3 Razors

San Andreas

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: San Andreas
  • IMDb: link

San AndreasIt’s hard to make either a great or truly awful disaster movie. Even setting out to craft memorable disaster porn (unless it’s centered around a completely ridiculous premise like sending oil riggers into space) is a challenge. Bucking the trend of world-ending disaster films where characters are fighting asteroids, a new Ice Age, or the core of the Earth disrupting all life on the planet, San Andreas is a bit of a throwback focusing just on California, and, for the most part, San Fransisco. A more localized disaster doesn’t have the doomsday cache of something like 2012 but San Andreas turns out to be a far better film.

Our main characters are fire and rescue expert Ray (Dwayne “It’s Okay to Call Me The Rock Again” Johnson), his estranged wife Emma (Carla Gugino), and their college-age daughter Blake (Alexandra Daddario) who are separated when California begins experiencing a series of increasingly harsh earthquakes and spend the film working back to each other as, once again, a huge disaster seems to magically fix all relationship issues over two hours. Disaster couples counseling has been used so often in movies it has become its own cliche.

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The Mentalist – The Complete Seventh Season

/ / Home Video
  • Title: The Mentalist – Season 7
  • wiki: link

The Mentalist - The Complete Seventh SeasonWith Red John defeated, half of the cast having moved on to other projects, and consisting only 13 episodes collected on three discs, the final season of The Mentalist feels more like an epilogue than than a full season of the show. Along with the case of the week, the season will continue to deal with the now romantic relationship between Patrick Jane (Simon Baker) and Teresa Lisbon (Robin Tunney) culminating in the pair’s wedding in the series finale.

Emily Swallow doesn’t return but the series replaces her with Josie Loren as fresh-faced new Agent Michelle Vega who tragically won’t live to see the end of the season. Other highlights include Jane and Lisbon feeling out their relationship in the season premiere, Lisbon going undercover in jail, Lisbon temporarily taking on the role of fake psychic, and the much-anticipated return of Erica Flynn (Morena Baccarin). Extras include deleted scenes and a look back at Jane’s journey over the course of the series.

[Warner Home Video, $39.98]

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Battle Creek – Sympathy for the Devil

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Battle Creek – Sympathy for the Devil
  • IMDb: link

Battle Creek - Sympathy for the Devil

The series finale reveals the pivotal moment of Milt’s (Tad Hamilton) FBI career when a figure from his past hellbent on revenge shows up in Battle Creek. Still trying to hide his past from his new colleagues, Milt requests only Russ’ (Dean Winters) help in locating the man who blew up his car (with Milt inside). With Milt hiding the truth, there’s no immediate back-up when both he and Russ are kidnapped by the would-be killer who has a personal grudge to settle with the FBI agent.

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Daredevil – Rabbit in a Snowstorm

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Daredevil – Rabbit in a Snowstorm
  • wiki: link

Daredevil - Rabbit in a Snowstorm

Daredevil continues to develop the underworld of Hell’s Kitchen in another episode that touches on the unseen motives of a mysterious new player’s power grab. In terms of the season arc choices made here further basic plot points and character development in the increasing tension between Daredevil (Charlie Cox) and Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio), but it terms of logic for this episode “Rabbit in a Snowstorm” leaves more than a little to be desired as Wesley‘s (Toby Leonard Moore) recruitment of Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson) to defend a killer (Alex Morf) of their organization on self-defense charges doesn’t in any way help the Kingpin (who had already bought the jury), certainly doesn’t do any damage to the lawyers, don’t make the case look any more legit (because absolutely no one is paying attention to it), and only further reveals pieces of the mysterious adversary for Daredevil to eventually hunt down and hear the name “Wilson Fisk” for the first time.

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Convergence: Harley Quinn #2

/ / Comics

Convergence: Harley Quinn #2 (of 2)In the most bizarre Convergence tie-in issue yet Convergence: Harley Quinn #2 pits the pre-New version of the Joker’s sidekick against the leader of the Zoo Crew. That’s right, it’s Harley Quinn vs. Captain Carrot. And it’s kind of brilliant.

Sadly the rest of the Zoo Crew is marginalized to little more than cameos, and those unfamiliar with the pre-New 52 storyline centering around Harley’s attempt at a normal relationship may feel a bit lost with the issue’s B-story, but what Steve Pugh and artist Phil Winslade deliver here feels like a bizarre Warner Bros. cartoon with the homicidal Harley pulling out all the stops to take down a rascally rabbit (including lying to the hero about her super-powers, destroying most of an amusement park, and faking the death of a member of the Zoo Crew).

Convergence: Harley Quinn #2 teases a dangerosly dark New 52-ish twist, but thankfully Pugh and Winslade know their audience and allow the issue not to end on a dark note but with Harley and the Captain sharing a moment of camaraderie together that’s as strange as every other piece of this issue. Worth a look.

[DC, $3.99]

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