Author: Peter Kanelis

I was born in Portland, Oregon and currently reside in Texas. I am an avid reader and movie watcher. I also am a long-time Doctor Who fan and collect the audio dramas as well as watch the television series. I have been writing reviews of this nature on social media for a few years now and want to expand on that practice.

Film Review: A Weekend Away Goes Awry

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Speak No Evil is a psychological horror film written and directed by James Watkins and delivers a few chills along with a pretty memorizing performance from James McAvoy. This latest offering from Blumhouse Productions also stars Mackenzie Davis, Scoot McNairy, and Aisling Franciosi. There are a couple of child actors named Alix West Lefler and Dan Hough who hold their own alongside the adult members of the cast.

While vacationing in Italy, an American family living in London meet a British family who appear a little unusual but on the whole pretty agreeable. The Daltons are invited to spend a weekend with Paddy and Ciara at their predictably remote farmhouse in the English countryside. The longer the Daltons stay, the more bizarre their hosts’ behavior seems to get. The boy who is apparently the son of the peculiar couple has something to say, but he is missing most of his tongue, so it takes a while for him to communicate his distress. When Paddy and Ciara intentions become more evident, the stay gets a lot more perilous, and the Daltons have to fight for their lives to survive the vacation.

First if all, McAvoy appears to be uniquely gifted when it comes to playing psychos. He can seem genuinely frightening without taking it too far over the top where it seems cartoonish. He does play other more stable roles with as much skill, but he was pretty compelling here.

I found myself not really invested in the protagonist. The husband played by McNairy seems to be rather useless at times, but it’s the current Hollywood trend to have the woman regularly lead the charge to whatever victory needs to happen. Of course, they are having marital problems due to some recent almost infidelity. The daughter, Agnes, seems to be overly dependent on a stuffed animal which becomes too often the barrier that keeps the Daltons from making a successful escape. I had a hard time liking the Dalton family enough to care if they actually survived or not.

There were some pretty interesting twists. Paddy and Ciara are not just terrorizing this family for kicks. It takes some suspension of disbelief to buy into them not being found out sooner, but at least there was some effort to write a creative motive for their antics.

McAvoy really does save this movie when it comes to me deciding this was a worthwhile experience. The other performances were not bad, but I would have been more interested to see something where the intended victims were just a bit savvier.

Anyway, the film is actually pretty good but certain elements of the plot and characterizations could have used a bit more tinkering.

Book Review: Lonesome Dove Isn’t For The Faint Of Heart

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Lonesome Dove is a western novel by Larry McMurtry that does often feel as long as it is, but it’s still easy to see why it has become so acclaimed. It was written by the now deceased author in 1985 and was the basis for one of the most highly regarded mini-series in television history.

Lonesome Dove is a name of a small Texas town, and the story takes place not long after the Civil War. Two former Texas Rangers have a cattle ranch together and are tasked with herding number of cows to Montana. Along the way, they encounter all kinds of dangers ranging from the wrath of nature to Indian attacks. A ruthless outlaw has caused a fair bit of trouble as well. Plenty of bullets and arrows are let loose on the journey, but grit and courage are displayed as well.

I have probably over-simplified the story because McMurtry delves into some pretty intense emotional journeys as well for all sorts of characters. The two Rangers are pretty fascinating, but McMurtry does not stay limited to their perspective. There is a sheriff from Arkansas who finds that his wife has run off while he was pursuing a fugitive. A former prostitute has joined one of the Ranger on the cattle drive. The reader is not quite sure which character is going to feature in the next chapter for a while.

Sometimes, the novel seems a little unfocused as various threads are laid out. It is almost 860 pages long, so it does drag at times, but I was still determined to get through it and was not disappointed.

McMurtry’s prose at times feels long-winded, but there is undeniable eloquence in his style. I didn’t mind the unpredictability as to which element of the story I was going to land as I progressed through the chapters.

