If you hear an alarm bell in the back of your mind when you read the phrase "Based on a True Story," listen to it.

Todd Phillips (THE HANGOVER) directs this somewhat comedic "true story" of David Packouz (MILES TELLER), a massage therapist disenchanted with his life who runs into an old friend, Efraim Diveroli (JONAH HILL), and ends up on the ride of his life in the high-paying world of selling weapons to the U.S. Government.

That's really all you need to know about the plot. Jonah Hill does his best Jonah Hill impression in playing Efraim, while the story unfolds from Packouz's point of view -- perhaps due to the fact that the real life Packouz only endured house arrest while the real life Diveroli served actual time, all for selling Chinese-made ammunition to the U.S. Military during a time when there was an embargo against Chinese-made weapons.

Fantasy stories that find a person transported to another world have always been a staple in the industry. Whether the protagonist walks through a wardrobe or falls down a rabbit hole, falls asleep in a cave of mists (like Edgar Rice Burroughs' A PRINCESS OF MARS) or gets swallowed by a hippo at the zoo (Brandon Mull's BEYONDERS), the method is usually nothing more than a convenient story device to get Person A to Plot B for the sake of expediency so the action can begin.

Welcome back to Critical Blast’s weekly look at what new comics you should check out each week.   Just a warning, I make these picks pretty much a week BEFORE I actually get to read any of these comics, so if something is a stinker, I take no blame on that.  Let's get to it!

Comics shipping this week

Frank Zappa certainly filled his own niche in music. Showcasing his well-known biting social commentary, this video gives a rare (if ever) seen glimpse into the man that was much more than what most people today remember as the fighter who took on Tipper Gore and the PMRC.

Shown through archival interviews and concert/music “videos” from around the world (U.S., England, France, Germany Holland and Prague to name some), the video takes us progressively through his career, although not in a straight line; it was sort of “take two steps forward, take one back” as we are led through the history of the man.

Welcome to the preview of my new weekly entertainment column.  Weekend Blast will be your one-stop for all Critical Blast and entertainment news each Friday.  With the holiday next Friday, we aren't really debuting until December, but I put together this preview to get all the bugs out.  Enjoy!

Mike Maillaro: This Saturday, WrestlePro returns to their home in Rahway, New Jersey for what is promising to be their biggest show of the year.  So many great matches on the card.  This is a huge showcase for all of the great WrestlePro talent!

FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM is a fantastical story with hints of dark arts and other delicious treats.  This film is highly anticipated by the Harry Potter fans, and it delivers in a few ways.  In order to not over-hype, I went in without expectations, and I think that was the right way to watch this film.  I grew up with Harry Potter and saw each film as it came out.  I read all of the books within 1 week and cried when favorite characters died and cheered when others conquered evil against the odds.  So this spin-off meant a lot to me - a reminder of the magical world of Harry Potter and all of the memories of my youth that come with it.  Though there were not many overlapping characters due to being a different era, the vibe was very cool in 1920's New York, and there were multiple references to Hogwarts and the Harry Potter world that the fans know and love.

An errant time pirate in Liberty Colorado in 1874 results in future tracking technology falling into the hands of one Quentin Turnbull (JEFF FAHEY), allowing him not only to begin mining of a very rare mineral, but allows him to use that mineral to prevent westward expansion, effectively creating his own country.

Naturally, this causes a time aberration, which gets picked up by the device on the Waverider that Ray (BRANDON ROUTH) has lovingly named "the Trouble Alert," providing a distraction for Nate (NICK ZANO) who has been tasked with researching the connection between the amulets the team has prevented from falling into the hands of Damien Darhk -- items that, according to all the records, shouldn't exist.

The Amazing Las Vegas Comic Con is the one place for Nevada’s pop culture community to get together and bond with their fellow geek. What started out as a small little get together has been getting bigger and better every year, with this year drawing in a great crowd of passionate fans. But, this year there were a couple of pretty big changes that managed to mix it up. How does ALVCC compare to other conventions?

There's a new vigilante in Star City, and he plays for keeps, dropping off bodies at the local police station and marking them with a 'V'. This is the Vigilante I've been waiting for this season, and I am curious as to how the writers are going to handle him. After all, he kills and the Green Arrow (STEPHEN AMELL) doesn't. Anymore. He's really sorry about those past murders he committed as The Hood and later The Arrow, but he's making up for it now without serving any time.

