Time travel stories are tricky and the number of movies that intelligently discuss the topic are outnumbered by hundreds that don't (for proof look no further than the pathetic likes of The Time Machine, Timeline, Black Knight, Freejack, and the truly awful adaptation of Ray Bradbury's A Sound of Thunder). Thankfully, director Colin Trevorrow's Safety Not Guaranteed doesn't fall into this category. Instead, it produces one of the year's most unexpected and memorable films.
There is never a doubt that Moonrise Kingdom is a Wes Anderson film. From the opening credit sequence to the final shot the writer/director's latest is filled with his voice and style. I haven't always been Anderson's biggest fan, as at times I think he sacrifices substance for style (The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, and to a lesser extent Rushmore), but I enjoyeed The Darjeeling Limited and appreciated The Fantastic Mr. Fox enough to include it on a list of my the Best Films of 2009.
With the "Night of Owls" crossovers now official done Nightwing moves forward with a new arc as Dick Grayson makes several important decisions about his future. We also get our first look at the army of vigilantes dressed up as knights and led by another New 52 villain - Paragon.
The final issue of this arc finds Captain Atom, in fact several different versions of Captain Atom from all across time and space, attempting to stop the entity known as Chromo Mata. Of course we know (from the final panel of last month's issue) that Chromo Mata is actually the futuristic near God-like version of Captain Atom.
After Zartan survived the first attempt on his life, Storm Shadow sends Snake Eyes and Rika out to finish the job. That's only half of Zartan's problems, however, as his insolence has perturbed the new Cobra Commander enough to allow Savane to make a name for herself in Cobra by killing him as well.
Producer George Lucas began developing the story of the Tuskegee Airmen as a theatrical project way back in 1988. Originally developed as a trilogy, Red Tails languished in development for years as Lucas moved on to other projects (including the Star Wars prequels). As a historical drama the film is problematic, but as an action film centered around real-life African-American heroes Red Tails is not without some charm.
For two months the Winter Soldier and Black Widow have tracked Leo Novokov, the third Soviet sleeper agent trained by Bucky who is loose in the world and leading the pair, and S.H.I.E.L.D. on a scavenger hunt filled with the bodies of government agents, soldiers, a doctor, a bellhop, and one of Bucky's oldest friends.
Liam Neeson stars as one of seven oil workers (Frank Grillo, Dallas Roberts, Joe Anderson, Nonso Anozie, Ben Bray, Dermot Mulroney) to survive a plane crash in the Alaskan wilderness. A skilled hunter hired to keep the wolves off the workers in the fields, Ottway (Neeson) takes control of the survivors who have been marooned in the middle of the hunting grounds of a large pack of hungry, and vicious, gray wolves.
Picking up from the previous issue's cliffhanger, Daredevil finds himself unfeed and sensory deprived in a Latverian prison for more than 17 hours. By the time Chancellor Exchequer Beltane shows up to pronounce sentence on him for "fiscal terrorism" the man without fear is weakened and primed to be gassed.
It’s a new week so it must be time to talk about comics! Welcome to the RazorFine Comic Rack boys and girls. Pull up a bean bag and take a seat at feet of the master as we offer you this quick list of all kinds of comic book goodness set to hit comic shops and bookstores this week from all your favorite publishers including DC, Marvel, Dark Horse, Archie, Dynamite, Image Comics, and others.
Kori is approached by Orn, a former comrade, who enlists the princess' help to save her homeworld. Soon Arsenal, Red Hood, and Jason's date for the evening find themselves on Tamarian battle cruiser with Starfire preparing for war.
The final issue in the mini-series finds Po set against his most formidable foe yet - his own stomach. To help teach the Dragon Warrior discipline Shifu orders Po to fast for 24 hours. However, it appears the universe has something else in mind as his surroundings keep tempting him with food including a dumpling eating contest that a weary Po stumbles on while struggling with his fast.
What if Armageddon had failed? Well, if you're writer/director Lorene Scafaria the story might lead to a quirky odd couple road trip which mixes in equal measure romantic comedy and art film sensibilities. Seeking a Friend for the End of the World opens with insurance salesman Dodge (Steve Carell) and his wife Linda (Nancy Carell) in their car hearing the news that NASA's last ditch shuttle mission to deflect the asteroid hurtling to the Earth has failed.
It's taken Pixar nearly two decades, and a dozen films, for the animation studio to give us their first attempt at a feature film centered around a female character. Merida (Kelly Macdonald), the fiery tomboyish Scottish princess certainly fits into Disney's Princess franchise, but Pixar one-ups the house that Mickey built by giving us a story centered around a troubled, but loving, mother-daughter relationship (something Disney hasn't been able to achieve in far longer than two decades).
"War of the Robins" begins as Damian assembles all of Batman's former sidekicks together (minus, of course, a still un-rebooted Stephanie Brown) and announces his plans to defeat each of them proving himself to be the best Robin. He begins, not surprisingly with his most heated rival, Tim Drake.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine #10 concludes the "Apart of Me" storyline which found Buffy's consciousness trapped in the body of a Buffybot and her body's new personality under the brainwashing of psycho slayer Simone. 
