Spyfall, Part Two concludes the opening adventure of series 12 of Doctor Who.  In the first episode, the Doctor and her companions are asked to look into a series of attacks on various spies around the world.  The Doctor learns of a social media mogul named Daniel Barton and encounters large shiny luminescent aliens in Australia. An ally known as O turns out to be a familiar foe known as the Master.  He has the Doctor exiled to some strange environment in another dimension as Yasmin, Graham, and Ryan are plunging to fiery deaths in a plane that has lost its cockpit.

Jodie Whittaker is wielding the sonic screwdriver as the Doctor with Bradley Walsh, Mandip Gill, and Tosin Cole sharing the billing.  They have been separated with the Master chasing the Doctor through various time zones who is accompanies by Ada Lovelace and Noor Inayat Khan, code name Madeleine.  The Master has returned in the shape of Sacha Dhawan.

Executive producer and showrunner Chris Chibnall wrote this one with Lee Haven Jones as director.

The Master’s sudden appearance does smack of desperation from the writers in an effort to bring up a familiar presence after the previous series featuring no familiar adversary to the fans.  Dhawan does well enough, but he seems to just copy the same mania of John Simm’s performance.  I miss the suave villainy of the late Roger Delgado.  There also was strangely no mention of the Doctor and the Master developing their rather strange alliance during the Missy incarnation.

The plot is a bit of a mess, but it was a little better than what the fans got during Whittaker’s freshman season.  Her version of the Doctor still seems to be an echo of the energy displayed by David Tennant or Matt Smith when they had the role.  There is some effort to have a more serious threat looming over the Doctor.  There is another disturbing revelation about the Doctor’s home that I found to be a little unnecessary.

Some of this worked well enough, however I found this to be somewhat average in spite of the big reveals and surprises.  I may just find it too soon to have the Master back.  At this point, I am relieved that I at least found this to be tolerable.  Unfortunately, I am not sure that much of the audience is going to be as forgiving, and I also am not in total disagreement with that group either.  I hope the series gets better from here.

 

 

The Grudge has been revived yet again.  This time, the screenplay is written and directed by Nicholas Pesce. It was based on the original idea created by Takashi Shimizu.  According to the Japanese legend, the spirit of someone who had died a violent death can live on in some vengeful and rage-filled existence and just be a real nuisance to the living.  The film stars Andrea Riseborough, Demian Bichir, John Cho, and Lin Shaye.

The film is presented in a non-linear presentation which was how it was done in the previous installments.  The tendrils of this curse reaching into the minds and taking the lives of various couples.  It’s a pretty effective technique, although it does make it a little challenging to follow.  It turns out this film turned out to be something dubbed a “sidequel”.  It has connections to the previous films done around 2004. It has been quite a while since I saw those films, so I was a little lost in trying to remember the events of those.

There were some effectively disturbing and spooky scenes that did cause the occasional goosebumps.  The main cast was fine in their performances.  The visual effects were pretty convincing.  In spite of that, there was not much to make this a standout in the horror genre.  The overall reactions from the professional critics have been quite negative.  I didn’t find the movie to be that bad overall.  It’s not great, but it’s not much worse than most films of this sort.  There just isn’t much I haven’t seen before.  I tend to appreciate the Japanese horror films, but creepy dead girl walking around with wet hair seems to have developed into  a pretty standard trope in these things.

The movie evoked some of the intended reactions in me while I am watching it, but it misses the mark when it comes to leaving a lasting impression.

The Incredibles is an animated superhero film from Pixar Animation Studios and released in 2004.  The voice cast includes Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell, and the prolific Samuel L. Jackson.  Brad Bird wrote and directed this piece.

This was one of those rare occurrences where I saw the sequel before I saw its predecessor.  I watched it earlier in the week with a friend who just had a new home theater installed.

Anyway, Nelson and Hunter play Bob and Helen Parr as a typical couple who end up starting a family when they have to give up their super powered crime fighting after the public outcry due to the collateral damage left in the wake of their epic battles with the various peculiar supervillains.  Anyway, Bob finds himself missing his glory days in his suburban existence and white collar job.  A strange phone call lures him back in his suit and facing giant robots, however there is a more sinister purpose behind the second chance, and pretty soon the whole super powered family have to come together to face the latest threat.

