3.5 Razors

Appaloosa

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Appaloosa
  • IMDB: link

“Which is how, fifteen years ago, I got to be a peace officer and Virgil Cole’s deputy.  Which is why I was with him now, still carrying the eight-gauge, walking the horses down a long, shale-scattered slope toward Appaloosa.”

The town of Appaloosa is under the thumb of rancher Randall Bragg (Jeremy Irons), whose men take whatever they want.  After the marshal (Robert Jaregui) is killed by Bragg and his men the town council seeks outside help to solve their situation.

They enlist the help of two gun hands, Virgil Cole (Ed Harris) and his longtime sidekick Everitt Hitch (Viggo Mortensen) to clean up the town and take Bragg down.  Cole’s mission to deliver justice is made more difficult by the arrival of a complicated woman (Renne Zellweger) and Bragg’s connections in Washington.

Western lovers should enjoy this film which pays homage in style to many old favorites.  I was also impressed that much of the dialogue from Robert B. Parker‘s novel was kept in the film adding a unique voice both harsh and humorous to the proceedings.

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Flash Gordon #1 (of 6)

/ / Comics
  • Title: Flash Gordon #1 (of 6)
  • Comic Vine: link

“My name is Flash Gordon and I think I’m about to die.”

Recent attempts to revive Flash Gordon for the new millennium have been less than impressive (see the now defunct Sci-Fi Channel original series).  Now Flash is returning to the comic pages with a new series from Ardden Entertainment.

Written by Brendan Deneen with art by Paul Green this first issue reinvents the characters while also returning them to their roots.  Here Flash Gordon is a professor and adventurer, Hans Zarkoff is a mad scientist, and Dale Arden is a agent for the CIA.

Flash is approached by Dale and her gorilla-like partner who believe Hans Zarkoff is working on a Weapon of Mass Destruction.  The truth behind the circumstances is far more complex and Flash and Dale end up with Zarkov in his experimental space ship only to find themselves not in Kansas anymore as they travel through a portal to another world.

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Beauty and the Beast

/ / Home Video

How many shows can you name which center around lawyers, doctors, cowboys, explorers, families and space travelers?  Now how many prime time fairy tales do you remember from television?  Here’s one…

  • Title: Beauty and the Beast – The Complete First Season
  • tv.com: link

“We’re below the city, below the subways.  There is a whole world of tunnels and chambers that most people don’t even know exists.  There are no maps to where we are.  It’s a forgotten place.  But it’s warm and it’s safe, and we have all the room we need.  So we live here and we try to live as well as we can, and we try to take care of each other.”

After being attacked society girl Catherine Chandler (Linda Hamilton) is nursed back to health in the bowels of New York City by Vincent (Ron Perlman).  Here begins a fairy tale love story between a beautiful Assistant District Attorney and her protector, a beast with the soul of a poet.

This first season introduces us to the world of “down below” and the characters who will become staples of the series.  It also sets up Catherine’s world above with her boss Joe (Jay Acovone) and her on-again, off-again, suitor Elliot Burch (Edward Albert).  “Son of Orpheus” reveals Father’s (Roy Dotrice) past and his reasons for retreating from the world above and creating the underground society.  “An Impossible Silence” and “China Moon” are set in the distinct worlds of a deaf girl (Terrylene) and Chinatown.  “The Alchemist” introduces the recurring villain of Paracelsus (Tony Jay), and Vincent’s childhood friend returns in “Promises of Someday”.  The nature of the lovers relationship is put to the test in “A Happy Life”

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The Lucky Ones

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The Lucky Ones
  • IMDB: link

“Thank you.”
“No, thank you.”

The film, except for small cameo roles, is a three-man piece.  Two soldiers wounded in action (Rachel McAdams, Michael Peña) with 30-day furloughs and one (Tim Robbins) on his way home for good travel home on the same flight.

Do to circumstances beyond their control the threesome find themselves renting a mini-van and travelling west.

Cheever (Robbins) just wants to make it home to his wife (Molly Hagan) and son (Mark L. Young) in St. Louis.  T.K. (Peña) is on his way to Las Vegas in hopes of curing an unfortunate medical problem caused by his injury.  And Colee (McAdams) is traveling to Vegas to return a friend and fallen soldier’s guitar to his family.

Their journey across the country will lead to surprises and disappointments as the world they fought so hard to get back to has change and dreams they had for their futures turn to ash.

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Pushing Daisies

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Pushing Daisies – The Complete First Season
  • tv.com: link

“I was born into the life of windmillery.”

Ned (Lee Pace) is a pie maker.  He also has an unexplained ability to return all manner of dead things (people, vegetation, animals) back to life.  He can do this for 60 seconds at a time, any longer and something or someone else must die.  And if Ned ever touches a second time permanent death is the result.

Ned discovered these abilities, their limitations, and their consequences as a child living next door to Chuck (Anna Friel), his boyhood friend and first love.

Years later when Chuck is killed mysteriously over some ceramic monkeys Ned brings his childhood love back to life and invites her into his life much to the dismay of his private eye business partner (Chi McBride) and his friend and co-worker (Kristin Chenoweth).

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