Marvel and MadHouse team together to offer fans of Iron Man a really fun and unique animated adventure with Tony Stark and Iron Man. And while it’s short on plot, it more than compensates for that short coming with some dazzling animation, and an excellent sense of pacing that keeps “Rise of Technovore” absolutely engrossing. Though most of the anime efforts from Marvel with Madhouse have the capability of slowing down, “Rise of Technovore” is always moving and always fun.
Iron Man 3 (2013)
Director Shane Black loves Christmas. Hell, the finale to “Iron Man 3” is a loving tribute to the classic “March of the Wooden Soldiers,” but in the end what makes “Iron Man 3” is not the finer Shane Black touches, but the purely intelligent and utterly volatile commentary on terrorism and the American government that really plants this final entry as the most mature of the “Iron Man” films by far. While “Iron Man” is the most entertaining, “Iron Man 3” has a lot to say about the war on terrorism.
Do Not Disturb (DVD) (2013)
Director B.C. Furtney’s horror thriller watches almost like an off off-Broadway play somewhere in some run down theater. “Do Not Disturb” watches like it began life as a stage play and then was turned in to a screenplay after it languished for a few years. Filled with horror genre notables, “Do Not Disturb” is mostly confined to the setting of one room, and is about as dull as any self-important stage play you’ve seen in Manhattan.
Hatchet III: Unrated Director's Cut [Blu-ray] (2013)
I’ve warmed up to “Hatchet III” a little bit since I originally saw it. Not a whole lot, but just a tiny bit. Mostly because while Adam Green is still better than what this premise entails, he is actually talented when he decides to be. Like Adam Sandler, he can deliver some true greatness, he just indulges his fan base that asks for more lowbrow entertainment that he makes his bread and butter off of. When most of his fans were mocking Green for directing the PG-13 “Spiral,” I don’t blame the man for sticking to the gore soaked “Hatchet” films to keep his (ugh) “Hatchet Army” by his side.
Combat! The Complete Fifth Season (DVD)
This is it. The final season of one of the most critically acclaimed war dramas ever created. On an eight disc edition for fans, “Combat! The Complete Fifth Season” is the only season of the popular war drama broadcast in color, and it features the stories of two parallel platoons on a journey in World War II.
Well known for its array of guest stars, as well as its direction and writing from noted directors included Robert Altman, “Combat!” is a change of pace for the series before it bows out, with new props, and settings, but delivering the same exciting war based drama we know the series for. In one episode character Saunders is blinded in combat and tricked by a German Chaplain to help a wounded German soldier, while in another episode Saunders receives the upsetting news that his brother has enlisted in the army.
Comic Bucket List #3: Danger Girl
“The Comic Bucket List” is a limited column where we review 25 comic books and graphic novels we’ve been meaning to read for years. We discover if they were worth waiting for, or if they never quite lived up to the hype they promised.
DANGER GIRL (FIRST RUN)
1998
J. Scott Campbell, Andy Hartnell
HazMat (2013)
As a slasher fanatic I really can’t endorse “Hazmat” enough. As a Hispanic male, the almost completely Hispanic cast for “Hazmat” is also another reason why I endorse director Lou Simon’s slasher film. You often see so many slasher films about white kids running back and forth and fighting a slasher, it’s rare that we see a predominantly Hispanic cast facing off against a masked killer.