3 Razors

The Blacklist – The Apothecary

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: The Blacklist – The Apothecary
  • wiki: link

The Blacklist - The Apothecary television review

The final episode before its hiatus, allowing its new spin-off to spread its wings, “The Apothecary” would be a more interesting episode if the solution to the entire episode wasn’t so obvious to everyone but Reddington (James Spader) and the FBI. Poisoned by a member of his inner-circle, with hazy memories of the night before, Red spends the entire episode stumbling around the city in search of his murderer before time runs out. Meanwhile, the FBI is sent after the Apothecary (Jamie Harrold) who invented the custom poison Red was doused with and alone knows the cure.

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Batman #17

/ / Comics

Batman #17 comic reviewFor one of the smartest people on the planet Batman is sometimes pretty damn dumb. The second chapter of “I Am Bane” begins with the Dark Knight Detective enlisting the help of Superman to keep his Bat-Family out of harms way while he attempts to deal with Bane alone. I guess taking the super-villain down as a team would have been too easy? With the Bat-kids off the books, Bane targets others close to Batman including Catwoman, Commissioner Gordon, and Duke Thomas. Maybe if Batman had help finding Bane they would be safe.

The issue also offers an odd scene of Gordon watching Batman let Catwoman go (to almost immeadiately be turned into a hostage). So… Batman cares enough to lock his foster kids up in the Fortress of Solitude but not enough to stop Catwoman from walking into the same danger? Kind of a dick move.

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Michael J. Fox 4-Movie Laugh Pack

/ / Home Video
  • Title: The Secret of My Succe$s, For Love or Money, The Hard Way, Greedy
  • IMDb: link
  • IMDb: link
  • IMDb: link
  • IMDb: link

Michael J. Fox 4-Movie Laugh PackThis two-disc set collects four comedies of Michael J. Fox. As a set it’s problematic given you only have one good film here, one okay movie, one not-so-great flick, and one pretty awful piece of garbage. However, at the cost of $10 you are only really paying for the good movie, so it turns out to be a bit of a wash.

Starting from worst to best, 1994’s Greedy is a dumpster fire of a film about a greedy family after an old man’s (Kirk Douglas) fortune. 1991’s The Hard Way is an ill-conceived, but not all-together worthless, buddy-cop comedy starring Fox as an actor partnered with a real detective (James Woods). 1993’s For Love or Money is a pretty standard romcom casting Fox as a concierge with dreams of owning his own hotel who falls for the mistress (Gabrielle Anwar) of the man who might be able to make his dream a reality. It’s a fun, if lightweight, film. The best of the set, however, is 1987’s The Secret of My Succe$s starring Fox as a mail-room clerk who begins to work double-duty as a company executive under an assumed name. Gloriously goofy, the entertaining film is responsible for firmly cementing my long-time crush on Helen Slater.

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Legion – Chapter 1

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Legion – Chapter 1
  • wiki: link

Legion - Chapter 1 television review

Imagine the most powerful person on the planet might be an escaped mental patient. Taking a far different tact to introduce us to mutant than any of the X-Men films (which were very quick to introduce and explain the abilities of each character), “Chapter 1” of Legion is more methodical as we witness David Haller (Dan Stevens) interviewed about recent events which led to the diagnosed schizophrenic leaving the mental institution. The episode slowly reveals to us, and eventually David, that the government agents are lying to him and know and understand more about David than he does himself. In the scenes of the institution we meet David’s best friend Lenny (Aubrey Plaza) and his girlfriend Syd (Rachel Keller), both of whom it appears will continue to play important roles for him outside of the institution.

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John Wick: Chapter 2

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: John Wick: Chapter 2
  • IMDb: link

John Wick 2 movie review2014’s John Wick was a thoroughly-enjoyable throwaway action flick. A simplistic revenge story with style and some unforgettable stunts, director Chad Stahelski‘s film knew exactly what it was and just how to deliver. A callback to 80s-style of gun-toting heroes who shot first and asked questions later, the movie ignored modern trends of cutting action scenes into an unrecognizable mess and kept the camera still to allow us to see the awesome unfold on screen. Stunts we could actually watch and enjoy, imagine that.

The sequel is a little more muddled than the original. After the pre-credit sequence wraps up the lone outstanding piece of John Wick’s revenge murder spree, the film slogs through a good 15-20 minutes of exposition, world building, and over-convoluted plot before remembering what it is and why it exists. Once the action ramps back up the film runs full blast to the closing credits, and perhaps beyond. John Wick: Chapter 2 ramps up the headshots and body count to an absurd degree with a handful of memorable kills that even put those from the first film to shame. At its best, it’s running 180 MPH with its burning rubber on fire, but when it idles the vehicle nearly stalls. Okay, no more car metaphors.

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