Shadow of the Daleks 2 is a Doctor Who audio play from Big Finish Productions which continues the story of the Fifth Doctor following what he calls a temporal trail leading to another confrontation with the Daleks. There are four short plays directed by Ken Bentley that make up this compilation that was started in the previous release, Shadow the Daleks 1. The Doctor is played by Peter Davison. He keeps finding himself in the different situations and setting where he sees the same four faces in different guises. The guest cast is comprised of Jamie Parker, Anjli Mohindra, Dervla Kerwin, and Glen McCready. Nicholas Briggs fires up the voice modulator in order to rant and shriek as the Daleks. I was pretty enthusiastic about the first half of this saga, and this second half does pretty well. I think I liked the first one better since I was less familiar with the set-up.

The collection begins with Echo Chamber by Jonathan Banks. The Doctor curiously finds himself as a host of a radio talk show and is not sure how he got there. An rather interesting concept that seems pretty workable in only a one part story. A rather amusing beginning that turns rather dark toward the end, which is appropriate when the Daleks are involved.

Roland Moore follows that up with a pretty impressive story entitled Towards Zero where the Doctor arrives at an old country house in time to solve his own murder. It’s a pretty convoluted setup but an intriguing story that moves the Doctor in a direction where he starts to get answers.

Castle Hydra is the third story and is written by Lizzie Hopkins. The Doctor arrives at a castle that serves as a prison for some familiar faces and answers are coming to light as to why the Doctor knows the faces involved in his most recent adventures. Some of the action sequences were not quite as effective on audio, but Hopkins seems to be a competent enough writer, and I will be interested to see what else she comes up with in future scripts.

John Dorney brings the whole matter to a conclusion with Effect and Cause. Dorney is a frequent contributor to Big Finish scripts and does a very nice job of bringing this series to a close. The explanation for this confusion in time and reality is actually pretty creative.

The first volume is probably a little better, but I also had a better idea what to expect in this one. Peter Davison puts in a pretty good performance as usual. There was no explanation as to why this Doctor was on his own through this whole thing, but I found myself not caring much about that. This was an unusual set of adventures for this Doctor as I noted in my entry concerning the preceding volume, but I was glad some risks were taken by Big Finish in this.

The Night Fire is a crime novel written by Michael Connelly and reunites his most popular characters. Retired LAPD Detective Harry Bosch is working with current LAPD Detective Renee Ballard on a case that was apparently in the unauthorized custody his mentor, who recently died. Ballard herself is working on a disturbing murder of a homeless man who had been burned alive. The Lincoln Lawyer himself, Mickey Haller, is defending a man accused of killing a district judge in a park. It’s quite the free-for-all of homicidal behavior in this one.

It will come as no surprise to say that I enjoyed this novel. I appreciate that Connelly has avoided the obvious cliché of having Bosch as some grandmaster mentor of homicide investigation to Renee. Ballard has plenty of experience and talent to offer of her own in spite of the lack of years compared to Bosch. Bosch is also having a personal crisis involving his health, but that ends up being of some use during his investigation. He also gets involved in Haller’s case when the client may actually be innocent, and Bosch wants to make sure that a real killer answers for the judge’s murder.

The title refers to the inner fire that burns in all of these protagonists that keeps them motivated to seek the truth in whatever crime they are investigating. Bosch and Ballard both have challenges in their professional and personal lives that potentially distract them from that goal, but they still focus on their various investigations and pursue the answers relentlessly.

Connelly will likely maintain a consistent quality in his works. It’s fun to see what direction his characters take, particularly Harry Bosch as he continues to navigate his new retirement status which competes with his desire to take more murderers off the street. Connelly has assured his fans that Bosch is not likely to disappear from the canon for quite a while. Also, he created someone worth following with Renée Ballard.

The Night Fire does have quite a lot going on, but Connelly does tie up the threads pretty nicely. So the streets of his version of Los Angeles are just a little safer now.

