“The Midnight Line” is pretty recent novel by Lee Child and features the perpetually wandering Jack Reacher, former US Army major.

In this particular entry into the still growing series, Reacher wanders into a pawn shop where he notices a West Point graduation ring.  Since Reacher has no real obligations and an insatiable curiosity, he figures he has time to find out why a fellow military colleague would pawn such a well-earned memento.  His curiosity leads him to a crime lord and a private investigator looking for the same woman.  Yes, Reacher deduces he is looking for a woman.

Reacher is a modern day knight-errant who enjoys the freedom of wandering the highways with the aid of his thumb and occasional bus.  He has a wonderfully stoic and intensely practical demeanor when he is on these little flights of fancy.  Of course, matters take a much more dangerous turn than even Reacher predicts when he gets wind of his questions prompting a hit to be placed on his head.

As usual, he picks up a couple of allies along the way.  The private eye turns out to be a former FBI agent working for the sister of the wayward soldier whose military career ended tragically.

The story falls on the absurd side, but Child has created an interesting protagonist who can turn up in any part of the country and sometimes beyond.  The fate of the soldier who pawned the ring is actually pretty interesting.  It’s somewhat gruesome but interesting.  Reacher, of course, is undeterred in his goal of satisfying his curiosity and maybe lending a hand to someone who got more than their fair share of misfortune.

This is a pretty good novel even if this feels like more of the same from this series.  It is a little slow at times, but not unbearably so.

Next up, a return to the further reaches of space with Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of Starship Enterprise is in order.  Dayton Ward’s “Available Light” is the latest in the series of novels based on “Star Trek: The Next Generation”.

Big Finish Productions has taken a leap and given the Fourth Doctor a new companion who was not in his television era. “The Syndicate Master Plan-Volume One” is a Doctor Who audio boxset and sets the Doctor on a new saga in this new collection of four adventures that is only half of what is store in the eighth series of Fourth Doctor Adventures.  Jane Slavin and John Leeson join Tom Baker’s version of the Doctor in the TARDIS as a new threat menaces the universe.

“The Sinestran Kill” by Andrew Smith starts off with Doctor meeting WPC Ann Kelso as he comes across a cosmic witness protection program in 1970’s England.  Alien gangsters have descended on Earth, and the Doctor and his new ally have their hands full in preventing an assassination. Frank Skinner and Glynis Barber are featured in the guest cast.  It’s an amusing start to this collection, and Kelso is a fairly interesting character.  I like the idea of her being a cop and what dynamic that can bring in her relationship with the Doctor.  It’s a pretty entertaining start to the series due mainly to Tom Baker’s admirably energetic performance.  It’s a serviceable episode to kick off a bigger story.

Phil Mulryne continues the journey with the Doctor and Kelso landing on “The Planet of the Drashigs”. Fenella Woolgar and Jeremy Clyde are part of the guest cast.  The Drashigs were creatures first introduced in a Third Doctor television story entitles “Carnival of Monsters”.  The Drashigs are once again on display in a park but this time, there are different variations of the most predatory of monsters.  They also have an ability not seen last time in which they can exert a psychic influence.  K9 also shows up. This series takes place between the departure of Leela and the arrival of Romana.  John Leeson is the first actor to perform as K9 and is still the best even after forty years.  I also love hearing him speak in his normal voice during the cast interviews.  He just sounds like a hell of a nice guy.  Anyway, it was an interesting new direction to go with the Drashigs.

 

“The Enchantress of Numbers” by Simon Barnard and Paul Morris has the Doctor and Kelso meet Ada Lovelace, played by Finty Williams.  Now this was the almost obligatory historical story that usually appears in sets like this.  Ada Lovelace was a 19th century mathematician who is credited to have composed the first algorithm that would have been used in computers if such devices existed in that time.  She also had the distinction of being the daughter of one Lord Byron, the poet who was once considered to be mad, bad, and dangerous to know.  Anyway, strange figures are appearing, and Lord Byron himself makes an appearance long after he was to have died.  Block transfer computation also makes a return to the series.  It is the ability to manifest physical objects from some incredibly complex mathematical equations.  It was first introduced in the Fourth Doctor’s last television serial, “Logopolis”. I guess this was a prequel to the concept.  It’s a pretty solid episode for the most part.  I ended up being partial because it introduced me to some historical figures who I did not know very well.  Computer programs being written long before the existence of computers is a pretty enticing idea to explore.

