Category: 2017

Movie Review – The Beguiled (2017)

The Beguiled (2017)
Written and Directed by Sofia Coppola

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Corporal John McBurney, a Union soldier in the American Civil War, ends up wounded behind enemy lines and is found by the residents of Martha Farnsworth’s girl’s school. At first, the plan is to turn John over to the Confederate soldiers when they come by the institute, but the decision to allow his wounds to heal is preferred citing “Christian treatment.” While it seems awfully lovely that the headmistress doesn’t want John being made to march injured causing him to die, the reality is the women and girls here have taken a fondness for the wounded soldier. This takes a dark turn as John’s intentions are revealed to be much more nefarious and dishonest.

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Comic Book Review – The Hellblazer Rebirth Volume 1

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The Hellblazer Volume 1: The Poison Truth
Written by Simon Oliver
Art by Moritat and Pia Guerra

hellblazerv1John Constantine, the titular Hellblazer, has just arrived back in the U.K. after an extended stay in the States. As soon as John hits the shore, he is pulled into a battle of wills with a demon. This particular conflict involves John succumbing to a curse or figuring out how to pass this evil onto the entire population of London. I bet you can guess which route he goes. Swamp Thing shows up as a support and the petitions John’s help to finding the missing Abby Arcane. A conspiracy of supernatural beings is revealed, and it turns out Abby is deeply involved. Along the way, John pisses off bookies and demons alike, as he is wont to do.

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Movie Review – Blade Runner 2049

Blade Runner 2049
Written by Hampton Fancher and Michael Green
Directed by Denis Villeneuve

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In the wake of the first film’s events, the Tyrell line of replicants have been discarded, and a new company run by Niander Wallace has rolled out a “better” model of replicant, one that is more compliant to their human superiors. A Blade Runner named K is one of these and regularly dispatches the older models who have managed to hide on the fringes of society. That is until one case reveals one of the most significant discoveries in humanity’s history, an event that could change the very fabric of society if it got out. K is told to make sure this secret never gets out and goes on a journey to search out the story behind the mystery. This leads him beyond Los Angeles and across the scarred futuristic landscape, ultimately to a truth about himself.

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Movie Review – mother!

mother!
Written and directed by Darren Aronofsky

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Mother (Jennifer Lawrence) rises in the morning, a new day in her beautiful manor home in the middle of the woods. She shares this home with Him (Javier Bardem), her husband, a poet, and they live in solitude together. Then one night a knock at the door and a Man (Ed Harris) is on the steps. He is a doctor who claims he was told this was a bed and breakfast. Mother’s husband lets him in and without consulting her, allows the Man to stay. The next morning a Woman (Michelle Pfeiffer) arrives, the wife of the Man and suddenly Mother’s husband becomes obsessed with this family, ignoring her. From there, the litany of guests and violence increases as Mother becomes lost in her own world.

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It (2017)

It (2017)
Written by Chase Palmer & Cary Fukunaga, and Gary Dauberman
Directed by Andy Muschietti

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It’s 1988 in Derry, Maine and Bill Denbrough is mourning his brother Georgie who vanished one rainy Saturday afternoon. His group of friends begins to have similar experiences all revolving around a menacing clown called Pennywise. He seems connected to Derry’s history of disappearances, far beyond that of any other town in America. As the Losers, their club’s nickname, investigate further they are led into the very bowels of Derry where the evil waits, eating up their fear and the children of the town.

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Movie Review – Lemon

Lemon
Written by Janicza Bravo and Brett Gelman
Directed by Janicza Bravo

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Isaac Lachmann (Brett Gelman) is a despicable, misanthropic, misogynist, narcissist. He is a struggling actor who teaches acting classes with a pretension so dense it is nauseating. The opening of the film finds his live-in girlfriend Ramona (Judy Greer) trying to sidestep out of their relationship and Isaac taking it in the least mature way possible. He stumbles through episodes in his life that include Passover with his almost equally acidic family. He somehow ends up in another relationship despite being a rude, crass dullard and the story sort of just ends. Isaac’s life continues to be a mire of self-pity and blame shifting.

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Movie Review – Death Note

Death Note (2017)
Written by Charley Parlapanides & Vlas Parlapanides, Jeremy Slater
Directed Adam Wingard

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Angsty Seattle teen Light Turner has a potent weapon literally drop out of the sky, the Death Note. Light finds this leather bound journal is a device that can kill anyone who the bearer knows the face and name of. The target’s name is recorded on a page of the book and Ryuk, the death god who accompanies the book does the rest. It should seem pretty obvious that Light ends up way over his head very quickly. He ends up sharing his secret with Mia, a cheerleader at his school and she takes to the book with a disturbing glee. Soon the series of strange deaths, all befalling known criminals, draws the attention of authorities and an unusual detective known only as L.

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Movie Review – The Fate of the Furious

The Fate of the Furious (2017)
Written by Chris Morgan
Directed by F. Gary Gray

Film Title: The Fate of the Furious

Dominic Toretto is spending his honeymoon in Havana, Cuba when his path crosses with international terrorist hacker Cipher (Charlize Theron). Cipher has sought out Dom, with a particular bit of leverage, to force him in helping her go about some sort of overly convoluted terrorist shit. This makes it appear that Dom has betrayed his crew, but Letty is convinced more is going on behind the scenes. Meanwhile, Hobbs needs the team’s help in recovering an emp device that just so happens to tie into Cipher’s plans. Deckard Shaw is tossed back into the mix, this time on the side of the good guys. Crazy shit happens, and the plot quickly crumbles away into noise and confusion.

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Movie Review – War for the Planet of the Apes

War for the Planet of the Apes (2017)
Written by Mark Bomback & Matt Reeves
Directed by Matt Reeves

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Following the events of the previous film, a military unit is now hunting Caesar’s community as they attempt to live their lives in peace in the redwood forests outside of San Francisco. The film opens with a horrific ambush on the jungle outpost, and Caesar attempts to be merciful in dealing with the captured soldiers. This backfires, and more tragedy strikes the apes. Finally, Caesar can take no more. He heads out with some trusted allies to find the Colonel behind these attacks and end the conflict once and for all. There are surprises along the way as he learns more about the Simian Flu and its effects on humans as well as gaining new allies. All this comes to a head when Caesar finds the outpost of the Colonel and learns his plans for apes and his fellow humans.

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Movie Review – Spider-Man: Homecoming

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Written by Jonathan Goldstein & John Francis Daley, Jon Watts & Christopher Ford, and Chris McKenna & Erik Sommers
Directed by Jon Watts

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Peter Parker is riding the high from helping out Iron Man during the events of Captain America: Civil War. With his new Stark designed Spidey suit, he patrols Queens every afternoon after school and awaits the call for his next mission with the Avengers. However, he quickly learns that the primary focus of Tony Stark is for Peter to continue with his education and stay safe. Meanwhile, former salvage worker Adrian Toomes and his crew have had their livelihood taken from them by the newly formed Department of Damage Control, feds who come in and take over the recovery of tech from Avengers-related battles. Seeing that they are living in a new world, Toomes leads his men to steal and harvest this tech as weapons for ordinary criminals. Toomes himself wears a pair of vulture wings that allow him to swoop in and hijack shipments of technology. Peter and Toomes’ paths begin crossing, and our teenage hero has balance life as a high school student with the impending danger of these new weapons.

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