The Rangers, Augustus McCrae and Woodrow Call, were a fascinating pair and typical of the rugged, no-nonsense western archetypes of the genre. McMurtry displays a vivid and creative imagination when it comes to the threats the cowboys face on their long journey.

The title also has some metaphorical meeting which is explained in a foreword written by McMurtry, but I won’t spoil it. I still found it amusing that very little of the story actually takes place within the town the bears the name.

The story does suffer a little from being as long as it is, but it’s still a rewarding journey for the reader to take. I don’t usually read westerns, and I doubt that I will devour the genre as voraciously as I do when it comes to crime fiction, but I doubt this will be my last visit to the world of Larry McMurtry or to westerns.

Next up, private detective Cormoran Strike has a missing novelist to find in Robert Galbraith’s The Silkworm, and I am going along for the ride.

Doctor Who Audio Review: Death And Three Doctors

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Deathworld is a pretty decent Doctor Who audio drama from Big Finish Productions which would have starred William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, and Jon Pertwee if they were not deceased. Instead, we have Stephen Noonan, Michael Troughton, and Tim Treloar lending their formidable vocal talents to sound like the original actors. This episode has an interesting background. It was apparently a precursor to what became the television serial known as The Three Doctors. The original plot for Deathworld was proposed by Dave Martin and Bob Baker but was adapted for this audio format by John Dorney. David O’Mahoney serves as director and takes on some other minor roles within the episode.

Jon Culshaw returns to voice the role of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, who was originally portrayed by the late Nicholas Courtney. Katy Manning reprises her role of Jo Grant with Frazer Hines returning to his part of Jamie McCrimmon. Ther rest of guest cast includes Joe Shire and Dianne Pilkington.

The story starts off with the President of the Time Lords having a not-so-friendly chess match with Death. It’s an unusual game that brings the first three incarnations of the Doctor into another reality ruled by Death and manifestations of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Jo Grant, Jamie, and the Brigadier are caught up in the abduction as well. The Doctors have to work together again and protect their friends from their most powerful adversary.

I ended up enjoying this one. I actually think I prefer this version over the television iteration.

For one thing, the First Doctor is much more engaged and is teamed up with the Brigadier for much of the story. The Brigadier knew the Doctor in his second incarnation and was present not long after his forced regeneration and subsequent exile to Earth.

The three actors voicing the first three Doctors continue to do well in their efforts to represent those characters. Culshaw, who is known as a talented impressionist, does well with representing the Brigadier.

Some of the scenes portrayed were a little hard to visualize in the mind’s eye, but it was an interesting story. Shire does a great job as Death, War, Pestilence, and Famine. Pilkington plays the Gallifreyan President. and is fine.

Overall, it was a little bit of a confusing story, but I was able to find some enjoyment. Of course, I have found much to enjoy when new stories crop up featuring the earlier Doctors.

Dorney doesn’t always hit it out of the park for me, but he is consistently interesting and manages to not deliver a complete clunker of a story.

Deathworld still had some unique moments such as seeing the First Doctor get more involved with the action, which was lacking in The Three Doctors. Also, it was fun to hear the banter between him and the Brigadier as they complained about their mutual tendency toward gruffness. Michael Troughton taking on the role originated by his father is understandable and poignant, but I still think the better impression is done by Frazer Hines. Treloar is still doing quite well as the Third Doctor.

Once again, the performances are solid enough to make any flaws in the story quite forgivable, and this episode doesn’t even come close to be deserving of being overlooked.

Doctor Who Audio Review: Time Lords And Vampires Still Don’t Mix

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Goth Opera is the latest Doctor Who audio drama adapted from a pretty good novel by Big Finish Productions. Lizbeth Myles is the scriptwriter who adapted this episode from the highly regarded novel written by Paul Cornell. David O’Mahoney serves as director as Peter Davison, Janet Davison, and Sarah Sutton reprise their usual roles as the Doctor, Tegan Jovanka, and Nyssa, respectively. Natalie Gumede, Micah Balfour, Ewan Goddard, and John Schwab are included in the guest cast.

