Reviews and thoughts about movies, books, pop culture, and Doctor Who
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.
John D. MacDonald’s Cape Fear was the basis for two pretty interesting screen adaptations; however, the book didn’t really keep my attention as well as I had hoped.
San Bowden is a loving husband and father and a partner at a successful law firm. A man from his past has appeared, and revenge is definitely on Max Cady’s mind. Bowden had testified against Cady in a rape trial that resulted in the latter’s incarceration for several years. Cady begins his campaign of harassment and pushes Bowden, who has faith in the power of the legal system, into a realm of defense he never thought he would consider.
There were some interesting scenes, but I didn’t find the depiction of Bowden to be all that interesting. Cady was well imagined by MacDonald, but that isn’t hard to imagine when it comes to the villain.
MacDonald is one of the most revered among crime writers, but I am having some trouble determining the reason here. He’s not bad, I have had trouble really getting into his novels.
This one felt longer than the one hundred sixty-page count. The Max Cady on the page didn’t feel as chilling as either of the screen portrayals by Robert Mitchum and Robert De Niro.
This one was a bit of a dud. Sorry, Mr. MacDonald.
I think it’s time to return to the wilds of Wyoming and catch up with Game Warden Joe Pickett and his lovely, if often imperiled family, with C.J. Box’s Blood Trail.
The Last Queen of the Nile is a set that contains two Doctor Who audio dramas released by Big Finish Productions and features Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor. Baker is joined by Louise Jameson as Leela. Jon Culshaw reprises his interpretation of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, who was originally portrayed by the late Nicholas Courtney. There are two episodes to discuss in this post, so I will get on with it.
First of all, Conspiracy of Silence by Jonathan Morris gets things going with the return of the Silence, which were a creation of the rebooted version of Doctor Who. Nicholas Briggs provides the voice of the spooky creatures who are forgotten once one looks away. Charlie Hayes plays a female UNIT soldier named Nolan while Jon Culshaw returns with his impressive imitation as the Brigadier. Of course, John Leeson must be mentioned as one’s favorite robot dog, K9.
The Brigadier has asked for the Doctor’s assistance to investigate the mysterious disappearance of an oil rig crew. The Doctor, Leela, and K9 accompany him to the rig to see what answers can be discovered. They find the Silence waiting in the shadows and disrupting their memories of their encounter.
The Silence is an interesting creation in the series, and it seems hard to have them conveyed just through the audio format. This story does end up working in spite of an unusual structure. The second half of the story backtracks and fills in some gaps since our courageous heroes couldn’t remember their fight with the Silence.
Morris handles these challenges quite well, although it takes some concentration to follow how the narrative unfolds. All of the main cast are in top form even though they are quite up there. I think Tom Baker was in his eighties at the time this story was recorded, and he still has much of the same energy displayed on the television series over four decades ago.
Morris delivers another solid script that gives the actors some great moments and fans another dose of fun nostalgia.
The Last Queen of the Nile by David K Barnes has the TARDIS crew get ensnared within the tumultuous love story between Cleopatra and Mark Antony. The guest cast is comprised of Pippa Warner-Bennett, Timothy Blore, Samantha Lawson, Michael Lumsden, Ben Porter, and Blake Ritson.
The Doctor, Leela, and K9 encounter Mark Antony just outside Alexandria in Egypt. He eyes K9 as a gift for his beloved Queen of the Nile, Cleopatra. The Doctor and Leela are forced to witness one of the best known and tragic romances in history as they fight for their lives and escape within the TARDIS.
This is also really quite good. Bennet-Warner and Lumsden are pretty compelling as the two powerful yet doomed lovers. I am not sure how historically accurate this adventure actually is, but it is arresting. The bond between Leela and Cleopatra is well performed and seems to be quite natural to have Leela so drawn to the most famous queen in history.
Tom Baker performs with his usual cheeky yet commanding air as the Doctor. Big Finish continues to keep the traditions of the eras while also exploring new aspects of familiar characters. The writer even has the Doctor and Leela at odds to an extent, which was not something really seen in the television series.
