Film Review: A New Wolf Man Unleashed

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Wolf Man is an adequate iteration of a common horror film figure directed by Leigh Whannell. Whannell co-wrote this script with Corbett Tuck. It’s a reasonable cinematic distraction and has some suspense, but it’s still unremarkable.

The film stars Christopher Abbott, Julia Garner, Sam Jaegar, and Matilda Firth. None of the cast appear to be the most recognizable Hollywood names, but they delivered reasonably solid performances. I sort of liked that I was not that familiar with this cast because it did help the film seem somewhat fresher.

We are introduced to the lead character, Blake Lovell, as a child who had a strange encounter in the woods when hunting with his father. The father is a difficult, paranoid man and his behavior left an unfavorable on his son, who has grown up, gotten married, and sired a daughter. Blake gets notice that his father, who had disappeared in the woods sometime, has been declared dead. Blake and his wife, Charlotte, have been enduring a tense marriage and agree that a trip to the Oregon wilderness could help them find some peace. Of course, this is a horror film, and they are stalked by a strange creature that has wounded Blake. Blake begins to undergo a slow transformation into something much more dangerously feral. Charlotte and their daughter are forced to fight for survival with the first beast in the forest, and eventually the husband and father begins to succumb to a new bestial hunger.

The visual effects are fine, and there are a few moments of real suspense. The performances were not noticeably bad. The background of this family was not all that interesting or intriguing. It’s another couple with some marital tension on the verge of likely separation. I found Blake Lovell to be somewhat bland as a family man. I don’t think it’s the fault of the actor. He did as well as he could. There was an interesting method he employed to instill some sense of confidence in his daughter. That relationship was kind of charming. Julia Garner was fine as the overworked journalist wife. There just wasn’t much I found charming enough about her for me to care that much if she got caught by the werewolf and torn to shreds.

The daughter played by Matilda Firth was performed well enough. I may have only cared about her survival because I am not sociopathic enough to really want to see a child become snack food, however.

The location was great; however, I am Oregonian by birth, so that may not be an unbiased opinion.

The visual effects were pretty good, but of course they were going to be.

It’s not a terrible film, but it’s another average, forgettable release that doesn’t leave much of an impression.

Book Review: Russians And Rapp In Syria

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Code Red is a recent continuation of the Mitch Rapp series of thriller novels originated by the late Vince Flynn. Kyle Mills has written his final contribution to the series and leaves the franchise with a pretty decent addition.

Mitch Rapp is a top counterterrorism operative for the CIA, and yet he owes a favor to someone who is rather despicable. A Mexican cartel leader has called in a marker and wants Rapp to travel to Syria to look into the creation of a powerful narcotic that is interfering with business. Rapp poses as a Canadian lawyer and has to behave a bit more civilized than he is used to operating. Rapp is a stone-cold killer when hunting for terrorists or anyone who poses a threat to the United States. He soon discovers that the proliferation of this drug is actually a form of attack from the Soviet government. Rapp is basically on his own since his latest mission isn’t really sanctioned by the US government. He also has good reason to not trust the man for whom he is working this time. He is quite well that he is seen by the crime lord as being very expendable. None of these obstacles will deter Rapp from protecting his family and those he has come to love. That also means there is going to be quite a bit more killing that will be done.

Mills does pretty well here. I was rather amused at the scenes where Rapp has to pretend to be paralyzed with fear when he is abducted while in his guise. Little do the bad guys know that their victim is the most dangerous man in the room. Rapp doesn’t really do undercover gigs, so it was refreshing to have him employ a tactic that he so rarely uses.

The villains are typical of this series. I do find it interesting when Rapp ends up going after someone other than another Middle Eastern terrorist. I believe this is the second recent novel that Russians were more of a target of Rapp’s lethal talents, and I sort of like the change of pace.

Also, the recent novels have Rapp basically in a stepfather role, and it’s pretty cool to see a paternal streak revealed.

I miss the original creator, Vince Flynn, but Kyle Mills was a solid choice by the publishing house to continue the series. He is a competent enough writer and was courageous enough to place Rapp in situations that may not have been explored by Flynn. Still, Vince Flynn was taken too soon. and too young. I would have loved to have known which direction he would have taken Rapp, but I think Mills does well enough honoring the legacy.

Don Bentley is now the successor for continuing Mitch Rapp’s bloody mission in protecting America from its numerous enemies.

