Spenser Confidential is a Netflix original film supposedly based the characters originally created Robert B. Parker and a novel written by Ace Atkins.  Atkins has been writing new Spenser novels since Parker’s death in 2010.  The film is directed by Peter Berg, who I usually like.  It took two screenwriters to come up with his drivel, Sean O’Keefe and Brian Helgeland.  Mark Wahlberg plays the title role with Winston Duke playing Hawk.  Alan Arkin and Iliza Shlesinger are also part of the cast alongside Bokeem Woodbine and Michael Gaston.

It’s based on one of Ace Atkins’ novels entitled Wonderland supposedly.  I read that book and recognized very little of it in the movie. I can’t believe that Atkins and Parker estate went along with this without any objection.

First of all, the background of the characters has been changed drastically.  In this film, Spenser is a former cop who got sent to prison for giving his corrupt captain a thrashing.  He serves his time and is released.  He wants to move to Arizona and become a long haul trucker, however he gets drawn back into the fray when the captain is murdered and another cop is framed for it.  Arkin plays Spenser’s former boxing trainer who puts him up for the time being.  This is where Spenser meets Hawk, an aspiring UFC fighter or something.  Spenser is also having to contend with an irate ex-girlfriend, who is definitely not Dr. Susan Silverman of the novels.  Shlesinger takes on that role and sometimes stumbles into an amusing moment.  Her gorgeousness and talent is so wasted here, although there was a certain sassiness I found somewhat appealing.  She is better known as a stand-up comedian, which I appreciate a lot more.

In the novels, Spenser was just private eye who was often backed up by Hawk, a freelance mob enforcer at times.  He was known for his wry view on life and justified bravado when taking on a challenging case.  He was a pretty accomplished cook and well-read which was in contradiction to his intimidating size and somewhat thuggish features.  The only thing this movie got right was Spenser being a former cop and boxer. Wahlberg is an actor I usually appreciate when he is onscreen, but he just didn’t hit anything on how Spenser is depicted in the novels.

If this thing didn’t purport to be based on the world created by Robert B. Parker, it may be an adequate film to watch, but still not  much more than that.  Although Alan Arkin had a few good moments sometimes.

I knew about some of the changes before I saw this movie as I knew that Hollywood studios tended to do this, but as a fan of the original Spenser novels, I was still pretty outraged that this went as far as it did. What a shame!

The Way Back is a sports drama written by Brad Ingelsby and directed by Gavin O’Conner.  Ben Affleck stars here with a cast that includes Al Madrigal, Janina Gavankar, and Michaela Watkins.

Affleck plays a construction worker who can put out away a terrifying or enviable amount of booze, depending on your sense of priorities.  Anyway, he is a former high school basketball hotshot who walked away from a full scholarship in his youth.  He is presented with the opportunity coach a team at the Catholic school where he attended and reluctantly takes it on.

I will start off and say that the film is actually pretty good for the most part.  There are some aspects that fall short on realism, such as the lack of research the school puts in when it comes to their selection of a coach.  I would have thought that someone would have checked out how Jack Cunningham is really doing in his life before handing him the keys to the coach’s office.  It’s actually a fairy complicated and interesting part for Affleck.

Affleck has had some personal struggles that are quite similar to what his character is going through, and he makes good use of them for this film.  This is certainly one of his better performances.  I do not know if this is worthy of an Oscar nod or anything like that, but he was convincing enough to hold my attention and root for his redemption moment.

The movie has some pretty cliche moments and characters, however they didn’t dampen my enjoyment of it too much.  The cast was pretty well chosen.  Actually, Affleck was the only cast member that I recognized right away, and I didn’t mind that at all.

There is not a lot of new ground broken here, but it ended up still being a pretty good show.

The Manifestations of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of new short stories written by James Lovegrove featuring the most celebrated of fictional detectives, Sherlock Holmes, who was originally created by one Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.  It is one one of the recent publications from Titan Books.

I have often expressed some exasperation at a great number of pastiche writers to keep having Holmes and Watson face supernatural threats or hoaxes or whatever as if they are doing something unique or original.  I still hold to that view and maintain my preference for stories to be written more in the manner Doyle depicted.  Saying that, this particular anthology is not bad.  Lovegrove does have a genuine affection for the world Doyle created centered around the lodgings of 221 B Baker Street in London that does come through in his works.

