3 Razors

Wu Assassins – Drunken Watermelon

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Wu Assassins – Drunken Watermelon
  • IMDb: link

Wu Assassins - Drunken Watermelon TV review

The opening episode of Netflix’s Wu Assassins offers an interesting premise, with some impressive fight sequences, even if the storytelling is bit less focused than one would hope. At the core of the story is a Chinese-Indonesian chef (Iko Uwais) whose sense of honor and justice gets him in hot water with the Chinese Triad. Luckily for Kai Jin, he’s granted the power to become a Wu Assassin (although he is hesitant to live up to the later-half of that title) and tasked with taking out the heads of five criminal families to the recover supernatural powers before they destroy the world.

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Dora and the Lost City of Gold

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Dora and the Lost City of Gold
  • IMDb: link

Dora and the Lost City of Gold movie reviewI wasn’t expecting too much from a live-action adaptation of Dora the Explorer, but I will admit that I was pleasantly surprised by what I found in Dora and the Lost City of Gold. Far from perfect, the film does have charm and enough brains to both celebrate and poke fun at the educational animated series which spawned it by having Dora (Isabela Moner) raised by her parents (Michael Peña and Eva Longoria) in the jungle helping to explain her quirks (such as talking to her backpack or making up songs about the most mundane things). Although ultimately not as successful, it’s tone and humor reminded me of 2007’s Nancy Drew.

In Moner the film’s producers chose wisely. She’s just sweet, honest, and precocious enough to make us buy this version of Dora who is forced to leave the jungle and stay with family while her parents go off on their latest adventure in search of a lost city. The film offers not one but two fish-out-of-water plots as happy-go-lucky Dora struggles in the city to fit in before she, her cousin Diego (Jeff Wahlberg), and two new friends (Madeleine Madden and Nicholas Coombe) are kidnapped back to the jungle by treasure hunters seeking the lost city.

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Kung Fu Panda – Blade of the Red Phoenix

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny – Blade of the Red Phoenix
  • wiki: link

Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny - Blade of the Red Phoenix television review

After opening with a sequence involving Po‘s (Mick Wingert) vision of two dragons battling, and a visit from Oogway (Piotr Michael), “Blade of the Red Phoenix” sends Po and his students back into the cave where the four young Pandas discovered their power in search of a scroll which may help unlock the secrets to their powers and which Jindiao (Steve Blum) covets to complete his plans. As with the earlier episodes of the series, “Blade of the Red Phoenix” showcases one character further unlocking his powers. Here it’s Fan Tong (Makana Say) who conjures a sword using chi of Red Phoenix to vanquish the demon sent by Jindiao to capture the scroll. The greater control of his powers also unlocks part of the scroll, foreshadowing all may be revealed when all four students are ready.

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Uncanny X-Men #22

/ / Comics

Uncanny X-Men #22 comic reviewThis version of Uncanny X-Men comes to a close with an odd issue the feels pressured to fit into larger events in the long-term scope of Marvel’s favorite mutants. Emma Frost‘s plan is revealed, which turns out to be fairly benign in making the world forget about mutants, a major supporting character is killed, and the X-Men and Hellfire Club come together to battle Robert Callahan and O.N.E.

The run of Cyclops, Wolverine, and some marginal other characters will likely only be remembered for bringing Scott Summers back to life and reincorporating him with the team. Speaking of the team, the rest of the A-List X-Men arrive suddenly to help out the mutants and offer the reunion some fans have been waiting decades for.

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Silver Surfer: Black #2

/ / Comics

Silver Surfer: Black #2 comic reviewThings get no less weird in the mini-series second issue. Lost in space and time, the Silver Surfer encounters Knull and the planet of the symbiotes. Those unfamiliar with the character may feel a bit lost here, but his motivations are rather straightforward. The ancient god is intent on removing all light from the universe and returning it the full black abyss from which he came.

Knull, the creator of the symbiotes, first attempts to use one to control the Surfer and turn him into a weapon against the universe. Having already been slave to one madman in his lifetime, the Surfer escapes (only to be chased by Knull riding a symbiote dragon – yeah, I told you this gets weird), and encounters a new ally calling to him across space.

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