Book Review: Grace In Space

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Project Hail Mary is Andy Weir’s most recent science fiction novel which was published in 2021 to well-deserved acclaim.

Dr. Ryland Grace wakes up with no memory of how he got aboard a spaceship many miles from Earth. He has to piece together clues that will reveal the nature of the mission he was on to save the planet. His other two crew members died while in an induced coma for the trip to another solar system. As Grace races against the clock, he soon discovers that he is not alone in the system, and an unlikely alliance is forged with a being from another civilization trying to solve a similar catastrophic threat facing its own homeworld.

Weir continues to demonstrate a talent for making the science in his works seem plausible. It’s easy to determine that he actually does quite a bit of research.

Some of the scientific jargon and exposition does slow the pace of the story somewhat, but that’ problem’s something that seems kind of expected and hard to avoid in a work such as this.

Weir’s previous two novels, The Martian and Artemis had protagonists who were persistently sarcastic in their narration. Although this novel has much of the familiar sort of humor, the blatant sarcasm is a bit more restrained which I: appreciated. I don’t necessarily mind sarcastic heroes, but when two different characters share that trait, it does make me wonder about the author’s ability to come up with more diverse personalities.

Anyway, the film adaptation of this novel is just a few days away, and I wanted to read the book before I would make my way to the cinema, so that mission is accomplished.’

I expect the novel will be better as usual, but this is also basically a very enjoyable and thought-provoking read. In spite of a bit of slogging through some technical exposition, I still appreciated the plot and the grit exhibited by Grace and his alien companion who is dubbed “Rocky”. I did appreciate the detail that went into explaining how Grace and Rocky would eventually be able to communicate. Weir is a talented and imaginative enough of a writer to make the technical jargon tolerable.

Although this is clearly a pretty fantastical situation, Weir’s obviously careful research into the possibilities is much respected and appreciated. It does lend some kind of credibility to the tale when some actual scientific theories seem to be genuinely considered in the real world.

I have now read all three of Andy Weir’s current works and hope to hear some news about his fourth contribution before too long.

There are plenty of options in the reading queue, but I have decided to return to the works of Harlan Coben for my next indulgence. This time, it appears that even a relatively quiet and civilized game such as golf has its rough players. Everyone’s favorite sleuthing sports agent, Myron Bolitar is going to learn that very thing in Back Spin.

Film Review: An Island Getaway No One Wanted

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Send Help is an interesting survival horror film with some solid performances in spite of the outlandish twists and turns throughout the experience.

Sam Raimi is the director of this film, which was written by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift. Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien play the corporate colleagues who survive a spectacular plane crash and end up on what appears to be a completely deserted island.

Dennis Haysbert, Xavier Samuel, and Edyll Ismail are included in the small cast. Of course, the focus will be on the chemistry and banter between McAdams and O’Brien.

McAdams plays the shy, eccentric corporate strategist, Linda Liddle, who is passed over for an expected promotion by O’Brien’s typical spoiled new CEO for the company he basically inherited from his recently deceased father. Linda is a Survivor enthusiast and even auditioned for it. O’Brien’s Bradley Preston is shown the audition tape which amuses him and his cohorts greatly. Well, the plane suddenly develops a problem which kills everyone but Linda and Bradley and crashes into the island. After they awake and reunite on the island, their power struggle begins in earnest. Linda is the one with the knowledge of survival skills, and Bradley is just a spoiled jerk who has little respect for his strange subordinate. Linda’s many years of suffering underestimation and unappreciation may have unhinged her in ways that Bradley could never imagine.

On the whole, this is a pretty good film. Some of the twists were a surprise, but there was still more than a tinge of predictability as to what the final outcome would be.

The performances of McAdams and O’Brien were really quite compelling. O’Brien nailed the part of the obnoxious, entitled rich kid who ultimately cannot conceive that he could be in over his head. The evolution of McAdams’ character arc was pretty well written. I am not sure that McAdams is going to be considered one of the great actresses of the silver screen, but she does shine quite effectively here. She usually does more than hold her own alongside her peers in the projects that I have seen her participation.

