3 Razors

Teen Spirit

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Teen Spirit
  • IMDb: link

Teen Spirit movie posterWith Teen Spirit writer/director Max Minghella offers an indie feel to a well-mined Hollywood tale of burgeoning stardom. Elle Fanning stars as a teenager on the Isle of Wight who, despite her mother’s (Agnieszka Grochowska) disapproval, signs up for open auditions for a reality-TV series offering a record contract to the winner of the singing competition. Needing an adult to act as her guardian, and later manager, Violet taps the the old drunk Russian (Zlatko Buric) who enjoys her karaoke at the local dive bar. And, of course, it doesn’t hurt when the film reveals that Vlad was once a well-respected opera singer.

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The Aftermath

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The Aftermath
  • IMDb: link

The Aftermath movie review

Set in post-WWII Germany where Allied Forces are attempting to restore order, The Aftermath is half a good movie punctuated by the performance of Keira Knightley as a military wife who is uprooted from London to Hamburg where her husband (Jason Clarke) is stationed. While many Germans are homeless and sheltered into camps, the Morgans find themselves housed in the lush estate of a German architect (Alexander Skarsgård) who moves into the attic with his teenage daughter (Flora Thiemann).

As a period drama much of The Aftermath works well. There’s an interesting story to tell here about the role of the winners asserting control over the locals, hunting out Nazi sympathizers, and working to try and help rebuild the broken city. Sadly, much of the story instead is focused on the couple’s troubled marriage and her growing involvement with their host. The film was adapted from Rhidian Brook‘s novel of the same name. I wonder if the affair comes off as tawdry on the printed page. That’s not to say this storyline doesn’t offer moments, such as a terrific scene involving Knightley breaking down while discussing the loss of their child during the war.

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Green Lantern #6

/ / Comics

Green Lantern #6 comic reviewHal Jordan‘s undercover operation to infiltrate the Darkstars comes to an end, although what happens to the universe’s greatest Green Lantern is something that is left unexplained. Opening with an old fashioned duel between Hal and Adam Strange, the Darkstar recruit manages to fake Strange’s death (in the kind of old school hero misdirection that is never adequately explained) and earn himself an audience with his new team’s Controller Mu.

Here we discover that Hal’s entire mission was a colossal waste of time as Mu easily saw through Hal’s purpose for joining the team. However, his arrival at this time and place does alert the Guardians of the Universe to the threat of a U-Bomb which could wreak devastation across the universe. Ordered to destroy the device at all cost, Green Lantern goes to work.

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Bumblebee

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Bumblebee
  • IMDb: link

Bumblebee movie reviewLook at that, a Transformers movie that doesn’t completely suck. While throwing caution to the wind and creating plenty of continuity errors with the current Transformers movie franchise, Bumblebee is a mix of old school Transformers and the suckage known as the Michael Bay films that forces a human story into the center of each film. Easily the best of the franchise, that’s still not saying all that much. Still, for what it is, Bumblebee provides some fun.

Opening on Cybertron, the story shoehorns in several fan-favorite cameos, while explaining Bumblebee‘s arrival on Earth and the loss of his voice. Taking place before the events of the first Bay Transformers movie, Bumblebee is centered around a tomboy named Charlie (Hailee Steinfeld) who discovers her clunker of a VW Bug is actually a robot from space. Sent to Earth to prepare it for the Autobots arrival (something he actually doesn’t do), Bumblebee is followed by Decepticons searching for Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) and the rest of the Autobots. The film also throws in John Cena as a soldier in a secret government organization conned by the Decepticons into locating their prey.

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Uncanny X-Men #15

/ / Comics

Uncanny X-Men #15 comic reviewUncanny X-Men #15 is most notable for a single change to one of the brand’s oldest characters, but we’ll get to that in a second. The comic also features an impromptu pow-wow between Cyclops and Captain America when the Avenger offers his off-the-books help in dealing with the prisoners Scott Summers’ rag-tag band of X-Men has been accumulating. The comic also shows us just what the Dark Beast has been up to while the X-Men have had their focus elsewhere. And… yes, there’s Hope shooting her grandfather in the head (and Logan shish-kabobing the young woman).

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