4.5 Razors

Argo

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Argo
  • IMDb: link

argo-movie-posterSome stories are so unbelievable they must be true. This was the case with Charlie Wilson’s War, one of my favorite films of 2007, which examined the absurd series of events that led a relatively unknown Congressman from Texas to lead the charge to bring down the Soviet Union.

Argo, the latest from director Ben Affleck who also stars in the adaptation of CIA Agent Tony Mendez‘s account of what became known as the “Canadian Caper” involving the extraction of six American diplomats from Iran during the Iran Hostage Crisis, is a similarly astonishing, and certainly well told, tale that’s so crazy it must be true.

Affleck stars as Mendez, a CIA extraction expert who comes up with a plan to safely smuggle out six Americans who escaped the seizure of the American Embassy in Iran on November 4, 1979. His idea is to pose as a film producer scouting locations for a new sci-fi movie in Iran and to pass off the six diplomats (Tate Donovan, Clea DuVall, Christopher Denham, Scoot McNairy, Kerry Bishé, Joe Stafford) as other members of the movie project.

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Castle – After the Storm

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Castle – After the Storm
  • tv.com: link

castle-after-the-storm

In Castle‘s Fifth Season premiere Beckett (Stana Katic) and Caslte’s (Nathan Fillion) morning after bliss is interrupted by the unexpected return of Martha (Susan Sullivan) and a hungover Alexis (Molly C. Quinn). Later, alone in Beckett’s apartment, the two are again interrupted by an overwhelmed Ryan (Seamus Dever) who needs help in looking for Maddox (Tahmoh Penikett) now that his team is all missing in action. The news that he imparts is disturbing when Castle realizes the hitman is after the one man (Geoff Pierson) who has been keeping Beckett safe for the past year.

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Ed Wood

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Ed Wood
  • IMDB: link

“This story’s gonna grab people. It’s about this guy, he’s crazy about this girl, but he likes to wear dresses. Should he tell her? Should he not tell her? He’s torn, Georgie. This is drama.”

ed-wood-blu-rayDirector Tim Burton‘s love letter to arguably the worst director Hollywood ever saw has made its way to Blu-ray. Johnny Depp stars as Ed Wood in this comedic biopic surrounding the earnest, but undeniably bad, filmmaker’s relationship with Bela Lugosi (Martin Landau), his crossdressing fetish, and the filming of Wood’s most famous films including Glen or Glenda, Bride of the Monster, and Plan 9 From Outer Space.

The Blu-ray includes the featurettes from the 2004 Special Edition including the trailer, deleted scenes, and featurettes on the look of the film and recreating the look of Ed Wood’s movies, composer Howard Shore‘s use of the Thermin in the film’s score, a basic behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film, Landau’s performance of Bela Legosi, and audio commentary with Burton, Landau, co-writers Larry Karaszewski and Scott Alexander, director of photography Stefan Czapsky, and costume designer Colleen Atwood.

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Fairest #7

/ / Comics

fairest-7-coverWith the series’ first arc wrapped up the latest issue of Fairest gives us a hard-boiled detective story set in 1940’s Los Angeles centered around Beauty and the Beast. The issue is narrated by the Beast, who has lived the life of a knight and detective protecting his wife over the years from her own hidden beastly side.

Matthew Sturges writing and Shawn McManus art compliment each other perfectly as most of the comic is shown in an extended 40’s film noir style flashback as the Beast tries to stop one of his wayward wifes spells leading to more death. Complicating things is the appearance of St. George, also on the hunt for the killer not realizing she’s the Beast’s confused wife.

Although I enjoyed the first story arc of the series I was looking forward to a change and this issue certainly delivers. I’m a little disappointed that it appears the rest of the story will take place in present day when the story presented here worked so well because of the period it took place, but I’m more than willing to give this arc a long look. Best of the week.

[Vertigo, $2.99]

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Leverage – The D.B. Cooper Job

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Leverage – The D.B. Cooper Job
  • tv.com: link

leverage-the-db-cooper-job

Parker (Beth Riesgraf) is approached by FBI Agent McSweeton (Gerald Downey) who needs help solving his father’s (Ronny Cox) most famous unsolved case before the man dies. Parker, in the guise of Agent Haggan, introduces Nate (Timothy Hutton) as a FBI consultant and profiler to McSweeton, his father and his father’s old partner (Fred Ward) in hopes that Nate can come up with a theory as to what really happened to D.B. Cooper (Matt Nolan).

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