3 Razors

Take Two – Taken

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Take Two – Taken
  • wiki: link

Take Two - Taken television review

Sam (Rachel Bilson) and Eddie’s (Eddie Cibrian) vastly different histories with a night club owner create conflict when they accept the case to find the club’s missing DJ (who turns out to be the mobster’s illegitimate son). The case includes your usual amount of twist and turns, giving mystery a very Castle-esque feel (even if the dialogue and character interactions fail to measure up), before the pair recover the missing DJ and uncover the identity and motive of the kidnapper. The episode also offers more interaction between the assistants as Berto (Xavier de Guzman) and Monica (Alice Lee) try unsuccessfully to pump each other for information about their bosses’ secrets. I think there’s something worth tapping here, but it’s still a bit unclear just big a part of the show these two will be. There’s also some team building between the partners and Bilson in a ridiculous pizza costume in a subplot that would only make sense pre-Internet.

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Captain America #1

/ / Comics

Captain America #1 comic reviewIf my math is right, this is the eighth relaunch of a Captain America title in the last 10 years. The latest finds a country broken and divided thanks to Hydra’s recent takeover. It’s not spelled out here exactly how Steve Rogers isn’t responsible for being a Hydra agent, etc. (but, as no evidence is presented to the contrary, I’m just going to assume that some Web-Head made another deal with Mephisto). While setting up a new threat in Russia, most of the comic deals with Captain America and the Winter Soldier fighting the tail end of a battle in Washington D.C. by taking down some shitty wannabes idolizing an evil shittier original character.

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Luke Cage – Soul Brother #1

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Marvel’s Luke Cage – Soul Brother #1
  • wiki: link

Luke Cage - Soul Brother #1 television review

You know, it would be easier to take Luke Cage seriously if the all the villains on the show didn’t appear to have been transplanted from a Steven Seagal movie. A bad Steven Seagal movie. Since we last saw Luke Cage (Mike Colter) his celebrity around Harlem has only grown stronger (his appearances are even the subject of a new phone app). Of course there are still threats, such as a new street drug being sold under his name and Shades (Theo Rossi) and Mariah (Alfre Woodard) are still around with a score to settle and plans to sell off their business and go legit. Misty (Simone Missick) is still around as well. Despite her handicap, she decides to return to the job.

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Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay
  • IMDb: link

Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay DVD reviewObviously inspired by the “Unhinged” story arc from Gail Simone‘s Secret Six, Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay offers us the Suicide Squad after a mystical artifact in a grunge house style animated straight-to-video movie. Lacking the broader personalities of the Secret Six, the film does offer appearances of half their number with Deadshot (Christian Slater) working for the Suicide Squad and both Scandal Savage (Dania Ramirez) and Knockout (Cissy Jones) working for a competing interest that wants a mystical Get Out of Hell Free Card which will offer one lucky villain a trip to Heaven.

Opening with an unrelated mission featuring team members turning on each other, strippers, and a bloody body count, the tone for the film is set early on. Vandal Savage (Jim Pirri) and the Reverse-Flash (C. Thomas Howell) both seems an odd choices to be interested in the card, and I’m guessing they were used more as villains of convenience (which ties in the previous films and also allowed for Scandal’s inclusion). Taking it on its own, it works as a sleazy B-movie. But comparing it to Simone’s original tale, it’s hard not to be disappointed.

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Preacher – Angelville

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Preacher – Angelville
  • wiki: link

Preacher - Angelville television review

Jesse Custer (Dominic Cooper) returns home in a season premiere that doesn’t feature, or even mention Genesis (and what Jesse can do with it). Instead “Angelville” is mainly concerned with Jesse’s return home, the introduction of his witchy grandmother (Betty Buckley) and creepy extended family, and the resurrection of his girlfriend. Even from the limited flashbacks we get here, and Jesse’s current interactions with his family, it’s obvious he had good reason to leave Angelville. There will be a cost for Tulip‘s (Ruth Negga) life, but just what might that be (and can Jesse find a way to weasel out of it)? It’s a creepy and stylish season opener that spends the entire episode on a single plot point (raising my concerns once again about the show dragging out storylines more than necessary). Suggesting that Jesse and company may be forced to stay in Angelville for more episodes leaves me a bit cold as well since the last season began to stall once the road trip halted for too long in New Orleans.

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