least for me, brings up an important distinction about the difference between appreciating a film versus liking it. Too often people look at movies and leave the theater believing on a gut level if they liked a movie it’s great and if they didn’t like it the film must be hot garbage (and quite possibly an attack on everything they hold dear including the entirety of filmmaking and good taste). Centering a story around the on-again off-again romance of a dysfunctional couple in post-WWII Poland and France, writer/director Pawel Pawlikowski produces a film that is easy to appreciate. As for liking it… well, let’s just say the film let me cold.

In terms of look, style, the recreation of the time period, and the beautiful black-and-white cinematography by Lukasz Zal, Cold War certainly delivers. It also offers a pair of strong performances by Tomasz Kot and Joanna Kulig as musicians and lovers who are nearly as dysfunctional when apart as when they are together, making one wonder whether we are supposed to be rooting for the pair to end up together or finally break free of each other.

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The Flash – Seeing Red

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: The Flash – Seeing Red
  • wiki: link

The Flash - Seeing Red television review

After laying low, Cicada (Chris Klein) returns with a vengeance by killing multiple meta-humans in one night. Hoping to remove those who the serial killer plans to target next, Barry (Grant Gustin) and the group round up the group of metas provided to Cicada by a member of the Central City Police Force (while Cecille goes after the leak in the police department). I’ve never been a huge fan of vengeful Barry Allen. I think the character works best as hopeful and striving to use his powers to make the world a better place (while fighting talking gorillas and guys throwing boomerangs at him). However, after Nora (Jessica Parker Kennedy) is seriously injured by Cicada and is slow to heal, Barry’s father instincts go into overdrive and nearly push the flash into eliminating the threat of Cicada permanently. Thankfully, Nora is fully recovered by the end of the episode ending the Flash’s murderous streak before it claims its first victim.

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Detective Comics #996

/ / Comics

Detective Comics #996 comic reviewAfter learning nothing of interest from the Arkham Asylum menagerie, Batman‘s investigation into the recent attacks on the close allies of both Batman and Bruce Wayne leads to Paris and a reunion with Ducard who has already figured out the truth of attacks which the Dark Knight Detective won’t piece together until the issue’s conclusion: someone is systematically targeting everyone who had a hand in creating Batman.

While the mystery continues to deepen, and we also see nods to various aspects of Batman’s past (such visiting his old sensei in the Himalayas where a certain flower grows), there are still aspects of the arc I’m not fond of starting with the bizarre Clayface-ish nightmare creature that attacks Batman and Ducard. While there’s obviously someone quite intelligent behind the attacks on those who helped Bruce Wayne become Batman, I’m not wild about his stable of horror movie henchmen.

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