3 Razors

Jersey Boys

  • Title: Jersey Boys
  • IMDb: link

Jersey Boys

From the big musical numbers, to the characters stopping at times to directly address the audience and the staging of much of the action, Jersey Boys feels every bit the adapted stage jukebox musical which spawned it. Fans of The Four Seasons are likely to enjoy themselves, although 134-minutes of Frankie Valli‘s recreated high-pitched crooning in stereo surround started to wear on me before the credits rolled.

Choosing to go mostly without bigger names to sell the film, John Lloyd Young steps in to play the role of Valli which won him a Tony Award for his performance on Broadway. Vincent Piazza, Erich Bergen, and Michael Lomenda round out the group in this mostly by-the-numbers look at the rise and fall of the 60s group who produced a number of hits including “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” Walk Like A Man,” and “Rag Doll.”

A tale of a bunch of Jersey guys who made good, Jersey Boys is your typical modern musical which feels more like a greatest hits of Frankie Valli’s life and music than the true story behind the band.

Jersey Boys Read More »

Teen Titans Go! – Mr. Butt

  • Title: Teen Titans Go! – Mr. Butt
  • wiki: link

Teen Titans Go! - Mr. Butt

When Blackfire (Hynden Walch) makes a surprise visit to Titans Tower only Starfire (Walch) is happy to see the evil sister who has constantly broken her heart since they were children. Under the guise of getting closer, Blackfire makes up Starfire in her image and then allows the police looking for the escaped criminal to mistake Starfire for Blackfire and cart her off to prison.

Teen Titans Go! – Mr. Butt Read More »

22 Jump Street

  • Title: 22 Jump Street
  • IMDb: link

22 Jump StreetThe first film’s rebooting of the 80s television show with Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum as a pair of screw-up cops sent in undercover as high school students turned out to be a surprisingly self-aware dumb-fun action-comedy. Those who enjoyed 21 Jump Street and were left wanting more of the same should enjoy the sequel (which even the script by Michael Bacall, Oren Uziel, and Rodney Rothman admits, on multiple occasions, is basically the exact same story all over again).

Poking fun not only at the pair of cops attempting to pass themselves off as college freshman but also sequels in general this time around, 22 Jump Street sends officers Schmidt (Hill) and Jenko (Tatum) to college to track down a new designer drug WHYPHY. Offering the same friendship and fallout dynamic between partners as 21 Jump Street, the sequel also gives gives Schmidt a new love interest (Amber Stevens) while working Ice Cube into a slightly larger role this time around. It’s not a great film, and you’re certainly going to have to put your brain on hold, but it does provide plenty of dumb fun.

22 Jump Street Read More »

Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons

  • Title: Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons
  • IMDB: link

Journey to the West: Conquering the DemonsCo-writers and directors Stephen Chow and Chi-kin Kwok‘s comedic take on one of the four classic novels of Chinese literature stars Zhang Wen as would-be Buddhist demon hunter Tang Sanzang on his road to enlightenment. On the road he meets a far more experienced demon hunter (Qi Shu) who begins to fall for the goofy Sanzang.

Offbeat, humorous, and more than a little uneven, Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons is a bizarre horror-comedy with subplots ranging from a love story to Buddhist enlightenment to the intelligence of using fairy tales to fight monsters. Featuring battles involving pig-monsters and giant fish, the movie features an odd collection of characters in the Monkey King (Bo Huang) and rival bounty hunters with the strength and speed of a tiger (Yu Xing), a giant foot (Chaoli Zhang), and telekinetically-powered swords (Show Luo). More of it works than not, but at times it’s thoroughly engaging and at times it’s just plain weird.

Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons Read More »

The Shadow: Midnight in Moscow #1

The Shadow: Midnight in Moscow #1New Year’s Eve 1950 brings a new mystery for The Shadow in the first issue of Dynamite’s new six-issue mini-series from writer/artist Howard Chaykin. Returning to the character for the first time since DC’s ill-advised 80s mini-series, Chaykin delivers a story of Lamont Cranston in the later days of The Shadow’s career.

I’m a bigger fan of Chaykin’s writing than art and had some issues with the style of the female characters depicted, especially Margo Lane. On story, The Shadow: Midnight in Moscow #1 offers a beleaguered and weary Lamont Cranston a mystery involving an old enemy who impossibly survived The Shadow’s trap and the shrinking of gold ingots through some as-of-yet undisclosed technology.

Presenting a future where The Shadow’s work in New York has done little to stop the flow of crime, and even force Cranston to consider retirement, the first issue is a bit depressing while weaving into the blackmail of a London scientist who I’d expect we’ll see tied to the shrink-ray in the next issue. For fans.

[Dynamite Entertainment, $3.99]

The Shadow: Midnight in Moscow #1 Read More »