Anyway, the set as a whole is quite good. Tom Baker and Louise Jameson continue to display a familiar and reassuring chemistry while still relating fresh stories.
Even if the first story may take more than one play to better follow the plot, it will be worth it.
Neon Prey is a thriller from John Sandford that sounds more thrilling than it turned out to be for me. It’s another in his long-running series featuring Lucas Davenport, who is now a US Marshal on the hunt for a killer who actually feasts on human flesh.
A freelance enforcer for organized crime named Clayton Deese skips out on bail after a job that goes wrong for him. During the search, bodies are discovered on his Louisiana property. It is discovered that Deese is also a cannibal and on the run. Lucas Davenport and his team of United States Marshals join in the manhunt which almost gets him killed. Deese is traced to Las Vegas with his group of miscreants, and he turns out to be cleverer than Davenport anticipated.
I have read some Sandford novels before, but I had a hard time getting into this one. I think part of my problem is that nothing feels all that distinctive about Davenport. He’s just another determined cop who maintains his cool no matter what. I did respect that he sort of didn’t dwell on the injury he suffers in the first part of the novel that took him months to complete his recovery. He just basically got back into the fray once he got himself back in shape.
Sandford is an efficient writer, but nothing really pops off the page for me. Even the reprehensible cannibal didn’t really keep my interest. I was just ready to finish the thing and move on to the next book.
Anyway, Sandford has his devotees, and that’s fine. I may return to his works, but it will be a while. I may just prefer his other well-known protagonist, Virgil Flowers. Anyway, this was a disappointing port of call in my unending literary journey.
I will return to a more classic crime novelist who wrote a novel that had two pretty good screen adaptations. I am about to revisit Cape Fear by John D. MacDonald in its original presentation.
The Killing Man is written by the late, great Mickey Spillane and was published in 1989. It features his best-known protagonist, Mike Hammer.
Mike Hammer has agreed to a rare Saturday meeting with a prospective new client and finds that his beloved secretary, Velda, has been assaulted and is near death. A dead man is in Mike’s chair and has had his fingers chopped off. A strange note with the name Penta is one of the few clues left at the scene. Mike meets a new deputy district attorney who has more sex appeal than many in that office. He finds connections to organized crime and may be tracking a killer who has been active overseas as well. If there is no justice to be had, Mike will gladly settle for vengeance. It will take Mike being abducted and taking a beating or two for him to balance the books in his typical brutal fashion.
There are times that I think Spillane is a little overrated as a writer. I think his popularity stems more from his books tapping into the desire for the brutal delivery of justice that Mike Hammer delivers on a regular basis. It’s not that I think Spillane is talentless as writer
It is still an enjoyable read. The plot does get interesting because there is some uncertainty as to whether Mike was the primary target or not.
Mike’s single-mindedness is somewhat inspiring, and his affection for Velda is also sort of oddly touching.
Even is some aspects of the story seem to get a little overcomplicated, I still found plenty of reasons to enjoy the ride.
Time to take another thrilling ride with John Sandford’s Neon Prey.
The Thursday Murder Club is a charming mystery film that manages to stay pretty faithful to the novel written by Richard Osman. The screenplay is written by Katy Brand and Suzanne Heathcote. Chris Columbus is the director of this piece which stars Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley, and Celia Imrie as a group of retired residents in a village who meet on Thursdays to review cold murder cases. David Tennant, Tom Ellis, Naomis Ackie, and Daniel Mays are also included in the cast.
A small group of residents in a rather swanky retirement village meet once a week to review cold cases. Mirren plays Elizabeth, who once worked for MI6. Brosnan plays a rather brash former union leader named Ron. Kingsley is the empathic psychiatrist, Ben, and Celia Imrie rounds out the group as the recently recruited retired nurse named Joyce.