The Doctor is indulging in a game of cricket while another Gallifreyan named Ruath is arranging for the vampires on Earth to encounter their messiah named Yarven. Ruath also has a bone to pick with the Doctor, and Yarven is well aware of the Doctor’s encounters with his species as well. Nyssa is attacked and bitten by a vampire, prompting the Doctor and Tegan to frantically save her from a full transformation. The Doctor finds himself the target of another vendetta for events that reach back to his academy days. Ruath also wants to create a hybrid comprised of Time Lord and Vampire DNA, and the Doctor will have quite a lot to say about that.

The plot is actually kind of interesting because Ruath’s motivations and her resentment of the Doctor’s decision to leave Gallifrey are a bit complicated. The nature of their past relationship is left a little murky, which I liked. The performances from the main cast members are as on par as a long-time listener of this series would expect. Davison still doesn’t sound like he did forty years ago, but it’s still great to listen to him. There is quite a bit of exasperated banter between him and Janet Fielding’s Tegan Jovanka that has yet to get old. Sutton has quite a sizeable part in the story and handles it more than capably.

The story was kind of interesting, but the original novel is a little overrated in my estimation. It took me a bit to warm up to Balfour’s performance as Yarven, but I got there. Schwab plays a Southern evangelist, and his accent is somewhat distracting because of the exaggeration of it.

I am curious of there is a plan for Big Finish to adapt the sequel novel Blood Harvest which would feature Sylvester McCoy’s Doctor. I think that would be a good, if somewhat predictable, decision for the company to make. I would listen to that one too.

I don’t usually comment on the music score on these things, but this release did have a rather distinctive composition which I rather enjoyed throughout the adventure.

The episode is an enjoyable addition to the range but necessarily a standout.

Film Review: There’s Something In The Woods…Or Not

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Never Let Go is a horror survival film that is pretty interesting for something with such a confined setting. The film is written by Kevin Coughlin and Ryan Grassby with Alexandre Aja serving as director. Halle Berry is in the lead role as a mother of two young twin boys living out in the woods in a somewhat delipidated house in fear of some nameless evil that could be just in her head. Her co-stars include Percy Daggs IV, Anthony B. Jenkins, and Stephanie Lavigne.

Halle Berry plays a mother who is uniquely paranoid enough and construct some kind of rope contraption to keep her and her children tethered to the house as they scour the woods for food. She has told them of some evil that led to the deaths of her parents and husband. She has concocted a number of strange rituals for her children. Then, one of the boys starts questioning the purpose of all of this and wonders if his beloved mother could be making a peculiar and dangerous mistake. There are horrific zombie-like figures in the woods which could be the mother’s hallucinations. The world that she has created for her and her sons is starting to unravel, and it’s not immediately clear if it’s because she is going even more insane or there is something truly evil lurking in the trees.

This film actually has some real suspenseful moments. Berry is a pretty good actress and delivers a pretty compelling performance here. The two young actors, Daggs and Jenkins, held their own alongside the Oscar-winning beauty. There were a few moments that were suitably creepy.

There seemed to be a few loose threads left that nagged a little, but the film was engaging enough for me to just go with it. The history of this family was not all that clear, but that could have been intentional. Hopefully, there is not going to be a sequel. The film is solid enough for me to live with any lingering mystery in the story.

Film Review: Wake Up, Get Killed, Repeat

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Happy Death Day is a comedic slasher film that somewhat surpasses expectations and ends up being reasonably entertaining in spite of the absurd plot. Scott Lobdell is the screen writer with Christopher Landon directing the fil. The film’s stars include Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard, Ruby Modine, and Rachel Matthews.

College student Tree Gelbman awakens on her birthday after a wild party night. She properly meets the young man she ended up leaving with and staggers out onto the campus. She gets on with her day as best she can and gets murdered later that evening. Then, she wakes up again in the same dorm room on the same day and keeps meeting a tragic and frightening end. Tree is in a time loop and has to use the repeated deaths as a means to figure out the identity of her assailant.

