The Twelfth Doctor Chronicles is a Doctor Who audio anthology released by Big Finish Productions.  Jacob Dudman returns to the mic serving as narrator for four new stories and doing his best to reproduce the voice of Peter Capaldi.  Helen Goldwyn is the director for this latest collection.  Each story also has a guest actor to help out.

The set starts off with David Llewellyn’s The Charge of the Night Brigade. Mandi Symonds is featured in this one as Mary Seacole, who had some renown as a nurse serving behind battle lines during the Crimean War.  I guess she had similar notoriety as Florence Nightingale.  On top of the horrors of war, an alien infection is also complicating matters even further, and that’s where the Doctor steps on.  It’s an interesting piece of British history, and Symonds was a good addition to the story.  I did not find it to be a spectacular addition, however it did not strike me as something I would find that memorable.

War Wounds is the second story and is written by Mark Wright.  Samuel Anderson reprises his role of Danny Pink from the television series.  He was the boyfriend of companion Clara Oswald who ended up on the wrong end of a Cyber conversion.  Danny joins the Doctor in the TARDIS as they are taken to a war on a distant planet.  Danny and the Doctor have some pretty amusing moments as they argue their way through this adventure, however there isn’t much here that grabbed my attention and kept it either.  Once again, this is one that is not terribly written, but the only thing that warranted any special note was Danny Pink’s presence.  I was never one that found that character too compelling in the television series, but at least he was someone I recognized.

Distant Voices by Lizbeth Myles had a much more interesting premise.  Emily Redpath is the guest performer and is quite good.  Redpath plays a tour guide who is haunted by voices of the past, however it’s no ghost that is the culprit. The Doctor has found a serious wound in Time, and a young tour guide who seems to be at the center.  This one was pretty good, or at least more striking than the other stories in this set.  There have been other similar ideas in the series, however this one still resonated better than at least for the first two entries.

Finally, Field Trip by Una McCormack concludes this set with Ingrid Oliver returning as the Doctor’s most ardent admirer, Osgood.  Osgood finally gets a trip in the TARDIS where the Doctor enlists her assistance to stop an invasion.  First, they much stop by an intergalactic peace conference where matters take a much  more dangerous turn.  I actually liked Osgood from the television series, so it was a welcome return for her, in my opinion.

Dudman’s impersonation of Capaldi doesn’t quite come off as accurately as when he imitated David Tennant and Matt Smith in the previous Chronicles.  Fortunately, he is not so far off the mark that it distracted me from finding some enjoyment here.  Dudman is actually a pretty compelling narrator though, so that helped me forgive any lapses in his rendition of this version of the Doctor.  The sound effects were effectively realized, but that’s hardly news with Big Finish output.  None of the stories were really bad, but three out of the four just didn’t keep my attention all that well.  Big Finish is still the master of this manner of storytelling, and my being somewhat underwhelmed by this particular set does nothing to change my appreciation for the studio itself.

The Adventures of Mark Twain is a biographical film released in 1944.  Irving Rapper directed this particular piece, which was written by Alan Le May and Harold M. Sherman.  Fredric March stars in the titular role.  The cast also includes Alexis Smith, Alan Hale, C. Aubrey Smith, and John Carradine.

The film starts off with the birth of one Samuel L. Clemens and follows his life journey through his period as a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi to a prospector to a newpaper reporter in Nevada.  Also, Clemens publishes his first story under his famous pseudonym Mark Twain.  Then we see his fame and family grow.

First of all, March is well cast as Twain.  He seems to impressively avoid a caricature performance well enough, given Twain’s well known flamboyance and bombastic mannerisms.  The set designs were quite well constructed.  There is some beautiful scenery throughout the movie.

It’s a little bit of a struggle though to sit through.  There are some moments that feel pretty slow.  I also had some difficulty keeping my bearings as to where in Twain’s life I was supposed to be viewing.  Of course, I actually don’t know much about his history.  There was a mixture of fantasy as well with the presence of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn near the beginning and the end.

There are a lot of merits to this film, but it could seem to be a little rambling at times.  The pacing could stand some improvement, but the film manages to hold together fairly well on the strength of the casting and the depiction of probably one of the most eccentric scribes in American history.