Some of the gore still seemed a little too egregious at times, and I had some trouble believing that Linda Liddle would know that much about octopus’ toxins, which does involve a rather disturbing, grotesque scene of retribution midway through the film.

There are some moments that seemed a little too ridiculous at times, but I believe that was rather intentional in the writing.

Anyway, the story does seem to bring out some interesting thoughts on potential shifts in dynamics when two people from very different social standings are isolated and sharing a uniquely harrowing experience. Both of the lead characters had some depth when they were trying to outwit the other.

If one can handle some unnecessary gruesomeness and unlikely plot swings, the performances and a pretty interesting script still makes this film something I could recommend seeing.

Doctor Who Audio Review: Lady Pirates And Alien Professors

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Doctor Who: Bad Terms contains a pair of decent audio dramas starring Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant. Neither story is especially terrible, but the first one is little less memorable or interesting than the other. In spite of some mild exasperation with this set, it was still great to indulge in the performances by Baker and Bryant once again.

The first story has some problems. Nina Millns wrote Saoirse of the Seven Seas, which was directed by Scott Handcock. Rebecca O’ Mara portrays the title character Saoirse O’ Grady, probably the only female pirate who never existed. Other cast members include Ayesha Antoine, Amanda Shodeko, and Barnaby Edwards.

The TARDIS brings the Doctor and Peri on board the ship belonging to the Queen of the Irish Seas. Saoirse O’Grady has been sought after by an alien visitor who has enlisted the services of her English rivals. The reason for this intrusion has little to do with world conquest or some of the usual motivations for which the Doctor usually discovers.

The performances are engaging enough to not exasperate this particular listener too much. Female pirate captains are just not captivating enough to keep me hooked. It’s just a little too unlikely and silly to buy into this even from a Doctor Who episode. considering the prevailing attitudes regarding women with authority at the time.

The plot twist as to what was motivating the alien known as the Xeneroth was somewhat clever but not entirely unforeseen when Saoirse suddenly experiencing moments of unexpected illness.

Anyway, Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant together are a treat regardless of any reservations I may have regarding the plot.

Red for Danger! is penned by Nev Fountain and directed by Barnaby Kay and is the more engaging of the two entries in this set. Cast members include Charlie Hemblett, David Holt, Martin For, and Andre James.

The Doctor and Peri are in disguise at an English boarding school where not everyone is native to Earth. There has been a strange message sent to the Doctor that contains a psychic image of a screaming red-headed child. A boy named Malcolm makes a startling claim about his connection to the Doctor, but someone else also seems too strangely familiar with the Time Lord.

This one was much better. It has kind of a dumb title, but the episode is much better executed. There are some outlandish plot twists toward the end, but I was much more engaged with this one.

A surprise revelation is made at the very end which is going to select the next foray into the adventures of the Sixth Doctor. The revelation at the end was not that much of a surprise, but it was still delightful to have some suspicions confirmed when the disguises were dropped.

Anyway, the set is adequately pleasing on the whole. It’s one of those I would call competent and reliable without not being one of the standouts.

Book Review: Missing Dogs And A Dead Reporter

~ Peter Kanelis ~ 1 Comment

Deadline is a fairly enjoyable but forgettable thriller from John Sandford and features Minnesota state investigator Virgil Flowers. It was first published in 2014 and is one of numerous publications from this very prolific author.

It all starts with a request to help a friend with a situation concerning abducted dogs. A local reporter is found dead in a ditch on the side of the road. A corrupt school board is at the heart of the troubles in Trippton. As Virgil starts to unearth some deep and expensive secrets, the body count starts to tick up as well.

Sandford introduces the shady characters right away, so there isn’t that much of a mystery. The author does manage to throw in a few unexpected twists in the story. A couple of deaths did surprise me.

