4 Razors

MacGyver – Every Time She Smiles

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: MacGyver (1985) – Every Time She Smiles
  • wiki: link

MacGyver - Every Time She Smiles television review

Throwback Tuesday takes us back to the original improvisational MacGyver (Richard Dean Anderson) armed only with genius-level intellect, a Swiss Army knife, and whatever he can cobble together to solve the problems of the week. After completing a simple handoff, MacGyver runs into trouble making it out of Bulgaria with microfilm when he runs into Penny Parker (Teri Hatcher) at the airport. Attempting to run off from her inattentive boyfriend (Kai Wulff) who turns out to be the son of the nephew of the Bulgarian Secret Police. While worried about the revolutionists and the microfilm, Stephan and his father are also concerned with recovering the jewelry in Penny’s possession which turns out to be priceless giving the state police two reasons to hunt the pair down (and also mistake Penny for a revolutionary).

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Black Cat #3

/ / Comics

Black Cat #3 comic reviewWith half of the issue taking place inside the mind of the Black Cat, Black Cat #3 doesn’t do much to advance the overall tie to “King in Black” which turns out to be a good thing (and not only because I could care less able the larger event) as this single issue detour turns out to provide a hell of a lot of fun.

Black Cat #3 picks up with Felicia having taken up the Yggdrasill Staff to find herself temporarily imbued with the power of a god while the power. While she battles dragons on Earth, in her mind the Magic, assuming the visage of Black Fox, works to tempt her to accept the magic completely. Needless to say, once Doctor Strange finally awakes to see what has happened in his absence, he’s far from pleased.

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Young Hellboy: The Hidden Land #1

/ / Comics

Young Hellboy: The Hidden Land #1 comic reviewAfter their plane is forced to crash in the ocean by a religious zealot determined to kill Hellboy before he grows up and brings about the apocalypse, Hellboy and Professor Bruttenholm find themselves on an island filled with all manner of monsters including gorillas, giant crabs, and velociraptors. So much for the fun archeological dig they pair had planned (perhaps with mummies!), now they will need to survive.

Young Hellboy: The Hidden Land #1 provides a fun opening to the four-issue mini-series setting the stage for what’s to come. There’s obviously a strong Jules Verne‘s The Mysterious Island vibe here, although we’ve only scratched the surface of what secrets the island may hold as it appears there is something deep calling out the the religious zealot who the Professor and the young Hellboy haven’t seen the last of yet.

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Boys State

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Boys State
  • IMDb: link

Boys State movie reviewBoys State offers a glimpse into the annual tradition the American Legion has held in since 1935 where high school juniors are brought in to learn about government and politics firsthand. The documentary focuses on the Texas Boys State working in two separate political parties to build a representative government, create a political agenda, and run for various offices including Governor.

Allowing us to look at the next generation of potential political operatives, Boys State shows us teenagers have already learned the some of the worst lessons of politics from those they have watched govern them. While several of the students don’t take the opportunity seriously, offering bills for change the pronunciation of “W” or trying to impeach an elected official they dislike personally, the film turns on the introduction of Steven Garza who plants his flag on the idea of cooperation, combined self-government, and honestly helping others which offers a nice change of pace from the pro-gun and anti-abortion message that otherwise permeates the debates. Although we don’t have to wait long before personal attacks begin to change the narrative.

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The Father

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The Father
  • IMDb: link

The Father movie reviewThe Father offers a view at the world through the eyes of an 83 year-old man (Anthony Hopkins) fighting Alzheimer’s and dementia. Events and characters are jumbled due to Anthony’s (Hopkins) confusion about where he is living, and even the identity of the the people around him who are only sometimes recognizable. Events are often incomplete and shown out of order, to allow the audience to stumble through Anthony’s reality with him before enough is finally revealed to piece together more of his reality than he seems capable of fully understanding.

Olivia Colman, Olivia Williams, Mark Gatiss, Rufus Sewell, and Imogen Poots all come and go throughout the film as Anthony struggles to remember who each is as his frustration leads to anger and resentment. Hopkins is the glue which holds the film together, but each actor adds another level to the Anthony’s distorted world. Director Florian Zeller adapts his own award-winning play Le Père for the screen offering a heartbreaking account of one slowly loosing their grip on reality that is often soul crushing in its honest and bleak examination of dementia and how it affects an individual as well as those around him.

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