The plot is rather ridiculous, but there was an attempt to give the lead character some depth. Rothe does show some skill in acting the more comedic moments. The main character is grieving the loss of her mother and has a rather strained relationship with her father. In spite of the efforts to spoof the slasher genre, there were some interesting character moments. The cast is made up of actors who are not that well-known, but they were well chosen. Rothe, in particular, seems to be a solid casting decision.

There was also some effort to have some creative twists in the plot as well. I was left uncertain as to who the real culprit would turn out to be.

The film is by no means that great, but it’s surprisingly better than one would expect. A lot of basic elements worked pretty well and sort of helped blunt the basic stupidity of the plot.

Doctor Who Audio Review: The Doctor Makes His Last Move Until The New Day Begins

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Doctor Who: The Last Day Part Two is an audio drama from Big Finish Productions which brings the Seventh Doctor to the point of his regeneration. Matt Fitton and Guy Adams co-wrote this epic adventure starring Sylvester McCoy, which was directed by Samuel Clemens. Sophie Aldred, Philip Olivier, Bonnie Langford, Lisa Bowerman, Geoffrey Beevers, Edward Peel are just some of the guest cast members who have rejoined this version of the Doctor. Yasmin Bannerman and Travis Oliver reprise their roles of Roz Forrester and Chris Cwej, Adjudicators from the far future.

Alternative universes have intruded upon the one we know, thanks to some beings known as the Dark Citizens. A version of the Doctor seems to be taking drastic measures to stop the chaos in this reality. Another Doctor needs to regain his memories. His companions have united while trying to regain their own fractured memories. Old enemies have also been recruited. The Doctor’s schemes and manipulations come to a head, and he finds that he has to avoid his own traps as he tries to head off many paradoxes.

I had mentioned how confusing the first part had gotten, and it does get better here. Sylvester McCoy is in top form here and continues to deliver a compelling performance. There are just too many people and story threads to follow. I am not one of those fans who needs writers to just throw everything and everyone in some big epic send-off. The overall effort if kind of fun, and it was a good idea to mix in some Big Finish creations with adversaries from the television era.

The performances were fine, and the sound effects were quite good. Obviously, the technical needs were easily met by the talented crew at Big Finish.

In spite of the title and the intent, it does appear that McCoy will continue to record new adventures for his Doctor, much like what Colin Baker did a few years ago when a proper regeneration story was released. As long as McCoy is game, I will be enjoying his contributions for hopefully years to come. This release just isn’t going to be a favorite.

Film Review: The Search For Love Never Ends For Beetlejuice

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Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a reasonably entertaining if overrated sequel to the original film Beetlejuice released in 1988. Tom Burton returns as director as Michael Keaton dons the familiar makeup and ill-fitting suit. Alfred Gough and Miles Millar wrote the screenplay and share story credit with Seth Grahame-Smith. Catherine O’Hara, Winona Ryder, Jenna Ortega, Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci, and Willem Dafoe join the cast. Ryder and O’Hara were in the original film in 1988.

Winona Ryder plays Lydia Deetz, who was the rebellious teen-ager in the first film. She has grown up and hosts a paranormal talk show and has a rebellious daughter of her own, played by Jenna Ortega. She learns that her father was killed by a ravenous shark after a bizarre plane crash. Beetlejuice is actually known as Betelgeuse and oversees some strange office in the afterlife. Betelgeuse is still pining for Lydia after over three decades. He also has a vindictive ex-wife hunting him through the corridors. Lydia’s daughter, Astrid, has fallen for a boy who is revealed to be a ghost. She is bamboozled into trading her soul for a return to life for this duplicitous spirit. Out of desperation, Lydia calls upon Betelgeuse to help her reclaim her daughter, however she has to agree to marry the misanthropic ghost with a vengeful ex on his trail.

There are some pretty funny moments. Keaton has lost none of his comic timing in the over three and a half decades since he played this role. Jenna Ortega is a rising star in Hollywood, and her talent is as evident as her beauty. I sort of wish there was more screentime with just her and Keaton, but it just wasn’t meant to be.

