3.5 Razors

Daredevil #2

/ / Comics

daredevil-2-coverIssue #2 of the latest relaunch of Daredevil certainly has its moments, most notably the fight between Captain America and Daredevil which kicks off the issue. While the fight itself, involving the pair switching weapons, is actually pretty cool, I’m with Daredevil in my confusion of how quickly the battle starts and ends. Some may say Cap is simply taking his grief over Bucky on Daredevil, but that doesn’t sound too much like Captain America (who, as America’s top cop, would by now have access to all of the Shadowland data proving Murdock wasn’t in control of his actions) to me.

The issue also includes a fun conversation between Foggy Nelson and Kirsten McDuffie and Daredevil trying to hunt down who is behind the railroading of Ahmed Jobrani. Sadly, I’m less impressed with the issue’s reveal of the first big bad of the series. I’ve never been a fan of Klaw. Sure, a “master of sound” makes for an intriguing villain for Daredevil, but I’ve always found him fairly ridiculous. The second issue isn’t without a misstep or two, but it does have its moments. Worth a look.

[Marvel, $3.99]

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Batman #713

/ / Comics

batman-713-coverAfter more than 70 years and 700 issues another one of DC Comics longest running monthly titles comes to an end. This final issue of Batman gives us a look back at Batman’s history through the narration of his adventures to a young audience. I won’t spoil who the narrator is, but there are plenty of clues if you watch for them.

Rather than a solo adventure, of some kind of final tip of the hat to Dick and Damian adventure as the Batman and Robin this issue focuses on putting the entire history of Batman to rest with an underlying story that actually plays out over the course of Batman’s history.

Some might find it a little schmaltzy, but I thought this story worked well as a Coda for the series and a nice send off for this version of Batman and Robin. I also enjoyed art recreating the various looks of Batman over the years and the outline of the big moments in Batman’s history. There’s also a nice splash page of the Bat-Family. It may not have been my first choice for the Caped Crusader’s final issue, but it’s a solid one. Worth a look.

[DC, $2.99]

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Limitless

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Limitless
  • IMDB: link

Based on the novel by Alan Glynn, Bradley Cooper stars as a struggling writer who takes an experimental drug allowing him to use a larger part of his brain and granting him enhanced intelligence and creativity. His world instantly expands as he writes his novel and begins to clean up on Wall Street by using his intellect to see patterns in numbers.

However, the drug doesn’t come without a cost. Aside from being a stolen commodity which several people are willing to kill for, NZT-48 causes blackouts and time lapses, and is highly addictive as the body becomes dependent on the drug.

Using his enhanced abilities Eddie attempts to make his fortune, use his abilities to help a corporate tycoon (Robert De Niro) with an important merger, win back his former love (Abbie Cornish), and stay ahead of those (Andrew Howard, Tomas Arana) willing to kill for the drug.

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Captain America #2

/ / Comics

captain-america-2-coverAlmost 70 years ago a team of special team of Allied Forces and the Hydra agents they were lost in a dream world when Captain America‘s team was infiltrated by spy. The young boy, Jimmy Jupiter, who had the power to open rifts into this dreamspace and transport people across worlds was knocked into a coma from which he has only now, decades later, finally awoken.

With the second issue of the newly rebooted series writer Ed Brubaker gives us a little more insight into the mission that went wrong as well as give us glimpses how the dreams of both Cap and Sharon Carter are being affected by Codename: Bravo and others lost in the dreamspace.

The issue is solid, and includes Cap beating down several Hydra soldiers, but only reveals part of the puzzle (and if I have a complaint it’s that the revelations feel more drawn out than necessary).

The final panel shows us things aren’t going to get easier for Cap anytime soon with the return of the Ameridroid and Bravo playing Casanova in Sharon’s dreams. Creepy! Worth a look.

[Marvel, $3.99]

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Fright Night

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Fright Night (2011)
  • IMDB: link

fright-night-posterWith one or two exceptions, I’m not usually one for vampire stories. Sure I have some fondness to cheesy flicks from my childhood such as Love at First Bite and Once Bitten, but for the most part vampire movies leave me cold. So when I find one I enjoy I’m pleasantly surprised.

An exception to my disinterest to the genre is Joss Whedon‘s TV-series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off Angel. It’s probably not a coincidence that I enjoyed Buffy writer Marti Noxon‘s fresh take on 1985’s Fright Night. I’ll also freely admit it doesn’t hurt that the movie co-stars Doctor Who‘s David Tennant.

The remake streamlines the plot of the original film and kicks into high gear much earlier as high school student Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin) discovers his new neighbor Jerry (Colin Farrell) is not only a vampire but responsible for the death of several of his classmates in the Las Vegas suburb including his missing friend Ed (Christopher Mintz-Plasse). (A fact that is revealed to the audience, Charlie, and his friends, much earlier than in the original).

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