Sandford does not have a very distinctive prose style, but he seems to be competent enough. Virgil is a somewhat interesting protagonist with a messy marital past. Another well-known character, Lucas Davenport, is Virgil’s supervisor and makes a couple of quick appearances in this novel.

There is some cheeky humor which helps makes this a bit more of an agreeable reading experience.

Virgil Flowers himself is a likeable enough of protagonist, so I will likely share in a few more of his exploits eventually.

John Sandford is basically the guy to turn to for an easy read if one wants to have a break from works with a bit more depth. This is another one of his books where it was pleasant enough to read but unremarkable.

Next up, I am taking a ride out into the depths of deep space with an amnesiac astronaut with Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary.

Film Review: Predator, Prey, And Everything In Between

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Predator: Badlands is a pretty decent continuation of the franchise which began in 1987 where Arnold Schwarzenegger faced the first creature onscreen which is apparently now known as a Yautja.

Dan Trachtenberg is the director of this film while Patrick Aison is the credited screenwriter.

Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi plays the lead role as the outcast Predator named Dek. Elle Fanning also stars as a synthetic woman named Thia who is missing her lower half. Reuben de Jong, Alison Wright, and Mike Homik.

This film includes some family drama injected into mythos of the Predator race. A young Predator who is apparently seen as some kind of weakling is trying to receive some type of approval from his father. When the father makes an attempt on his own son’s life, Dek makes his escape to hunt another more terrible beast known as the Kalisk. When Dek arrives on the planet known as Genna, he runs into trouble and meets am artificial, yet sentient woman known as Thia. Thia has already met the Kalisk and had her lower half sheared off for her trouble. Thia is on the search someone she has identified as her sister. They were there on behalf of a corporation to experiment on the Kalisk which has some extraordinary regenerative abilities which Dek is destined to find out. As their quest nears its climax, it is no longer clear where the bigger threat lies for Thia and Dek.

It’s a decent enough movie on a slow afternoon, but it’s not all that memorable. I had some trouble caring about the family woes of Dek. Fanning’s cheeky and chatty performance as Thia was kind of entertaining.

There were of course lots of CGI visuals for the eyes to feast on. The action sequences were finely programmed or whatever. The various creatures inhabiting Genna were much the same as any other in this genre of film. Lots of tentacles get sliced off in this film.

Anyway, the film is entertaining and manages to not be terrible, which is a relief to fans of the franchise. Some of the action sequences have so much CGI, it does feel a bit cartoonish. Probably the best thing about this movie is Elle Fanning’s performance.

The film is above mediocre or average but not by as much as I dared to hope.

Doctor Who Audio Review: Inside The Imbomination

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Dark Gallifrey: The War Master Part 3 is an audio drama from Big Finish, which is still highly entertaining in spite of a muddled plot. It is of course a Doctor Who spinoff and also features the War Doctor as portrayed by Jonathan Carley, who took over the role after the death of John Hurt.

Derek Jacobi returns as the version of the Master who was present during the legendary and devastating Time War. Lisa Bowerman returns as Professor Bernice Summerfield. James Marsters continues in his role as Captain John Hart, crossing over from another spinoff, Torchwood. Tariyé Peterside returns on from previous episode as the Imbomination. Chris Lew Kum Hoi, Jason Forbes, and Homer Todiwala round out the cast.

James Goss is the writer while Scott Handcock pulls the whole thing together as director.

The Master and Captain John are consumed by the Imbomination and have to navigate their way through various false realities and other possibilities. They are trapped within the remains of Dark Gallifrey, and they may learn the wisdom of allowing the realm to keep its secrets.

Jacobi is utterly terrific as usual in this role. Television viewers only got a small taste of his version of the maniacal renegade Time Lord, and Big Finish continues to expand the role as competently as expected.

Goss takes the surreal madness to the max in this episode. As usual, some of the scenes are hard to picture in the mind’s eyes. Not everything makes sense when listening to it the first time, but I had a good time with it anyway.