Finally, “The False Guardian” by Guy Adams closes out the first half of the eighth series for the Fourth Doctor.  Ann Kelso wants to return the Doctor to the task of finding out about the mysterious allies of the Sinestrans.  Yeah, those guys from the first episode in this collection.  They find a planet which is familiar to the Doctor. Time has also gone very much awry on this world where an asylum lies in the middle of the maelstrom.  The Doctor learns of the consequences during an early encounter with the Daleks back in his first incarnation.

It’s a pretty bold step for Big Finish to come up with a new companion for the Fourth Doctor.  Some stories are a little better than others, as expected, however Baker’s performance still makes most of the weaknesses in the plots forgivable.  I find Ann Kelso to be more interesting because she is new to the series, however she does not really stand out much from the other companions.  Fortunately, Slavin does fine with her performance.  Kelso doesn’t stand out for sheer awfulness either, so that’s good.  The collection was pretty good overall, but I am not sure there is anything outstanding about it.  It was good enough for me to want to see how this whole thing wraps up in the second volume, Big Finish accomplished that mission.

 

“The Curse of La Llorona” is a horror film that manages to not completely come apart.  It is considered as being part of the franchise known as The Conjuring Universe.  We get a brief mention of the not so cuddly doll, Annabelle.  Michael Chaves is a novice director who brought cinematic life to the script written by Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Iaconis. The cast includes Linda Cardellini, Raymond Cruz, and Sean Patrick Thomas.

The bulk of the film takes place in the year of my birth, 1973, however 300 years before that in Mexico, a woman drowns her children as vengeance against her husband who fell short on the fidelity part of his vows.  Yeah, she was rather miffed.

Anyway, a caseworker for Child Protective Services in Los Angeles finds that her own children are in the crosshairs of the curse brought on by the weeping woman, or La Llorona.  She is having to contend with another grieving mother who lost her two sons to this specter. She eventually gets help from some kind of renegade exorcist played by Raymond Cruz.

There quite a few effectively chilling moments that startled a stalwart movie viewer such as myself.  The make-up was quite convincing on La Llorona, who was portrayed by none other than Marisol Ramirez.  You may ask yourself “who is Marisol Ramirez?” And I don’t know other than she acted in this film, but she could be really scary so she earned her pay for this one.

This misses the mark quite wide on masterpiece of horror designation, however it doesn’t fall into the category of being a complete waste of time for fans of this genre.  It doesn’t appear to have much acclaim from the professional reviewers, and it probably doesn’t deserve it, however I did find it reasonably enjoyable in an unsettling sort of way.  It’s not fun watching children getting terrified, but the child actors in this film did a good job at being convincingly traumatized by the malevolent spirit.

The film does delve into a pretty interesting aspect of Mexican folklore and culture.  I know it’s very much exaggerated and twisted in the expected manner of Hollywood output, but it was still interesting.

I would say it’s a decent enough scary distraction from the pressures of real life as long as expectations are kept somewhat low.

 

 

 

“The Intruder” is a film that turns out to be an exercise in wasted potential, which is a shame because it has such a promising cast lineup.  Deon Taylor directed this piece written by David Loughery. Dennis Quaid, Michael Ealy, and Meagan Good star in this thriller about a young couple who purchase a lovely country house from a reluctant seller who has some mild psychotic tendencies.

Scott and Annie Howard are a gorgeous couple living in the big city somewhere in California.  It is probably Los Angeles, but somehow I ended up not being sure.  They purchase a pretty cool house in Napa Valley from a man named Charlie Peck, however Mr. Peck is having some trouble taking a hint.

There is no shortage of charisma and talent among the cast.  The credibility and some semblance of believability is the writing is where the trouble lies. For example, poor Annie!  Talk about a gorgeous woman who is a bit slow on the uptake about the potential trouble she and her husband are about to land in with Quaid’s Charlie Peck.  Her lack of suspicion so far into the film in spite of her husband’s growing sense of unease was a bit hard to buy into, considering she doesn’t come off as an idiot in other aspects of her role.

There also could have been better development in the background and explanation of some of these characters.  This was another film that sort of rushed up to and through the climax with what seemed to be a lack of detail as to how these people got to that point.

There were some pretty good moments of unsettling scares at times though.  I am not sure I have seen Dennis Quaid play a psycho before, but he seemed to be enjoying himself here.  He’s a talented guy, so he was able to keep me engaged and in suspense as to what shenanigans his character was going to pull next.

The other issue is that we have seen this similar setup so often before on the big screen.  There was a lack of originality that is rather hard to overlook and forgive in spite of the decent performances and attractive scenery.

I have seen considerably worse in my vast cinematic indulgences over the years, but this could have been better considering the talent that was on hand.  In the end, it’s another movie that is unlikely to leave a lasting impression either way other than these thoughts being transmitted out for Internet consumption.