Many of the stories had already appeared in other collections in recent years, but there were a few new ones that were written for this particular volume.

Doyle’s other well-known creation, Professor Challenger from The Lost World  even makes an appearance in The Adventure of the Challenging Professor.

Toby, the dog that was enlisted in the novel The Sign of Four, gets to share his own story in The Adventure of the Noble Burglar.  That one was a bit self-indulgent and silly but not without some merit.

The Adventure of the Botanist’s Glove is probably one that I can more easily imagine Doyle writing himself.

Anyway, there are twelve stories to peruse in this collection, and the level of enjoyment and quality varies a bit, however I am pleased to note that none of the efforts I found uniquely terrible.

Lovegrove is a talented enough writer with some interesting ideas that occasionally veer way off the what I would recognize as something Doyle would pen, but he also does manage to at times capture some of the more essences of the original canon.

I like seeing what other writers come up with Holmes and Watson, even if I occasionally object to the direction they are often steered, but I think Lovegrove is one of the better contributors to the series, Manifestations is pretty solid evidence of that.

The next reading indulgence is going to be a brief reliving of my childhood when I first started getting into the vast universe of Doctor Who.  There are still some holes in my collection of Target novelizations of the earlier serials, and I recently procured Doctor Who and the Robots of Death by Terrance Dicks to help fill those in.

Dark Universe is a Doctor Who audio play from Big Finish Productions and is written by Guy Adams.  Ken Bentley serves as director once again.  Sylvester McCoy makes a welcome return as the Seventh Doctor alongside Sophie Aldred as Ace.  Mark Bonnar returns as the Eleven, the Time Lord who does not entirely shed his previous selves when he regenerates.  Carolyn Pickles, Damian Lynch, and Glen McCready are part of the guest cast as well.

The Eleven was first introduced as an adversary for the Eighth Doctor in the saga known as Doom Coalition, however there was a prequel scene that alluded him to being captured by Seventh Doctor. This episode chronicles that encounter between them.

Also, Ace has not seen the Doctor for twenty years and is CEO of some organization known as A Charitable Earth.  The Doctor has turned up to enlist her help with his latest caper involving the Eleven, who has cooked up another scheme to take over the universe, in keeping with one or two other maniacal renegade Time Lords.

There are some interesting elements such as Aldred playing an Ace who is closer to her own age.  She has lost none of her spirit or scrap in her more mature years.  Aldred and McCoy continue to demonstrate their affection and chemistry in their performance, even if their characters are seemingly at odds.

Bonnar’s performance seems to be reminiscent of the Joker at times.  He has gotten better at making the various personalities of the Eleven more distinct.  I am actually learning to appreciate him more as a somewhat unpredictable foe for the Doctor.  It’s an intriguing idea to have a Time Lord who has to live with all of his previous incarnations rattling around in his head and emerging at times from the current body.

I found the episode to be reasonably enjoyable, although some of the action scenes weren’t always that clearly presented.  It’s not really a comedic installment, but McCoy gets to act out some of his more clownish tendencies.  I actually have come to enjoy McCoy quite a bit in the Big Finish contributions.

The full story of how the Seventh Doctor captured the Eleven was inevitably going to be revealed before they clash again in Doom Coalition, and Adams provides a solid story.  I do not see this as being regarded as any sort of classic among us Big Finish listeners, but I found plenty to enjoy.

The Timeless Children concludes the twelfth series of the revived Doctor Who era with Jodie Whittaker in the lead role.  Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole, and Mandip Gill are still the companions.  Chris Chibnall, the head writer and producer, wrote this one with Jamie Magnus Stone directing.  Sacha Dwahan returns as the current version of the Master.  This one concludes the story started in Ascension of the Cybermen.

The Master takes the Doctor on a tour of her own past within in the Matrix on a once again destroyed Gallifrey. The problem here is that there are large swaths of the Doctor’s history it suddenly turns out she cannot remember.  Meanwhile, the companions and their latest allies are having to contend with the Cybermen under the command of the one known as Ashad, played by Patrick O’Kane.  There’s a cool old guy played by Ian McElhinney with a neat craggy, bearded face that I can’t help but envy a little.  He’s also not a bad actor.

There are some pretty cool visual effects, and the how the companions contend with Cybermen bearing down on them isn’t too bad.’

