4.5 Razors

Boyhood

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Boyhood
  • IMDb: link

BoyhoodShot over the course of 12 years, Boyhood is one of the most ambitious projects any filmmaker has attempted to tackle. It’s also easily one of the best films of the year.

Starting the project at age 5 we witness Ellar Coltrane grow-up as Mason over the filming of Richard Linklater‘s latest film which began production in 2002 and finally arrived in theaters in 2014. Over its 165-minute running time Mason’s scripted tale delves into his relationships with both his divorced parents (Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke), the complexities of modern-day extended families, and the journey of Mason from grade school to college.

Begun without a finished script, but with an established beginning and ending, Linklater adapted the story by the changes he saw in his cast over the years. Arquette and Hawke carry much of the early scenes of the movie while Coltrane takes over a larger part of the story as he grows as an actor.

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Astro City #18

/ / Comics

Astro City #18So much of Astro City deals with the fringe, normal people on the periphery of the super-hero world, that when you get a comic centered around a particular hero you are always a bit surprised. Beginning a new four-issue arc, “The Dimming of the Day” gives us a peek at aging crimefighters Crackerjack and Quarrel while offering a contemplative look back at the humble origins of the later who used her natural gifts and tragic family history to carve out a life as a super-hero.

Quarrel’s back story takes up much of the first issue of the arc while introducing the idea of two crimefighters whose heroic exploits may be coming to an end. Wiser and more armored, but a bit slower these days, how hard is it for a hero to admit that it might be time to hang up the tights?

Although I’ve quite enjoyed the short one-off issues of the current series, Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson open a door here I’ll gladly walk through and stick around to see what does happen when a super-hero decides (or is forced to) retire? Worth a look.

[Vertigo, $3.99]

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The Imitation Game

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The Imitation Game
  • IMDb: link

The Imitation Game

Code breaking is an art as much as a science and never was it needed, or more artfully accomplished, than by the British during World War II. Set during the middle of Second World War, The Imitation Game follows an unlikely group of scholars, mathematicians, linguists, chess champions, and intelligence officers who were thrown together with the singular goal of breaking Germany’s unbreakable code known as Enigma. Enter Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) who might have been the biggest hero of the war if every advancement he made in cryptology (including the creation of the first computer) hadn’t been state secrets until well after his death.

Based on the novel by Andrew Hodges and adapted by Graham Moore, the film is anchored by Benedict Cumberbatch who lends a vulnerability to the abrasiveness of Turing whose own co-workers often struggled to get along with. In one of her most understated roles Keira Knightley stars as Joan Clarke, the lone female member of the team to break Engima, even if she had to officially work as a secretary in order to do so.

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White Collar – Au Revoir

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: White Collar – Au Revoir
  • wiki: link

White Collar - Au Revoir

Ever since the end of the Third Season the post-FBI future of con man turned FBI informant Neal Caffrey (Matt Bomer) has been the show’s big looming unanswered question. Once his service was complete would Neal got back to his old ways or stay on the straight and narrow? As with the case of every single mid-season and season finale over the years, the show’s final episode ends on a bit of a cliffhanger with much left unsaid. Wrapping up the final season’s Pink Pather storyline, and Neal’s overall arc over the show’s six seasons, one thing it does reveal is that Neal (while changed by his experiences working for the FBI) still has equal parts angel and devil allowing him to end his tenure with the FBI on his terms.

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Rocket Raccoon #6

/ / Comics

Rocket Raccoon #6The latest issue of Rocket Raccoon returns one of my favorite former Guardians of the Galaxy (whose leaving was never properly explained only to be replaced by Marvel characters like Carol Danvers and Venom who don’t fit in the oddball team concept nearly as well). While performing a series of jobs to payback all of his princess ex-girlfriends, Rocket receives and email which leads him to Knowhere to pay back a debt to Cosmo.

Even though they’re not on panel together as much as I’d like, I love the pair of Rocket and Cosmo and hope the telepathic dog may eventually find his way out of Marvel’s dog house and give us more appearances like this. The job is simple. Bizarre, but simple. Cosmo enlists Rocket to help a retired military mech whose friends (from the same junkyard paradise where all mechs go to live out their twilight years) have been stolen to be sold at auction.

And so Rocket and his nonsense-speaking friend (“Brute” only communicates in bianary) head into action. The result of which, as expected, is pretty damn entertaining. Worth a look.

[Marvel, $3.99]

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