“Binary” is a Doctor Who audio play written by Eddie Robson for the Companion Chronicles range from Big Finish Productions.  Caroline John reprised her role of Dr. Elizabeth Shaw just before her death a few years ago.  This was first released in 2012 and is one of the last performances of Caroline John.  This was a little different from most of the other episodes since there was no narration and John was joined by two other cast members instead of the usual one.  Joe Coen and Kyle Redmond-Jones join John for this intriguing episode.

Liz Shaw is sent to oversee the repair of alien technology by UNIT and is not allowed to tell the Doctor.  The alien computer is responsible to the disappearance of two men.  Liz’s tinkering results in her being trapped inside the machine, trying to avoid the attention of the defense system.

I really enjoyed this one.  I am not one of those fans who mind the narration, but this one worked pretty well without it.  It was not too hard to follow what was going on, which sometimes happens in this releases.  Caroline John did quite well, although she may had already been sick at the time of recording.  Her two castmates were also up to the task. I think this is one of the stronger episodes of the Companion Chronicles range.

“Entanglement” is a Doctor Who audio drama from Big Finish Productions and is one of the newer Early Adventures episodes featuring the First Doctor.  Robert Khan and Tom Salinsky are the writers of this piece which sees the return of Peter Purves and Maureen O’Brien sharing narration duties as well as reprising their roles as Steven and Vicki, respectively.  Purves is also offering his rendition of William Hartnell’s portrayal of the Doctor.

Talented performers such as Sam Woolf and John Rowe are part of the supporting cast with Richard Braine and Philip Fox.

The Doctor and his friends arrive in Cambridge in 1937 and have to leave the TARDIS perched on a roof until they can get some proper help to retrieve it.  They find the venerable university in the midst of an election for a new provost to replace the one who mysteriously disappeared.  The students have peculiar moments of inexplicable violent outbursts which also affects Steven.  The Doctor has discovered evidence of alien technology and is drawn into a mystery that he at first dismissed.

Although this does involve the usual alien menace expected in Doctor Who, it touches on a moment of British history of which I had no knowledge.  Apparently there was some scandal involving Russian spies in Cambridge during that time.  This is one of those things Doctor Who does best, at least for me.  It brings about some moments of history that are not immediately brought to mind and stokes the curiosity to explore these episodes a little more.

This has an interesting setting with engaging performances from everyone involved.  Purves once again does well with capturing the essence of the late William Hartnell when he performs as the Doctor.

It’s an adventure that manages to be solidly entertaining as well as enlightening about what is likely a little known piece of world history.

“Doctor Who and the Krikkitmen” is a novel based on an unrealized script prepared by the late, great Douglas Adams of “Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy” fame.  James Goss was able to novelize the material he salvaged from somewhere in Adams’ archives or vault or wherever he tucked such things away.

Goss does a pretty good job of emulating Adams’ prose style, however that means there is some lengthy and somewhat overblown exposition that sometimes slows the story down a bit.  Also, this is an adventure featuring the Fourth Doctor and Romana.  I had some trouble imagining Tom Baker and Lalla Ward uttering the dialogue at times.

The Krikkitmen are a race of killer robots that ran afoul of the Time Lords at some point and had to break free of some kind of time barrier.  They apparently have killer cricket bats or something.  There’s also a computer that considers itself some kind of god.  The Time Lords are on hand here with Cardinal Borusa making another appearance.

This is a bit of a confusing effort here. A lot of the issue may be the way in which Adams delivers his tales.  He does have a unique and quirky writing style.  Goss does get that element right, but he has adapted a couple of prior Douglas Adams scripts.

I am not sure how well this would have worked on television, so I guess it’s just as well to leave it as a novel.  It is new Doctor Who, so that’s a plus.  I may just have yet to develop the profound appreciation for Douglas Adams that others have discovered.  I may understand this volume a little better when I reread it in a few years.

I will next be checking in with another one of the exploits of Jack Reacher with “The Midnight Line” by Lee Child.

 

“Avengers: Endgame” was just released and stars practically everyone who has ever turned up in the MCU films.  Anthony and Joe Russo directed this little piece which was written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely.  It does seem a little surprising this was written by only two people.

This follows up from what happened in “Infinity Wars” where Thanos wipes out haf of the universal population including several heroes from MCU, including Black Panther and Spider-Man.  Thanos was portrayed by Josh Brolin, who does present a pretty multi-layered villain.

