3 Razors

Morning Glory

  • Title: Morning Glory
  • IMDB: link

Sometimes, I suppose, some people just need to watch a nice movie where nice people end up in nice places, despite not nice situations. Hollywood knows this, and they know it well. They crank out these nice movies like a long, processed line of uninterupted sausage, knowing it’ll find some sort of audience. It doesn’t matter if they’re using Grade A or Grade F meat, because this stuff is proven to do some business.

This can all be said of Morning Glory, a movie about a nice girl that, in the end, get’s everything nice that she deserves. That nice girl is played by Rachel McAdams, a young up-and-get’m who lands a job as Executive Producer on a morning news show ala Today, only one dying a slow, ratings-denied death. Things are bad enough before she takes a chance and hires Ted Koppel approximate Mike Pomeroy (Harrison Ford), as a co-anchor. It turns out he hates soft news, and doesn’t care if the show stays on the air. Oh no, they might get canceled!

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Captain America: Man Out of Time #1 (of 5)

  • Title: Captain America: Man Out of Time #1 (of 5)
  • Comic Vine: link
  • Writer: Mark Waid
  • Artist: Jorge Molina

What if Captain America didn’t sleep for twenty years, but 60? What if the Avengers found him today and not at the dawn of the Silver Age? These are the questions Captain America: Man Out of Time, a new five-issue mini-series from Mark Waid and Jorge Molina sets out to answer.

This first issue gives us Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes spending time with a group of soldiers the night before both are lost. Then Rogers awakes to the Avengers standing over him and a world with ATMs, cell phones, sports cars, and teenagers packing guns.

The idea is interesting, though I’m not sure we need five full issues to fully explore it. I enjoyed the look of the world and Waid’s decision to present everything from Roger’s perspective.

For $4 it’s definitely not a must-read, but fans of the character or of Marvel’s various What If…? stories may want to give it a look.

[Marvel $3.99]

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Bruce Wayne: The Road Home – Oracle

The Insider and Oracle attempt to keep Vicki Vale alive before Ra’s al Ghul‘s hit squad (The Seven Men of Death) permanently silences the reporter. Oracle sends the reserves into battle (Batgirl, Manhunter, Man-Bat, Ragman, Hawk and Dove) while the once-and-future Batman tries to keep the nosy reporter alive.

Most of the action works pretty well, even if we are dealing with baddies not really worth caring about (and a few heroes which you could say the same). Although I’m glad for its inclusion, I wish the flashback to the days after Barbara Gordon was shot, including Bruce visiting her in the hospital and a quick montage of her training for her new role as Oracle, were handled a little better.

On the positive side, we do get 32 pages for $3 (not too shabby) and I am glad that this issue lets Barbara correctly recognize and identify Bruce (even if it does take her more pages than I’d like). The ending leads us to a big showdown between Bruce and Ra’s in the final “Bruce Wayne: The Road Home” One-shot.

[DC $2.99]

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Kick-Ass 2 #1 (of 6)

The sequel to Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr.’s comic about a geeky teen turned super-hero begins here.

In a questionable choice, Millar plays with events just enough that both those who came in from either reading the first series or seeing the feature film adaptation will both be up to speed. Mark isn’t with Katie, but Mindy is living with Marcus (as the film suggested) and not with her mother (as told at the end of the first mini-series).

If the first series was about solitary heroes, this new story arc seems to be about teams. Here Mark meets new heroes who have formed their own kind of league (and we get flashes of a promised big epic super-team good vs. evil throwdown in Times Square).

It’s a solid first issue and the look and voice of the characters remain, but… For a comic called Kick-Ass this one doesn’t really. I’m sure there’s plenty of that to come, but this first issue is far more introspection than action, and those wanting to get to the good stuff will have to wait at least one more issue.

[Marvel $2.99]

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Chuck vs. the Aisle of Terror

  • Title: Chuck – Chuck Versus the Aisle of Terror
  • tv.com: link

This episode reunites Chuck (Zachary Levi) with his long lost mother (Linda Hamilton), who claims to be a deepcover double-agent. Frost proposes to help the CIA recover a terror-inducing nerve toxin to prove her loyalty. The result? Chuck gets shot in the heart (literally). And that’s just the beginning.

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