An Inspector Calls was originally a play by J.B Priestley that has been adapted a few times.  I saw the British television film first aired in 2015 and directed by Aisling Walsh.  The screenplay was written by Helen Edmundson.  The films stars David Thewlis as the mysterious Inspector Goole who calls upon the Birling family to discuss their role into what led up to the suicide of a young woman.  The cast includes Sophie Rundle, Chloe Pirrie, Miranda Richardson, and Finn Cole.

The story is an indictment on how those in lower societal classes are sometimes treated by those in more august positions.  As the drama unfolds, this inspector reveals how each member of the Birling family and a new fiancee have contributed to the desperate circumstances surrounding the young woman who took her own life.

There is a bit of an obvious preachy element, however the performances were compelling.  I liked the interpretation of this inspector by Thewlis.  Everyone else in the cast also did well.  The ending was a little more ambiguous than I would have preferred, but the journey to it was captivating enough.

The message is a little overdone and obvious, but the film is still well done.

Lords of the Red Planet is a Doctor Who audio play from Big Finish Productions and is an episode from The Lost Stories.  The original story idea was conceived by Brian Hayles for the television series during Patrick Troughton’s era.  John Dorney adapted this long buried work for the audio.  Lisa Bowerman is once again in the director’s chair or booth.  Frazer Hines reprises his role of Jamie McCrimmon as well as serving as co-narrator and filling in as the Second Doctor for the long deceased Patrick Troughton.  Wendy Padbury performs alongside as Zoe Herriot and as another narrator.  The guest cast has some telling family connections with Michael Troughton, the son of the aforementioned Patick, and Charlie Hayes, who is the daughter of Wendy Padbury.  Abigail Thaw and Nicholas Briggs round out the cast.  Abigail Thaw, as a matter of interest, is the daughter of John Thaw, who was best known playing one Inspector Morse.

The story revolves around the origins of the Ice Warriors. those well known denizens of the planet Mars, in Doctor Who canon anyway.  The Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe arrive when genetic experiments are taking place.  Thaw is quite chilling as the ambitious Zaadur who is trying to breed a new species of warriors.  Briggs hisses his way through another turn as various Ice Warriors.  Once again, the cast appears to be well-considered.

I actually rather like the Ice Warriors because they are one of the few adversaries who weren’t always at odds with the Doctor.  They were one of those alien species with a complex sense of honor, and there were occasionally individuals that cropped up in their stories who were often allied with the Doctor.  Having them originated on Mars seems pretty campy, but other than that, I have come to appreciate them more over the years.

Dorney is a talented enough writer, and the performances were compelling.  The criticism of this one is that it’s a six part story, and I am not sure that was really necessary.  As much as I love the series, the longer tales really do tend to drag, and this one unfortunately had those moments.

It has an interesting premise and a talented cast, but it could have been served better with a bit more brevity.

Extraction is an action movie which has recently premiered on Netflix with Chris Hemsworth in the lead role as Tyler Rake, a dour but highly efficient mercenary who gets roped into rescuing the kidnapped son of an incarcerated Indian crime boss.  Sam Hargrave is the director of this spectacularly bloody romp with Joe Russo serving as screenplay writer.  Ande Parks and Anthony Russo share story credit, however that’s not all.  This thing is based on a graphic novel entitled Cuidad, which was written by the aforementioned Joe Russo, Ande Parks, and Fernando Leon Gonzalez.  The cast includes David Harbour, Rudhraksh Jaiswal, Randeep Hooda, Pankaj Tripathi, and Priyanshu Painyuli.

Well, I already mentioned the basic plot in the introductory paragraph, and the story doesn’t get much more complex than that. This film is incredibly bloody, however once you realize that it is based on a graphic novel, the violence is somewhat expected.  The choreography is actually quite good.  Hemsworth puts forth a strong performance.  The character is a little cliche, but Hemsworth sells it enough for me to not resent that much.