It seems some version of the Doctor is going to appear in these trilogies, and Carley takes his turn as his impression of John Hurt’s the War Doctor. I wasn’t sure about expanding the War Doctor’s role when first announced, especially after Hurt had died, but I enjoy the range more than I expected.

As usual, the sound design remains top tier. I think the performances and the technical aspects being so well done help one to enjoy a somewhat perplexing episode.

This trilogy is really my first full experience with Jacobi’s participation in Big Finish audio dramas, and there is a whole other range I have yet to explore. It certainly encourages me to reach back into the archives and properly delve into the War Master audio range.

Doctor Who Audio Review: Marinus Again?

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Doctor Who Unbound: Return to Marinus is an audio drama from Big Finish Productions and sees David Bradley make another stellar return as his version of the First Doctor. He is joined by the versions of Ian, Barbara, and Susan portrayed by Jamie Glover, Jemma Powell, and Claudia Grant. Jonathan Morris wrote the script which was directed by David O’Mahoney.

Other cast members include Timothy Blore, Derek Elroy, Ewan Goddard, and Sophie Matthew.

The Doctor and his companions have returned to Marinus, where they had faced a long quest which was threatened by the Voord. A century has passed, and the TARDIS crew are remembered as heroes. They population seem to be under some kind of strange spell, however there are other concerns when the Daleks enter the scene. The Daleks may not be quite as the Doctor remembers either.

It’s an enjoyable enough episode. Morris puts in a few impressive twists in the plot.

Even though Bradley does not really do an impersonation of the late William Hartnell, he somehow still captures the essence of the original portrayal of this Doctor’s persona.

The other main cast members also capture the roles of the companions without really trying to be carbon copies.

Nicholas Briggs returns to voice the Daleks and does his usual masterful job.

I am not that keen on this crew revisiting locales of known adventures from the television scenes, but this episode still works for the most part.

The technical aspects are well executed as well. The sound design remains top notch.

It’s another solid triumph for Big Finish that recreates a long-ago era of the program. I just wish that new worlds remained the destination for this crew.

Film Review: A Heist Along The Highway

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Crime 101 turns out to be one of the better heist films that have been released in some time. It was written and directed by Bart Layton and was based on a novella by Don Wnslow.

Chris Hemsworth is in the lead and is joined by a formidable cast which includes Halle Berry, Mark Ruffalo, Barry Keoghan, Monica Barbaro, and Nick Nolte.

Hemsworth plays a scrupulous jewel thief named Mike who does his best to not actually injure anyone during his criminal escapades. He plans to retire after he hits a certain score and is pursued by a disheveled, yet relentless LAPD detective portrayed by Ruffalo. Halle Berry plays a frustrated insurance broker who eventually gets wrapped in the jewel thief’s latest heist. Mike’s plans to retire are complicated by a psychotic rival who is acting on behalf of their employer played by Nick Nolte.

This is one of those films where seemingly disparate characters are about to be intertwined in a catastrophic encounter which culminates in a bloody climax where everyone’s morals and boundaries get stretched to a breaking point.

The film has a lot going for it. The casting is quite effective. The three main actors, Hemsworth, Berry, and Ruffalo, are all compelling to watch. It was not entirely as predictable as it could have been and so many of these types of films are. The other significant characters were also interesting. Keoghan’s portrayal of the crazy biker was also pitched where he was actually pretty terrifying at times.

The movie did have some moments where it dragged a bit and could feel a little muddled due to the shifting of perspectives.

I thought it was pretty clever how the title was misleading in that one would think it had to with some kind of class. It really dealt with the close proximity to Highway 101 which runs through Los Angeles. If one is not familiar with the geography of L.A., it’s kind of a refreshing nugget of information.

There is kind of a modern noir feel to this film that I liked quite a bit, and the film had a sense of creativity that seems so rare in today’s cinematic selections.

Crime 101 is likely to be one of the better films to be released this year. It’s not likely to be a classic, but it’s a solid piece of filmmaking that ends up being worth the money.