Next up, I will be reading The Mystery Writer by Sulari Gentill.

Film Review: Even A Wicked Witch Has Beginning

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Wicked was something I enjoyed more than I expected because fantasy musicals aren’t my usual bag when it comes to my cinematic indulgences. It’s probably not the greatest film I have seen, but there were some great displays of talent and spectacle here. It does the job of being pretty entertaining and interesting.

It’s based on a play, which was in turn based on a novel written by Gregory Maguire. Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox wrote the script with John M. Chu as director.

Cynthia Erivo is in the lead role as the green-skinned Elphaba Thropp, who is to become the legendary, evil Wicked Witch of the West. Ariana Grande is Glinda the Good Witch. Other cast members of note include Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum, Jonathan Bailey, and Marissa Bode.

This is obviously a prequel to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and reveals the histories of Glinda and the Wicked Witch, who is apparently named Elphaba. They come across at a place called Shiz University where one of the courses offered is sorcery. Elphaba reveals that she has a powerful telekinetic ability which she cannot always control. She is convinced to enroll alongside her sister. Elphaba and Glinda have an amusingly rocky start to their friendship. There is some movement against talking animals, and Elphaba decides to rebel against the authorities and rescue a lion cub. This prompts an invitation from the Wizard so she can come visit him. Of course, there are darker motivations behind the generosity. Elphaba begins her journey down a dark path that causes denizens of Oz to fear her.

The visual effects are stunning. The musical numbers were pretty good, although a couple of them dragged on a bit longer than I would have preferred.

I was somewhat surprised by Ariana Grande’s comedic timing at times. She really seemed to be a perfect casting choice for the self-absorbed, sycophantic Glinda. Her character arc was handled pretty well. It was hard to really dislike Glinda in spite of some of her antics, but I rather think that was the point of her character.

Erivo handled her role quite well. I was impressed with her when I saw her in Harriet, so I was less surprised by her performance.

The sets were lavish and beautifully constructed. There is a lot of visual stimulation, but I was more impressed by the imagination and craftmanship than anything.

There were times that I felt the musical numbers got in the way of the story. That’s my only real criticism of this film.

Apparently, there is a second part to this story to be released, and I am hooked enough to see it.

Book Review: Even The Perfect Son Has Some Dangerous Secrets

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

The Perfect Son by Freida McFadden is an interesting and competent thriller about how far a mother can go to protect her son even if she is not sure of his innocence of a horrific crime.

The Cass family seem to be a typical American family. The older son, Liam, is a popular, charming teen-ager, however the Erika Cass has picked up a strange distance in him. Liam may be a dangerous sociopath who is getting too old her his mother to control. When one of his classmates goes missing, Erika fears the worst, especially when the police show up on their door.

This has been a plot that has had a few iterations over the years. The seemingly perfect child who is more dangerous than he appears is kind of overused. McFadden is a competent writer though, so it’s no worse than anything else with this type of story.

It’s told in first person with most of the narration alternating between the mother and a classmate of Liam’s who has a pretty intense crush on him. It’s a pretty quick read, and McFadden does well with ratcheting up the tension throughout. Unfortunately, her plot twist isn’t that hard to predict, but it’s still a pretty good read for us thriller aficionados.

Vince Flynn was a novelist who died several years ago, but his creation Mitch Rapp lives on with the continued writing talents of Kyle Mills. Mills has moved on from the series since writing my next read, but Rapp is not going anywhere as another writer steps up to continue. I have one more Mills installment to read, and that would be Code Red.

Doctor Who Audio Review: The Battles Keep Coming

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

The War Doctor Begins: Battlegrounds is a decent but unspectacular addition to range of War Doctor audio adventures from Big Finish Productions. Doctor Who has a myriad of ranges, and this one does remain fascinating overall, but this particular set struck me as being pretty average. Jonathon Carley continues his portrayal as the War Doctor, which was originated by the late John Hurt. Louise Jameson is the director of this set, and she does a good job.

The War Doctor was an incarnation who was denied by his other selves because of some of his actions taken during the Time War. He has denied himself his usual name, which makes introductions a little awkward to new characters. The War Doctor is not really evil, but he is a bit more ruthless than his other iterations.

As expected in this range, there are three episodes.

The Keeper of Light by Phil Mulryne begins where the War Doctor has a new companion and appears to be investigating strange signals that come from a lighthouse. It seems like a familiar type of adventure for this Time Lord, and he is only too happy to look into it. The problem is that he finds that his sense of reality may not be as reliable as he hopes.

