Legends of Tomorrow – Blood Ties recap

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by Thom Yee

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Legends of Tomorrow images courtesy of Warner Bros. Television Distribution

1×03: “Blood Ties”

Pfft. Some Time Master.

This week we pick up with our heroes still getting weird in the ‘70s, and once again we’re split up into three discrete groups as we try to solve the mystery of what Vandal Savage is doing with Hawkman’s deceased body. Forming new plans after failing to stop Savage during last week’s shenanigans, Rip and Sarah decide that if they can’t halt Savage’s plans, they can at least slow them down by hitting where it hurts (his wallet), Jax is charged with repairing the Waverider’s heretofore unrevealed secondary jump ship that was damaged during the team’s fight with Chronos and Leonard and Rory decide to take advantage by forcing Jax to use the ship to right a previous wrong, and Martin and Ray get into their own subatomic adventures in order to save Kendra’s life. Continue reading

The Hateful Eight review

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Fear leads to anger.  Anger leads to hate.  Hate leads to suffering. And I love watching people suffer.

by Thom Yee

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The Hateful Eight images courtesy of the Weinstein Company

I love Death Proof.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say that. Theatrically released as the second half of the Grindhouse double feature in 2007 and following Robert Rodriquez’s first part with Planet Terror (towards which I’m fairly indifferent), most people I’ve heard from don’t seem to care for Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof, and when compared to the rest of his output, the tale of misandrist women, the men who want to sleep with them, and the stunt men who want to kill them stands out like a sore thumb. In a bad way.

But I love Death Proof. Continue reading

Legends of Tomorrow – Pilot, pt. 2 recap

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by Thom Yee

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Legends of Tomorrow images courtesy of Warner Bros. Television Distribution

1×02: “Pilot (2)”

After the disastrous (but probably fated to happen) events of the previous episode in which our heroes travelled back to the ‘70s, get two of their own teammate’s’ grownup child killed, and then find out they’re less legends but losers, we now find ourselves with a group that’s somewhat more disillusioned with their series’ initial premise and now very distrustful of Rip Hunter, the time master/mastermind that brought them together. Following clues left behind in the wake of their misadventures, the group sets off on the trail of Vandal Savage without Rip’s supervision, but when the Atom accidentally leaves a piece of his supersuit behind in the hands of terrorists, they end up ruining their own present and have to undo their latest mistake before leaving 1975. Continue reading

Legends of Tomorrow – Pilot, pt. 1 recap

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Why I’m Watching… Legends of Tomorrow

by Thom Yee

legends-of-tomorrow-headWhen you break superheroes down to their base concepts, the one thing that probably draws us all to them is their superpowers. For all of its apparent faults, my favourite moment in Avengers:  Age of Ultron is when all of the Vision, the Thor, and Iron Man combine their individual energy blasts to take down Ultron. It’s one of those glorious, everyone-gang-up-on-the impossible-threat moments (à la George Perez) that really made me love that movie, but like any other story, a good superhero story needs at least a little more complexity than “People! With powers!” On television, though, most shows have had a problem even getting that first part right. Continue reading

Star Wars: The Force Awakens review

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Stop me if you’ve heard this one before

by Thom Yee

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Star Wars: The Force Awakens images courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

What if a child grew up without seeing Star Wars in the same way that society sees it? What if a child found far greater meaning in the other stories he grew up with? That child would be me.

I don’t get Star Wars. I mean, I get it, it’s not like there’s some abstraction that makes it hard to interpret or understand, and I can see how it’s vast array of post-movie product offerings — toys, books, clothing, ornaments, lifestyle accessories — have allowed it to become such a big deal, but I don’t get why it’s become such an all-consuming behemoth of an intellectual property or why it’s managed to gain fan warship at a level and with a reach so far in excess of any other franchise that doesn’t count the Bible or Dianetics amongst its works. Continue reading