The slapstick was a little overdone for my taste. I have a high tolerance for the macabre and general cinematic weirdness, but I had some trouble rolling with it in this one.

I think I found some of Betelgeuse’s opponents too easily dispatched as they converged on him.

The cast is talented and deliver solid performances, but I had some trouble appreciating the story. Lydia’s father, who was played by the disgraced Jeffery Jones in the original movie, is walking around with his head and shoulders bit off. Since Jones had some very serious legal troubles a few years ago, he was not invited to participate in this sequel although he had to be represented somehow.

O’Hara was also pretty good as the obnoxious stepmother to Lydia. There are some funny moments throughout the film, but I was still rather underwhelmed and ready for the movie to end.

I am afraid I will have to disagree with some of the enthusiasm of my fellow cinema patrons. It wasn’t terrible, and I don’t regret seeing the film, but I wish it was a bit more compelling.

Film Review: Matt Walsh Does The Work

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Am I Racist? is an effectively satirical documentary starring Matt Walsh as he goes on a journey to see if the DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) teachers have a point. The film is produced by The Daily Wire and directed by Justin Folk. Walsh and Folk writing credit with Brian Hoffman and Dallas Sonnier.

Walsh is a popular conservative commentator who had some success with a previous documentary entitled What is a Woman? which dealt with the topic of transgenderism.

After being ousted from a support group that discussed “white guilt”, Walsh dons a hilariously flimsy disguise and becomes certified to teach DEI himself. He encounters some rather notorious figures on this topic such as Kate Slater and Robin DiAngelo as he attempts to implement what he is learning during various sessions and interviews. He also interviews regular people of various races to get their reactions to these ideas.

One of Walsh’s gifts is his deadpan stoicism as he subjects himself to some of most absurd group situations and tries to relay these ideas to others. The interview with DiAngelo is awkward and hysterically funny as reported.

The film is careful enough to attack an ideology and not necessarily a race of people. Another fascinating interview is with Wilfred Reilly, author of Hate Crime Hoax. Walsh and Reilly would likely be in more agreement if Walsh still wasn’t in character as a DEI guy.

There are a couple of scenes that sort of fell flat for me. The film’s effort to ridicule the Jussie Smollett hoax could have been handled differently. I don’t disagree with mocking Smollett at every opportunity, but the method employed in this film could have taken a bit more consideration.

There are some scenes that seem to go on a little too long, but that was likely to help drive home the point the film was really trying to make.

Most of the major production decisions made in this film work rather well. There were a couple of moments where Walsh actually did some acting that would be convincing if one didn’t know the premise.

This film is not without a few flaws, but it is entertaining and educational.

Film Review: Judith Isn’t Too Old For Some Supernatural Trouble

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The Manor is a decently average supernatural thriller written and directed by Axelle Carolyn. Barbara Hershey is in the lead role of Judith Albright, and the cast includes Bruce Davison, Jill Larson, Fran Bennett, and Ciera Payton.

Judith is a charming, elderly woman who is recovering from a stroke and learns that she is suffering from Parkinson’s disease. She decides to move into a nursing home which is in an isolated manor. Of course, the place is surrounded by thick woodland. Judith starts noticing more than usual peculiar behaviors from the fellow patients and staff. She has dreams of a terrifying creature lurking in her room and menacing her roommate. Judith and her grandson start to investigate the history of some of the patients and the manor. Something ancient and grotesque is stalking the residents of this home, and Judith has stumbled into a nest of secrets, and some of her fellow residents are not all they seem.

It’s kind of an interesting film with a protagonist who is rather unusual. Judith has a kind of spunk I can respect. The performances were fine, but nothing too remarkable. The creature Judith sees when she is half-asleep is actually pretty well created and suitably grotesque.

This wasn’t the most expensive movie ever made by a long shot. I thought Hershey did pretty well in the lead.

The film is mildly interesting and manages to not be the dregs of the horror genre. I wish I could have a more enthusiastic report to give, but it’s not to be.