5 Razors

1917

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: 1917
  • IMDb: link

1917 movie reviewBased on actual events that occurred during World War I, 1917 follows two British soldiers (George MacKay and Dean-Charles Chapman) sent alone across enemy territory to warn of an impending ambush by the German Army. The script from director Sam Mendes and Krysty Wilson-Cairns strips down to the bare essentials avoiding obvious tropes and cliches from war movies to deliver one of the most memorable entries to the genre in recent years which was based on a story Mendes’ grandfather told him as a child. Exceptionally well shot by cinematographer Roger Deakins, 1917 is a movie of heroism, sacrifice, and survival that is marvelous to behold.

For a film about war, 1917 is a deceptively quiet film that builds tension between the moments of action (equally as memorable as its quite sequences) as our protagonists race to prevent more than 1,000 troops (including a brother) from walking into the enemy’s deadly trap while performing what appears to the British line as a hasty retreat. Along the way, Mendes sprinkles in supporting performances from the likes of Benedict Cumberbatch, Colin Firth, Mark Strong, and Richard Madden, but the film belongs to the two soldiers on their own past the German line on a suicide mission to deliver a message in time.

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Knives Out

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Knives Out
  • IMDb: link

Knives Out movie reviewRian Johnson delivers a devilishly good time in this fantastically entertaining whodunit set around the apparent suicide of the patriarch (Christopher Plummer) of a wealthy family. Set almost entirely in the Thrombey home, the writer/director makes excellent use of both setting and a talented cast featuring Daniel Craig as private investigator Benoit Blanc who has reason to believe murder has been committed. Part Hercule Poirot and part Columbo, Craig is in good form as the smartest man in the room.

The suspects include every member of the dysfunctional Thrombey family (Jamie Lee Curtis, Toni Collette, Chris Evans, Don Johnson, Katherine Langford, Michael Shannon, Jaeden Martell, and Riki Lindhome) each of whom has motive for murder. To help unravel the family’s dysfunction, Blanc enlists the help of the deceased’s nurse (Ana de Armas). The large supporting cast offers opportunities for several of its stars to steal scenes including Evans playing a role as far removed as possible from Steve Rogers and Johnson as a perfect rich douchebag completely oblivious to his own behavior.

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The Irishman

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

The Irishman movie reviewDirector Martin Scorsese assembles several familiar faces in examining the life of Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran (Robert De Niro). While the structure of the film is a tad odd, flashbacks within flashbacks, the story (adapted from Charles Brandt’s book) slowly peels the onion of Sheeran’s life and his close connection to both Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci) and Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino).

Despite it’s 209-minute running time, there’s little I would cut from Steven Zaillian‘s screenplay, although an argument could be made for trimming the outer layer of the film focused on Sheeran’s elderly years. However, even that plays into the film’s larger narrative about what kind a man the Irishman was and the toll of living the life he did took both on himself and his family.

While there some minor issues (such as De Niro not exactly moving like a young man in the earliest flashbacks), the story Scorsese weaves is a fascinating one that includes some pleasant surprises along the way (such as casting Pesci against type as the level-headed negotiator of the group).

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Usagi Yojimbo #5

/ / Comics

Usagi Yojimbo #5 comic reviewTragedy comes in the conclusion of “The Hero.” True to his word, Miyamoto Usagi helps see Lady Mura back to her father, but there is little comfort the honorable elder can offer. Instead honor insists she return home with her husband, whose sudden appearance does nothing to lessen Usagi’s opinion of the man.

The end of the comic mirrors the opening pages from Mura’s story, just as tragedy befalls the hero in her tale so does it the author who the husband kills on the road back home (blaming the same bandits Usagi fought off earlier in the comic). Usagi doesn’t act on his suspicions, but karma has a role to play in the killer’s future.

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Patriot – Milwaukee, America

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Patriot – Milwaukee, America
  • IMDb: link

Patriot - Milwaukee, America television review

The opening episode of Patriot introduces us to burned-out intelligence officer John Tavner (Michael Dorman), and the son of the head of the agency (Terry O’Quinn). Since the end of his last assignment, John has been hanging out in Amsterdam getting stoned and writing autobiographical folk songs which are becoming more and more about his botched missions. With Iraq elections holding the key to the continued stall or reinvigoration of the country’s weapons program, the elder Tanner tasks his son with a new mission. He also enlists the help of his other son (Michael Chernus), a Congressman from Texas, with helping keep his brother on task by providing him a role of an attache overseas. As with John’s previous assignment, things go wrong rather quickly.

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