Rekt Reviews

Today we dissect the Marvel TV show "Legion" on FX. This series is incredibly heady, with a higher than usual barrier to entry. In fact, it took Erik and Shark about 2 episodes before really getting on board. Cinematically gorgeous, with a fantastic soundtrack, Legion looks at the B-Side of the X-Men universe, focusing on the psychological, psychedelic and psychotic elements of mutant superpowers.
The show is very much unlike anything else on TV and perhaps can best be described as an LSD trip shared among Wes Anderson, Stanley Kubric and Stan Lee. If that sounds like your cup of electric Kool-Aid, you owe it to yourself to give it a viewing.

Erik, Paul and Shark offer their six cents on "Logan", the final chapter of the Wolverine trilogy.
If you can get past the somberness, nihilism and brutal violence, the film is excellent, arguably one of the most well-executed superhero movies in recent history, (at least from an adult fan's point of view.) Logan's gritty down-to-erthinness gives the movie more of a hrad sci-fi/drama feel, a welcome break from those of us tired of pretty people flying through the air and shooting various energy beams out of their various orifices.

Erik and Paul discuss their impressions of John Wick: Chapter 2. The movie's popularity is well earned by fresh and technically impressive action sequences and its grasp on what kind of movie it is and isn't. It does not take itself too seriously and delivers what it promises: Matrix legacy stunt work, stay-outta-trouble acting from Keanu, and some cool cameos.

Drinking at noon on New Year's day is a hard job but someone's gotta do it and so the Rekt krew start off the new year with a little hair of the dog and a review of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
Shark expresses some high praise for the movie saying he "didn't hate it" but both he and Erik felt the main characters offered nothing for the viewer to care about and so the dangers and sacrifices have no emotional resonance. They are also annoyed by the fact that although the movie promised to be a standalone story that was suposed to veer away from the baggage of the trilogies, it still ended up being tightly bound to the plot lines and characters of "A New Hope."
Paul, being the least hung over, least grumpy and thus more forgiving seems to have liked the movie the most, particularly for it being less focused on all the Jedi woo woo and being more of a down to earth war film.
The one thing everyone agrees on is that the end scene with Vader in top form, going through a squad of rebels like a hot knife through butter, is pretty kick-ass.

Erik, Paul and Shark share their views on the HBO hit series, "Westworld". Just because a show is critically acclaimed, doesn't mean a group of functional alcoholics with microphones can't find someting to complain about. Shark is grumpy as always, prefering the 1973 movie version of Westworld, (which he went to see in a blizzard, uphill both ways.) Erik and Paul feel that although the show started out incredibly strong, as the plot twists start piling up, so unfortunately do the plot holes. The season finale delivers some cool mind-twisting reveals but time will tell whether this show has a good idea of where exactly it's headed, aside from the contrivance of machines being more human than humans.

While America licks its wounds from this week's presidential election, the Rekt Krew focuses on the truly important issues. In this episode we review the latest addition to the Marvel Universe - "Dr. Strange". On one hand the movie is visually very imaginative and trippy but copies too much of it's mind-bending visuals from Christopher Nolan's "Inception", something Erik and Shark have a hard time forgiving. Another sticking point is that Benedict Cumberbatch's portrayal of Dr. Strange, while sharp and entertaining, seems to also be a very near copy of Robert Downey Jr.'s version of Iron Man.Paul seemed to enjoy Dr. Strange the most, being a sucker for metaphysical mumbo-jumbo and medical jargon that doesn't insult the viewer's intelligence. Eric was most impressed with the movie's ending, where Dr. Strange triumphs by relying on his intellect and cunning, rather than the typical choice by comic book movies to end a conflict with the biggest punch or a large explosion.

Erik, Paul and Shark talk about their favorite and most despised horror movies, the decline of the horror genre from its 70's heyday and delve into Shark's irrational fear of little people.

The foul year of our Lord 2016, seems to be some unholy axis of remakes and reboots and the Reking Krew dives into the ill-conceived rehashing of The Magnificent Seven. Using beer-regression therapy we delve into our impressions of the movie, which seems to have some sort of a racial message, albeit one so diluted and obscure as to be incomprehensible. Mag 7 is entertaining enough as far as action goes, though it is very "Hollywoody" and does not have much to offer in the Western tension department. Denzel Washington, Ethan Hawke  and Vincent D'Onofrio give the movie just enough A-List acting to keep it out of Fast--Furious territory but not enough to impress either Erik or Shark. Chris Pratt basically plays the same character he always does, which may or may not work for you. Paul, expecting the movie to be unwatchable was surprised to actually find it entertaining. Florentino, (subbing in for Christopher) was the most forgiving, with the only complaint being weak military strategy applied to the defense of the small town. Everyone agreed on one thing - if you are going to bring out the obligatory gatling gun, do so in the beginning of the battle, not after 3/4 of your force is expanded...like...Duh!

The Rekt krew reviews DC's Suicide Squad and this is our breakdown:  The movie is pretty fun and visually rewarding, with charismatic performances by Will Smith as "Deadshot", Viola Davis as "Amanda Waller" and Margot Robbie as "Harley Quinn" (who arguably steals the movie.) On the other hand Jared Leto's "Joker" seems over-the-top and his presence in the movie is all but pointless. 


There are a lot of plot holes and tropes and dumb moves in the movie, but they are for the most part forgivable. What is hard to swallow, however is the desperate sense you get of the DC franchise trying to hectically catch up with the Marvel Universe with all it's branches and spin-offs. Whereas Marvel painstakingly earned its place with over a decade of origin stories and character development, this movie (like Batman v Superman) is trying to cash in on the franchise racket too quickly, and this is glaringly obvious in the film. 


We end the show with Paul's "Illuminati Corner", where he points out some of the more blatant occult symbolism sprinkled all throughout Suicide Squad. Shark and Erik are skeptical but if you are into spotting pyramids and pentagrams and all-seeing-eyes and Babylonian symbology and Luciferian transhumanism themes - this movie is for you!

Erik does his best to defend this installment of the Star Trek reboot against the onslaughts of Paul and Shark, who had some very harsh opinions and choice words for this movie. Whatever integrity or merit this movie has is held up by its (still) excellent core cast (the jibes and banter between Spock and McCoy in particular.) Sadly most of that merit is squandered through terrible direction, action sequences that amount to nothing more than vigorous camera shaking, a very thin plot, unclear motives of the main villain and utterly eye-rolling choices that border on idiotic. This movie could have been good in someone else's hands, but in director Justin Lin's it (predictably) becomes simply Fast Furious in space.