This is one of those films that make me want to pay attention to more animated films even if I am not necessarily the primary target audience.  This was pretty fun. I have an unusual perspective because I had seen the second film first about a year ago and enjoyed that.  I think the first film as the better out of the two.  There are some underlying themes I can appreciate such as the relevance of strong family loyalty even in the midst of some disagreement and discord.  Hunter and Nelson have been at this a long time, and they’re performance was great.  I also really enjoyed Sarah Vowell’s vocal antics as the insecure teen-age daughter, Violet.  The obnoxious son, Dash, was also great.  There are some slow moments at times, which seems odd to note about feature length cartoon, however it’s still a really good time.  I found myself enjoying the family dynamics portrayed here.  The quips were pretty good throughout.  Some of the supporting case has some scene stealing moments as well.  There is this babysitter for the youngest child, Jack-Jack, who was an absolute scream at times.  Bird demonstrates a wicked sense of humor that I think can be appreciated by audiences of quite a wide age range, assuming of course they like superheroes.

I can’t believe it took me over fifteen years to catch this one.  If a third one is being considered, I won’t be waiting near as long.

Spyfall-Part One starts off the twelfth series of the revived Doctor Who.  Jodie Whittaker is still the Doctor.  Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole, and Mandip Gill return to their repective roles of Graham O’Brien, Ryan Sinclair, and Yasmin Khan. The executive producer, Chris Chibnall, wrote this particular episode which was directed by Jamie Magnus Stone.  Notable guests are Stephen Fry and Lenny Henry.

The story starts off with various British spies being killed by some flashing entity coming out of boulders, walls, and ceilings.  The head of MI6, known as C, summons the Doctor and her companions to help figure out the source of this obviously extraterrestrial attack.  The search takes the Doctor and her team in various parts of the world. There’s a big twist toward the end as the Doctor learns that something or someone wickedly familiar is behind the alien menace.

I have mentioned before that changing the gender of a character who has been around as a male for over half a century since the conception by BBC was not my favorite decision imposed.  I am not a fan of Chibnall’s production decisions.  I think the TARDIS is a bit crowded, although three companions have worked somewhat well before in the show’s past.  I do like the dynamic between Graham and Ryan.  Yasmin has struggled with having a consistent purpose for her presence.  The social messages have been delivered with too much bluntness for what is supposed to be largely an entertaining science fiction program.  In short, this is not my favorite era of Doctor Who.

Saying that, this episode does have a few improvements from what grated on me over the previous series.  The cause of these attacks was somewhat intriguing.  Whittaker herself was not quite so annoying, but that may just be me getting used to her.  I will say that I do not like the obvious James Bond riff depicted here.  In the era of what is now known as Classic Doctor Who, the influences of other genres or writings was shown with a bit more subtlety.  This business of distorting titles from other franchises or other works should really stop.

As much as recent creative and production decisions have exasperated me at times, I am not ready to give up on a series which has been a source of such joy and diversion for me since childhood.  I was relieved that I found myself getting drawn in, anxious for the revelations to unfold.  I will also mention that some of the latest changes of the TARDIS interior actually is an improvement over the last series.  This wasn’t a great episode by any means, but I would consider it an improvement over how Whittaker’s version of the Doctor was introduced.

Salvage the Bones is a novel by Jesmyn Ward about a family who reside in a fictional Mississippi town in the path of Hurricane Katrina.  The book was first published in 2012.

The story is presented in first person narrative from the perspective of a fifteen year old girl named Esch who gets herself in the predicament of being pregnant,  Ward explores lots of issues with this book.  She touches on all sorts of social topics with this one.  Esch lives with several brothers and a widowed father.  She doesn’t make the safest decisions when it comes to her romantic liaisons.  Esch is a bit complicated, to put it kindly.  Most of the story takes place just before Hurricane Katrina bears down on their community in 2005.

This isn’t my usual sort of choice for my leisure reading.  It’s basically a family drama. Ward is actually a pretty talented writer, however I had some trouble staying interested in the characters since the hurricane’s grand entrance is quite delayed.  Esch spends a lot of time dealing with keeping her pregnancy a secret while coping with the usual physical upheavals that accompanies the condition.