I am also beginning to enjoy the mania of Dwahan’s version of the Master.  Roger Delgado, the first one to take on the role all the way back in the 1970’s, will remain my favorite, however Dwahan puts in a compelling performance.  Too bad some of his motivations and dialogue aren’t better written.

So there is a big reveal about the Doctor’s history that is supposed to challenge and break the canon and history known by the fans.  It’s a mess.  It makes no real sense, which is saying something even for Doctor Who.  Doctor Who stopped making sense sometimes ago, but it was still fairly enjoyable.  Some fans are going to say that this opens some new doors of exploring the Doctor’s mysterious past or whatever.  I am for the notion of the Doctor not having new mysteries to explore within his or her own past and just explore the mysteries in the universe…like the old days.  Just have her meet some new friends and some new foes.  Sure, the Daleks, Cybermen, or Sontarans can still show up occasionally, but do we need to rely on them so much.  I know the previous season attempted o not have them as a crutch, but I don’t think Chibnall is creative enough to manage it convincingly.  He seems much more interested in making diversity and social justice more of a priority than just solid storytelling.  I don’t necessarily mind diversity in entertainment as long as it can be presented without it feeling like some writer is checking off a box or something.

This doesn’t make me throw in the towel with this program just yet, so I will watch until the bitter end and hope that Doctor Who continues on in other media such Big Finish audios, novels, or something.  Hopefully, another head writer will have the courage and creativity to unravel this unnecessary nonsense that Chibnall has chosen to inflict upon the fans who appreciate the history and canon already created by better writers of the past.  Even if I make the choice to stay with this and watch the next series, the BBC heads do need to pay attention to the decreasing ratings if they have any interest in seeing this show survive.  It’s going to say something if Doctor Who gets cancelled just after Chibnall cast a woman in the lead role and then decided to add his own version of the Doctor’s past merely for the sake of diversity or his sense of equality.

Can You Hear Me? is the seventh episode in the current Doctor Who series starring Jodie Whittaker in the company of Bradley Walsh, Mandip Gill, and Tosin Gill.  I ended up watching this one out of order.  Charlene James and Chris Chibnall co-wrote this episode which had Emma Sullivan in the director’s seat.  Guest stars included Ian Gelder, Claire-Hope Ashitey, and Aruhan Galieva.

The companions are dropped off in their own time and place in Sheffield while the Doctor is drawn to investigate signal from Aleppo, Syria in 1390.  There she finds an abandoned mental hospital with only one survivor being stalked by a horrific creature.  Meanwhile, Graham, Yasmin, and Ryan are being troubled by a menacing figure in their dreams.  The Doctor realizes that this matter is connected to her little problem and returns.  It seems that immortal and immoral beings are at that root of these strange occurrences, and the Doctor may be outmatched.  Or is she?

It has an interesting set up.  Gelder does make a rather disturbing presence in people’s dreams.  His fingers detach and fly into people’s ears where he can feed on their nightmares or something.  There’s a woman trapped in a pod between two planets about to collide.

There was quite a bit of imagination and creativity that was attempted, however it still didn’t make it to anything that would be memorable.  There were some mention of old adversaries such the Celestial Toymaker and the Eternals.  That was kind of cool but mot much more than that.

Whittaker is beginning to show a little more range with her version of the Doctor, although I doubt I will put her among any of my personal favorites anytime soon.

I also had some trouble buying into the casting of Ashitey as some immortal beauty with a cruel streak.  She and Gelder just didn’t have a believable chemistry as eternal partners in destruction.

It’s another exercise in mediocrity for the Whittaker era of Doctor Who.

The Invisible Man has been re-imagined for the big screen once again.  This time, his 2020 emergence if written and directed by Leigh Whannell.  It is loosely based on the original novel by H.G. Wells.  Loosely here really means loosely.  Elisabeth Moss stars in the lead role as Cecilia Kass, the abused girlfriend super rich and inventive Adrian Griffin, played by Oliver Jackson-Cohen.  Aldis Hodge, Storm Reid, Harriet Dyer, and Michael Dorman are also included in part of the cast.

