4.5 Razors

Leverage – The Long Good-bye Job

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Leverage – The Long Good-bye Job
  • tv.com: link

leverage-the-good-bye-job

In the series finale Nate (Timothy Hutton) is approached by his son’s former physician who needs his help to save another patient in danger of dying of the same condition of that killed Nate’s son. To retrieve the drug the company refuses to release means breaking into a facility with government level security given the building also houses a federal law enforcement Intenet hub server housing backup files for the FBI, CIA, DEA, and Interpol.

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The Two Towers

/ / Home Video
  • Title: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
  • IMDb: link

“There’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for.”

lotr-two-towers-poster

The second film from director Peter Jackson‘s Lord of the Rings trilogy is, in my opinion, the best and most under appreciated film of the series.

Although Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam‘s (Sean Astin) slow journey to nowhere with Gollum (Andy Serkis) grows a bit tedious at times (as it does in the beginning of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King as well), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers provides many of the trilogy’s best sequences including the battle at Helms Deep and introduces several new characters in Gollum and the warriors of Rohan who will play important roles not only in this film but in the upcoming final battle with Sauron and the armies of Mordor.

The film begins with Frodo and Sam striking out on their own for Mordor and Mount Doom. Meanwhile Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Gimli (John Rhys-Davies), and Legolas (Orlando Bloom) hunt down Peregrin Took (Billy Boyd) and Merry Brandybuck (Dominic Monaghan) who were taken by Saruman‘s orcs, who mistakenly believe one of the two Hobbits to be carrying the One Ring.

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Dancing, Crazy People, and the Philadelphia Eagles

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Silver Linings Playbook
  • IMDB: link

silver-linings-playbook-posterWith his latest movie, Silver Linings Playbook, writer/director David O. Russell (The Fighter, Three Kings) delivers his most mainstream film to date in this adaptation of Matthew Quick‘s novel of the same name about a teacher (Bradley Cooper) who moves back in with his parents (Robert De Niro, Jacki Weaver) after spending eight months in a mental institution. At times I think Russell can get too cute for his own good (see I Heart Huckabees), but Silver Linings provides the director the kind of manic characters he enjoys while still forcing him draw within the lines. The result is one of the year’s best films.

Our story begins with the release of Pat (Cooper) from his stint in the loony bin after brutally assaulting a fellow teacher who he discovers sleeping with his wife (Brea Bee). Armed with medication he refuses to take and an optimistic attitude of winning back his wife (despite being still haunted by her infidelity), putting his life back together, and looking for the silver lining in every bad situation, Pat begins his slow (and rocky) road to recovery.

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Dial M for Murder

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Dial M for Murder
  • IMDB: link

dial-m-for-murder-blu-rayAlfred Hitchcock‘s 1954 classic stars Ray Milland as ex-tennis pro Tony Wendice who for a year has known about his wife Margot’s (Grace Kelly) affair with an American crime novelist (Robert Cummings). Wanting revenge, and the wealth his dead wife would bring, Tony blackmails a petty criminal (Anthony Dawson) into helping him pull off the perfect murder. When things don’t go to plan Tony rolls with the punches and tries to frame his wife for the first-degree murder of the would-be assassin.

Dial M for Murder delivers several of Hitchcock’s trademark touches including a charming sociopath – even though Milland’s character is trying to bump off Grace Kelly (in her first collaboration with Hitchcock) we somehow don’t begrudge him the opportunity. We also get the central role of a staircase to the plot, and the planning and boasting of a perfect murder.

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Searching for Sugar Man

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Searching for Sugar Man
  • IMDB: link

searching-for-sugar-man-posterOdds are you’ve never heard of Rodriguez, a Detroit folk singer who failed to register a single blip on the American music scene. After releasing two low-selling albums in the early 1970’s the musician disappeared into obscurity by the end of the decade. But that’s only the beginning of the story.

As Rodriguez returned home to work construction and raise a family in Detroit, on the other side of the world his music was making an impact a decade later. In South Africa, Rodriguez’s songs struck a chord with a nation revolting against decades of Apartheid. As he worked minimum wage jobs at home, Rodriguez was becoming a superstar half a world away.

Searching for Sugar Man documents the search begun by two South African fans that led to the kind of heartwarming tale you usually can only find in the movies. Searching for more information about a singer more beloved in their country than Elvis Presley, Stephen “Sugar” Segerman and Craig Strydom began to track down the truth of the musician’s fate among several different rumors of his death.

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