House of Usher is a horror movie that was released in 1960.  Roger Corman directed this film which was written by Richard Matheson.  It is based on a short story by the master of spooks, Edgar Allan Poe.  The small cast is comprised of Vincent Price, Mark Damon, Myrna Fahey, and Harry Ellerbe.

The dashing hero Philip Winthrop, played by Damon, arrives at the immense mansion known as the House of Usher to look in on his fiancee, Madeline and meets her strangely overprotective brother, Roderick Usher played by Vincent Price.  Harry Ellerbe plays the butler named Bristol.

The set design and the costumes are quite stunning.  The film really does look good.  The visual effects were not that bad for the era this was produced, although some of the attempted scares fall a little flat for a 21st century movie audience.

The performances were pretty good, but I am starting to think that Price was a bit more of an over actor than I remembered.  It’s still great to see one of his performances though.

The movie does have a few flaws in performances and character motivation sometimes, but it still is has plenty of compelling elements.  Some of the overwrought outbursts were more amusing than alarming at times, but I still found some enjoyment from the film overall.  It’s been a while since I read the original Poe story, so I am not sure what liberties were taken by Matheson’s adaptation, however he was a very well known writer in horror and fantasy and with good reason.

This film is still pretty impressive in spite of the flaws that caught my eye, and I would still say that it’s worth the time.  It also helps that it’s not a very long film, but there’s a lot to admire in spite of the relatively short running time.

Where the Crawdads Sing is a novel written by Delia Owens and was first published in 2018.  It has garnered quite a bit of acclaim, which is deserved.

The story isn’t told in a very linear fashion, however it still is quite easy to follow.  It takes place in North Carolina in a place known as Barclay Cove.  In 1969, the body of the former high school star is discovered in the marsh.  Now, Owens takes the reader back to 1952 where the protagonist known as Kya is introduced.  Due to an abusive father, her family has disappeared leaving her to deal with the broken man all on her own.  When he doesn’t return home, Kya learns at too young of an age to fend for herself in the swamp.  She does meet some of the townspeople and falls in love for one.

Lots of themes are explored here.  Kya understandably has what we could call abandonment issues.  Her cleverness and determination are admirably presented here. A young boy teaches her to read which then sets her on a course where she could support herself quite effectively.

Prejudice is also explored here without Owens getting obnoxious about it.  Of course, it isn’t about racial prejudice but rather the judgments made on those that live a very different lifestyle.  Kya appears to others to be wild and uneducated, however she is considerably more savvy than the others are willing to acknowledge.

There are some pretty unexpected turns this novel takes, and Kya is a rather unique heroine.  Her story unfolds in chapters that alternate with those that chronicle the investigation into the death of the local jock.

There really is a lot to say here, but once again I am making an effort to avoid giving away too many spoilers.

Delia Owens’ own expertise in zoology is well utilized here, and she also proves to be more than a competent storyteller.  It’s not the sort of novel I tend to gravitate toward when left to my own devices, but I’m glad to have had this one suggested to me.

The next literary indulgence will be a return to 1921 England as Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge’s latest investigation delves into the world of horse racing as he reopens an old case.  Rutledge once again has to set aside the effects of his own trauma induced by his participation in the First World War as he looks into the matter of The Black Ascot by Charles Todd.

Bloodshot is a superhero film based on a character from Valiant Comics.  The main character was created by Kevin VanHook, Don Perlin, and Bob Layton.  The film was written by Jeff Wadlow and Eric Heisserer with directing credit belonging to none other than David S.F. Wilson.  The film stars include Vin Diesel, Eiza Gonzalez, and Guy Pearce.

So we have seen Diesel in this kind of role before.  He plays a military special forces guy who ends up getting killed just after witnessing his wife’s execution.  Guy Pearce plays the scientist who spearheaded his resurrection with the aid of nanotechnology.  Diesel, who plays this Ray Garrison or Bloodshot, leaves the nest and goes on a rampage to find those responsible for his wife’s death, however this is really some dastardly manipulation of his memories.  It’s gory, senseless, and kind of fun.

Lamorne Morris plays a likable super computer genius named Wilfred Wigans.  He was pretty cool.  This Eiza Gonzalez is phenomenally gorgeous as KT.  She looks great in her fight scenes and pretty much whenever she is onscreen.  She probably looks pretty good off screen too.

I struggled a little bit in the beginning of this due to some repetitive scenes that kind of sets up the rest of the movie.  I did end up enjoying the second half quite a bit more when some of the answers start getting revealed to Bloodshot.

The action scenes are impressive as expected in a film of this sort.  The fight scenes were implausibility fun, also as expected in a film of this sort.  Diesel actually puts in a fairly compelling performance….for him anyway.  There is nothing terrible about the performances that stood out, although it’s a comic book film so some grace is somewhat automatic here.

It’s not the greatest comic book film, but it’s a serviceable distraction from the chaos going on in the world at the moment.  It’s amusingly forgettable.

