“The Gemini Contagion” is a Doctor Who audiobook from BBC Audio.  Actress Meera Syal presents this story penned by James Arnoff which features the Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond.

The Doctor and Amy arrive on the planet known as Vinsk where a new hand wash known as Gemini is about to be released.  However it contains something called a Meme-Spawn which is a peculiar organism which can make people fluent in every language.  That sounds like a useful gift, however it all goes quite wrong since this is Doctor Who. It’s up to the erratic Time Lord to sort out the problem before Amy suffers from the more virulent effects of Gemini.

Unfortunately, this was something to be shrugged off.  Once again, it is not a bad story, but I didn’t find much to be uniquely memorable.  Syal is a pretty good presenter though. The story was competently written, but not much more than that.

“The Hunting Ground” is a Doctor Who audio play released by Big Finish Productions.  AK Benedict is the author of this particular episode which stars Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor.

The Doctor is traveling on his own when the TARDIS brings him to Iceland where he finds a frozen corpse of someone killed by alien technology.  He is joined by Inspector Yrsa Kristjonsdittor, who initially suspects him of the crime.  It does not take long for the Doctor to track down an alien hunter and then find himself as the prey yet again.

Amy Beth Hayes plays the intrepid inspector whose own painful past is also at the heart of the mystery, and she does a pretty good job.  I thought there were echoes of a previous recurring character from Big Finish, DI Menzies.  It’s often amusing when the Doctor has to convince the local constabulary of his good intentions in spite of his bizarre appearance.

Michael Griffiths plays the Hunter, who actually has a bit of a snarky wit to rival the Doctor’s.  It makes a nice change to have an adversary who does something a bit more than bellow threats and boasts.  Especially since the Hunter is described as being over twelve feet tall.

Yrsa also finds a conspiracy connected to the Hunter which led to the murder of her father.  It was kind of interesting that she spent much of her time independent of the Doctor making her own discoveries.

Of course, the Doctor’s encounter with the two headed, persnickety accountant, Marfick, played by Joe Jameson and Will Hislop, was pretty entertaining as well.  Jameson and Hislop were well cast as the bickering, hyperattentive accountants who are also having to elude the attentions of the Hunter.

It’s not always the easiest story to follow, but Baker’s performance is energetic enough for me to mind too much.  There were some familiar elements that have been explored before in Doctor Who, however it was presented in a way that much of it still felt fresh. Baker is still a powerful presence in these things.  This was a pretty grim story, yet the humor didn’t seem out of place.  That’s one the charms of the series as a whole.

This turned out to be a solidly entertaining piece, and I would be interested to see AK Benedict contribute further to the range.

 

“Fighting With My Family” is the biographical film about the rise of Saraya “Paige” Bevis from the streets of Norwich, England as she seeks her place in the WWE.  It was conveniently written and directed by Stephen Merchant.  I like it when the writer and the director are same.  It cuts down on the name checking.  Florence Pugh takes on the lead role and does quite well with it.  Paige was apparently just 18 years old when she started on this rather bizarre career path and was the youngest champion of the WWE Divas.  Nick Frost and Lena Headey play the eccentric, uncouth, yet strangely charming parents who have fostered this obsession for wrestling in their offspring.  They run their own wrestling company in England.  Jack Lowden plays the brother who also wanted to cash in on an opportunity to shine in the WWE, but fate had other paths for young Zak Bevis.  Of course, Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson had some amusing moments in this one.  Vince Vaughn plays the fictional, I suspect, coach who oversees the grueling tryouts.

It’s a little hard to feel that emotionally engaged to a film that has a staged sporting event as the backdrop, however it’s not impossible.  I am not a wrestling fan, but I connected with the family dynamics in the story.  There were the familiar aspects such as envy from a less successful sibling and desperation to get out of the confinements of an overly familiar neighborhood.  It also dealt with the feeling of loneliness when one if different from their peers and has unusual ambitions.  The script had some clever retorts and other moments.