At the beginning of the movie, Cecilia Kass makes a break for it and leaves her controlling boyfriend with the help of her sister.  After a couple of weeks of paranoid self-confinement at the residence of an old friend and his daughter, she receives word of her boyfriend’s suicide.  Cecilia also is a beneficiary of a sizable fortune with a few conditions such as being able to avoid committing crimes or developing some mental problems.  Of course, it seems that the crazy ex is not so dead after all when there are some disturbing events that remind Cecilia of his old methods of keeping her under his thumb.

I ended up liking this movie better than I expected.  The actual method used to create the invisibility is still far-fetched but still manages to be a little more plausible than in the original Wells version.  There were some real moments of suspense and a bit of unpredictability.  Moss gives a pretty convincing performance of the fear that is often instilled in real abuse victims.  It’s primarily a science fiction thriller, so there has to be some grace extended here when it comes to plausibility, but I didn’t find that difficult as I feared.

Whannell didn’t come out with a cinematic masterpiece here, but the film is still quite a bit better than the impression left on me by the initial trailer.

The Last Post is a Doctor Who audio play from The Companion Chronicles range released by Big Finish.  It was initially released in 2012 and stars Caroline John alongside Rowena Cooper.  James Goss is the writer of this particular episode which was ably directed by Lisa Bowerman.  This is a rather bittersweet release because it was the last recording done by Caroline John shortly before her demise.  John of course was known to Doctor Who fans as Liz Shaw, the first assistant to Jon Pertwee’s Third Doctor in the television series.  Cooper is introduced as Emily Shaw, Liz’s spirited and charming mother.

The basic premise of this story if that Liz is looking into some deaths of prominent British figures after they had received a letter predicting the time and date of their demise.  The Doctor is a bit distracted initially turns to her mother for assistance.  It seems Emily has a history of studying old prophecies and curses and may have some insight into these peculiar occurrences.

An interesting aspect to this story is that it takes some time to unravel the mystery and each of the four televisions stories in which Liz was featured gets a bit of a nod.  Caroline John put in a pretty engaging performance presumably in spite of being quite ill.  Rowena Cooper was also a wise casting choice as well.  The two seem to have a believable chemistry.

Goss has contributed quite a bit to Big Finish over the years and tells a pretty interesting story consistent;y, although I am not sure that one listen is quite enough to fully understand what was behind this particular menace.  There were some moments of clever nods to the history of that era.  It’s probably not the most spectacular story in the range, but it’s reasonably enjoyable.

Although Liz Shaw as a character can turn up in other forms of Doctor Who media and has at least once been played by John’s daughter in later audio release, the fans were deprived much too soon of the original actress who brought her to life.

Ravenous 4 is a Doctor Who audio boxed set from Big Finish Productions and concludes the latest Eighth Doctor saga with the…well…the Ravenous, in case there was any confusion.  Paul McGann is once again in the lead role and accompanied by Nicola Walker and Hattie Morahan, as stalwart companions, Liv Chenka and Helen Sinclair, respectively.  Matt Fitton and John Dorney share the writing duties with Ken Bentley serving again as director.

Following on from the last series, Mark Bonnar joins the TARDIS crew as the Eleven, the Time Lord who contends with the personalities of his other selves in one body.  The Eleven presents himself as rather reformed when this latest collection begins and is wanting to make amends…..or is he?  Anyway, Big Finish has elected to keep the Eleven around for a while longer.  I am thinking he has sort of worn out his welcome with me anyway, but Bonnar is a talented enough performer for me to find his continued presence forgivable.

Matt Fitton begins this particular series with Whisper.  The Doctor and his rather eclectic group land on an island where there is a creature hunting people down by sound.  Not exactly the  most original story idea these days, but the performances and sound design make up for the repetition. The story is competently written and serves well enough to set up the rest the set, but it’s not much more than that.

Fitton’s second contribution is a bit more intriguing with Planet of Dust in which the TARDIS crew land upon a world in which slavery is being enforced by the scarcity of water.  They know the ruler as the Great Provider, while we fans recognize the handiwork of the Master, once again played by the masterful Geoffrey Beevers.  This is the Master who is hideous to look up on, but a joy to listen to with Beevers delivering his lines in the familiar silky malevolence that can chill the bones of the listener in the right setting.  By the way, Beevers himself is not hideous to look upon in case that was not clear.  This is where the Ravenous also starts to reemerge, and the Eleven reveals that he is not quite that interested in resuming on his path to redemption.  The story is a bit more engaging on its own, and the performances and production make it much more enjoyable.  Fitton will sometimes use ideas that can seem a little overused at times, but he usually manages to come through with an enjoyable tale.  He does so with his contribution to this set as well.

