3 Razors

Red Hood and the Outlaws #18

/ / Comics

Red Hood and the Outlaws #18After last month’s cliffhanger, Jason Todd struggles through a dream state after putting on the Red Hood mash which the the Joker lined with acid as his final joke on the Bat-Family.

It’s an odd issue with Alfred and Bruce Wayne at Jason’s bedside, whose conscious of them but trapped in a nightmare concerning his past mistakes, the Joker, and Ducra the former head of the All Caste who comes with a message concerning Jason’s failure to move on from the horrors of his past and a warning about what may happen to those he loves if he continues on his current path.

We’re told there will be no lasting physical damage from the Joker’s trap and it seems Todd’s mental state isn’t impaired either, so the entire episode feels a little pointless unless the goal is to use this experience to transform the Red Hood from anti-hero to hero and bring Jason back into the Bat-Family. One further note, Red Hood and the Outlaws #18 also brings Jason and Bruce a little closer (possibly foreshadowing his return as Robin?). For fans.

[DC, $2.99]

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Sledgehammer 44 #1

/ / Comics

Sledgehammer 44 #1There’s something very Atomic Robo-ish about this first issue from Mike Mignola and Jason LaTour featuring a battle between men of iron in the middle of WWII (and I mean that as a compliment). Although less wacky than what you’d get from Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegener, this first issue of a two-issue limited series about a man of iron who falls from the sky and the Army unit ordered to look after him is a pretty good read.

Although the art doesn’t quite explain the electric attack our metal hero uses on the Nazi troops and their robot of destruction, I really enjoyed LaTour’s designs. The mysterious man or robot in question, however, isn’t the focus of the issue as much as the unit he saves and who is tasked with keeping him out of the reach of the Nazis when his energy is spent.

I know Dark Horse, and Magnola in particular, like these two and three-issue mini-series, but I’m not sure the comic publisher might not have been better off teasing this and then releasing the whole story in a single old school double-sized issue to complete the nostalgic feel of the comic. For fans.

[Dark Horse, $3.50]

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Transformers: Regeneration One #89

/ / Comics

Transformers: Regeneration One #89Shockwave and Grimlock in the same comic (and Shockwave even gets the cover)! Yeah, I’ll give that a look. IDW’s Transformers: Regeneration One #89 continues the storyline from the original Marvel Comics series which ended in 1991. In the latest issue, which takes place mostly on Cybertron, Grimlock faces the wrath of his fellow Dinobots for betraying them to Scorponok.

As Grimlock tries to talk and/or beat some sense into his (far too intelligent) Dinobot brothers about his “ingenious” plan to betray the Autobots and release the “warrior gene,” elsewhere on the planet Hod Rod (in, by far, the most ridiculous storyline) discovers a pair of ancient Primus relics which allow him to view and fight the Transformers’ past.

On Earth, Optimus Prime is out for a pleasure drive (really, he doesn’t do anything more in his one page cameo), and on the crashed Ark a battered Decepticon awakens as Shockwave brings his broken memories into focus and plans his next move. For fans.

[IDW, $3.99]

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The Incredible Burt Wonderstone and the Brain Rapist

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The Incredible Burt Wonderstone
  • IMDB: link

The Incredible Burt WonderstoneThe Incredible Burt Wonderstone is an odd film about the change in magic from old school tricks and illusion to elaborate and dangerous stunts of endurance during the 1990’s, and the petty jealousies that go on behind the curtain, that feels at least a decade late. Written by Jonathan M. Goldstein and John Francis Daley (who gave us the equally uneven Horrible Bosses) the script is inconsistent, especially during the movie’s third act, but it delivers a surprising number of laughs when it embraces the sheer absurdity of its premise and characters with a gleeful zeal.

The film stars Steve Carell and Steve Buscemi as a pair of old school Las Vegas magicians Burt Wonderstone and Anton Marvelton (think Siegfried & Roy without the tigers) whose act and decades of friendship have seen better days. The pair’s partnership comes to an end when popular new street magician Steve Gray (Jim Carrey as a mix of David Blaine and Criss Angel) forces the pair into uncharted territory doing dangerous stunts that leave Anton severely injured and Burt out on the street looking for a new job.

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The Intouchables

/ / Home Video
  • Title: The Intouchables
  • IMDB: link

the-intouchables-blu-rayBased on the nonfiction book by Abdel Sellou, this French odd couple comedy stars Omar Sy as an ex-con out on the street who is hired as a caregiver for a rich French aristocrat (François Cluzet) with whom he has nothing in common. Most of the humor early on deals specifically with Driss’ (Sy) learning his new responsibilities, his discomfort with various aspects of his new job such as dressing Phillipe and “draining the ass” of a man he doesn’t know, and his fumbling juvenile attempts to woo Philippe’s completely uninterested assistant (Audrey Fleurot) into bed.

From there The Intouchables moves into the inevitable phase of the two finding common ground and becoming friends. Subplots involve Driss’ attempt to be a painter and keep his cousin () from following his same path, the relationship between Philippe’s daughter (Alba Gaïa Kraghede Bellugi) and her boyfriend (Thomas Solivéres), and Driss pushing Philippe to meet the woman (Dorothée Brière) he’s been corresponding with for months.

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