5 Razors – Page 10 – RazorFine Review

A Nero Wolfe Mystery – Christmas Party

Alan Rapp / June 13, 2019 / Television Reviews

Title: A Nero Wolfe Mystery – Christmas Party
IMDb: link

Today’s Throwback Thursday post takes us back to mid 20th Century New York and the private detective offices located at 454 W. 35th Street. Making terrific use of Francie Swift, who so perfectly fits the role as fatale in the show’s setting, “Christmas Party” is one of my favorite episodes of the series in which Archie (Timothy Hutton) is able to put one over on his boss and Nero Wolfe (Maury Chaykin) makes an out-of-character mistake that puts them both in the middle of a murder investigation. Invited to a Christmas party by his sometimes dancing partner Margot Dickey (Swift) who plans to use Archie (and the fake marriage licence he was able to procure) as a needed push to get her boss (Robert Bockstael) to marry her, Archie is front-and-center when their host drops dead of poison. So is Nero Wolfe, disguised as the party’s Santa Claus in order to get a good look at the woman Archie has informed his boss he plans to wed.

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Samurai Jack – Episode XIV: Jack Learns to Jump Good

Alan Rapp / May 2, 2019 / Television Reviews

Title: Samurai Jack – Episode XIV: Jack Learns to Jump Good
wiki: link

Throwback Thursday takes us back to the adventures of the time-displaced samurai and his quest to make his way home. The first episode of Samurai Jack‘s Second Season is one of my favorites. After being denied access to a time portal by Aku (Mako) in the opening moments, a despondent Jack (Phil LaMarr) continues his wandering through the woods where he meets some new friends in a peaceful monkey tribe and the human (Jeff Bennett) raised by them. Jack’s new friends have a remarkable ability to jump good but they are defenseless against a more brutal tribe of apes that steal their food. In exchange for teaching them to defend themselves, the White Ape Tribe teach Jack how to “jump good.”

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Supergirl – The House of L

Alan Rapp / March 26, 2019 / Television Reviews

Title: Supergirl – The House of L
wiki: link

Supergirl has consistently been the best of The CW’s super-hero shows for awhile now. And now it has a villain equal to its hero. After a short sequence showing Lex Luthor (Jon Cryer) fight off Supergirl (Melissa Benoist), the rest of the episode features extended flashbacks from the day Lex was sent to prison to the present. Devious, manipulative, and willing to go to great lengths to get what he wants, “The House of L” reveals Lex’s relationship to the “other” Supergirl that we saw show up in Kaznia at the end of last year along with highlighting the various plans and manipulations he’s pulled off from a prison cell planning for this day. Although we get very little of Kara Danvers in this episode, Melissa Benoist is prominently featured as the show finally offers a true introduction to the Red Daughter.

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The Great Films – Unbreakable

Alan Rapp / January 31, 2019 / Home Video

Title: Unbreakable
IMDb: link

“They say this one has a surprise ending.”

Today’s Throwback Thursday post takes us back to one of my favorite super-hero movies. Overshadowed by writer/director M. Night Shyamalan‘s far more commercially successful first film and his subsequent slide into mediocrity, Unbreakable stands alone as the one film from his catalog that gets better with each subsequent viewing. A perfect origin story, Unbreakable is a super-hero film without any of the trappings of super-hero films. A low-key, slow-paced drama, the story slowly unfolds while staying true to the basic truths of comic book storytelling. If there’s an anti-Batman and Robin, it’s Unbreakable.

The film has everything going for it including a writer who understood his subject manner, stars perfectly cast as real-life comic book characters, a terrific humor, and some of the best shot scenes of any film from this decade by Eduardo Serra whose framing choices help mold and develop each character climaxing in the traditional birth of a hero that remains grounded in reality more than any super-hero movie before or since. It’s a perfect storm that results in an amazing film that holds up as well today as when it was released more than 18 years ago.

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BlacKkKlansman

Alan Rapp / December 19, 2018 / Home Video

Title: BlacKkKlansman
IMDb: link

Based on the insane true story of African-American Colorado Springs police officer Ron Stallworth (John David Washington) infiltrating the Klu Klux Klan, Spike Lee delivers one of the most fascinating and entertaining films of the year. Laugh-out-loud funny while also proving timely and relevant to today, Lee crafts an amazing film structured around the performances of John David Washington and Adam Driver as the Black and Jewish cops who performed something so miraculous that, if it hadn’t happened, Hollywood would have been forced to invent it. As a cherry on top, Topher Grace gives us his hilarious take on Grand Wizard David Duke whose white supremacist organization becomes the target of Stallworth’s investigation.

Lee and company provide a near-perfect film that holds up to multiple viewings. Available on Blu-ray and DVD, extras include a short featurette and an extended trailer for the film featuring Prince‘s “Mary Don’t You Weep.”

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