Action

Samurai Jack #20

Samurai Jack #20Although it has far less of our title character than any other issue of the series, Samurai Jack #20 is a fitting end to IDW’s comic adventures of the time-displaced samurai. Set years in the future, the issue centers not on Jack but a scribe named Mako (in deference to the actor who so brilliantly voiced the Jack’s nemesis in the cartoon) who has spent his life gathering stories of Samurai Jack.

On the eve of Jack’s latest, and largest, assault against Aku, Mako luckily runs into someone that not only has firsthand knowledge of Jack but who can lead him straight to the legendary warrior’s camp not only allowing Mako to hear countless new stories of Jack but also meet the man himself.

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Samurai Jack – Episode III: The First Fight

  • Title: Samurai Jack – Episode III: The First Fight
  • wiki: link

Samurai Jack- Episode III: The First Fight

Wrapping up the show’s introductory arc, “Episode III” gives fans their first real taste of what will become the show’s trademark action style as more than two-thirds of the episode are devoted to a single battle between Jack (Phil LaMarr) and the beetle robots of Aku (Mako). “The First Fight” also offers another montage featuring Jack and his new canine archeologist friends laying a trap for Aku’s drones that helps weed out their numbers while still leaving a near-unending number of them for the samurai to deal with personally.

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Samurai Jack – Episode II: The Samurai Called Jack

  • Title: Samurai Jack – Episode II: The Samurai Called Jack
  • wiki: link

Samurai Jack - Episode II: The Samurai Called Jack

“Episode II” introduces both the hero and audience to a bizarre dystopian future filled with talking canine archaeologists, aliens and robots of every type, and a worldwide kingdom ruled over by Aku (Mako). Although centuries of Aku’s rule has morphed the world into a technological dictatorship, for our hero no time has passed. Earning the name Jack from some alien teens, and learning the sad history of the world by a trio of talking dogs hoping to hire the swordsman, Samurai Jack‘s (Phil LaMarr) long journey to find his way home begins.

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Human Target – Sanctuary

  • Title: Human Target – Sanctuary
  • wiki: link

Human Target - Sanctuary

Although still quite enjoyable, and better than several episodes of the show’s Second Season, “Sanctuary” is the weakest episode of Human Target‘s opening season with a bit too much of Indiana Jones (mercenaries, hidden art, a secret monastery) for its own good. Always a sucker for the ladies, “Sanctuary” begins with Christopher Chance (Mark Valley) being hired by the girlfriend (Sarah Smyth) of a reformed thief (Sam Huntington) who turned on his crew rather than see the woman he loves get hurt. Now hiding out in a monastery on top of a mountain the thief is unaware the criminals he helped put away have escaped and are coming for revenge (and a priceless artifact hidden for decades somewhere in the monastery).

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San Andreas

  • Title: San Andreas
  • IMDb: link

San AndreasIt’s hard to make either a great or truly awful disaster movie. Even setting out to craft memorable disaster porn (unless it’s centered around a completely ridiculous premise like sending oil riggers into space) is a challenge. Bucking the trend of world-ending disaster films where characters are fighting asteroids, a new Ice Age, or the core of the Earth disrupting all life on the planet, San Andreas is a bit of a throwback focusing just on California, and, for the most part, San Fransisco. A more localized disaster doesn’t have the doomsday cache of something like 2012 but San Andreas turns out to be a far better film.

Our main characters are fire and rescue expert Ray (Dwayne “It’s Okay to Call Me The Rock Again” Johnson), his estranged wife Emma (Carla Gugino), and their college-age daughter Blake (Alexandra Daddario) who are separated when California begins experiencing a series of increasingly harsh earthquakes and spend the film working back to each other as, once again, a huge disaster seems to magically fix all relationship issues over two hours. Disaster couples counseling has been used so often in movies it has become its own cliche.

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