3.5 Razors

Coco

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  • Title: Coco
  • IMDb: link

Coco movie reviewPixar’s nineteenth feature isn’t one of the studio’s best, but it does display plenty of heart. We open to extended narration setting up the life and family of young Miguel (Anthony Gonzalez) whose family’s hatred of music makes the first-half of the movie seem like Footloose with dead people. More than anything in the world Miguel wants to be a musician which, through a somewhat convoluted series of events, sends him into the netherworld on Día de Muertos when the spirits can leave the Land of the Dead and visit their living relatives (only if their families have remembered to place their picture in the family ofrenda, or altar).

Once Miguel is loose in the Land of the Dead, with only a single day to find his way back home, the film picks up. After meeting relatives whose blessing he needs to return to the land of the living, but who will provide it only if the boy promises to give up his music, Miguel goes in search of his long lost great-great grandfather who he believes to be one of the greatest musicians of all time (Benjamin Bratt). Relying on the help of a dog and a skeleton named Hector (Gael García Bernal), Miguel begins his quest.

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The Blacklist – Ian Garvey

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  • Title: The Blacklist – Ian Garvey
  • wiki: link

The Blacklist - Ian Garvey television review

“Ian Garvey” ends the subplot of people playing hot potato with the mysterious suitcase, introduces a new player in Ian Garvey (Jonny Coyne), and ends with the (apparent) death of a major supporting character. The fall finale focuses on Tom‘s (Ryan Eggold) abduction as both Reddington (James Spader) and the FBI search separately for the man literally carrying a bag full of secrets. Tom will discover just why the bag of bones is so important, but that information is hidden from the audience allowing the mystery to continue. Given his death (again), we won’t be learning the secrets of the suitcase from Tom, but now that it is in the hands of one of Red’s enemies who plans on using it as leverage, I’d suspect we’ll learn the truth sooner or later.

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Escapes

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  • Title: Escapes
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Escapes movie review

Escapes in an unconventional look at the life and career of actor/screenwriter/director Hampton Fancher most famous for his screenplays for Blade Runner and its recent sequel Blade Runner 2049. Director Michael Almereyda‘s take on his subject, focusing on a few key stories inter-cut with various film and television clips, archival footage, comic book panels, and stills, meanders a bit at times but succeeds in its main goal of informing its audience about Fancher’s career and key moments and relationships in his life.

Jumping around a bit, opening with an extended sequence focused on Fancher’s days as a struggling actor during his relationship to Teri Garr, the film is very much conversational (albeit one way) in style allowing the man to share specific memories from his life. Those looking for an in-depth analysis of acting, screenwriting, or filmmaking are likely to be disappointed. However, those curious to learn more about the man who helped create one of the most famous science fiction films of the 20th Century will no doubt get their money’s worth.

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Murder on the Orient Express

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  • Title: Murder on the Orient Express
  • IMDb: link

Murder on the Orient Express movie review

2017’s Murder on the Orient Express isn’t the first adaptation of Agatha Christie’s work, nor is likely to be the last. Director Kenneth Branagh, who also stars as Christie’s famous detective Hercule Poirot, offers a stylish version of events featuring an all-star cast as mystery and murder unfold on the renown luxury passenger train which gets stuck in an avalanche with a murderer onboard. And, to make sure his performance won’t be forgotten, Branagh sports some of the most bizarre facial hair you’ll see on film (at least one not filed under Science Fiction).

The movie gets off to an interesting start by introducing us to Poirot solving an unrelated mystery which sufficiently showcases the detective’s considerable deductive ability to the audience. However, from this sequence up until the murder aboard the train, the film stalls a bit while getting Poirot aboard and introducing the variety of characters who will become his suspects over the remainder of the film. Once there’s a dead body and mystery to solve, the film picks up again, although the conclusion to Christie’s mystery doesn’t work quite as well on film as it may on the printed page.

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The Blacklist – The Kilgannon Corporation

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  • Title: The Blacklist – The Kilgannon Corporation
  • wiki: link

The Blacklist - The Kilgannon Corporation TV review

The fall of Raymond Reddington (James Spader) allowed others to swoop in and take over various aspects of his criminal network. “The Kilgannon Corporation” examines one piece of this as an Irishman with less care for his cargo runs into some very public trouble while attempting to smuggle people across international borders. Despite everyone’s distaste for human trafficking, Red makes a valid argument that someone will provide the service and if that criminal doesn’t take care in the lives of the refugees they are moving illegally there are going to be far more dead bodies. The choice to put Dembe (Hisham Tawfiq) in undercover heightens Red’s interest in the case, especially after the FBI looses him in transport. While a bit on the nose, the conversation between Red and Liz (Megan Boone) continues to better flesh-out the connection between the two men.

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