3.5 Razors

The Jungle Book

/ / Home Video
  • Title: The Jungle Book
  • IMDb: link

The Jungle BookOriginally released in 1967 The Jungle Book may not have aged as well as some of the older Disney films, but the spirit and legacy of the film has lived on through countless films from Disney (and other animation houses) over the years. Several current filmmakers, including Brad Bird (The Incredibles, The Iron Giant, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol), credit the movie for getting them interested in animated filmmaking.

Re-released in 1978, I fond have memories of seeing the film in theaters, especially the musical sequence of “The Bare Necessities” sung by Mowgli (Bruce Reitherman) and Baloo (Phil Harris). It’s hard not to see the film’s influence in movies such as Robin Hood (which reused multiple character designs) and others years later particularly in The Lion King with its own animal jungle sidekicks singing a very similar philosophy about life.

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Midnight Special

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Midnight Special
  • IMDb: link

Midnight SpecialWriter/director Jeff Nichols‘ latest is an unusual movie more likely to appeal to sci-fi nerds than the general public. Midnight Special is a good science fiction movie with two major flaws which keep it from becoming the great science fiction movie that starts out with so much promise during its first half-hour.

Without preamble or set-up, we’re thrown into the middle of the action involving the abduction of a young boy named Alton Meyer (Jaeden Lieberher) from a religious cult by Alton’s biological father Roy (Michael Shannon) and Roy’s childhood friend Lucas (Joel Edgerton). It doesn’t take long us to suspect that Alton is no ordinary boy and why the cult, the United States Government, and Roy all have very different plans for Alton and his unique gifts.

A common problem in films like this is when they remind the audience of better films from which they borrow story elements. And Midnight Special borrows heavily. Although not in their class, Midnight Special will remind you of movies such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Starman, and countless others.

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Arrow – Eleven-Fifty-Nine

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Arrow – Eleven-Fifty-Nine
  • wiki: link

Arrow - Eleven-Fifty-Nine

The latest episode of Arrow answers one big question while raising several others. More than once during “Eleven-Fifty-Nine” I wondered if I had missed an episode somewhere. Yes, I remember the team letting Andy Diggle (Eugene Byrd) out of his cage and deciding to trust him but when did he become a trusted field agent of Team Arrow? And weren’t we just seeing Malcolm Merlyn (John Barrowman) mock Damien Darhk (Neal McDonough) and telling the would-be conqueror that H.I.V.E. was leaving him in prison and moving on with their plans without him? Why, all of the sudden does Malcolm want to help Darhk? And, as for the Diggle storyline, is there anyone anywhere that didn’t see how blatantly obvious his betrayal would play out?

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Legends of Tomorrow – Left Behind

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Legends of Tomorrow – Left Behind
  • wiki: link

Legends of Tomorrow - Left Behind

Picking up immediately after the events of the previous episode, “Left Behind” opens with Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh), Kendra (Ciara Renée), and Sara (Caity Lotz) marooned in 1958. After waiting for the ship and then attempting to create a time beacon to call their friends back, eventually the threesome must give up hope of rescue and carve out new lives for themselves in the past. For Sara this means returning to the League of Assassins decades before her birth. For Ray and Kendra it means settling in to a life together.

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Arrow – Beacon of Hope

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Arrow – Beacon of Hope
  • wiki: link

Arrow - Beacon of Hope

Brie Larvan (Emily Kinney), the crazy scientist with a swarm of robotic bees, crosses over from The Flash in order to steal a valuable piece of technology from Palmer Technologies. Holding the entire building hostage, Larvan hopes to force Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) to turn over herself and the experimental technology that allowed to regain the use of her legs. Locked out of her computer network and trapped in her office with her mother (Charlotte Ross) Thea (Willa Holland), Felicity and her friends will need help to make it out alive.

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