“This Gun For Hire” is a crime drama released in 1942 and is apparently quite the gem in the film noir era.  Albert Maltz and W.R. Burnett are the screenwriters who adapted this piece from the novel by Graham Greene.  Greene’s novel was entitled “A Gun For Sale”.  Frank Tuttle is the director and does a pretty good job.

The film stars Veronica Lake, Robert Preston, and Alan Ladd.  Although Ladd has fourth billing, he is apparently the star here as Phillip Raven, a hit man on the run after he was betrayed by his most recent employer.  There is also a chemical formula on the black market that is key here, but I didn’t really care about that.  Anyway, Raven’s path crosses that of Lake’s character, Ellen Graham, a nightclub singing magician who is also the girlfriend of the police detective who is on Raven’s trail.

It sounds pretty confusing, and it is actually kind confusing, but it still manages to be a good film for the most part.  Ladd makes a formidable presence as the stoic, cynical gun for hire.  He and Lake seem to have an impressive chemistry that led to the studio making it a bit of a habit of casting them together.  The plot is a little complicated and rather implausible but not unforgivably so.

I could see why this film was a hit when it came out back then, and it should be one that any other classic film watcher would want to catch.

“A Man Called Ove” is a novel written by Swedish author, Fredrik Backman and centers around a curmudgeonly widower who finds that new neighbors aren’t always a bad thing.

Ove always struggled with liking or connecting with people, but he does find someone to love which is revealed in some flashbacks scenes peppered throughout the book.  Not long after his wife’s death. Ove meets his new neighbors after they back an RV over his mailbox.

Ove is an interesting fellow, but I have a soft spot for literary curmudgeons. He is quite the tortured soul who ends up being of some help to people without quite meaning to. I guess one could call him the quintessential study in contradictions.  The novel shifts back and forth between scenes of some hilarity and moments for sorrow.

A novel of this sort isn’t my usual genre of choice, but I rather liked this one.  If I had to express some disappointment, it would be that Backman really doesn’t get much into showcasing any real unique facets of Swedish culture.

It’s a pretty charming novel with more than a bit of poignancy to it as well.  Long live the curmudgeons!

Next up, I will be returning to one of my favorite series, although the TARDIS’s journey didn’t start between the pages of a novel.  It’s time to see what Una McCormack can do with latest TARDIS crew in her latest Doctor Who novel, “Molten Heart”.

“The Hitch-Hiker” is a 1953 film noir which was directed by Ida Lupino.  She also shares screenwriting credit with Collier Young and Robert L. Joseph.  This film has an interesting background in that it is based on the true story of how a psychopath named Billy Cook was captured after he had taken two men captive and forced them to help his escape from federal authorities.  The names were changed in order to avoid giving Cook some satisfaction over his notoriety. Cook himself was executed in California in 1952.

Anyway, the film stars Edmond O’Brien and Frank Lovejoy as the two buddies whose fishing trip is interrupted by notorious murderer, Emmett Myers, played by William Talman.  Talman is best known as Los Angeles District Attorney Hamilton Burger of “Perry Mason”.

Ida Lupino appears to be the only woman who directed a film of this genre in the 1950’s and she does a pretty good job with it.  It’s a pretty compelling movie, although it does seem a little implausible that the two men were not able to overpower Myers a little sooner.  They were together for several days before the climax of the film.

Talman displays some versatility as an actor with a his menacing depiction of Myers.  O’Brien and Lovejoy also work well together.

The other interesting aspect of this film is that there are no female characters in it.  It’s a pretty fascinating film when it’s all said and done.

I thought the film was quite compelling for the most part.  It was great to see Talman in such a wicked part.  He makes a pretty convincing psychopath.

The movie has both a compelling screen presentation and backstory.

“Knives Out” is a mystery film written and directed by Rian Johnson.  All sorts of eminent actors are in this.  Daniel Craig, Jamie Lee Curtis, Don Johnson, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Toni Collette, and Christopher Plummer are part of the cast.  I guess I should mention Michael Shannon as well.  It seemed to be a bit of a spoof as well.

Craig plays this famous private detective with the unlikely moniker of Benoit Blanc who is asked to look into the gruesome death of very successful mystery writer.  Blanc .is at first the silent observer who is privy to the interviews the police are conducting into the dubious and shifty family members.  The only trustworthy soul is a nurse to the old man, played by Plummer, who has the inconvenient affliction of vomiting anytime she attempts to lie.