The next literary indulgence will involve a return to 221B Baker Street London inn 1897. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson will have their own crime to solve within Philip Purser-Hallard’s The Spider Web.

Wonder Woman 1984 is a superhero film with Gal Gadot returning to the title role. Patty Jenkins returns to the director’s chair and has co-written the screenplay alongside Geoff Johns and Dave Callaham. Chris Pine returns as the resurrected Steve Trevor, Wonder Woman’s lost love from the First World War and previous movie. Kristen Wiig and Pedro Pascal sign on as the main antagonists. Connie Nielson and Robin Wright are also seen in flashbacks to young Diana Prince’s childhood on the secluded island of Amazon warriors.

By day, Wonder Woman lives as Diana Price, a senior anthropologist at the Smithsonian Institution. At least that was what she was doing in 1984. A foiled robbery leaves a collection of artefacts to be identified by Diana’s department. Among the mysterious items is something known as a “Dreamstone” which actually has the ability to grant wishes, which leads to the return of Chris Pine’s Steve Trevor. Pascal plays Maxwell Lord, a slick business owner with a troubled oil company. Kristen Wiig plays a very insecure woman named Barbara Minerva, who later gains a lot more confident and lethal when she becomes an adversary known as Cheetah. So everyone gets a wish but there is a cost that is not immediately apparent. The whole planet starts to go nuts, and Wonder Woman is the only one there to sort it all out.

This thing is a mess, but Gal Gadot and Chris Pine help make it a watchable mess. I am not sure why this story needed to take place in 1984. There wasn’t much to help remind me of that this was supposed to be taking place in 1984. Of course, I may have been trying too hard to make sense of the plot to really focus on the details of the setting. There were some charming and amusing moments. Gadot is a good actress and incredibly beautiful, so that helped keep my attention. It was good to see Chris Pine again, although I am concerned that he is going to keep showing up in more implausible ways if this series continues. It is, of course, a comic book movie, so the implausible is actually quite routine. Anyway, the two leads and their chemistry is really the best thing about this film.

I was not sure that Wiig was going to be a good fit as someone who might be able to take down Wonder Woman, but she did fine overall. Pedro Pascal was also fine but rather unremarkable.

This film has taken some rather brutal criticism by the pros, but it was not quite as bad as I feared. It’s not that great either unfortunately. Much of the criticism is fair. This is just a film that left me with a mixed reaction. I liked it for the most part, but the previous film in 2017 was considerably better. I do want to see Gal Gadot continue in the part though. That casting decision was a stroke of genius. I just wish the genius flowed over into the plot of this particular movie.

News of the World is a Western drama starring Tom Hanks and Helena Zengel. The cast also includes Bill Camp, Ray McKinnon, and Mare Winningham. Not only did Paul Greengrass direct this film, he also co-wrote the screenplay alongside Luke Davies. It is based on a novel by Paulette Jiles.

The story takes place not long after the end of the Civil War, and Hanks plays a veteran who makes his living traveling to small towns to bring news of events from around the world. He is asked to take a young girl who lived in a Native American tribe for several years to her only living relatives in the San Antonio area. The journey of course contains much peril and disaster, or it would be a tough movie to sit through.

Although it has a bit of a slow start, this movie did not end up being that tough to sit through. There is some amazing scenery long the way of what is supposed to be Texas High Plains. The film was shot in New Mexico mostly, but it works. Unsurprisingly, Hanks puts in a strong performance. The kid, Helena Zengel, was also quite the find. She is actually a 12 year-old German actress, which works nicely because the character’s family were apparently German immigrants or of that particular lineage.

This type of film seems to be quite a departure from where we usually see Tom Hanks, however he carries it well as expected. I was also drawn to the rather unusual occupation of his character, Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd. I presume such news readers actually existed at one time, but this was the first I had ever heard of such a thing.