The performances are great as usual. Carley continues to improve on the development of this character, and his impression of Hurt’s unique voice is impressive.

Rossa McPhillips continues the battle with the Daleks with his story entitled Temmosus in which the War Doctor has to convince a group of Thals that they are actually on the same side. A battleship the War Doctor has constructed has been stolen, and a Thal commander is trying to negotiate with the Daleks, which is not going to work out the way he hopes.

This is an interesting story as well. It seems overdue to bring in the Thals in this Time War saga since they shared the planet Skaro with the Daleks.

Finally, Timothy X Atack closes out this set with Rewind, which is actually the best out of this three.

The planet Lacuna is reliving the same day under an attack from the Daleks. Ignis Abel finds a lone man in a castle who may be the architect of their situation, but he was trying to save their lives. The War Doctor wants to break the population from the time loop he constructed, but doing so may leave them at the mercy of the Daleks.

Sarah Moss plays the optimistic and curious Ignis and is kind of the lead in this story. Her scenes with the War Doctor are well written.

The unique take on the repeating day is that the population is aware of the predicament and remember each time when the cycle ended with the Daleks slaughtering everyone.

The set is pretty good for the most part. I love that Louise Jameson has been expanding her role at Big Finish Productions beyond just playing Leela.

Carley is quite the find with his ability to emulate John Hurt’s distinctive voice.

Even if I didn’t find much that stood out, it’s still not a bad collection. Carley’s performance is quite astonishing. I wasn’t initially enthusiastic about the introduction of the War Doctor, but I am enjoying the heck out of this range of Big Finish audios even if that enjoyment comes at different levels.

Film Review: The Hunter Has A List

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Kraven the Hunter is the latest cinematic offering associated with Marvel Studios, and it’s pretty much a disaster on almost every level. There are a couple of glimmers of something that could be interesting, but they’re pretty hard to detect, and I may just have a hard time admitting that I foolishly wasted my time watching this.

Anyway, J.C. Chandor is the director of this film with three screenwriters bearing the responsibility for this ill-conceived script. Richard Wenk, Art Marcum. and Matt Holloway are the culprits who for some reason sat around and considered this a worthwhile cinematic project to unleash upon the masses.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson is the pretty boy actor in the lead as the supposed rugged, semi-wild Sergei Kravinoff who becomes better known as Kraven the Hunter. Ariana Debose, Fred Hechinger, Alessandro Nivola, and Russell Crowe are included in the cast.

The film starts off with the two young Kravinoff brothers taken on a hunting trip by their tyrannical father, who is a major crime lord, and played by Russell Crow. Sergei is attacked by a lion and dragged before a young woman who belongs to a family of voodoo practitioners. A girl known as Calypso gives Sergei a serum which not only helps heal his wounds but also provide him with powers similar to the wild predators who he comes to protect from poachers.

Kraven also becomes a vigilante going after arms dealers and other assorted high-powered criminals. He is even more enraged when his younger brother, played by Hechinger, is kidnapped. His estranged father still wants him to take over his empire. in spite of their previous disagreements. Kraven is not without his own allies, and he has a ruthlessness that matches those who cross him and attempt to take one of the few people he actually cares for,

Another Marvel supervillain known as the Rhino also appears and is played by Alessandro Nivola. This version of the Rhino actually undergoes a metamorphosis when he disconnects his IV tube that keeps the beast at bay.

Kraven was one of the rogues’ gallery of criminals who challenged Spider-Man. I found him to one of Spidey’s more interesting foes when I was reading the comics back in the day.

Taylor-Johnson obviously works out and looks great, but he does not have the air of wildness depicted in the source material. His attempts at witty banter with Calypso and his brother fall flat. He just fails to look as terrifying as Kraven would likely be if he was a real person.

Fred Hechinger as the brother, Dmitri Kravinoff, is kind of compelling. Dmitri has quite a talent for mimicry, which becomes rather important toward the end of the film.

Russell Crowe is one of the few bright spots in this film, but even his presence isn’t enough to remove any regret over sitting through this. Crowe has a pretty nice career playing some nasty characters.

The fight scenes were okay at times. The final fight between Kraven and the Rhino seemed rather run-of-the mill.