Film Review: Agatha In Disguise

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Agatha and the Truth of Murder is a television movie which speculates how Agatha Christie herself would solve a murder. It takes place during the time of her eleven-day disappearance in 1926 and revolves around the murder of Florence Nightingale’s goddaughter which actually did take place in 1920.

Ruth Bradley leads the cast as the Queen of Crime herself. Other cast members include Pippa Haywood, Bebe Cave, Blake Harrison, and Ralph Ineson.

Tom Dalton penned the script with Terry Loane calling the shots as director.

In 1926, Agatha is facing the dissolution of her first marriage as well as frustrations of her mystery novels being found to be too predictable. A long-time nurse has come to Agatha to ask for her assistance in solving the murder of her friend, who happens to be the goddaughter of Florence Nightingale. The woman was beaten to death while riding a train. Her own private investigations do happen to lead to a small group of suspects. Agatha disappears for a time and goes undercover as a legal representative to look into some of these people who knew the young nurse.

Another murder occurs at the estate, and Agatha finds herself working alongside a detective who is short-handed due to the authorities frantically trying to locate the already renowned author herself.

This was actually a pretty fun movie, and Ruth Bradley seems to be a pretty solid casting choice. It’s still a somewhat predictable British murder mystery with all of the usual tropes, but it was still entertaining.

The disguise Agatha adopts is pretty simple but still rather effective. It works because this version of the writer is still recognizable in spite of the change in hair style and glasses.

I do not know much about Ruth Bradley, but she is a compelling actress. I was kind of aware of her because she had performed in the Big Finish Doctor Who audio dramas a few years ago.

I also found Ralph Ineson to be a great addition to the cast as Detective Inspector Dicks. There is a kind of a sweet moment when Agatha and the inspector bond over their failed marriages.

The plot is a little too much like one of Agatha’s novels at times and could have benefited from something a little original than the expected comparison.

Anyway, it was a bit more enjoyable than I expected. I think most Agatha Christie devotees would get a kick out if it.

Book Review: Nothing Like An Icepick Through The Eye

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

A Stab in the Dark is a pretty engaging mystery from one of the considered masters of the genre, Lawrence Block. It features the unofficial private eye, Matthew Scudder and was first published in 1981.

Nine years previously, a serial killer with an icepick terrorized New York City and then disappeared. The police have made an arrest, but the father of one of the victims believes that he did not commit the brutal murder of his daughter. Charles London comes to Matthew Scudder to take another look into his daughter’s death to see if the truth is something more her falling victim to a maniac. Scudder is an ex-cop who sometimes works for a fee or a favor. He dusts off his investigative skills and starts examining facts that are almost a decade old. Of course, Scudder unearths some uncomfortable secrets from the neighborhood where Barbara Ettinger met her tragic end. One killer is in custody, however someone even more cunning may be waiting in the shadows to savagely protect their secrets from Scudder’s prying eyes.

It’s a pretty straight-forward, tightly written novel that is not very long. Scudder is a bit of a train wreck with his alcoholism and cynicism, but he is still a capable and interesting investigator. He does have scruples and is a little more civilized at times then Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer, but he can handle himself in a fight if needed.

Block also creates a dubious set of suspects who are pretty compelling. The red herrings and clues are pretty well planned out as well.

I haven’t read a whole lot of Block’s works, so I am not sure where I would place this one in the rankings, but I did find that I enjoyed this one well enough to keep returning to the world of Matthew Scudder.

Block is a talented writer who keeps the story moving pretty well. Scudder gets a lot done between working his case along with some personal encounters in something that comes in under two hundred pages.

For those who like the old-fashioned, hard-boiled private eye novel where the protagonist is about as messy as those he meets, this one is a pretty good addition to the bookshelves.

I think more poor decisions and ultimately murder is called for when I return to the works of John Sandford. Deadline is the lucky winner for my next literary diversion.