4 Razors

Free Solo

  • Title: Free Solo
  • IMDb: link

Free Solo movie reviewThe documentary from Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi follows climber Alex Honnold and his preparations to become the first person to ever free solo climb Yosemite’s 3,000-foot El Capitan. While diving into the Honnold’s closest relationships and his makeup, the film focuses primarily on the dangers of the climber’s quest and the ambition and drive which he cannot ignore. Featuring interviews with fellow climbers and Honnold’s mother and girlfriend, we learn a bit of what makes the climber tick as he attempts to accomplish the improbable feat of climbing the sheer granite face of a 3,000-foot mountain without any climbing gear or any kind of safety net.

Because Chin and his cameramen are friends of Honnold, the documentary also adds an unexpected undercurrent to the story of Honnold not wanting to let his friends down while they are equally fearful of the very real possibility they might be enabling the climber to film his death during an outrageously dangerous feat. The result is an engaging documentary ending in Honnold’s historic attempt.

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The Old Man and the Gun

  • Title: The Old Man and the Gun
  • IMDb: link

The Old Man and the Gun movie reviewBased on the life of career criminal Forrest Tucker (Robert Redford), who in his 60s (after escaping from prison yet again) put together dozens of bank heists across the country until finally being captured by the FBI, writer/director David Lowery‘s film offers a look at the criminal’s “last hurrah” (although he would commit one more crime spree at the ripe old age of 79) and the Dallas Police Detective (Casey Affleck) instrumental in capturing him.

Redford is put to good use here as the gentlemen robber who never fires a shot (in fact, in every bank robbery sequence he alludes to, but never draws, a gun). The actor easily captures the charm of the man who robbed more for the thrill than the money, always with a smile on his face. Over the course of the film we watch Tucker rob several banks, sometimes by himself and sometimes with the help of two other elderly gentlemen (Danny Glover and Tom Waits) who gain notoriety for the four-year bank robbing spree. The movie also includes a subplot involving Tucker’s interest in a widow (Sissy Spacek) who, like the previous loves of Tucker’s life, never knew or believed what Tucker did for a living.

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The Flash – All Doll’d Up

  • Title: The Flash – All Doll’d Up
  • wiki: link

The Flash - All Doll'd Up TV review

Barry (Grant Gustin) and Iris (Candice Patton) work together on a series of crimes committed by a new meta-human Cisco (Carlos Valdes) names Rag Doll (Troy James and voiced by Phil LaMarr). Although he lacks the dark humor and talkative nature from Gail Simone’s Secret Six run, Rag Doll definitely succeeds as one creepy ass villain. The episode also offers a couple of humorous scenes involving Ralph‘s (Hartley Sawyer) help with the threat once Barry is captured by Rag Doll. (Elongated Man, Elongated Man, does whatever a Spider-Man can.) This leaves the rest of Team Flash to work on other mysteries as Ralph, “Sherloque” Wells (Tom Cavanagh), and Cisco all help in Caitlin‘s (Danielle Panabaker) search for answers about her missing father. The B-story also provides a chance for Caitlin to help Cisco rediscover his use to the team now that his powers have been fried by Cicada (Chris Klein).

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Arrow – The Demon

  • Title: Arrow – The Demon
  • wiki: link

Arrow - The Demon television review

The season’s theme of unexpected alliances continues as Oliver (Stephen Amell) finds an old frenemy on Level 2, and Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) enlists the help of both Laurel (Katie Cassidy) and Dinah (Juliana Harkavy) to discover what off-the-books experiments Dr. Jarrett Parker (Jason E. Kelley) is doing with inmates on a facility the prison doesn’t even admit exists. Although the show has really short-changed the character, the return of Talia al Ghul (Lexa Doig) offers some nice prison escape fight sequences and helps give closure to Talia’s storyline (and continue to tease a Batman connection to the Arrowverse that The CW has shown no actual interest in ever exploring). The torture Oliver endures also opens a new possible legal recourse to get him out of prison.

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Archie Meets Batman ’66 #4

Archie Meets Batman '66 #4 comic reviewThe Bat-villains reign of terror in Riverdale continues as the Joker attempts to brainwash Jughead (a process that turns out to be harder than the Clown Prince of Crime expected), and Catwoman, under the guise of Miss Kitka (in a nice nod to 1966’s Batman: The Movie), wins the hearts of the high school boys (although she is startled by the sudden appearance of Batgirl and Robin). Now the pair will just to have to fight their way through the rest of the school to get their hands on the felonious feline.

We still don’t get an appearance of Batman, but Bruce Wayne finally arrives in town to attend the gala at the estate of Hiram Lodge where he discovers not only the Siren swaying the adults under her spell but also the town being turned over to the Joker, the Riddler, the Penguin, and Catwoman.

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