They are examining a case from 1973 in which a woman was apparently shoved out the window. While the small club is searching for new information, one of the owners of Coopers Chase is murdered nearby. The Thursday Murder Club have their first fresh case; however, they also learn that there are plans to redevelop their village into more luxurious apartments. Not only is there a killer lurking; the club has to find a way to save their new homes.
It’s hard to go wrong with the main cast. I am less familiar with Imrie, but she did great alongside the more familiar names such as Mirren, Brosnan, and Kingsley. Imrie may not have quite the same name recognition as her costars, but she is certainly no slouch when it comes to her charisma and ability. She certainly does have a lengthy filmography herself, so she should have no problem continuing her career.
I had read the book fairly recently, and the movie does follow it fairly closely.
Brosnan and Mirren are as reliably charismatic as ever, while Kingsley still maintains that quiet, yet powerful dignity that also makes him compelling.
In spite of some of this being somewhat of a comedy, there are plenty of somewhat poignant moments that are handled quite well.
Even though I knew the solution to the crime, the film may be worth a rewatch to just admire a group of long-time actors who can still appear to be at the top of their game.
I was just pleased that there were not enough alterations from the source material to evoke real annoyance.
Murder She Wrote: A Time for Murder by Jessica Fletcher and Jon Land was likely written solely by the latter since the charming Mrs. Fletcher is a fictional character from the television series.
This is my first foray into this long-running novel series. Of course, I was and still am a watcher of the television series that starred the late, and truly great Angela Lansbury.
Jessica Fletcher is invited to a retirement party of a former colleague from her teaching days. She is also interviewed for a high school newspaper; however, the young woman who met with her is subsequently murdered. Jessica and the sheriff in Cabot Cove, Maine discover a connection to a previous murder over decades in the past in which Jessica had her first exposure to amateur sleuthing. This was back before she became a bestselling novelist, and her husband was still living. The readers sort of get two murder plots for the price of one here.
It’s a fun, easy read for the most part. I did have some trouble conjuring Angela Lansbury’s portrayal in my mind’s eye with some of the dialogue and scenes. written by Land. Land also did not worry too much about age discrepancies or anything since the television series ended well before the Internet and ubiquitous cell phone use. That was a little distracting, but I was able to set that aside for the most part and enjoy the story.
Obviously, this isn’t really great literature, but it was a fun diversion. The novel series has yet to really slow down. This particular novel was published in 2019 and was by no means the first one. If I feel like revisiting Mrs. Fletcher’s exploits in print, I will have plenty of options. There is actually little doubt that I will do just that.
Until then, I am on to a grittier reading indulgence with Mickey Spillane’s The Killing Man.
Doctor Who: Past Forward is a Doctor Who audio set from Big Finish Productions which sees the welcome return of Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor as the arc featuring with Harry Sullivan and Naomi Cross seemingly comes to an end. The structure of these stories is a little different in that there is essentially four-part story with a separate two-part adventure wedged in between, and it does work rather nicely.
Eleanor Crooks is back as Naomi Cross while Christopher Naylor resumes his impressive efforts to emulate the late Ian Marter as Harry Sullivan. Sara Griffiths joins the fray as Ray Jenkins, who was introduced in the television serial entitled Delta and the Bannermen. The guest cast of this series is comprised of Laura Aikman, Lydia Baksh, Daon Broni, Cavin Cornwall, Josh Cowdery, Alasdair Hankinson, Katherine Jack, Holly Jackson Walters, and Gary Turner.
The directing duties falls yet again to Samuel Clemens, who as usual keeps a steady hand by probably just letting the actors get on with the job.
Doctor Who veteran writer John Dorney is the writer of With the Angels, which has the Doctor encounter the Weeping Angels, which were first popularized in the television revival during the David Tennant era. It still works to have earlier Doctors meet these strange, malevolent consumers of time energy.
This time, the Angels have been fashioned into chess pieces. The Doctor, Harry, and Naomi will be pulled into both the past and future as they are recruited once again by UNIT to save Earth from another invasion by the terrifying Angels that one cannot take their eyes off.