The movie takes a bit to get going, and the story doesn’t unfold in the most linear fashion.  Flashbacks are employed quite liberally.  In spite of this being a bit of a spoof of some classic murder mysteries, the puzzle at the center of this piece is actually pretty intriguing. Blanc turns out to be a wonderfully eccentric sleuth, although the accent Craig chose to employ was a little hard to identify.  I wasn’t actually sure if Blanc actually knew what he was doing, however he did end up being a lot sharper and more engaging than was first apparent to me.

It was pretty cool to see Don Johnson on the big screen.  It just seems a while since I have seen him in anything all that significant.  The cast over all was quite good, even the ones with whom I was less familiar.

Although I had to muster a bit of patience to get used to the style of how this story would be told, I ended up enjoying this quite a bit.  I think it would be fun to see Craig pick up the strange accent again as Blanc solves another case or two on the big screen.  Since Craig has confirmed that he is done with the James Bond franchise after the next upcoming film, a different sort of crime fighter could pique his interest.  Maybe Rian Johnson has another case in which to engage the services of Benoit Blanc.

“Twice Upon A Time” is a Doctor Who episode in which the Twelfth Doctor, as played by Peter Capaldi, regenerated after an encounter with his first encounter.  Since William Hartnell has been deceased for some time, David Bradley was the actor who performed the role well enough.  BBC Books had published a few novelizations of episodes from the era of Doctor Who which was a revival that began in 2005.  “Twice Upon a Time” aired on Christmas Day 2017.  Paul Cornell was the author who adapted the original script conceived by Steven Moffat.

As mentioned before, I think Peter Capaldi was a fine casting choice for the Doctor, however many of his actual stories had some real problems in the writing.  Moffat ended up not being all that great as a show runner, in my opinion. Also, this regeneration story is one of the weakest in the series as a whole.  I thought it was pretty cool to revisit the First Doctor era though, even if it was with a different actor.  Bradley had played the role of William Hartnell in a dramatization of the early days in Doctor Who known as “An Adventure In Space and Time”.  He also has been doing a series for Big Finish Productions in new audio plays featuring his version of the First Doctor.

Cornell’s novelization doesn’t work any miracles as far as me appreciating Moffat’s script more, but he does add some nice touches and expansions that helped me enjoy his contribution more.  It’s a very short novel, but Cornell make the most of what he could with it.  Of course, the idea of how traumatic a regeneration could be for the Doctor is a fascinating aspect to explore.  There were moments in the television story that were kind of moving at times, but the overall plot was rather nonsensical, and Cornell just could not help me forgive that.  Cornell is a pretty good record with a long history of contributing his talents to the survival of the franchise in its various media.  He has written original novels for Virgin Publishing and BBC Books for years.  This particular book is well written, but it’s based on an episode which I found to be a bit below average.

So it’s back to the less frivolous of literary journeys with a new author to me.  Next up,,,”A Man Called Ove” by Fredrik Backman.

 

“A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” is a biographical drama film…sort of.  The late Fred Rogers is featured as played by Tom Hanks, but the journalist assigned to profile him as really at the center.  This is a pretty unique way to reexamine the life and messages of Mr. Rogers.  Marielle Heller is the director who brings to life the script written by Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster. It was based on an article written by Tom Junod in 1998 which was published by the magazine, Esquire.

Tom Hanks dons the familiar sneakers and red sweater as Mr. Rogers.  Matthew Rhys is the journalist who is named Lloyd Vogel in the film.  Vogel is struggling with a lot of resentment toward his father over some serious past transgressions, and it is affecting his relationship with his wife and their newborn son.  Chris Cooper, Christine Lahti, and Maryann Plunkett are also part of the cast.

The film does present the life and wisdom of Fred Rogers in a rather creative manner.  Rogers is sort of relegated as a supporting presence in the film at times but  a profound one.  Anyway, most of this works quite well.  Hanks does well in his depiction of Fred Rogers, which is impressive since he does not really resemble the real Mr. Rogers without a lot of help from the make-up department.  He sure made me regret not following Mr. Rogers more closely when he was alive.  The other cast members did fine too,  There was also some pretty slick visual effects with scene changes that were done in a manner which could have been seen in “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood”.