Having a film focus on WWE is not that common, but much of what was depicted in this film has been seen before.  Even in spite of a certain lack of originality in some aspects, the film still manages to be quite enjoyable.  The performances were solid.  The other characters were charming.  Pugh puts in a very effective and convincing performance. Some events depicted in the film I could easily spot as artistic license, however even that was not too terribly distracting.  This falls short of being a masterpiece of any sort, but I found it quite more enjoyable than I expected.   That’s saying something from someone who doesn’t follow wrestling at all.

“Combat Magicks” is a Doctor Who novel written by Steve Cole.  It features the version of the Doctor currently played by Jodie Whittaker.  The Doctor and her companions arrive in Gaul in the year 451 where they encounter Atilla the Hun on the eve of his battle with Roman Empire.  As expected, the TARDIS travelers are split up.  Ryan comes across a group known as the Legion of Smoke , which is a group that finds and studies extraterrestrial equipment.  I guess it’s some precursor to Torchwood.

The Doctor and Yasmin are taken by Attila the Hun while Graham ends up in the Roman Army camp.

There is an alien presence assisting both sides of famous war.  The dead aren’t staying dead.  All kinds of chaos ensues.  These aliens, known as Tenctrama resemble witches, which has actually been done before in the series.

The historical setting is somewhat interesting, but much of this novel feels very much like a retread.

This iteration of the Doctor comes across a little better in print than she does on the screen.  Cole is not an incompetent writer, but he doesn’t do much to significantly grab my interest in this one.

The next effort of literary enjoyment will come from Martin Cruz Smith’s mystery that takes place in Moscow, “Gorky Park”.

“What Men Want” is a rather raunchy comedy loosely based on the 2000 film “What Women Want” which starred Mel Gibson.  Adam Shankman is the director of this work which took three writers to concoct.  Tina Gordon, Alex Gregory, and Peter Huyck are credited this latest example of Hollywood’s continued lack of originality.  Having Taraji P. Henson as the lead is almost the only good decision made in this production.  She is actually genuinely funny and goes a long way to make this thing at least moderately enjoyable.  Tracy Morgan, Josh Brener, Richard Roundtree, and surprisingly, Brian Bosworth are part of the cast.  No one really puts in a bad performance, but some of the directions the story follows just seems too obvious and unnecessary.

Henson plays an ambitious sports agent who is passed over for promotion.  An ill-advised encounter with a psychic and a crack on the head are the catalyst for her to be able to hear the thoughts of men.  Her non-verbal reactions to the thoughts bombarding her were quite convincing.  Henson does have pretty sharp comedic instincts which helps considerably make this things bearable.  Unfortunately, bearable is about as good as it gets, at least for me.

Brener plays the obligatory prissy,  gay assistant to Henson’s character and is often pretty amusing himself.  The two of them have a pretty typical unlikely double act when onscreen together and it works pretty well for the most part.  It’s too bad they didn’t have better material to showcase their chemistry.

Brian Bosworth being in this movie seems a bit surprising since he is better known as an action star as well as a disappointing NFL linebacker in the 1980’s.  He does fine.  Nothing stands out in regard to his performance, either good or bad.

Tracy Morgan plays the overbearing father of a rising basketball star.  Morgan tends to be a hit or miss source of amusement for me.  He was fine here but nothing much other than what I have seen before from him.

There’s actually several characters in this one I rather liked.  Richard Roundtree plays the father to Henson’s character, and I did find it pretty cool to see him onscreen with her.

The film ended up having some moments and characters that sort of worked or came close to it, but I still found this to be an ultimately frustrating experience.

As much as this piece confirms that studios should really start to turn away from cinematic reheats of this sort, it also solidifies my hope that Taraji P. will be cast in more lead roles.  She just deserves better material than what was offered here.

“Alita: Battle Angel” is a new science fiction, cyberpunk film based on some Manga series out if Japan.  Robert Rodriguez is the director of this piece which was written by James Cameron and Laeta Kalogridis with Yukito Kishiro being the original creator of this character.

Rosa Salazar plays the title role with great supporting talent by Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly, Mahershala Ali, and Ed Skrein.  The film has a lot of going for it with a compelling cast and stunning visual effects.  The fight and chase scenes were also pretty well done.

