5 Razors

Community – G.I. JEFF

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Community – G.I. Jeff
  • wiki: link

“G.I. JOE is the codename for America’s daring awesomely trained awesome mission force. Its purpose: To fight Cobra, because they’re terrorists!”

Community - G.I. JEFF

That was awesome! Unapologetically pulling the nostalgic strings of everyone who grew up watching G.I. JOE: A Real American Hero, and guaranteeing I will buy this season on DVD, the only question anyone needs to ask about G.I. Jeff is: Is it a great episode of Community or the greatest episode of Community?

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Li’l Sonja

/ / Comics

Li'l SonjaWhen Dynamite started putting out all of these cute one-shots inspired by the company’s current catalog, Li’l Sonja was the one that caught my eye. It took me a while to get to the issue, partially due to having to special order the terrific variant cover by Agnes Garbowska, and partly out of my own forgetfulness, but once I picked it up I was in heaven.

Written by Jim Zub, whose work in IDW’s new Samurai Jack comic I have been enjoying, with art by Joel Carroll, Li’l Sonja is the type of comic I want to see Dynamite start putting out monthly. The story centers around the heroine’s travels leading her to investigate disappearance of red objects and red-headed children caused by greedy red dragon.

Fighting off the dragon with her sword, wits, and a full page of wonderful puns, Sonja eventually outsmarts the dragon and saves the day. A hell of a lot of fun, my only disappointment comes from how long it took me to pick it up and the fact that there’s no issue #2 to look forward to. Must-read.

[Dynamite Entertainment, $3.99]

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2004 – Million Dollar Baby

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Million Dollar Baby
  • IMDB: link

Million Dollar BabyNo matter how many times I’ve seen the film, there’s a moment in Million Dollar Baby that hits me like a jab straight to the gut, far harder than any thrown inside the ring in this film about boxing, life, death, and balancing the consequences of all three. Even ten years later with the movie now available in a new Tenth Anniversary Blu-ray release I find myself reluctant to give away the twist for those who have not yet seen the film.

The movie is never about what you think it’s about. While borrowing aspects of your run-of-the-mill sports film, the script by Paul Haggis travels a winding road of subtle and abrupt turns, much like life. Earning near universal praise, Million Dollar Baby took home Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director for Clint Eastwood, Best Actress for Hillary Swank, and Best Supporting Actor for Morgan Freeman. The film has aged well and, along with Sideways, The Incredibles, and Before Sunset, it remains one of my favorite films of 2004.

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12 Years a Slave

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: 12 Years a Slave
  • IMDB: link

12 Years a SlaveBased on the memoirs of Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free New England man kidnapped and forced into slavery for 12 years while visiting Washington, D.C., the historical drama from director Steve McQueen and screenwriter John Ridley is an accounting of those experiences and the long road Northup takes to make it home to his wife and children. It’s often not an easy film to watch but it is an example of exceptional filmmaking that mark it as one of the best films of 2013.

Any discussion of the film must begin with Chiwetel Ejiofor, a longtime favorite of mine. Ejiofor’s terrific performance of a man caught-up in events and circumstances far beyond his control, struggling with loosing hope or ever seeing his family again while doing what he must to survive, is a brilliant piece of acting. Against the harshness of the events which surround his character, Ejiofor’s humanity shines through as a witness to the sin of slavery. Without what he’s able to bring to the role the stark honesty of McQueen’s film would be difficult to endure.

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Doctor Who – The Girl in the Fireplace

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Doctor Who – The Girl in the Fireplace
  • wiki: link

“The Doctor is worth the monsters. One may tolerate a world of demons for the sake of an angel.”

 

Doctor Who - The Girl in the Fireplace

In honor of the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who we continue to look back at some old episodes of the series. If I had to choose my favorite episode of the Doctor Who relaunch it would be “Blink,” but a very close second would be “The Girl in the Fireplace.” From the show’s Second Season, the TARDIS lands in the year 5,000 on an abandoned space station populated by clockwork automatons whose soul purpose seems to be using the ship to punch a hole through time and opening windows into 18th Century France along the lifeline of a single woman.

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