The Narrow Margin is a thriller released in 1952 and stars Charles McGraw, Marie Windsor, and Jacqueline White.  David Clarke and Paul Maxey are also part of the cast.  Richard Fleischer directed this film which was written by Earl Felton.  Felton apparently got the idea from a story conceived by Martin Goldsmith and Jack Leonard.

McGraw plays a tough, cynical Los Angeles detective who has to escort the widow of a mob boss from Chicago in order to testify in California.  The assignment gets a bit more messy when Sgt. Brown’s partner is gunned down just as they are picking up the woman to take to the train depot.  Brown and the widow are able to get aboard the train but still have to share the close quarters with the hit men sent to eliminate them.

Windsor plays the widow, whose cynicism and mistrust is a match for Brown’s.  White plays a fellow passenger who may be more than she seems, although she quite understandably catches Brown’s eye.

There are some aspects to this film that seem a little cliche by today’s standards, however I rather liked this film.  I liked McGraw’s performance.  Sgt. Brown is rather surly and abrasive but somehow likable. Well, I liked him anyway.  He connects with a young boy with a rather overactive imagination, so there is a balance between his single minded toughness and a more compassionate streak.  McGraw and Windsor had a pretty believable antagonistic chemistry.  The story did have some interesting twists if somewhat implausible twists.  Not everyone aboard the train was just an innocent bystander.  I also was impressed with a pretty convincing fight scene between Brown and one of his would-be killers. Who doesn’t appreciate some decent close quarter fisticuffs?

There are plenty of thrillers that take place in confined areas such as trains, but this particular film was one of the better ones.  It seems like the kind of film that would have some two dimensional characters, however there was a surprising amount of complexity in the leads.

For any  movie lover who is wanting to see some more of the classics such as myself, I would recommend to catch this one.  It’s not a very long movie, but there was plenty to enjoy.

 

 

The Home Guard is a Doctor Who audio play written by Simon Guerrier and directed by Lisa Bowerman.  It is an episode from the range known as The Early Adventures.  Frazer Hines returns with his rendition of the Second Doctor, which continues to honor his late friend, Patrick Troughton.  Hines also return to the role of Jamie McCrimmon.  Anneke Wills reprises her role of Polly and serves as the sole narrator.  Elliot Chapman takes on the role initially played by the late Michael Craze, Able Seaman Ben Jackson.  It’s a small guest cast on this one which is comprised of James Dreyfus, Molly Hanson, and Brian Murphy.

Ben Jackson calls on his old friends, Polly and Jamie, who are now married in the midst of the Second World War.  They are all in service under the command of the mysterious Doctor.  Except, that’s not right.  Something has gone wrong with reality, and someone else emerges from the shadows.  He calls himself the Master and he will be obeyed.

Dreyfus is cast as an earlier incarnation of the Master.  I guess it was a matter of time before Big Finish Productions decided to take the leap and cast a Master who would be before the version as played by the late Roger Delgado.  I think he did fine job with it, but there wasn’t much that really grabbed me about his performance.  I believe he has done one or two other episodes, so I will likely get to hear more soon enough.

Hines continues to do well with his impression of the late Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor.  Wills also has done enough of these recordings that it’s a given she will also do well.

The script was interesting.  Guerrier is a reliable contributor and has a pretty engaging premise with this episode.  The appearance of the Master that would have taken place before the television series first introduced him in Jon Pertwee’s era actually seemed to fit rather nicely.

Chapman also does well with his version of Ben Jackson.  Michael Craze is still the best Ben, but Chapman does right by him.

In spite of the chances taken with a new Master and a bit of a upheaval with the relationship of the companions, I don’t really see this one as a standout.  The episode was enjoyable enough, however I felt that it should have made more of an impression with of these supposedly daring developments.  It does work pretty well though.  The performances are pretty strong.  The sound effects are pretty convincing, but Big Finish almost always comes through there.  The musical score was appropriate to the era.

I liked this episode, but I didn’t really love it.  I do still love the Second Doctor though and want Hines back behind the mic very soon.

 

Doctor Who and the Robots of Death is a novelization by Terrance Dicks of the classic Doctor Who episode that was aired in 1977 during Tom Baker’s era as the Doctor.  The original script was written by Chris Boucher, who also created the character of Leela, played by Louise Jameson.

The Doctor and Leela arrive on a desert planet aboard a giant vehicle known as a Sandminer.  A small crew of humans is charge of mining for minerals and ores.  Most of the more mundane duties are performed by robots.  The Doctor and Leela arrive just in time to be accused of murder.  They are also just in time to get caught up in a revolution that is turning the robot servants into lethal weapons.

I used to collect the Target novelizations as a youngster and still procure one every now and then.  This one surprisingly got by me for years, but I have it now.  Terrance Dicks was the most prolific contributor to this range.  Although Dicks was no master wordsmith, his impact on the series is still profound.  Dicks has a very simplistic, straight forward prose style, however there is still something distinctive about it.

This particular episode is actually a favorite as it is for many fans of the series, and Dicks doesn’t add a whole lot of anything new.  Saying that, it was still fun to visit this particular story in print for the first time.

Now, time for something a little more weighty as my next literary indulgence.  I am going with Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens.

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.