Mystery

2004 – Spartan

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  • Title: Spartan
  • IMDb: link

“Where’s the girl?”

Spartan

Ten years ago today David Mamet‘s thriller Spartan opened in theaters starring Val Kilmer (in one of his best roles) and a relatively unknown actress (Kristen Bell) only months away from her career breakthrough as a spunky teen detective. Although my favorite Mamet scripts are his satires (State and Main, Wag the Dog), Spartan is an underrated gem that received neither the box office nor critical success it deserved.

Kilmer stars as a member of Delta Force tasked with finding the President’s daughter (Bell) before anyone realizes the young woman is missing. As with other Mamet thrillers, the plot offers twists and turns in a slowly unraveling mystery involving white slavery, kidnapping, family secrets, and questionable orders that costs several good people their lives and careers.

As you would expect from a Mamet film, the supporting cast is top-notch including Derek Luke as Kilmer’s junior partner, Clark Gregg, William H. Macy, Tia Texada, and Ed O’Neill.

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2004 – Spartan Read More »

Scooby-Doo! Team-Up #3

/ / Comics

Scooby-Doo! Team-Up #3What should be a relatively simple take down by Mystery, Inc. and Batman and Robin of The Spook and False Face turns far more complicated when Batman’s #1 fan from the Fifth Dimension shows up to cause all kinds of trouble. That’s right, it’s Bat-Mite!

Of course to show how much he loves Batman the imp begins messing with reality including changing the appearances of Mystery, Inc. (more than once) and endowing the villainous weapon-creators with extraordinary powers to make them more of a threat for the heroes to take down.

Things get even wackier with the appearance of Scooby’s #1 fan Scooby-Mite who decides to make his own changes to reality (including given the scaredy-dog super-powers). We even get an appearance of Larry (Robin’s biggest fan) to make the insanity complete. Once again, my only complaint with this comic is that I have to wait two months between issues. Worth a look.

[DC, $2.99]

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The Mentalist – Black Helicopters

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: The Mentalist – Black Helicopters
  • wiki: link

The Mentalist - Black Helicopters

The murder of a Federal Public Defender in Mexico leads Jane‘s (Simon Baker) to uncover an underground tunnel from Texas to Mexico used to smuggle people and goods across the border (and dump the victim’s body in another country). Despite the number of laws the rancher is charged with breaking, murder isn’t one of them leading Jane and Fischer (Emily Swallow) to look for leads on this side of the border involving a Texas commune (which Jane strands Fischer to investigate on his own).

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The Mentalist – Black Helicopters Read More »

Hawaii Five-0 – Hoku Welowelo

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Hawaii Five-0 – Hoku Welowelo
  • wiki: link

Hawaii Five-0 - Hoku Welowelo

With the help of their old conspiracy pal Jerry (Jorge Garcia) and a Chinese spy (Elaine Tan) Five-0 investigate a Chinese spy satellite that crashed in the Pacific Ocean and the treacherous Chinese mercenary who killed three witnesses and plans to sell the data on the satellite (containing sensitive U.S. Naval troop movements) to the highest bidder. Despite not being able to completely trust the spy (who Jerry tases in his mother’s basement and who has a connection to the terrorist she’s has told them about), the group still manages to recover the intel before it hits the black market.

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Elementary – Ears to You

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Elementary – Ears to You
  • wiki: link

Elementary - Ears to You

While growing wearisome of Lestrade‘s (Sean Pertwee) stay in the brownstone, Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) is called in to investigate an unusual case involving a former murder suspect (Jeremy Davidson) who is being extorted by a kidnapper who claims to have the man’s missing wife in his possession (the same woman the police believed their suspect killed four years ago). To prove his point the kidnapper sends the man a pair of severed ears he claims belong to the man’s missing wife (Cara Buono).

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