4 Razors

Uncut Gems

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Uncut Gems
  • IMDb: link

Uncut Gems movie reviewAs in 2017’s Good Time, the Safdie brothers offer a tale of a man whose world is crashing down on him. In Uncut Gems that man is jeweler, philanderer, and addicted gambler Howard Ratner (Adam Sandler) whose life, in his opinion, is always just one-step away from the big score that can change everything. Howard has a dissatisfied wife (Idina Menzel) and kids, is sleeping with one of his employees (Julia Fox), owes markers all over town including to his brother-in-law (Eric Bogosian), bets any money he can get on sports, and has sunk much of his savings into an an uncut opal from Ethiopia. When his hero worship gets the best of him and he allows Kevin Garnett (playing himself) to hold onto the gem for a night, Howard’s life begins to unravel strand-by-strand.

Sandler’s Howard is the architect of his own failure. While I couldn’t find reason to root for or against his need to reach for one long shot after the other, Uncut Gems does offer an intriguing look at a man being crushed by his own bad choices. But, because I could never invest any emotion into the outcome of Howard’s various schemes, Uncut Gems effect on me was limited. Without a stake in success or failure, I simply watched events unfold with curiosity.

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The Two Popes

/ / Home Video
  • Title: The Two Popes
  • IMDb: link

The Two Popes movie reviewNow stop me if you’ve heard this one, two Popes walk into the Vatican… Director Fernando Meirelles and screenwriter Anthony McCarten offer this amusing tale of the relationship that develops between two men with opposing views of Catholicism in the world. It just so happens that both of those men would become Pope. Opening with Pope Benedict XVI’s (Anthony Hopkins) election over a reluctant Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio (Jonathan Pryce), the film moves forward seven years during a tumultous time for the Catholic Church where Benedict will look at his formal rival as the best hope for the church.

With the simple set-up, McCarten sets the stage and allows Hopkins and Pryce to play off of each other offering insights into both men struggling to find common ground. Pryce gets the better deal with the more layered Jorge who, thanks to Benedict’s prodding, would go on to become Pope Francis. Hopkins gets stuck with the more straightforward Benedict, but the set-up offers him challenges in attempting to convince a man whose views of the church he disagrees with to take a job he doesn’t desire.

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #100

/ / Comics

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #100 comic reviewThe long-running “City at War” storyline comes to a close with the over-sized Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #100 which opens with Kitsune‘s attempt to bring forth the Dragon into the headless body of the Shredder. There’s plenty of action here in an issue that features a giant dragon, small and large battles, the reunion of brothers, and a large number of appearances from various TMNT characters (including Alopex, who makes her stand against Kitsune) before ending on a surprising note with a sacrifice and a return.

I’ll freely admit that my interest in the comic waned in recent years, but issue #100 does offer a payoff for those who have stuck around for the full run (and just enough hints for the rest of us to make out the broad strokes of what’s happening here).

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Rick and Morty – Rattlestar Ricklactica

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Rick and Morty – Rattlestar Ricklactica
  • wiki: link

Rick and Morty - Rattlestar Ricklactica television review

“Rattlestar Ricklactica” dials up the crazy when events to fix something go horribly wrong. In the main story, Morty (Justin Roiland) is bitten by a space snake when ignoring his grandfather’s orders to stay in the car. Realizing the snake astronaut’s death will have repurcussions on a world of snakes (that produces some pretty good Snake Jazz) leads Morty to dress up an Earth snake and return him to the planet starting a series of events leading to time traveling snakes, snake Terminators, and all kinds of carnage. The episode’s B-story centers around Jerry getting into trouble when Rick (Roiland) decides to help by decreasing Jerry‘s (Chris Parnell) mass so he can put up Christmas lights without killing himself. The result? Jerry almost kills himself.

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Mike Wallace is Here

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Mike Wallace is Here
  • IMDb: link

Mike Wallace Is Here DVD reviewIncluding interviews and clips, Mike Wallace is Here examines the career of media personality turned newsman and one of the driving forces behind 60 Minutes. Offering details about Mike Wallace‘s personal life and his stature in the news community given his previous job as an actor and a pitch man Parliament cigarettes, director Avi Belkin offers several interesting tidbits to keep the viewer’s interest. Honestly, I had no idea so much of the old school “real” journalists looked down on Wallace and niche he helped create.

Much of the documentary focuses on Wallace’s interview style that began with Night Beat and continued as a staple of 60 Minutes giving him a legendary status for never letting a subject off the hook. Using the large amount of archive footage available including interviews with Wallace and several of his peers, Belkin arguably blends together as complete a picture of the man and his legacy as any documentary who had access to a living subject which both entertains and informs. The film is available on DVD and several streaming platforms.

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