This may be further proof that movies about the villains are not that interesting unless Spider-Man is directly involved. The writing and plot were still substandard. This film got raked over the coals by the professional critics, and this humble blogger has little reason to disagree.

On the whole, this was a terrible idea, and this film earned every bit of the beating it took in the box office.

Book Review: The Taming Of Dodge City

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Dodge City: Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and the Wickedest Town in the American West by Tom Clavin is a fascinating account of how one of the wildest settlements in the expanding nation was tamed largely by two legendary figures what is known as the Wild West.

Clavin is a prolific historical writer who specializes one of the most fabled eras of American history. He presents the reader with an interesting problem at the beginning. He reports that there is almost too much material to sift through regarding Wyatt Earp, but there is relatively scant information about Bat Masterson. He still manages to present fascinating histories of both of these men we well as other familiar names such as Doc Holliday, Jesse James, and Billy the Kid.

Clavin’s prose is pretty straight-forward, but he does pepper the book with some sly humor. He does acknowledge that there is a lot of falsehoods to weed through in his research. He is pretty clear as to when he is speculating as to how certain events went down, which is appreciated.

He said that much of the exploits of Earp and Masterson have been embellished by other writers and the media over the decades, but it seems their actual lives were much more enthralling than many led regardless.

There isn’t much to really criticize about this book. Not everything was laid out linearly, but I suspect that many books of this sort are like that. There is a bit of jumping back and forth in the timeline as Clavin has to divide his attention between two main figures of 1870’s

Clavin is very thorough in his research and seems to be forthright about some of the ambiguity in the information he had gathered. As mentioned before, he does a great job of identifying moments of speculation and some guessing as to what motivated certain people in certain events.

This is a rare reading indulgence for me. I don’t read much non-fiction; however, I hope to improve on that this coming year. I will likely revisit the works of Tom Clavin before long.

Anyway, for those interested in a more reliable account of the Old West, Clavin seems to be an excellent place to start. Dodge City is a very enlightening and entertaining read and provides what seems a probable accurate take on what life was like in one of the most turbulent periods in American lore.

I will return to thriller genre with a writer I have noticed recently who seems to have quite a bibliography for someone who seems so new to the literary scene. I am about to be introduced by Freida McFadden to The Perfect Son.

Doctor Who Audio Review: Fifty Years Of The Fourth

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

The Curse of Time is a Doctor Who audio drama from Big Finish Productions and is a special effort to commemorate fifty years of Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor. Jonathan Morris writes a pretty good script, which is directed by Helen Goldwyn. Baker is joined by Sadie Miller as Sarah Jane Smith and Christopher Naylor as Harry Sullivan. The guest cast is comprised of Rosemary Ashe, Scarlett Courtney, Angus Dunican, Andrew French, George Naylor, and Terence Wilton.

While answering a summons back to Earth, The TARDIS is pulled through the time vortex into what is thought to be medieval times but is in reality in the far future after humans had fled solar flares that threatened the planet. They have returned, but they are dark secrets awaiting them as well These are the descendants of the humans from a certain Ark in Space. The Doctor and his friends have become legends, but a secret enemy is lurking in the caves, and he needs some help from the Time Lord and is not just going to ask for it.

An aspect of this story that I liked is that Morris doesn’t lean on the trope of bringing an old adversary out to face the Doctor. The story is a sequel to some of those in nineteenth season, however the plot is pretty original. It does a decent job of celebrating the Tom Baker era.

Sadie Miller is really sounding more and more like her mother, Elisabeth Sladen, who originally played Sarah Jane. Naylor is also pretty close to sounding like Ian Marter, who played Harry Sullivan in the television series. Tom Baker sounds pretty well and is as enthusiastic as ever, but I am starting pick up his nearly nine decades in his voice.

The episode isn’t spectacular, but it’s still pretty good. Even if it touches on some earlier stories in the television era, there is enough originality in the plot to feel like an unnecessary sequel.

This felt like a pretty good way to celebrate fifty years of the Fourth Doctor. Big Finish Productions avoided some of the usual trappings of such a milestone and gave its audience something more creative and unexpected in making this almost an ordinary Fourth Doctor romp.

Film Review: The Count Takes A Trip

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Nosferatu is a decent update of a 1922 silent film and is written and directed by Robert Eggers. Although I found it to be a bit over the top at times, the set design and cinematography is gorgeous.