I have to say that I appreciated the book more when I read the interview printed in the back and the brief postscript.  Ward reveals that she actually survived Katrina’s intrusion.  She does have a decent prose style, but I didn’t find her characters all that compelling until the hurricane started pounding away.  I also don’t usually this type of book, so my impressions may be tainted a bit.  I could see why others would like her though, and from what I could see on her cover photo, she looks young enough to get plenty of practice honing her skill.  I may still keep an eye for her other works because she may still have a story that can resonate with me more. Plus I still need to broaden my literary horizons.

Saying that, I will be returning to an author with whom I much more familiar.  I will start off 2020 with Stephen King’s The Outsider.

So I have been writing this blog for over a year now.  I usually review movies, books, and Doctor Who as they I see, read, or hear them for the first time.  It has been pretty interesting to see the few reactions to get.  I hope my reading audience will grow unto something more than a dozen or so people, but I will keep up the practice anyway. In review of what I like to do with this blog, I tend to comment on movies I have seen for the first time.  I am trying to watch more classic films I have yet to see such as The Godfather or Raging Bull. I know…how can I still missing out on those? That will eventually be rectified.  The thing is that there will be some reviews of older movies or books that I have yet to ever experience.  I also will be keeping up on current output from studios and publishing houses as well as best they can.  I do still have a full-time job.  This blog evolved out of a practice I had on Facebook of writing quick thoughts about whatever I had seen or read.  I figured out how to use WordPress, but I could stand to learn more about how to maximize the benefits there.

As 2020 begins, I am considering also trying to post more frequently and will do more to include reactions on various stories in pop culture and perhaps in the political arena as we are coming up on another presidential election.  I also will need to take time to read and study other bloggers in order to find ways to make improvements in my own efforts.  This blog is mainly about finding ways to finding my voice in expressing the things that interest me and adding to the conversation.  I don’t necessarily want to get into contentious debates, but I will defend my thoughts vigorously if I find the counterpoint or response stimulating enough.

I am coming up on three hundred blogs written this past year.  I hope to be even more prolific and with a bit more variety as well.  Happy New Year!

1917 is a war movie directed by Sam Mendes.  Mendes co-wrote the screen play with Krysty Wilson-Cairns.  The cast includes George MacKay, Dean-Charles Chapman, Colin Firth, and Benedict Cumberbatch. Two young British soldiers fighting in the First World War are tasked with delivering orders to another battalion to halt a planned attack on the Germans.  It seems the Germans have a trap ready to spring, and two soldiers have to make their war across the battlefield in France to warn their comrades off.

This is one of those films that is shot in mostly one continuous sequence.  I am not very familiar with actors MacKay and Chapman, however they carry most of the story and were well-chosen to do so.  The movie has some moments that seem to drag a little, but the action sequences startle you back to attention.

I noticed that some moments reminded me of an Role Playing Game sequence at times.  Although the film ends up being compelling for the most past, I am not sure that this is my favorite type of presentation.

In spite of my doubts about the style of filming, it ends up being a pretty compelling movie.  There are some graphic deaths throughout, but it’s a war film.  Mendes didn’t choose to dwell too much on the more grotesque moments, which was a good decision. The movie should do well enough at the box office, and I think it very much deserves to. Even if I don’t necessarily prefer the one shooting sequence type of storytelling, I found much to still appreciate about this film.  The cast and crew still presented a pretty remarkable cinematic experience and should be quite proud of how this turned out.

The Wedding Guest is a recent mystery novel by Jonathan Kellerman which again features consulting Los Angeles psychologist Alex Delaware as he comes to the aid of homicide detective Milo Sturgis.  Milo has a pretty good one as a wedding reception is rudely interrupted by the discovery of a corpse.  A young woman has been murdered in the restroom and no one from either side of the ceremony knows her identity.

Not much new ground is explored here, but it’s still a reasonably enjoyment installment in the series.  It takes a bit more effort than usual for the victim to be identified, but the story manages to move along pretty well.  There’s plenty of sleaziness in the path of clues left for the two determined investigators since the reception venue was a strip joint at one time.  Kellerman does handle the more risque elements well enough to elevate this above just some trashy novel.  Delaware is a pretty easy protagonist to like due to a somewhat unflappable determination to help his friend, Milo.  No major shakeups have occurred in quite some time for Delaware, and I am sort if interested in seeing one happen.  I don’t know what I would want to happen, but it just seems like another case closed until the next one is published.