The Flintstones #5

Written by: Mark Russell
Art by: Steve Pugh
Colored by: Chris Chuckry
Lettered by: Dave Sharpe

Published by: DC
Cover Price:  $3.99

While there was certainly a bad guy to be caught in THE FLASH last night, there wasn't much focus put on him. In fact, once apprehended, Shade (MIKE MCLEOD) didn't even get a speaking part, let alone an origin story.

The story instead focused more on the changing dynamics within Team Flash, such as the secret Caitlin (DANIELLE PANABAKER) is keeping regarding her developing cold powers, and the dreams Wally (KEIYNAN LONSDALE) is having about being Kid Flash.

This week's episode of SUPERGIRL explores a very deep topic about discovering the truth behind feelings that were purposely suppressed out of fear. Also, an energy sucking parasite.

***SPOILERS AHEAD***

We start off with a team of scientists doing work on climate change when they discover a dead wolf with an unusual lesion. As it's investigated a parasitic creature infects the lead scientist. The DEO finds him alive and after some questioning, Hank reluctantly lets him go to continue his research.

It isn't long until we discover that the parasite is slowly taking over.

Welcome back to Critical Blast’s weekly look at what new comics you should check out each week.   Just a warning, I make these picks pretty much a week BEFORE I actually get to read any of these comics, so if something is a stinker, I take no blame on that.  Let's get to it!

Comics shipping this week

Kind of a dull week to be honest… Quite a few books that I read, but not a lot of new books or anything real exciting going on to talk about.

BLACK FLOWERS, WHITE LIES by Yvonne Ventresca (Sky Pony Press) is a creepy, psychological thriller about a girl whose life is upheaved when she learns her mother may have lied about her father’s death – and life.

Despite the fact that her father died before she was born, Ella Benton always felt a connection with him. Deeper than their shared love of animals, she believes her father has been her guardian angel ever since a mysterious voice shouted her name as a child, saving her from stepping into what became a car wreck.

On Sunday, November 13th 2016 the Syracuse Comic Con took place at the SRC Arena, drawing in hundreds of gamers, cosplayers, vendors and even a few cars! Critical Blast was there to share the experience with you, our readers.

The organizers at Syracuse Nerd must firmly believe in the mantra 'go big or go home' because targeting a 60,000 square foot arena for it's first event was certainly a bold choice. Often you find young conventions using a more intimate setting, such as what you may find at a hotel. However, they clearly had a vision on what they wanted this convention to be about: Activities.

Having bought a new amp set me on a new quest--an “audio” quest, haha!--for new speaker cables that sounded best with my new integrated, which as you may have already seen is a Sugden A21SE Signature--and it is no secret that I ended up choosing the cable I am reviewing here, the Audioquest Type 4.

This is not just a review of a speaker cable, because you could say it is biased since I did choose it. But I wanted to talk about the process of how I came to choose it, and why.

One of the few downsides to reviewing audio equipment is that when you are done reviewing it, and you find it absolutely wonderful, unless you’re “Mr. Deep Pockets” you have to give it back.

Such was the case when I finished my review of the Sugden A21SE Signature Class A Integrated. Here was a piece of audio that changed my perspective on listening and enjoying music, and I had to give it back!

If you read my original review, you know how much I love how this integrated makes music, and when I returned it, it left a void in me that my current system (at the time) couldn’t duplicate. My Naim gear made beautiful music, make no mistake about it, but this Sugden just took listening to music to a higher and importantly different plane.

With the success of the faithful live-action translation of CINDERELLA, the folks at Walt Disney Studios have moved on to yet another Disney Princess to give the real-world treatment: Belle.

Just from the stills alone, it's apparent that a brilliant casting job has been done, particularly with EMMA WATSON (HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE) as Belle and DAN STEVENS (DOWNTON ABBEY) as The Beast. Muscle-headed Gaston will be portrayed by LUKE EVANS of the upcoming PROFESSOR MARSTEN & THE WONDER WOMEN, and his comedic sidekick, Le Fou will be represented by JOSH GAD (PIXELS).

For someone like me, who has been a fan of Frank Zappa’s music for years and also a frustrated record collector who for years had been looking for an affordable copy of this LP in good condition (any of his LPs, for that matter), you can imagine my excitement to realize the end of my quest was at hand now that HOT RATS has been reissued once again, and this time on 180-gram vinyl.