Unsurprisingly, there were plenty of strong performances, although I was not that impressed with a somewhat annoying direction that was taken with Chris Hemsworth’s Thor.  It wasn’t Hemsworth being a bad actor, but Thor’s reaction to the tragedy brought on by Thanos was a little off putting.  He redeems himself well enough by the climactic battle sequence though so it’s hard to hate him.

Also, I am not that sure I really like Banner being in such control of his Hulk persona onscreen.  I know that happened in the comic series, and it’s fine there, but seeing Mark Ruffalo’s face being so clearly on the Hulk frame and with green flesh is a little unsettling.  A moment of regret over his gratuitous smashing of the earlier films is pretty funny.  I do think Ruffalo makes a great Bruce Banner though and would not mind seeing him in future films

Robert Downey Jr. is also quite good.  Really, everyone holds up well hen it comes to their performances, but no one had any doubt that they could pull that off.

Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel fortunately did not take over the screen as much as I feared she would.  Her solo movie was not bad, so I didn’t necessarily dread her inclusion in this thing in spite of the silly comments the actress herself makes in interviews.

There was a girl power moment that actually came off as rather cool during the big battle.  I am look forward to the next Black Panther movie because I actually really liked Letitia Wright’s Shuri and hope to see more of her. She pretty well stole the movie from led actor Chadwick Boseman, in my opinion.  She was great there and in the previous Avengers film  Wright was not really given much screen time here, but that’s understandable considering the enormous cast of characters involved.

The visual effects were amazing.  The final battle scene was chaotic but not so much of a mess where it was hard to follow.

There were a lot of plot threads to tie up, and some directions did not grab me as much as I hoped.  However, the movie does hit the right emotional buttons for the most part.  The music score really helped the impact of those moments.  The girl next to me got pretty weepy, but that moment just before the climactic battle scene was rather special when a lot more familiar figures were showing up.

There were some surprises I enjoyed such as some characters being more pivotal to the story than I would have expected.  Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man being the prime example here.  Karen Gillan’s Nebula was also more important in this movie than I would have expected, but since she is a good actress and a Doctor Who alum, I didn’t mind.

A lot more works in this film than doesn’t.  I do have some minor gripes as to what I would have liked to have seen happened or how the problem was resolved, but the smashed records and overall critical acclaim is still very much earned.

Although this film wraps up an important phase of the MCU journey, they are not done yet.  New Spider-Man film is about to be released  Apparently, Dr. Strange and Black Panther will appear in other films as well.

The film left me with a little exasperation at times, but is still a major triumph for the cast, crew, and studio. It is too bad that Stan Lee did not live long enough to see this release.  I hope he was able to see it somehow before his demise.  In short, go see it! It is a great time!

 

“Nightshade” is a Doctor Who audio play from Big Finish Productions.  It was one of the efforts to adapt some of the original novels a couple of years ago.  Kyle C. Szikora adapted it to audio format from the novel written by Mark Gatiss.  The novel was initially one of the New Adventures range from Virgin Publishing.  Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred star in this one and are joined by a guest cast that include Samuel Barnett, John Castle, and Katherine Jakeways.  Classic series cast members Louise Jameson and Carole Ann Ford also lend their vocal talents.

John Castle plays the retired star of the old science fiction series known as “Professor Nightshade”.  The old actor is in a retirement home in an English village, and his memories are taking on more solid form.  The Doctor, in his seventh incarnation, is considering retirement himself, however the chaos bearing down on the village compels him to put that thought on hold.

Once again, the performances and chemistry are what helps this out.  It has been quite a while since I read the novel, but I really sensed how much was left out from the original source material.  I liked it well enough for the most part, but I do think the effort to shorten it was done a little too enthusiastically.  It still seems some elements from the novel could have been worked in more.

“Confidential Report” is a film released in 1955 and is also known as “Mr. Arkadin.”   It was written and directed by the great Orson Welles who also stars as the flamboyantly wealthy Mr. Arkadin.  Robert Arden, Patricia Medina, and Paola Mari are also part of the cast.

It’s an interesting film.  Arden plays a small-time smuggler who happens upon a murder where the dying man mentions the name of Gregory Arkadin.  Arkadin hires Guy Van Stratten to piece together his own past due to him suffering from amnesia.  Van Stratten agrees to do it and starts interviewing people from the magnate’s past.  He starts to worry when the people he meets end up dead after their encounters with him.  Much of this story is presented as a flashback.

Welles, in particular, does well with such an eccentric and menacing part.  It has some amazing scenery since much of it was shot in Spain as well as France, England, and Switzerland.  It was well performed and had some pretty unique characters.

Classic movie watchers should make it a point to watch this if any haven’t already.