3 Razors

Batman & the Outsiders #10

/ / Comics

Batman & the Outsiders #10 comic reviewWith Bruce Wayne reaching out to resources in attempts to discover what Ra’s al Ghul‘s endgame might be, and how it is related to both Kaliber and a Markovian scientist, the team he put together is in shambles. Black Lightning is now working with Lady Shiva who believes she can trade on this relationship and get closer to her daughter by helping the grieving hero in his search for revenge.

Ten issues in, Batman & the Outsiders continues to play the long game and tease the reader with breadcrumbs. Issue #10 does nothing to buck that trend as Bryan Edward Hill is taking the idea of “slow-play” to the limit.

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Hunters – In the Belly of the Whale

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Hunters – In the Belly of the Whale
  • IMDb: link

Hunters - In the Belly of the Whale TV review

The first episode of Amazon’s Hunters starts off with an exciting scene involving a party guest discovering that her host (Dylan Baker) in a Nazi. After that, “In the Belly of the Whale” gets a bit bogged down in introducing us to young American Jew, and part-time drug dealer, Jonah Heidelbaum (Logan Lerman). Before diving back into the Nazi storyline, the show spends time with Logan and his nerdy friends and sees him getting beaten up by the poster boy for cliched bullies. The murder of Jonah’s grandmother, however, proves to be the catalyst to put both Jonah and the episode back on track as it introduces Jonah to his grandmother’s friend Meyer Offerman (Al Pacino). That meeting, and Logan uncovering some documents in his grandmother’s things, leads Logan to discover three decades after loosing World War II, Nazis have taken root in America. Offerman and his friends are a small independent group dedicated to finding and rooting out the Nazis.

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The Call of the Wild

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The Call of the Wild
  • IMDb: link

The Call of the Wild movie reviewThe Call of the Wild, adapted from the Jack London novel of the same name, follows the journey of a St. Bernard/Scotch Collie named Buck who ends up in the Yukon as a sled dog after being stolen from his owner (Bradley Whitford) and sold north. The CGI-enhanced mutt is the main character of the film, while making friends (Harrison Ford, Omar Sy, Cara Gee) and enemies (Dan Stevens) along the way with both men and dogs. CGI is used on Buck to enhance the pooch’s emotions. The effect works in most cases, but there are scenes where it does feel a little disturbing.

Adapted by screenwriter Michael Green (Blade Runner 2049, Green Lantern), the straightforward tale of a heroic dog offers an earnest family-friendly film. I will admit I found both Buck and his journey more enjoyable than I expected. Buck is easy to root while the rest of the film’s characters are mostly cast in simple terms as good, evil, or indifferent. Released by the rebranded 20th Century Studios (renamed after Disney acquired Fox), the movie will no doubt play for years on Disney+ making a suitable companion piece to something like Eight Below or any one of the various Benji films.

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Doctor Who – The Haunting of Villa Diodati

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Doctor Who – The Haunting of Villa Diodati
  • wiki: link

Doctor Who - The Haunting of Villa Diodati television review

In the final episode prior to the two-part finale, Doctor Who offers up a horror story featuring a haunted house Mary Shelley (Lili Miller), Byron (Jacob Collins-Levy), and maybe the least-frightening Cyberman ever seen on-screen. The episode makes use of several common Doctor Who tropes including loops, mazes, odd ghost-like apparitions that turn out to be anything but, and historical figures not being at all what the companions expected. The episode starts off with some fun bits of horror (the crawling skeleton hand and glimpses of shadowy apparitions), but the reveal of the Cyberman and the explanation of the Cyberium is, at best, a mixed success (especially given it is supposed to kick-off the final two episodes of the year). For better or worse, it looks like Cybermen are on the menu for the finale (although there’s still that pesky “Timeless Child” paradox to deal with as well).

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Hellmouth #5

/ / Comics

Hellmouth #5 comic reviewThe big finale of the first Buffy & Angel crossover of the rebooted universe is (like much of the crossover) a bit underwhelming with specific panels and moments that never-the-less stick out. In the conclusion, Buffy goes toe-to-toe with the Hellmother who is gathering her forces to rise out of the Hellmouth and invade the Earth (while sadly lacking any of the style of the Master).

In terms of the moments that shine, the sudden appearance of Buffy’s posse, including Kendra and a giddy Camazotz who is finally able to help the Slayer, provides some of the best panels of the issue. I am curious to see the comic develop Kendra (who I hope will get a little more time as a Slayer than the original). I’m also curious to see where the foreshadowing of Anya‘s words with Giles ultimately lead.

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