The movie was quite charming and poignant at the same time.  Although it could have stood more exploration of Rogers’ faith and philosophy, I think it was likely a very fair and loving depiction of a man with a singular mission to use television as a means to reach and comfort children in a world that can often be dark and confusing.

This is not my usual genre of preference when it comes to my film viewing, but I was glad to see this one.  I was quite curious to see how this would turn out when I heard about it, and I think it Fred Rogers would have been pleased with the result as well.

“The Uncertainty Principle” is a Doctor Who audio play written by Simon Guerrier for Big Finish Productions.  It is part of the range known as The Companion Chronicles and stars Wendy Padbury alongside her daughter, Charlie Hays.  This continues a series in which Zoe Herriot is being questioned by an investigator for some ambiguous agency known as The Company.  Fans of the television series would know that Zoe had her memory of her travels with the Doctor erased by the Time Lords when they were captured in the serial known as “The War Games”.  Jamie McCrimmon had been the 18th century Scottish denizen who had been with them during that era.  The Company has found a way to break through the memory block imposed by the Time Lords, however the method is a little unreliable.

Zoe does manage to recall an adventure that starts off with the Doctor and his two companions attending a funeral for a young scientist whose experiments brought very unusual aliens to Earth.  These aliens have an unusual ability involving electricity, and the scientist’s actual death may be in doubt…or it may not.

Padbury is engaging enough as a performer in these episodes, and her daughter Charlie Hayes, is fine as well.  Guerrier’s script is a bit hard to follow at times though.  He has written several episodes for Big Finish, and he usually comes through.  This era of the program is a favorite of mine though, so I relish any opportunity for a new Second Doctor adventure.  This episode isn’t bad, but I am not sure there is anything that remarkable that makes this one memorable.  Padbury does great and seems able to capture the spirit of Patrick Troughton’s interpretation of the Doctor.  It’s evident that the mother and daughter seem to enjoy working together.  Big Finish has yet to put out something that I actively disliked, but occasionally, there are stories that just fall short of capturing my attention with any intensity.  Unfortunately, this particular episode is one of those.

“The Goldfinch” is a Pulitzer prize winning novel by Donna Tartt.  It is told in first person from the perspective of a kid named Theo Decker.  The novel starts off when Theo is about thirteen years old.  A trip to a New York art museum is shattered when a bomb is detonated, killing the mother.  In the confusion, Theo has managed to grab a painting of a pretty bird and hold on to it over the years.  He was first taken in by a family of a school friend before his ne’er-do-well father turns up and whisks him off to Las Vegas.  He meets a Russian immigrant named Boris who has a big impact on his life.  Theo gets hooked on drugs and returns to New York where he lives with a friendly art and antique dealer. He is in love with a tragically unattainable pretty girl who was in the museum with him at the time it was blown apart.  Theo is quite the mess, understandably.  The novel delves pretty heavily into the underground art scene, which isn’t without interest.

Here’s the main problem I have with this thing.  It is well over 950 pages long. and I’m not that sure that it needed to be.  Tartt is actually a talented enough wordsmith, but detail she puts into scenes and reflections really makes reading this thing like slogging through wet cement sometimes.  I appreciate the complex characters she has and the complicated dynamics in some of the relationships.  The plot itself is interesting, but I am not sure it needed to be such an opus.

There is a lot I am leaving out in describing this novel, but it’s over 950 pages so I will just have to forgive myself for any perceived oversight and ask for some grace from any readers.  It actually has some merits to it, but I had a hard time with staying in a state of enthrallment.  The experience felt more like a chore than a diversion at times, but I am too stubborn to give up on something once I have started reading.  Plus, I think sticking through it and enduring something like that gives me more credibility when commenting in this blog.

Now on to something considerably less weighty!  One of the joys I had as a youngster was collecting the Target novelizations of the classic Doctor Who episodes.  A few years ago, the experience was recreated with a selection of episodes from the revived series. The next step on my literary journey will be with a novelization of the final adventure of the Twelfth Doctor, played by Peter Capaldi, “Twice Upon a Time” by Paul Cornell.

“Tartarus” is a Doctor Who audio play presented by Big Finish Productions and was written by David Llewellyn with Scott Handcock serving as director.  Peter Davison is back on deck as the Fifth Doctor with Sarah Sutton and Janet Fielding pitching again as Nyssa and Tegan, respectively.  This episode is rather a special one for Big Finish since it is a crossover into one of the newer original series about a rather important writer and orator in Ancient Rome.  Samuel Barnett joins the Doctor and his crew as Cicero.  George Watkins also lends his talents as a slave known as Marc, whose significance expands as the story unfolds.  Laura Riseborough, Joe Shire, Tracy-Anne Oberman rounds out the guest cast as well.

