3.5 Razors

Swing Vote

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Swing Vote
  • IMDB: link

“You’re ruining America!”

When the outcome of the Presidential election comes down to one uncounted ballot in New Mexico the entire country’s attention becomes focused on Earnest “Bud” Johnson (Kevin Costner) an unemployed single father from a small town called Texaco.

Both campaigns, along with news media from around the country land in Texaco to court this doofus who, in ten days time, will decide the fate of the election.

The film is many things, part parody and part cautionary tale.  At the heart of the film is the relationship between Bud and his much smarter daughter Molly Johnson (young Madeline Carroll, who steals the film in her first performance on screen).  There’s also a subplot about the secret of Bud’s ballot which, although sets up the story, is a bit burdensome to the plot.

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Absolute Batman – The Long Halloween

/ / Comics, Theme Week
  • Title: Absolute Batman – The Long Halloween
  • Comic Vine: link

“The promise I made to my parents, the promise to rid this city of the evil that took their lies, may finally be within reach.”

“I believe in Harvey Dent.”

This being Halloween I though it would be a good opportunity to take a look at the Dark Knight Detective’s holiday themed adventure, Batman: The Long Halloween.  The Absolute Edition comes in an oversized volume complete with slipcase and extras.

The thirteen-issue maxi-series from Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale is collected in this handsome Absolute Edition oversized hardcover complete with an introduction from Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer discussing the influence the series had on Batman Begins, the transcript of Richard Starkings interview with Loeb and Sale, the original proposal for the project, and a look at cover art, sketches, and the toys inspired from the tale.  All in all a nice collection bundled together in a handsome package.

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Ain’t Violence Grand?

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Wanted
  • IMDb: link

“Your father died yesterday on the rooftop of the Metropolitan Building.  He was one of the greatest assassins who ever lived, and the other one is behind you.”

Stuck in a dead-end job with a girlfriend (Kristen Hager) who’s cheating on him with his best friend (Chris Pratt), a ball-busting boss (Lorna Scott), and a general sense of utter futility, Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy) is not just having a bad year, but a bad life.

All this changes when he’s approached by a beautiful woman called the Fox (Angelina Jolie) who informs him his father, the greatest assassin to ever live, has just been killed and the man responsible (Thomas Kretschmann) is now gunning for him.  Wesley finds himself thrown into a world he never imagined.

The Fraternity of Assassins led by Sloan (Morgan Freeman) shows Wesley he has the special talent and abilities of his father which make him a perfect candidate for the Fraternity.

Choosing to give-up his old life Wesley jumps into the training which basically entails him getting the ever-living-snot beat out of him over and over again.  He trains to become the world’s best assassin able to bend bullets fired from his gun and kill from even miles away.

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Son of Rambow

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Son of Rambow
  • IMDB: link

““I am the son of Rambo!””

Son of Rambow is a nice little independent film, quirky and with a good heart.  It’s main problem is it’s not sure just who its audience is.  My main problem is I’m not sure either.  Still, indie film fans should check out the local art houses to see if it’s playing in a theater near you.

The film is built around the meeting and unlikely friendship between the school’s trouble child Lee Carter (Will Poulter) and outsider Will Proudfoot (Bill Milner), a member of the strict religous sect, the Plymouth Brethren.

Although an unlikely pair, the two are brought together by the Lee Carter’s bootleg tape of First Blood which inspires the two to create an entry in a local filmmaking contest for Screen Test featuring the adventures of the son of the famous Rambo.

The story, and the friendship of the pair, is complicated by their vastly different lives and the arrival of a instantly popular foreign exchange student (Jules Sitruk) who brings his own ideas, and his large following, onto the project.

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The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones, Vol. 2

/ / Home Video
  • Title: The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones Vol. 2
  • tv.com: link

young-indiana-jones-vol-twoVolume Two takes young Indiana Jones (Sean Patrick Flanery) into the ranks of the Belgium Army.  He enlists under the name Henri Defense (because he is underage at the time of his enlistment), and joins the war effort to do his part.

The adventures this time around begin with Indy’s role on the front lines in the trenches with his friend Remy (Ronny Coutteure).  Over the course of this volume he will fight on the front lines both on the Western Front and in Africa, work as a runner for the French, escape from a German P.O.W. camp with the help of Charles De Gaulle (Herve Pauchon), be drafted into a suicide mission by a company of old soldiers, and spend a stint as a photographer with the famous flyboys of the Lafayette Escadrille which will bring him face-to-face with the Red Baron (Marc Warren).

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The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones, Vol. 2 Read More »