I also rather liked the setting being somewhere that is not represented very much in the films I usually see.  I didn’t notice any weak links in anyone’s actual performance.  The kidnapped boy was played by Jaiswal, and he did pretty good partnered with Hemsworth through most of the movie.

The film works pretty well for the most part.  I am sure some of the professional critics will have some less than flattering observations about this cinematic offering, but I ended up enjoying it well enough in spite of the shocking amount of violence.  This is a brutal display at times, however it still manages to make some kind of sense considering the plot and the type of characters involved.

Woman On The Run is a film released in 1950 and is directed by Norman Foster.  Foster also co-wrote the screenplay with Ross Hunter and Alan Campbell.  It’s based on a short story by Sylvia Tate, however there were apparently all sorts of artistic liberties taken.  The leading role goes to Ann Sheridan, and the cast includes Dennis O’Keefe, Robert Keith, and Ross Elliot.

A struggling artist comes upon a struggle that ends up in gunfire.  The witness decides to hide out instead of relying on police protection.  His headstrong wife searches him out and realizes that her marriage is also in trouble along with her husband’s wife.  She meets a reporter on the search for an exclusive.  A police inspector with a formidable streak of stubbornness of his own is also a source of concern.

Sheridan is actually very effective as the lead heroine.  There are some outlandish elements in the plot such as it not being immediately clear why the husband opted to disappear instead of accepting the protection offered by the police.  I guess not all of the characters’ motives were all that thought out.  I still found the film to be quite enjoyable though for the most part.  There was a sense of realism though when it was found out that the marriage was on shaky ground, which was seemed to be a surprise to the intrepid Mrs. Johnson.  I think the male actors were pretty good too.  There was some pretty amusing banter between Mrs. Johnson and the reporter that ends up as an apparent ally.

A bit of surface research reveals that it didn’t help out Sheridan’s career as much as she had hoped.  The box office returns were not that impressive.  It doesn’t appear to have been well known piece.  The film has some flaws, but I think it deserves some attention from other classic film devotees.

Subterfuge is a Doctor Who audio play released by Big Finish Productions.  Samuel Clemens is the director of this story which was written by Helen Goldwyn.  Sylvester McCoy leads the tale as the Seventh Doctor.  Ian McNeice reprises his role as Winston Churchill, which he has played in the revived television series as well as other Big Finish releases.  Rufus Hound returns with his version of fellow renegade Time Lord known as the Meddling Monk. The guest cast is also comprised of Brian Capron, Mimi Ndiweni, Philip Labey, Jonathan Forbes, and James Joyce.

In London 1945, Winston Churchill is seeking reelection as Prime Minister of Britain. A new strategic advisor assures him of victory, but that’s not the way history went at that time, and the Doctor knows he must intervene to make sure it all stays on course.  There is another alien presence that needs to be returned home.

It’s a pretty enjoyable episode, but there is a lot going on and visualizing it all in the mind’s eye is not the easiest tasks when listening to this one.  I enjoyed the verbal sparring between the Monk and the Doctor.  Rufus Hound is a pretty good casting choice.  The Meddling Monk is a character who dates back to the era of William Hartnell’s Doctor.

I don’t consider this to be a brilliant entry, but it’s a solid adventure.  I am starting to think that this era in world and British history does get a bit overdone in Doctor Who, but I typically enjoy McNeice’s take on Churchill, and that helps me to not get terribly put out.  Also, I have come to enjoy McCoy’s performance over the years with Big Finish, so he has become a reliably welcome presence.

Goldwyn is a pretty talented writer.  She has actually performed and directed some of these audio adventures over the years. I don’t recall any previous scripts actually being written by her, but I do look forward to either being reminded of earlier works or seeing if what she comes up with in future stories.

The Lighthouse is a film that was presented in black and white and was released 2019.  Robert Eggers is the director who also co-wrote it with Max Eggers.  Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson star in what is essentially a two-hander.

Two lighthouse keepers in nineteenth century New England are rather stuck together for several weeks on a remote island.  It’s a contentious relationship between the two lead characters.  It doesn’t help when Pattinson’s Winslow starts having disturbing visions of mermaids and tentacles. Dafoe plays the crotchety somewhat abusive senior worker named Wake and does so effectively.