Even a Time Lord can be a fan of someone.  The Doctor brings his companions to meet Cicero, who has retired by the year 63 BC to the village of Cumae. During a small gathering, strange lights in the sky are a precursor to the Time Lord, Cicero, and company being whisked to a place where the ancient Roman legends and myths are coming to life, risking the lives and sanity of more than just the Doctor and his friends.

This was a pretty interesting and enjoyable installment.  I am not familiar with Cicero or Big Finish’s interpretation of him from their other series, but Barnett seems to be a wonderful foil for Davison and other main cast members.  Yes, there are elements that seem to be more for the sake of a good gimmick, but it works.  There was an effort to not have one lead character overshadow the other much, since both the Doctor and Cicero would have such strong and imposing personalities.  Indeed, Cicero’s gift of oration and debate does become important in this particular adventure.  It was revealed in the cast interviews that Watkins is actually a nephew of Peter Davison, so that was a pretty neat revelation.  Of course, Tegan has a rather overly bombastic disdain for the practice of slavery, which once again the writer sometimes makes her sound a little bit of an overwrought dunce.  Yes, we know that slavery is a very inhumane practice, however Tegan thinks that the practice should be overthrown before history runs its course.  Yet again, the audience has to endure another reminder of the devastating effects of such an endeavor.  I think at this point, Tegan can be toned down a little when it comes to her outrage and impulsiveness.  I think the writers can find ways to stay true to her character but still smarten her up a bit where the Doctor doesn’t have to give her the same repetitive chastisements.  Saying that, I like having Janet Fielding participating in these recordings, and she herself is an effective performer, but Tegan could stand a little more depth on a consistent basis and a little less yelling and bossiness at times.  Sarah Sutton was fine, as she usually is.

The relationship between the Doctor and Cicero was written quite well with what turns into just the right amount of rivalry once Cicero adjusts to his bizarre and threatening surroundings.  Llewellyn gets most things right in this script.  Maybe….just maybe, I will try out the Cicero series from Big Finish.

“The Haunted Palace” is a horror film released in 1963 and stars Vincent Price, Debra Paget, and Lon Chaney.  The screenplay was written by Charles Beaumont, and the film was directed by Roger Corman.  The story seems to have a strange mixture of influences from a poem by Edgar Allen Poe and a novella by H.P. Lovecraft.

The audience is first introduced to a little town known as Arkham, Massachusetts. As Batman has shown us over the years, nothing good ever happens at anywhere named Arkham.  The story starts off in 1765 when the town becomes suspicious of the not so friendly neighborhood warlock named Joseph Curwen and decide to interrupt whatever troubling ritual he is performing.  Curwen is burned at the stake, however has one last trick up his sleeve and curses the town.

Life goes on until 1875, when Curwen’s descendant, Charles Dexter Ward and his wife arrive in Arkham to inspect the mansion that he has inherited.  Ward bears an uncanny resemblance to his great-great-grandfather, and both of these guys bear an uncanny resemblance to Vincent Price.  Paget plays the lovely wife, and while Chaney is the creepy groundskeeper.

The town is also afflicted with several of their residents burdened with troubling deformities.  The make-up isn’t all that convincing, but it’s a Roger Corman film and it’s 1963, so that’s not so unforgivable.

Anyway, Charles starts having strange turns in his personality while at the mansion, and we soon see that Curwen’s spirit is still lingering around and has the ability to take over the bodies of family members or something.

The set designs are pretty cool, and Vincent Price is almost always fun to watch, but I am starting to suspect he is not an actor with the broadest of range.  His performance slips into the realm of silliness at times.  I need to see more of his films to really get his appeal to fans.  He isn’t terrible, but I am starting to be a bit concerned that he could be a little overrated.  On the other hand, it’s a Roger Corman film, whose work I have often found to be quite campy.

Lovecraft was probably one of the most disturbing and controversial writers of the early twentieth century, and the special effects did a fair job of bringing his twisted imaginings to life for this piece.

“The Haunted Palace” is an interesting film to see once, I suppose just because of the pedigree of those involved, however I did not find it to be very remarkable in any substantial way.