Overall, the novel is fine.  Kellerman once again writes a mystery intriguing enough to keep my attention, but I doubt I will remember much about this for any significant time. I suspect I drew a similar takeaway from the last Kellerman novel I discussed in this blog.

And so onward I go with my eternal and often random literary explorations.  I will next be reading Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward.

The Christmas Chronicles actually premiered last year on Netflix.  This particular holiday fantasy is directed by Clay Kaytis with the screen play being credited to Matt Lieberman.  Kurt Russell dons the red coat and steers the magical sleigh for this one.  Darby Camp plays the 11 year-old girl who tries to catch Santa on film.  Other cast members include Judah Lewis, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, and Lamorne Morris.

Christmas 2018 is a tough one for the Pierce family when the husband and father is killed while fighting a fire.  Mrs. Pierce works as a nurse and covers all kinds of crazy hours.  The two kids aren’t getting all that well.  It’s a familiar family situation in these kinds of films.  Kurt Russell as Santa is a fairly intriguing casting choice.  I tend to like Russell, so I thought it would be a fun experience to see his version of St. Nick.

This thing falls pretty short in lots of ways.  Darby Camp is a cute enough kid for her role.  Russell’s version of Santa is not without charm.  I thought he would give his Santa a little more of a cynical edge or something, however that was not quite the case.  Santa was a little more hip than one would expect when dealing with the other citizens Massachusetts after he has to recover his belongings and presents after a rather inconvenient sleigh crash.

The visual effects were a little cheesy, but that sort of fits with the film.  The plot was also lacking in some coherence, which still seems strangely appropriate genre.  Apparently, there is some work on a sequel for next Christmas probably.

The film has a  bit of charm to it but is still rather underwhelming for the most part.  There still seems to have been some missed opportunities with such a unique casting choice for Santa.   I am not sure what I wanted to see with this one, however I just wasn’t impressed with much of  what it had to offer.

It’s not a terrible movie, but with the exception of Kurt Russell playing Santa Clause, there just isn’t much to make it all that memorable.

One Mile Down is a Doctor Who audio drama released by Big Finish productions and reunites David Tennant and Catherine Tate as the Tenth Doctor and Donna Noble, respectively.  Jenny T Colgan is the writer with Ken Bentley acting as director for this episode.  Nicholas Briggs shows that he can perform more than just as Daleks or Cybermen as he voices the often overly judicious Judoon.  The guest cast is also comprised of Eleanor Crooks, Rakie Ayola, Christopher Naylor, and Robert Whitelock.

Vallarasee is an underwater tourist spot which is protected by an airdome.  Unfortunately, it is the indigenous people who have to wear helmets to survive in their own city.  The Doctor and Donna arrive to check out the sites and are surprised to find Judoon being employed to keep order.  A dangerous act of sabotage has resulted in the ocean being brought down on thousands of visitors.

The banter between the Doctor and Donna is familiar yet still rather engaging.  When the catastrophe actually strikes, the performances and sound effects really set the tone here.  I rather like the idea of the Judoon because they are not necessarily evil or out for conquest.  Their very rigid adherence to rules and protocol often hamper the Doctor’s efforts to help, and Tennant performs that exasperation quite well.  Tate is also quite welcome here, although there is some gag with plastic shoes I found more distracting than amusing.

I found myself rather enjoying this release very much, especially during the second half.  Some of the social commentary about protecting the environment and respecting other cultures was a little overdone but not enough to turn me off much.  The outrage Tennant projects as the Doctor when he figures out how native people of Vallarasee were bamboozled by a corporate entity who actually coaxed them into wearing helmets to accommodate the human vacationers was pitched very convincingly.  Tennant was always pretty good at outrage, now than I think about it.

This is a pretty good episode with an intriguing setting.  Some of this has been experienced before in the series, but I thought Colgan’s writing and the cast’s performance were god enough for me to just shrug and go with it.