Although Journey 2: The Mysterious Island returns only a single character from 2008's Journey to the Center of the Earth the sequel feels very much like a retread of the same adventure. Once again we get the teenager on a quest to find a lost family member with the help of an older authority figure in the middle of a Jules Vernian landscape come to life.
The Third Season of White Collar finds Neal Cafferey (Matt Bomer) confronted with a choice. After the fallout from Season Two's finale, Neal and Mozzie (Willie Garson) find themselves in possession of stolen Nazi treasure with hundreds of millions of dollars. But despite his best friend's constant urges to run with the loot and start their new lives, Neal finds himself unwilling to give up his partnership with Peter (Tim DeKay) and the life he's created for himself as a consultant for the FBI.
Captain America tracks down Jack Garrett, the leak in S.H.I.E.L.D. who has been supplying HYDRA with names of criminals in witness protection, which leads him one step closer to Henry Gyrich. We also see how Gyrich is controlling the new Scourge, who no one but a still unconscious Diamondback knows is Cap's old friend D-Man.
And I thought the first movie was dumb. Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance and somehow still found myself disappointed. Somehow co-directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor (the brains behind the Crank films... and Jonah Hex) manage to deliver a film that's less engaging, and arguably makes less sense, than the first trainwreck.
Um... what? Writer Scott Snyder joins Jeph Loeb (who invented Bruce Wayne's childhood friend turned super-villain) and Grant Morrison (who basically has carte blanche to do whatever the hell he wants concerning Batman and his history including turning him into 1970's Tony Stark) in writing a major departure for the character that gives Bruce Wayne... a brother?
It’s a new week so it must be time to talk about comics! Welcome to the RazorFine Comic Rack boys and girls. Pull up a bean bag and take a seat at feet of the master as we offer you this quick list of all kinds of comic book goodness set to hit comic shops and bookstores this week from all your favorite publishers including DC, Marvel, Dark Horse, Archie, Dynamite, Image Comics, and others.
Along with showcasing how Houston's new hero has taken the city by storm the latest issue of Scarlet Spider puts quite a few stories in motion. We get Kaine squaring off with Ana Kravinoff, his growing frustration with Aracely's ability to know more about him than she should (and maybe even more than than he knows about himself), and a couple references to a blue hoodie and the man who used to be known as Scarlet Spider.
With Marshall Dorsey dead the Lone Ranger leaves Tonto in the care of Utopia's doctor and turns his attention on Dorsey's train robbers who are now out for blood and gold now that the threat of the man who kept them under his thumb has been taken care of by the masked man and his Indian companion.
With the Indigo Tribe released from the control of their shattered Power Battery, and with only a minimal charge left in their rings, Hal Jordan and Sinestro find themselves running for their lives from a group of the universes most deadly and dangerous killers.
Brought from Broadway to the silver screen by director Adam Shankman and screenwriters Justin Theroux, Chris D'Arienzo, and Allan Loeb, Rock of Ages is a celebration of classic 1980's rock that gives us the story of a small town girl (Julianne Hough) and a city boy raised in south Detroit (Diego Boneta) whose paths cross in a famous Hollywood bar on the Sunset Strip known as The Bourbon Room.
Fairest's opening tale of Ali Baba, Briar Rose, and the Snow Queen continues with Jonah Panghammer continuing his tale of Briar Rose's birth and cluing the Snow Queen in on a couple of facts she may have overlooked.
As the Exile takes control of Dyna Dome, Erin finds herself at the mercy of the Dino-Men who have knocked-out Super Dinosaur and turned their attention on the young girl who hitched a ride to the action, not realizing how dangerous things would get.
I was surprised at home much I enjoyed the first issue of Worlds' Finest which reintroduced Huntress and Power Girl as heroes from Earth-2 stranded in the New 52 DC Universe. 
The Winter Soldier's investigation into the missing third Soviet sleeper agent leads the the discovery that Leo Novokov was awoken 12 years prior during an earthquake and has been loose in America ever since.
It's odd that Universal waited this long to release the First Season of Fairly Legal on DVD just as the Second Season is winding down. The three-disc set includes all ten episodes of the first season including an extended version of the Pilot episode.
"P.E." concludes as we catch up to Hunter being chased through the woods by a knife-wielding Zoe who is out to kill him just as she has killed the young girl who fancied him moments before. Last issue gave us some insight into Zoe's motivations, and the final issue of the arc helps fill in some of Hunter's past as well.
John Carter may not have been the box office bonanza Disney was expecting, but the film (based on the stories of Edgar Rice Burroughs) was one of my favorite films of the first-half of 2012.
When DC announced its plans for Before Watchmen, a new mini-series set in the world Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons created more than 25 years ago, but without their input, I was, like many, not too keen on the idea. Of all the titles suggested the only one that piqued a little interest was Minutemen.
If you were wondering how Marvel Comics was going to draw out Hope Summers becoming the Phoenix over a twelve-issue maxi-series, issue #5 answers that question with an unexpected bait-and-switch.
After four months where the mini-series had apparently run its course, Ape Entertainment's Kung Fu Panda returns with the first of two new issues before beginning a new series Tales of the Dragon Warrior. 
