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No Time to Die

  • Title: No Time to Die
  • IMDb: link

Daniel Craig‘s tenure as British Secret Agent James Bond comes to an end as the troubled No Time to Die (first delayed by a director swap then by COVID) finally makes it into theaters. More than Craig’s last film, the four writers credited to the film set out to make it Bond’s last film creating a scenario where Craig both begins (Casino Royale) and ends Bond’s legacy. For those agree that Craig is the definitive Bond, the choice may be easier to swallow than those of us who believe, at best, he ranks third or fourth in a franchise spanning nearly 60 years.

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Zoom

  • Title: Zoom
  • IMDb: link

ZoomThrowback Tuesday takes us back to the box office and critical failure of 2006’s super-hero comedy Zoom. The film stars Tim Allen as a former teen super-hero brought back to the secret government program 30 years later to help train a new generation of heroes (Michael Cassidy, Kate Mara, Spencer Breslin, and Ryan Whitney). As with most of these team hero tales, about half of the powers turn out to be useful while the rest are used mainly for comic relief (although rarely for big laughs).

The supporting cast is made up of over-the-top characters in charge of the program played by the likes of Courteney Cox, Chevy Chase, and Rip Torn. Unaware of the looming threat (which turns out to be his long lost brother, played by Kevin Zegers, driven insane by government testing), and resenting being drafted into service against his will, Allen is stuck is schmuck mode for the first-half of the film.

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If Looks Could Kill

  • Title: If Looks Could Kill (1991)
  • IMDb: link

If Looks Could Kill

Released six years before Mike Myers would bring Austin Powers to life in a spy parody about a man literally out of time, Richard Grieco stars as a high school student thrust into the spy world in the most unlikely way possible. Flashback Friday looks back at 1991’s If Looks Could Kill.

The movie has a little bit of everything for Bond fans including Linda Hunt in the role of an evil henchwoman playing homage to Lotte Lenya‘s Rosa Klebb in From Russia with Love. We also get Roger Rees as the typical evil businessman seeking world domination, plenty of spy gadgets, beautiful women including Gabrielle Anwar and Geraldine James, fast cars, and a tongue-in-cheek plot where the villain is literally crushed to death by his own greed.

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Lady Bloodfight

  • Title: Lady Bloodfight
  • IMDb: link

Lady Bloodfight movie reviewThrowback Tuesday takes us back to to 2016 and an all-female martial arts tournament called the Kumite. The script by Bey Logan and Judd Bloch is more confusing than it needs to be with unnecessary subplots getting the way of what should be a straightforward fight film. The movie opens with two competitors fighting to a draw in the tournament, and each given the opportunity to train a fighter for the next Kumite. Each take their sweet time, finding a suitable student at the last minute.

The tranquil Shu (Muriel Hofmann) chooses the unlikely American Jane (Amy Johnston) whose sudden trip to Japan is more about learning about father’s participation years ago (when it wasn’t an all-female tournament?) than running away from the brutal beating she gives would-be gang rapists offering a particularly vulgar Southern hospitality half a world away. The vengeful Wai (Kathy Wu) chooses street thief Ling (Jenny Wu) with a mean streak that matches her own (in yet another twisty subplot). Despite the talented field, and the tampering of an unscrupulous gambler, there’s never a doubt who will settle the feud in the tournament’s final match.

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Supergirl – Welcome Back, Kara!

  • Title: Supergirl – Welcome Back, Kara!
  • wiki: link

Supergirl - Welcome Back, Kara! television review

Supergirl returns from its mid-season hiatus primarily dealing with the fallout from the lackluster first-half of the show’s final season. There’s plenty of phantom talk here, along with Kara (Melissa Benoist) readjusting to life back on Earth and, only in the final scene of the episode, acknowledging and dealing with the PTSD from her time in the Phantom Zone. Kara’s attempts to find other stories to reporting on than phantoms backfire when Andrea (Julie Gonzalo) assigns William (Staz Nair) to dig into the city’s superheroes for more juicy stories.

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