It turns out this film is something I am finding myself appreciating more when I look back on it. There are some elements of the film that take some patience, and there are some coincidental lucky escapes that are sometimes a little hard to buy into completely. These minor flaws actually aren’t too distracting, and I probably only notice them because I know I am going to present a blog. Anyway, the gist here is that this film does deserve some attention.

The Christmas Chronicles 2 has Kurt Russell return to the red coat and flowing beard of Santa Claus with Goldie Hawn joining the fun as Mrs. Claus. Chris Columbus directed this film which he co-wrote with Matt Lieberman. Darby Camp, Judah Lewis, Tyrese Gibson, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, and Julian Dennison are also included in the cast.

Dennison plays the main antagonist, a disgruntled elf who was cursed with being human and wants to take revenge by stealing the Star of Bethlehem and ruining Christmas for everyone. Santa Claus has the help of his wife as well as young Kate Pierce and the son of her mother’s new boyfriend to save the holiday.

This film is incredibly ludicrous but reasonably fun. I can’t help but have some affection for Russell’s take on Santa Claus anyway. It was also amusing to have Hawn have a more active role than her cameo in the previous film. The children did fine in their roles as well.

The film has its amusing moments, but sometimes it felt a little overstuffed with various themes and sentiment. Russell’s enthusiasm as Santa Claus does give it enough charm to make it watchable. It probably won’t go down as some great Christmas comedy classic, but it manages to avoid being a complete disaster.

The Fourth Doctor Series 9 Volume 1 is a Doctor Who audio collection from Big Finish Productions. There are two adventures starring Tom Baker, Lalla Ward, and John Leeson. There are now joined by Matthew Waterhouse, reprising his role as Adric. Both episodes are directed by Nicholas Briggs. These two stories take place during the era of the television series in which the TARDIS was trapped in another universe known as E-Space where the Doctor, Romana, and K9 encountered an orphan who stowed away known as Adric. The television series only aired three stories that took place in E-Space, and Big Finish decided to add a few more stops before the Doctor escaped. I am glad they did.

Let’s take a look at the two stories in this set. Both are actually pretty engaging.

Marc Platt is the writer of Purgatory 12. The guest cast is comprised of Nimmy March, George Watkins, Amy Downham, and Liam Fox. The Doctor and his friends find an asteroid that serves as a penal colony, however the more dangerous feature here is the presence at the center of the rock that causes more havoc than the denizens of Purgatory 12. The story works well, but I thought it was more interesting to actually the dynamics of Adric’s sudden appearance of in the TARDIS and the aftermath of his brother’s death in the television story Full Circle. Big Finish does more to explore the relationships between the characters than what was written in the television series, and I actually found Adric to be a bit more tolerable. As usual, some of the imagery evoked by the story is a little hard to focus just by dialogue and sound effects, but I appreciated the episode overall. Tom Baker still sounds like he is having a ball, but he is my favorite Doctor, so I may be somewhat biased.

Chase the Night is written by another longtime Doctor Who contributor, Jonathan Morris. The guest cast for this one features Jane Asher, William Gaminara, Lucy Heath, Christopher Naylor, and Tania Rodrigues. This one has a unique concept of a crashed spacecraft that was converted into a kind of train in order to stay ahead of the dawn since the sunlight on this particular planet destroys everything in its path. But there is more to the planet than just an unusually destructive morning. This story had an interesting concept with a crashed ship being converted to survive an eternal trip around the planet as the surviving crew needs to stay in the night side. It appears to be an ambitious story idea, but Morris sells it quite effectively.

I probably prefer Chase the Night out of the two, but both episodes are quite enjoyable. There were some tales of tension between Waterhouse and Tom Baker many moons ago but that seems to have been healed by the passage of time. Of course, Tom Baker and Lalla Ward were once married, but any awkwardness from that seems to have also dissipated. Anyway, it was a fun set, and there are two more stories to get from this particular era. Waterhouse is considerably older than when he first played Adric. but he still manages to find the right tone in his voice to resurrect the youthfulness of that period in his life. Adric was never my favorite of the Doctor’s companions, but I am somehow glad that Big Finish was able to revisit this particular era. I am glad Waterhouse has been able to make a return to enjoy the nostalgia and still provide an effective performance. The ninth series Fourth Doctor adventures from Big Finish looks to be a fun ride, and I will be getting the second half very soon.