Bill Skarsgård plays the mysterious and bloodthirsty Count Orlok from Transylvania. Nicholas Hoult, Lily-Rose Depp, Willem Dafoe, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Emma Corrin are included in the cast.

Nosferatu was first made in 1922 and was directed by F.W. Murnau. This is a pretty well-known silent film, and it probably wasn’t really crying out for a remake, especially since it’s a retelling of Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

Now that it’s out there, what’s my verdict? The scenery and set design do make up for a lot. Skarsgård is pretty well made up and seems to be developing quite a resume playing demonic characters such as Pennywise the Clown in the latest adaptation of Stephen King’s It. He delivers a solid performance even though the spooky voice he puts on was little overdone.

The story takes place in early nineteenth century Germany, although most of the characters all seem British, which really doesn’t get explained all that well.

Anyway, Hoult plays a real estate broker who is sent by his employer to Transylvania to close a sale on an estate to Count Orlok. He does not realize that the Count has cursed his wife and intends to travel to Germany to claim her as well as his new property. Madness seems to be erupting everywhere in the German town. Lily-Rose Depp’s’ character seems to be having inexplicable fits that deviled her as a child. The occult expert, played by Dafoe, is brought in to discover the answers to these strange disruptions. The Count is on his way to Germany and has a gruesome thirst to satisfy.

I know that people from that time period were a little more formal in their speech than we are today, but somehow, I had some trouble buying the dialogue. “Restrain your protestations!” seems a bit more of a questionable choice of realistic exclamations than “Be silent!” or “Shut up!” even for that era. I can appreciate the effort to avoid anachronistic colloquialisms, but the dialogue didn’t always sound credible.

Anyway, the film is still pretty good, and I think most horror film aficionados will enjoy it. It isn’t for the faint-hearted because it gets pretty gory and sexually explicit.

Even in spite of its occasional lapses into campiness and cliché, Eggers doesn’t fail to provide some expected chills and jumps.

Film Review: Unknown No Longer

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

A Complete Unknown, directed by James Mangold, turns out to be a pretty compelling biographical film about the early career of Bob Dylan, played by Timothee Chalamet. Mangold also co-wrote the script alongside Jack Cocks. It was based on the biography entitled Dylan Goes Electric by Elijah Wald. Edward Norton also has a substantial role as Pete Seeger, the folk singer and activist who helped introduce Dylan’s music to the masses. The cast also includes Scoot McNairy as Woody Guthrie, Elle Fanning, Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez, Boyd Holbrook as Johnny Cash, and Will Harrison as Bobby Neuwirth.

The story begins in 1961 when Dylan has moved to New York and sets out to meet his musical idol, Woody Guthrie, who at this point is hospitalized with Huntington’s Disease. Dylan also happens to meet fellow folk singer, Pete Seeger, who is also visiting Guthrie. He impresses both of them with an impromptu performance in the hospital room of one of his songs. Seeger invites Dylan to stay with him and his family and introduces him to the folk music scene. Dylan’s music captures the audience’s attention and so begins his rise. A major conflict arises when Dylan wants to be known as something other than just a folk musician. Apparently, when he started turning to electric guitars, that cause some ire among the fans and colleagues who preferred to pigeonhole him. Dylan has to navigate some challenges in his personal and professional relationships as he desires to create his own path within the music industry.

First of all, the performances are quite good. I am not that familiar with Dylan and his eccentricities, but it seems like Chalamet probably hits the right notes. Edward Norton, unsurprisingly, is also compelling. The film does a good job of inspiring those who may not spend that much time in folk music to look into a deeper into the genre and the major artists. The film has a top-notch cast.

The film is quite good but not free of some admittingly minor downfalls. There are moments where it seems to drag, even though it is focused on a mere three- or four-year period of Dylan’s life. There again, that is pretty tolerable because of the cast.

I thought the friendship between Johnny Cash and Dylan was kind of interesting and could have used a little more exploration, but that could be for a different film. I am not that sure how close Boyd Holbrook gets to actually emulating Cash, but I found that I liked his presence all the same.

One thing I noticed about the story is that it really reveals how mercenary the music industry can be even in the 1960’s and even when it concerns the music of the hippies and protesters. I did find myself sympathizing with Dylan’s plight, which is no doubt the intention of the film. I am not really a Dylan fan, but I did find this bit of his story rather compelling and may develop a deeper appreciation for his talent and music, even though we would likely wildly disagree on numerous political and social topics.