3 Razors

Elektra: Black, White & Blood #1

Elektra becomes the latest comic character to get her own black-and-white mini-series featuring separate tales of the comic character, and, like both Red Sonja and Deadpool, hers will have a splash of red.

My favorite of the three tales, mainly for the art by Mark Bagley, “Red Dawn” offers a tale of Elektra left for dead and turned by vampires but still with enough strength to fight back against the urge to become one of them.

In “Not the Devil” Elektra hunts down and kills minions of the Kingpin from the shadows but momentarily hesitates after hearing the pleas of a young girl. And in the final story, “The Crimson Path” offers a more metaphysical tale of Elektra and her fight against evil and monsters which leave their mark on her.

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The Tender Bar

  • Title: The Tender Bar
  • IMDb: link

Adapted from the memoir of J. R. Moehringer, The Tender Bar is a comfortable warm sweater wrapping up the childhood and college life of JR (played by Tye Sheridan and Daniel Ranieri) and his colorful family, most notably his Uncle Charlie (Ben Affleck) in whose bar he learned as much about life as four years at Yale.

Directed by George Clooney, The Tender Bar isn’t great drama, nor outrageous comedy, but it’s a light and breezy look at a young man’s life who would be raised by his mother (Lily Rabe), in the often-overflowing home of his grandfather (Christopher Lloyd), and his uncle who would instill in him a love of books leading to his eventual profession. With solid performances and some witty narration by Ron Livingston as an older, and perhaps wiser, version of JR, The Tender Bar doesn’t ask much of the audience other than to enjoy a good story.

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The Nowhere Inn

  • Title: The Nowhere Inn
  • IMDb: link

The Nowhere Inn has one of my favorite opening scenes of the year as American musician Annie “St. Vincent” Clark, playing herself, is being driven by a confused limousine driver (Ezra Buzzington) with no idea who his latest passenger is, or why she’s famous, only to stop in the middle of a desolate highway and disappear. Seeds of the larger themes of the film are planted here, even if it never reaches the same heights.

The film’s plot involves Annie hiring her friend Carrie, also playing herself, to make a documentary about the band which the pair hope will help both of them reach wider audiences. What Carrie soon discovers, however, is life on the road isn’t all that interesting off-stage for the band. Carrie’s attempts to find an interesting hook for the story and Annie drastically changing her behavior slowly devolve into a situation where neither Carrie nor Annie can differentiate what is actually real.

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NCIS: Hawai’i – Lost

  • Title: NCIS: Hawai’i – Lost
  • wiki: link

While the team searches for military ordinance smuggled onto the island in a cargo container, Tennant (Vanessa Lachey) struggles with a personal decision after discovering an issue involving the father of one of her son’s friends. The search for the missing guns brings back Sharif Atkins as Boom-Boom and offers a few twists and turns including an even more valuable item hidden in the cargo container that was worth a thief cutting off two of his own fingers to avoid suspicion.

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Devil’s Reign #2

Devil’s Reign continues with the heroes on the run (and others already in prison), Spider-Man being lured into a trap at The Daily Bugle to get the crap kicked out of him by Taskmaster, and the Kingpin making threats against Elektra. While Dr. Octopus engineers a way for the Mayor of New York to make use of the Purple Man to win the election, the heroes throw a swerve and decide it’s Luke Cage (instead of Tony Stark) who should run against him for control of the city.

This is your typical middle issue to a series laying foundation for conflict around the corner, suggesting Otto has his own plans for the technology offered him by the Baxter Building, and giving one hero a brutal ass-kicking. While Spidey is out, I don’t see Beyond or other heroes leaving him out to dry (as his identity would likely compromise others). So, who might show up for a save?

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