The Witch Hunter is a crime novel from Finnish writer Max Seeck. The Helsinki police have a perplexing murder on their hands. The wife of a very popular novelist is found dead propped up in a chair with a ghastly grin plastered on her face. The husband is on a book tour facing avid fans and one who asks about him being afraid of what he writes. The writer wrote a trilogy of novels known as Witch Hunt. The lead investigator is Jessica Niemi who has some dark secrets of her own. More bodies are found that mirror the descriptions of crimes that take place in the trilogy. A survivor is also discovered who seems oddly afraid of Jessica. A strange figure with horns is lurking around the crime scenes. It seems that Jessica has more than one killer to find. In fact, there may be a coven to unearth.

Overall, I like this novel but it had a leg up in that regard due to the genre. I did enjoy reading about something taking place in Finland, although I had some trouble really getting a sense of what that region was like, other than it is really cold. The chapters also sometimes alternate to flashbacks of an encounter Jessica had in Italy with a classical musician, an encounter that has a profound effect on the detective.

The plot does seem somewhat complicated as it unfolds. It was a pretty busy story to follow. I did like it for the most part, but I am not sure there is much terribly unique about it. Seeck seems to be a competent enough of a writer, but the novel was translated from Finnish. Still, he is a pretty young guy and is likely to improve with age and experience. He seems to have enough talent to stay in the game. The novel isn’t bad by any means, but the setting is the only aspect I am likely to remember for long.

Next up, I will be returning to the streets with Los Angeles with my next read. Even though Harry Bosch is now retired from the LAPD, that doesn’t mean he is out the game of solving crimes. He now has a new ally in his quest in the shape of Detective Renee Ballard, and they both are possessed by Michael Connelly’s The Night Fire.

Shadow of the Daleks 1 is a small collection of audio vignettes from Big Finish Productions starring Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor. Obviously there will be a second volume as a follow up, but I have yet to hear that one. Ken Bentley is the director of these four tales with Jamie Parker, Anjli Mohindra, Dervla Kirwan, Glen McCready, and Nicholas Briggs. Nicholas Briggs is back to voice the dreaded Daleks.

This is kind of an interesting idea with the Doctor being on the fringe of the Time War, which really doesn’t into play very much until his later incarnations. The Daleks’ involvement is rather more subtle than usual with them exerting more of a haunting presence in these stories instead of just barging through corridors with their grating screams of “Exterminate!”. This is actually a set of four individual stories with the Doctor traveling on his own tracing the anomalies in time and space that hint at the presence of his most familiar of enemies. It’s all very mysterious and troubling. I loved it. So, let’s break down the stories and bit and give some credit to the various writers’ creativity.

James Kettle starts off this little odyssey with Aiming for the Body in which the Doctor finds a small group stranded in some kind of desert or something with a rather notorious cricket player. He finds that what the people he has met may be a disguise employed by the Daleks. He is certainly being affected by what could be described as hallucinations of his oldest enemies. It’s a good enough introduction to keep me engaged. The mystery continues into the next story in which the Doctor sees the same group of people but with new identities in the far future.

And that takes to Lightspeed by Jonathan Morris, a much more familiar name of Doctor Who contributors. A hijacking has been planned, and the Doctor of course finds himself caught up in peril. This is a pretty straight forward story, however the presence of the Daleks is still felt. It’s not a bad story but not really that memorable.

I am not sure if it’s just because the setting appeals to me, but Simon Guerrier’s The Bookshop at the End of the World struck more of a chord with me. The Doctor shows up with no memory as to own identity in a storm at a bookshop which also doubles as a pub. I understand that is actually a thing in some countries. It’s actually a much more enigmatic and surreal story in this anthology. Of course, the same group of faces populate this little shop but are in possession of different identities.

