4.5 Razors

Can a Song Save Your Life?

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Begin Again
  • IMDb: link

Begin Again

Written and directed by John Carney, Begin Again is simply a joy to watch. At times this tale of the mismatched pair of a record label exec (Mark Ruffalo) whose life is swirling around the drain and a young singer-songwriter (Keira Knightley) dealing with crushing rejection of her now-successful longtime writing partner and boyfriend (Adam Levine) comes dangerously close to being too cute for its own good. Thankfully Carney’s choice to ground the film in serious issues such as heartbreak, betrayal, estranged families, and politics of the music business balances the film’s hopeful tone and message to prevent the movie from ever becoming too cliche or sappy.

While Ruffalo provides both angst and humor, Knightley is the soul of the film. Having only seen her sing in short segments of The Edge of Love (a movie worth seeing more for her performance more than anything else), I was thrilled to find a her lilting voice the perfect match for the indie songwriter thousands of miles from home dealing the emotional yo-yo of immediate heartbreak and at the same time a once-in-a-lifetime record offer.

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Continuum – Last Minute

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Continuum – Last Minute
  • wiki: link

Continuum - Last Minute

Capping what has been an impressive Third Season, “Last Minutes” forces Kiera (Rachel Nichols) into making some hard decisions both about her present and the future she’s been trying to return to for three years. It all begins when Kiera and Brad‘s (Ryan Robbins) escape from the world is interrupted by time-traveling Alec (Erik Knudsen) and Emily (Magda Apanowicz) who barely survived an attack orchestrated the other Alec Sadler. The attack added to Halo’s imminent launch decades too early force Kiera to seek out help from the most unlikely of places.

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Batman – P.O.V.

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Batman: The Animated Series – P.O.V.
  • wiki: link

Batman - P.O.V.

In honor of Batman‘s 75th Anniversary we turn out attention back to the Dark Knight’s more memorable moments on the big and small screen with another episode from Batman: The Animated Series. When a bust goes bad three of GCPD’s finest offer their conflicting accounts to Internal Affairs. While Harvey Bullock‘s (Robert Costanzo) account places the blame on Batman (Kevin Conroy) and his support which he believes was late to arrive (although the visuals during his narration don’t quite jibe to that series of events), Renee Montoya (Ingrid Oliu) and rookie officer Wilkes (Robby Benson) offer different versions of events.

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Ten #3

/ / Comics

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 10 #3The return of Dracula is always a good sign, starting with Xander and Dawn traveling to the vampire’s castle to enlist Dracula’s help to deal with the new kind of vampires who possess several of his skills as well as being able to fight in sunlight.

Thanks don’t get any easier for Xander once transporting his former master back to America, although Dracula does give thought to enlisting Andrew as his new manservant. The villain’s inevitable turn after deciphering how valuable the Vampyr tome is to the new laws of magic set up serious ramifications for all involved – especially Xander. The tension between Xander and Dawn continues to grow producing both humorous and awkward moments such as Xander’s reaction go Giles trying to play Grand Theft Auto like a gentleman.

Co-written by Nicholas Brendon the dialogue feels as sharp as ever, and not just with Xander as Buffy and Willow share the kind of bestie moment we haven’t seen between them in quite some time. Must-Read.

[Dark Horse, $2.99]

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Velvet #5

/ / Comics

Velvet #5Concluding the series opening arc, Velvet #5 offers us more into the past of Velvet Tempelton than the previous four issues combined. Caused by the final line of last month’s issue where Velvet learned that Mockingbird was never a double-agent, this month involves an extended look back at the love affair with the man who would be Velvet’s partner and husband – and also the man she threw from a hotel window on orders from her superiors.

Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting also deliver a glimpse at Velvet at age 16 and the spy who trained the exceptional young woman and trained her to become one of the agency’s best before her own life went off the rails and ended in despair and death on the floor of a cheap hotel room.

For those waiting for a little more insight into who Velvet is and what makes her tick, Velvet #5 is an issue you don’t want to miss. It also lays the groundwork by alerting the character than her hidden enemy has done far more damage to her life than recently framing Velvet for murder. I can’t wait to see where her story goes from here. Best of the week.

[Image, $3.50]

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