3 Razors

Avengers: Age of Ultron

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Avengers: Age of Ultron
  • IMDb: link

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Despite the build-up to an Infinity War Avengers film, Marvel Studio threw everyone for a loop when they announced fascist robot Ultron (James Spader) would be the villain of The Avengers sequel. Unlike 2012’s The Avengers which was the culmination and payoff for the entirety of Marvel’s Phase One films (everything from Iron Man to Captain America: The First Avenger), Avengers: Age of Ultron suffers from some of the same problems that weighed down Iron Man 2.

Not only does the film have to introduce a brand-new villain (something The Avengers didn’t have to spend time on) and three new supporting characters (with vastly different origins than their comic counterparts), and weave in ongoing events from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. while providing separate in-depth character moments for every single Avenger, Age of Ultron also has to lay the groundwork for the next two Avengers films, Captain America: Civil War, and Thor: Ragnarok. While also throwing in supporting characters from pretty much every Marvel film so far it’s something of a marvel, if you’ll forgive the pun, that Avengers: Age of Ultron doesn’t buckle under its own considerable weight.

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Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – Melinda

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – Melinda
  • wiki: link

“When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.”

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - Melinda

Let’s get this out of the way first, “Melinda” is a great episode for actress Ming-Na Wen but not for her character Melinda May. For two years the show has teased us about the legendary status of Coulson‘s (Clark Gregg) most bad-ass agent. And, even when the writing has struggled, May has continued to be one of the best parts of the show. Not learning the lesson of X-Men Origins: Wolverine (or the famous quote from The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance), the latest episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. chooses to show us not only how May earned the nickname The Cavalry but how her career and personal life both took a nosedive after a single traumatic event.

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Battle Creek – Mama’s Boy

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Battle Creek – Mama’s Boy
  • IMDb: link

Battle Creek - Mama's Boy

Candice Bergen guest-stars on the latest episode of Battle Creek as Russ’ (Dean Winters) convict mother who is temporarily released from prison into the custody of Russ and Milt (Tad Hamilton) to help solve a murder tied to the world of counterfeiting which the woman knows all too well. Of course the fact that Russ can’t trust a word the woman says, including her unwillingness to admit to having $1,000,000 in cash conned from a murderer with ties to organized crime, makes solving the case harder than usual.

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Woman in Gold

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Woman in Gold
  • IMDb: link

Woman in GoldDirector Simon Curtis‘ Woman in Gold is an odd film not good enough for awards consideration but also choosing not to become an action-suspense film about stolen Nazi art. Much more a straightforward drama, I’d compare it to 1998’s A Civil Action, a more engaging film with a similar arc of a lawyer whose money-first philosophy is changed by taking on an emotional case he can’t possibly win.

Based on the true story of Maria Altmann‘s (Helen Mirren) attempts to regain possession of her family’s lost masterpiece from the Austrian government, Woman in Gold is a slow-moving drama starring Ryan Reynolds as the lawyer hired by Maria to take on a foreign government. Reynolds and Mirren work well together as the unlikely pair to take on Austria (even if Reynolds casting seems like an odd choice). Well-acted and shot against the backdrops of Vienna and southern California, the story is intriguing if never fully engaging. Despite its cast (which also includes Katie Holmes, Tatiana Maslany, Elizabeth McGovern, and Jonathan Pryce) Woman in Gold is a good film that never fully lives up to the promise it offers flashes of early on.

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Guardians Team-Up #4

/ / Comics

Guardians Team-Up #4The latest issue of Guardians Team-Up pairs Gamora and She-Hulk together when Thanos‘ daughter ends up on Earth hunted by an army of Chitauri. While She-Hulk is mistaken by the aliens as their prey Gamora is mistaken for local police for New York’s favorite green-skinned lawyer/super-hero.

I wouldn’t call Guardians Team-Up disappointing exactly but with the wide range of possible team-ups the Marvel Universe offers the comic hasn’t exactly lived up to its premise. Although I had a mixed reaction to Otto Schmidt’s artwork, the pairing of Gamora and She-Hulk is the first issue of the series to really capture the madcap fun such a title can be used for.

I could have done without the flashbacks to Gamora’s childhood with her father which feel a bit unnecessary, and take pages away from the damage the two women can inflict on an entire spaceship of baddies (especially after they start dressing alike). And at $4 a pop the comic still feels a bit overpriced for what its offering. Worth a look.

[Marvel, $3.99]

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