And Dan Starkey completes this little set with Interlude in which the Doctor finds himself in a play where he is preforming for an ominous audience. This one was a little tricky to follow at first, but it still managed to keep me enthralled as to what was going to happen next.

I almost always enjoy Big Finish plays, but this one was kind of special. This effort seemed to be highly unusual for this particular Doctor, and I loved the concept. I am not sure why the Doctor is on his own here because there is not much of a way to fit in solo adventures if one was going to stick strictly to the canon of the television series. Fortunately, the stories were all interesting enough for me to not dwell on that too much. Davison puts in a solid performance, but he always does. I liked the mysterious foreshadowing of the Doctor’s future as well. I also appreciated the Daleks being employed a little subtly. The good news is the Doctor’s search is only halfway though. There is another volume to purchase and play, and it won’t be too much longer before I get to see…or rather hear how this all comes to a head.

Monster Hunter is a science fiction/fantasy film written and directed by Paul W.S. Anderson and is based on a video game series from Capcom. Milla Jovovich is in the lead as Army Ranger Captain Natalie Artemis. The cast alongside her includes Tony Jaa, Megan Good, Tip “T.I.” Harris, and Ron Perlman.

An elite United Nations military force is mysteriously transported to another planet where all kinds of horrific monsters stalk the desert. Captain Artemis ends up being the sole survivor of her unit, but she has unexpected help from a native hunter to try to get back home. Then she has a several allies to help her out as she learns to kill the creatures that are apparently protecting some dark tower that may be the key to getting the captain back home.

This film is based on a video game series, so there needs to be a certain level of stupidity to be expected in the plot and dialogue. And if you are expecting that level of stupidity, you won’t be disappointed. The visual effects are pretty well done. The fight scenes are impossibly choreographed but entertaining. All the stunts and effects are compelling enough. Jovovich is still talented and entertaining enough to sell her role. Of course, she carried the Resident Evil film series for several years, so she is an old hat in this genre. She has also stayed in shape and looks great even when she is covered in sand, grime, and monster entrails. The monsters are fine and appropriately startling at times. There isn’t much here as far as new ground being broken, but the film was reasonably entertaining for an evening out.

This is just an unapologetic popcorn movie, and it works just as fine as that as long as the expectations for a coherent plot and clever dialogue is pretty low.

Searching for Bobby Fischer is a drama film written and directed by Steven Zillian released in 1993 about a very young chess prodigy named Josh Waitzkin. The film is based on a book written by Josh’s father, Fred Waitzkin. The film stars Max Pomeranc, Joe Mantegna, Laurence Fishbourne, Joan Allen, and Ben Kingsley.

Apparently, Josh Waitzkin is actually a real chess player who then ventured into martial arts and other sports in real life. Josh started playing competitively around the age of seven and was quite formidable even then. The film take a few liberties with the real story but it apparently is largely faithful to the real events and people.

Bobby Fischer is a well known chess master who had a habit of going into seclusion for years at times. Fischer’s spirit seems to linger in this work. There were some interesting flashbacks to bits of Fischer’s life narrated by Pomeranc, who was around nine years old when he appeared in this film.

It really is a strong cast and a pretty interesting story for the most part, but the film was slow at times. This is a great example of the difficulty in making a movie about chess grip the attention of the viewer. Fishbourne plays kind of a cool part as a kind of speed chess hustler in a park where young Josh would often play. Kingsley has the part of the stricter chess instructor, but Bruce Pandolfini ends up not being that bad of a guy.

It was nice to have a movie about parents actually supporting a child’s unusual gift instead of them blocking it. The pressure of competition does take its toll on Josh, but there is an inspiring victory toward the end. I would normally not make a revelation like this, but I think we all know how these films go.

The movie has some interesting and moving moments, but it’s kind of boring overall. I wish I didn’t have to force myself to pay attention as much as I did, but it happens sometimes.