John Dorney gets the pleasure of wrapping up this saga with a two parter concluding story.  Day of the Master brings about an extravaganza of evil doers. The listener gets to hear how the Ravenous came into being.  Another legendary Time Lord known as Artron is introduced and played by Rob Whitelock. Eric Roberts, who played the Master in the 1996 television movie with McGann, is back.  Derek Jacobi returns as the version known as the War Master.  Michelle Gomez is also back as Missy, the ill-advised female version of the Master.  Missy actually kind of works here.  Gomez is actually a wonderful performer as she was in the television series with Peter Capaldi, but the revelation of a female Master sort of induced some exasperated eye-rolling from me when she first came on the scene.  This story is a bit of a mess and little hard to visualize at times, but it’s still quite fun.  All of the Masters interacting with each other is just witty enough for me to just go with it.

Paul McGann and the usual regular cast members for this particular era are fine.  I certainly want more Eighth Doctor stories, but Liv and Helen feel like they have been around a little too long.  I don’t dislike them, but I am not going to get terribly misty eyed if one or the other go on to different pastures.

Overall,  I think this is a solidly enjoyable set, but some of what was done felt a bit like padding and done as a bit of a stunt.  The Ravenous is probably an adversary that would work better visually over trying to imagine it.  It’s just a big noisy monster who eats all things Gallifreyan.  The other guest cast such as Clifford Samuel, Natalie Simpson, and Chris Jarman were well chosen, but Big Finish almost always gets that right.

Now that the story of the Ravenous has come to a close, let’s see what challenges and catastrophes are in store for the Eighth Doctor next.

Ascension of the Cybermen is the latest Doctor Who episode and is the beginning of the two-part season finale.  Jodie Whittaker continues in her lead role alongside Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole, and Mandip Gill.  Head writer Chris Chibnall presents this episode which was under the direction of Jamie Magnus Stone.  Patrick O’Kane, Steve Toussaint, and Julie Graham are included in the guest cast.

The Lone Cyberman was introduced in the previous episode, and he is now not alone.  The Lone Cyberman was somehow only partially converted and is wandering around in a rather dilapidated armor.  He looks suitably intimidating too.  He is also a bit more expressive than his cybernetic peers.

The Doctor has brought her friends to a distant planet in the far future where the remains of humanity are in hiding from the remnants of the Cybermen.  She is also trying to find the answers to other mysteries which have been introduced this year. The Doctor tries to send her friends to safety, but of course that doesn’t go as planned.

Now in the midst of all of the intergalactic chaos, there is a story which takes place in Ireland where a couple finds a child left in the road and take them in.  This takes place in the early twentieth century.  How this relates to the main story has yet to be revealed,but it’s interesting.

There is a real effort to make the season end on an epic note.  The visual effects were pretty good.  Whittaker seems to be getting a little more to do as the Doctor.  She can almost sound fairly authoritative now.

There are still too many companions traveling in the TARDIS, but there is not much to be done at this point.  They get separated which is common in the series.  Yasmin and Graham end up on an abandoned cyber warship where a vast army has been asleep.

The Doctor and Ryan find a portal on a distant planet where a man helped others escape the Cybermen.  Another secret is about to unfold as another adversary appears from the portal.

There is a lot of confusing things going on here, but I would probably need to see the resolution to judge this one fairly.  Chibnall seems to be making an effort to revisit some of the grandiose styles of his predecessors and bringing back some familiar menaces, which I don’t mind.

There are still some issues with the Whittaker era, however this season is a little better than the last one.

There are some intriguing ideas, yet I share the concerns of some of my fellow fans that Chibnall plans to turn the canon of the program on its head.  I guess on shouldn’t be beholden to such things, but I do not think it’s right to entirely write something to disregard the history that is so familiar to those who have followed this show for so long.

Unfortunately, this episode does not stand out among the other finales in recent years. The story is somewhat engaging, but I expect to be more enthralled than this is able to do.  On the other hand, the Cybermen are back, and they are my favorite of the Doctor’s adversaries.

There are some cool visuals and decent performances, but I am still skeptical of how Chibnall intends to wrap up this series,