4 Razors

The Walk

/ / Home Video
  • Title: The Walk
  • IMDb: link

The WalkThrough the use of interviews, stills, and reenactment footage, the 2008 documentary Man on Wire offered audiences an excellent look back at wire walker Philippe Petit‘s high-wire walk between the two towers of the World Trade Center. The Walk, writer/director Robert Zemeckis‘ biopic starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Petit, may not be as engaging as the documentary, but Zemeckis (using similar set-up same set-up with Gordon-Levitt narrating past events) still manages to capture a bit of the magic by recreating Petit’s improbable stunt.

Without attempting to explain Petit’s obsession or the drive behind it, Zemeckis takes us along on the man’s journey as he attempts to achieve his dream. Beginning with a bit of a backstory for Petit including the relationships with his mentor (Ben Kingsley), girlfriend (Charlotte Le Bon), and the co-conspirators (Clément Sibony, César Domboy, Steve Valentine, James Badge Dale) who would eventually help him pull of his high-wire act, the movie doesn’t kick into high gear until its second hour where the caper truly begins.

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Will Eisner’s The Spirit #6

/ / Comics

Will Eisner's The Spirit #6The latest issue of Will Eisner’s The Spirit delves into the Spirit‘s missing two years from Central City. The first third of the comic is presented from a the point of view of a former soldier turned mercenary in the South Pacific on a small island known as Nawala Pulo where he job for two years was to be the jailer for a single prisoner. Teasing us with only glimpses of our hero, the introduction works to continue to deepen the mystery of who imprisoned the hero and why.

The remainder of the comic, other than a few panels dealing with the Dolans reacting to the hero’s return, is presented from our the Spirit’s point of view recounting his imprisonment and escape to Ebony White and Sammy Strunk. Although he knows even less about his circumstances than his former jailer, the Spirit was able to learn a name which is the only clue he has.

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The Revenant

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

The RevenantWriter/director Alejandro González Iñárritu offers a straightforward tale of survival and revenge based on the true experiences of a frontiersman left for dead in 1823 in South Dakota. Bleak may not be a strong enough word for the film’s tone, but Leonardo DiCaprio makes it work as fur trapper Hugh Glass who struggles to survive after being attacked by a grizzly bear and left for dead by a member (Tom Hardy) of the group who had sworn to look after the wounded man.

The Revenant is the type of movie you are more likely to appreciate than enjoy, and I don’t see myself returning to the film any time soon. That said, Iñárritu unquestionably delivers a stunning film of personal survival that is completely engrossing to watch. It’s impossible not to root for Glass and his struggle to make it back home and exact some measure of revenge for what was done to him.

Entirely DiCaprio’s film, with the exception of one or two scenes which Hardy steals, the other notable members of the cast are Domhnall Gleeson as the leader of the company fur trapping expedition and Forrest Goodluck as Glass’ son Hawk.

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The Shannara Chronicles – Chosen

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: The Shannara Chronicles – Chosen
  • wiki: link

The Shannara Chronicles - Chosen

I still remember when MTV played music videos. So watching a sci-fi series like The Shannara Chronicles seemed more than a little out of place. However, at least for someone that hasn’t read Terry Brooks‘ The Sword of Shannara Trilogy, I was pleasantly surprised by what I found. I had expected something similar to the more modestly produced Legend of the Seeker series, but MTV appears to have spared no reasonable expense on the show’s production values.

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The End of the Tour

/ / Home Video
  • Title: The End of the Tour
  • IMDb: link

The End of the TourBased on the memoir Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself in which David Lipsky (Jesse Eisenberg) recounts his experiences meeting and interviewing David Foster Wallace (Jason Segel) at the end of the author’s book tour for Infinite Jest, The End of the Tour is character-driven piece centered around the conversations between the two authors twelve years before Wallace’s suicide. Smart, insecure, and low-key (all which could also be used to describe Segel’s character), director James Ponsoldt‘s take on the memoir allows us to see both men at their best and worst (often brought out by their own fears and each other) over a condensed period of time.

Playing on themes of imperfection, ego, self-doubt, envy, and an undeniable need to connect and befriend someone else in your same specialized niche, Ponsoldt and his two stars deliver an engaging movie about nothing more than two writers talking about what they do and how they think.

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