The film is done in black and white, which was a good decision.  The performances from both men were quite solid.  The film is a bit slow though and takes quite a bit of patience.  I found it to be a pretty peculiar movie in many ways and a little hard to actually enjoy.  It is a unique cinematic experience and does little to cheer one up during a global pandemic.  There is likely a lot to admire from a cinematographic standpoint, and it seemed to be pretty well-written.  It’s just a hard movie for me to keep my attention totally devoted due to the pacing and the limited scenery.

Although this movie may not have appealed to my cinematic preferences, I bet more studious viewers would get something more out of it.

The Black Ascot is a historical mystery novel by Charles Todd.  It is a recent installment in the series featuring Inspector Ian Rutledge of Scotland Yard.  So, Rutledge is a veteran of the First World War who suffers from what was known as shell shock and has resumed his duties as a detective for the Yard. What few people know is that Rutledge is plagued by the voice of a comrade he executed for disobeying orders.  That would be Hamish MacLeod who at times can be helpful as well as tormenting as Rutledge is working on another case.  MacLeod’s apparent haunting is more of a psychological break instead of a supernatural occurrence.  Yet, what makes this series so fascinating is that Rutledge is still a competent investigator.

The other interesting facet to this series is the glimpse of other historical and cultural references that are touched upon.  In this one, Rutledge gets an unexpected lead on a case that is a decade old.  During a royal horse race in 1910, known as the Black Ascot, a  murder occurred and the lead suspect disappeared.  Now Rutledge has learned that Alan Barrington has returned to England, which prompts him to reexamine the case.  During the course of the investigation, he ends up in hospital after a suspected suicide attempt which could end his career as well as expose his deepest secret to those who do not have his best interest in mind.

I don’t know if this is the one to blow me away, however there was a lot I liked in this one.  Rutledge being shaken up a bit with his condition was quite interesting.  His tenacity in spite of his brokenness was once again showcased when he resumed his inquiries after he was released after his gunshot wound.  There’s a somewhat expected yet welcome twist toward the end when Rutledge was getting close to the truth.  A certain event was introduced that I had never heard yet is apparently to British history and culture.  I didn’t mind that.  The Royal Ascot was a yearly horse racing event that was quite well attended.  The reader actually gets to meet Dr. Fleming who is usually mentioned in flashback or expositions reviewing Rutledge’s condition.  Fleming was the one who suggested that Rutledge engage the presence in his mind so some degree rather than hope to ignore it entirely.  He may have indeed saved the inspector’s life with this idea.

It’s still an engaging series, but the dynamic between Rutledge and Hamish needed a little shake-up.  I try not to be too liberal with spoilers, but I think it’s still fair to say that Rutledge isn’t done yet, and I expect to enjoy the next case just as much.

Well, due to the pandemic disrupting my usual reading settings and schedule a bit, this one took a little longer to finish, however I am going to commit to adjusting and getting through my growing backlog of new reading material a bit quicker.  Next up is a new Doctor Who anthology from BBC Books entitled The Target Storybook.

Mara is a horror film that was released in 2018.  It was directed by Clive Tonge from a screenplay provided by Jonathan Frank.  Olga Kurylenko leads a cast that includes Craig Conway, Javier Botet, Rosie Fellner, and Lance E. Nichols. So the idea of the film is based on some myth about a sleep demon.  Mara apparently preys on those with guilty secrets. so he choice of victims is aplenty.

Kurylenko plays a criminal psychologist who is asked to look at a situation where a wife seems to have killed her husband in an unusual and gruesome fashion.  As her investigation progresses, she finds herself in the group of sleep paralysis and a frightening female figure lurches around making strange clicking noises and asthmatic hisses or something.

This is just another B movie with an interesting idea as the main story.  The performances are fine.  The writing is fair.  It is reminiscent of some of the Japanese horror films I have seen in recent decades.  The visual effects are creepy enough, but that doesn’t seem so hard for these studios these days.

I ended up not hating this film, which is an accomplishment of sorts, because it did sort of introduce to me a previously unfamiliar peace of folklore.  The film was mildly engaging but only just barely.