In the second half of the story, the Doctor has been able to say goodbye to Harry and Naomi and pick up a new companion in the shape of an old friend, Ray. It’s kind of a unique transition, but it is done quite cleverly. Ray probably would have been a fun companion in the television series if things had worked out differently back then, but audiences now get to see how that would have worked. The also intriguing choice that was made was to have Ray picked up twenty years after her first encounter with the Doctor and she has lived a life of her own. Ray was probably in her late teens or early twenties when she was introduced over three decades ago, but it seems a good choice for Dorney to have seasoned that character a bit while still making her recognizable.
Sandwiched between the middle of With the Angels, is Lizzie Hopley’s Catastrophix where acompany’s experiment with Time if bringing about the Earth’s early demise. The Doctor has promises to Harry and Naomi to keep and ensure their safety after their encounter with the Angels. Also, this is where Ray gets a proper reintroduction.
The story itself is pretty good. Hopley is becoming one of the reliably interesting writers for Big Finish.
As usual, McCoy’s performance is outstanding even though he does have to do a bit of a double act when it becomes clear that he is being manipulated by a very familiar presence.
The team of Cross and Sullivan will be missed aboard the TARDIS, but the addition of Ray seems to be the start that could be equally compelling.
The exaggerated American accents by some of the guest cast was a little distracting, but I have gotten kind of used to it over the years of listening to Big Finish.
Anyway, the whole chess trope for this Doctor worked, although it’s hard to picture what was going on during the climactic match between the Time Lord and rich snob who instigated the whole catastrophe with the Angels.
This set was one of the better ones to be released this year from Big Finish, and McCoy’s enthusiastic performance is still a welcome distraction from the pressures of everyday life.
Holland is a psychological thriller that has a few moments of almost being interesting but just couldn’t quite get there. Mimi Cave is the director of this mediocre cinematic effort, which was written by Andrew Sodroski. Nicole Kidman has the lead role and is accompanied by a cast which includes Matthew Macfadyen, Gael Garcia Bernal, Jude Hill, and Rachel Sennott.
Nancy Vandergroot is a teacher in the small town of Holland, Michigan, which is rather proud of its Dutch American roots. She is quite happy with her family until she starts to wonder if her husband, who travels a lot for work, is having an affair. She enlists the help of a friend and colleague to help her confirm her suspicions; however, the truth is something that is far worse.
The film does have some elements that are somewhat interesting, but somehow the end result is still rather hollow. The exploration of Dutch American roots is something not commonly displayed in movies, so I thought that was a decent start. I think that I had a hard time really caring about any of the main characters. Kidman is usually a solid casting choice, and she does fine with this role, but there is nothing all compelling about her character. I had a hard time being all that interested in her plight that starts to unfold.
The plot of a seemingly dutiful husband’s double life is somewhat overdone even if the setting in this film was a little eccentric and unique.
The performances were not terrible, which was helpful, but also nothing was all that memorable. The town did seem to have some charm.
Although it’s hard to have any real criticism of the film’s technical elements, I just found that it was missing something that should have made it more gripping.
The Inmate is another implausible, yet strangely compelling, thriller from Freida McFadden.
A single mother named Brooke Sullivan has returned to her hometown with her son and moved into her recently deceased parents’ house. She gets a job as a nurse practitioner at a nearby prison where a murderous ex-boyfriend is incarcerated. Brooke reconnects with a childhood friend who was also almost killed by the seemingly sociopathic Shane Nelson. The strange reunion occurs, and Brooke has some reason to doubt her memories of that traumatic night eleven years earlier. Shane is in prison because of her courageous testimony, but Brooke is suddenly doubting herself, especially when another murder occurs.
The novel is written in first person from Brooke’s point of view and often alternates between the present day and eleven years earlier.
McFadden seems to; rely on quite a bit of coincidence as usual. Brooke’s judgment is kind of questionable, which is tempting for me to have limited sympathy. It then occurs to me that my judgment in romantic relationships hasn’t exactly been all that stellar either, although I have not been involved in any gruesome murders, just to be clear.
