4 Razors

Justice League International #6

/ / Comics

jli-new-52-6-coverWith the world safe from giant space robots threatening to pull it apart (at least for the time being) the team finds itself with some time on its hands. As Booster Gold and Batman help nab the bombers behind the attack on the Hall of Justice, Guy Gardner, Rocket Red, and Ice clean-up the last of the robot mess in Peru, and Godiva introduces August General in Iron to New York City hot dogs.

This issue is exactly what the title needed. Although there’s plenty of action here as both Booster and Batman and Godiva and August General in Iron stop bomb plots, the issue is much more centered on characters, their interactions, and motivations.

From the comic’s final panel it looks like the team is going to be thrown right back into the action but I’m hoping Dan Jurgens doesn’t forget to include these kinds of moments which really make a JLI comic work. I’m also sad to see the (apparent) departure of Batman who definitely belongs on this title. Worth a look.

[DC, $2.99]

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Person of Interest – Root Cause

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Person of Interest – Root Cause
  • tv.com: link

person-of-interest-root-cause

The latest number the machine delivers to Reese (Jim Caviezel) and Finch (Michael Emerson) is an out of work city employee (Myk Watford) with a family who is quickly reaching his breaking point. Things aren’t looking any better now that he has been framed for the assassination of the Congressman who pushed through the budgetary cutbacks that cost the man his job.

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Usagi Yojimbo #143

/ / Comics

usagi-yojimbo-143-coverThe rabbit ronin’s wanderings lead Usagi Yojimbo to a village where a local soy sauce maker is under attack by his ruthless competitors.

Usagi stops the arson set to destroy the factory but soon realizes the town’s local authorities have no interest in stopping the violence. Given that the brewer has no one else to turn to Usagi decides to stay in the town for a few days.

Sakai is known for using issues of Usagi to describe and educate young readers on various aspects of Japanese life. Here we get quite a few pages of Usagi learning the lengthy process of how soy sauce is made.

The issue may be a little light on action but there’s plenty of foreshadowing to next issue’s conclusion of this two-part tale that tells us there’s a big battle or two coming if Usagi is to save the brewer from his enemies. Worth a look.

[Dark Horse, $3.50]

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Drive

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Drive
  • IMDB: link

drive-blu-rayBased on James Sallis‘ 2005 novel, adapted for the screen by Hossein Amini, Drive stars Ryan Gosling as a getaway driver with no name who finds himself in a sticky situation when he breaks his own rules. If this sounds a little like The Transporter franchise, well it is, but director Nicolas Winding Refn decides to treat a rather ordinary action tale as an art house film drawing comparisons to dramatic action films of the late 60’s and 70’s like Steve McQueen‘s Bullit.

The Driver has everything he needs. His evident skill gets him consistant stunt car work and the far more lucrative (though far less legal) jobs no one else can do. His business partner (Bryan Cranston) has just closed a deal with a mobster (Albert Brooks) to buy a stock car which will allow the Driver to finally hit the big time. But when the Driver allows himself to be sucked into the troubles of an attractive neighbor (Carey Mulligan) and her young son (Kaden Leos) by agreeing to help her husband (Oscar Isaac) pull off a big score things go horribly wrong.

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A Dangerous Method

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: A Dangerous Method
  • IMDB: link

a-dangerous-method-posterA slow moving drama centered around the science of psychology may initially seem an odd choice for director David Cronenberg‘s latest project, but A Dangerous Method proves to be an engaging study of the minds and hearts of three individuals, each of whom finds themselves at the mercy of their uncontrollable passions and foibles.

Based on the play by Christopher Hampton and the book by John Kerr, Cronenberg and screenwriter Christopher Hampton deliver a character study centered around three people central to the birth of psychoanalysis. Michael Fassbender stars as Carl Jung, a doctor who in the early 20th Century would expand on the ideas of Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen) to create analytical psychology.

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