There are a few twists that are a little hard to buy into, but McFadden did manage to keep me interested in spite of my admittedly mild exasperation.
McFadden is an imaginative and pretty competent writer. I have no real objection to her prose style because the story does flow pretty easily.
In spite of my skepticism I experienced, I did like the novel overall. I am still kind of new to McFadden’s works, but I have enjoyed the few that I have read.
Next up is something which is complete nostalgic fluff. I have decided to try out one of the Murder, She Wrote novels which have been published for many years now. Jessica Fletcher has a new murder to solve while taking a trip down memory lane as she and Jon Land relate the events of A Time for Murder.
Jago & Litefoot Series Four continues the audio adventures of the intrepid investigators of the macabre in Victorian London and is entertaining enough which is to be expected from Big Finish Productions. Christipher Benjamin and Trevor Baxter return to the microphones as Henry Gordon Jago and Professor George Litefoot alongside a pretty good guest cast and strangely familiar voices in four episodes directed by Lisa Bowerman.
The guest cast is comprised of Victoria Alcock, Christopher Beeny, Elizabeth Counsell, Alan Cox, Mike Grady, and Terry Molloy. Bowerman also returns to her role as the barmaid Ellie Higson. I also can’t forget to mention that Louise Jameson and Colin Baker are the extra special guest stars.
Jago in Love by Nigel Fairs is the first episode, and the title sort of gives away what happens. Jago, Litefoot, and Leela have taken a holiday to Brighton where Jago falls for a music hall singer named Abigail. There is something tainting this romance as a strange pair of men have followed them. Also, there is another strange presence in the shape of Professor Claudius Dark, but the professor may be an old friend with a different face.
This one is a pretty good setup for the arc the other episodes are going to take. The strange pair of Mr. Hardwick and Mr. Kempston are kind of intriguing as shadowy, menacing figures.
Overall, the episode is not really great, but it gets the job done with setting up the other mysteries which confound Jago and Litefoot.
Beautiful Things by John Dorney has Jago and Litefoot encounter one Oscar Wilde, played by Alan Cox. Litefoot seems to have some grudge against Wilde, but he cannot indulge that since there are bodies turning up that need his expertise. Leela, played by Louise Jameson, is also there to assist, and the audience catches another glimpse of the peculiarly familiar Professor Dark.
This one was pretty good and an obvious riff on Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Grey. Dorney is certainly one of the more reliable contributors to Big Finish Productions and continues that track record with this one.
Matthew Sweet gives us another “trapped on a train” adventure with The Lonely Clock. Leela and Ellie get more involved in trying to save Jago and Litefoot before time runs out in more ways than one.
This one was a little hard to follow at times, but the performances as ever are compelling enough for me to forgive any plot holes. Also, Professor Dark is finally revealed at the end to have a much more familiar and welcome identity. Since it’s Colin Baker in the role, we can all surmise what that really is.
Finally, it is the great Justin Richards who ends this set with The Hourglass Killers. Leela, Jago, and Litefoot are joined by a certain wandering Time Lord and an old friend of, well…practically everybody here. The true enemy is revealed, and the stakes are even higher for well…practically everybody.
Anyway, this is a bit of a collection for the longtime Doctor Who fans and could be accused of being a bit self-indulgent, however it is written well enough to enjoy the ride.
Colin Baker pretty much is guaranteed to deliver an energetic and compelling performance, and his enthusiasm is just as strong as in this set as one would come to expect. I also marvel at the ingenuity of the writers who come up with how to present Jago’s preposterous affinity for alliteration in his dialogue. Anyway, this is one spinoff series that seems to have a deserved legion of fans among us Big Finish consumers.
Not every scene was as clear as I would have preferred, but it’s still a fun journey. One should also extend a bit more grace when it comes to audio performances. That medium is probably one of the trickier ones to pull off for those who write and produce them, and these four writers still did more than come through for this particular listener.
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