I don’t really keep up with Manga, so I am not sure how closely this film follows the original source material.  As a movie, there’s quite a lot that works here, but some of the plot felt a little muddled.  I also was not that satisfied with an ending.  The producers obviously have some major franchise ambitions.  I am not sure the box office returns that I have just read are going to justify the studio to follow through with those intentions.

Not only were other reviews mixed among various critic, I had a mixed reaction to the film within myself.  I would not say this film is one to avoid, but I also understand why the approval among the pros isn’t unanimous.

“The Silent Speaker” is a Nero Wolfe mystery written by Rex Stout.  It was first published in 1945.  Nero Wolfe’s interest is piqued by the opportunity for a fee as hefty as himself when the Director of the Bureau of Price Regulation is bludgeoned to death just before he is to deliver a speech to the National Industrial Association, a group of very wealthy business owners.  It becomes even more imperative when another murder occurs right on Wolfe’s doorstep.

The story is told in Archie Goodwin’s distinctive style of narration.  Archie is Wolfe’s sharp-witted assistant and bodyguard.

For the uninitiated, Wolfe is an overweight genius of a detective who rarely leaves his New York brownstone where he has strict rules regarding his daily tending of his collection of orchids and meal times.  He is arrogant, abrasive, and almost always right.  Goodwin is a great foil since he is not afraid to push back against his employer’s will and often has to needle him to work.  Wolfe employs a gourmet chef who also lives in the brownstone.

This particular novel felt pretty slow to me unfortunately.  Stout still demonstrated his gift as a wordsmith effectively, but I had some trouble staying interested in this one.  There was still some amusing banter between Wolfe and Archie, however it was not quite enough to keep me as engaged as I like.  I didn’t find this a terrible installment in the series, however this was not quite the page turner I hoped for.

Next up, let’s see how Steve Cole presents the current version of a certain traveler in time and space in “Combat Magicks”, one of the latest Doctor Who novels from BBC Books.

“The Anachronauts” is a Doctor Who audio play written by Simon Guerrier and is released by Big Finish Productions.  Peter Purves and Jean Marsh share the presentation of this installment in the Companion Chronicles range.  This takes place during the period when the First Doctor was traveling with Steven Taylor and Sara Kingdom as they try to elude the Daleks.

The TARDIS collides with another time vessel leaving both parties waking up on a desert island.  They are then menaced by an entity known as a Time Sprite.  As they learn the truth about their predicament, Sara and Steven find themselves in Berlin during the Cold War.  In fact, they have to determine if they are in fact where they seem.  The Doctor has also disappeared and is not able to be of much help for a time.

There are some very interesting ideas explored here.  This is probably a bit more convoluted than what the television writers explored when William Hartnell played the Doctor.  Purves and Marsh are both compelling performers.  Purves continues to do well with his rendition of William Hartnell’s portrayal of the Doctor.  He admits that it is not a perfect imitation, but he somehow manages to capture the flavor of the First Doctor quite nicely.

Guerrier also explores what could have been in the relationship between Steven and Sara.  Sara meets a tragic fate during the television serial “The Dalek Master Plan”.  Big Finish has managed to create new adventures with Sara before her death.  Fortunately, the actress who played is still very much alive.  Marsh can’t quite bring out the voice of her younger self, however she still does well enough.  I can live with quite a lot if there are still new adventures with the earlier Doctors in some form.

I think this was one of the more unique and complicated storylines for the First Doctor, and the experience was enhanced by solid performances of both Purves and Marsh.  The sound effects were quite effective as expected.  That is especially true for when the Time Sprite made an appearance.

I would recommend for this particular Big Finish episode to not be overlooked.

“Cold Pursuit” is the latest film to feature who used to be everyone’s favorite cinematic avenger, Liam Neeson.  Frank Baldwin adapted this script from another film known entitled “In Order of Disappearance” by Kim Fupz Aakeson.  Hans Petter Moland in the director who may take some losses due to the recent controversy swirling around the lead actor, Liam Neeson.  Laura Dern, Tom Bateman, and William Forsythe are included in the cast.

Liam Neeson plays a snowplow driver in the Colorado Rocky Mountains who goes quite a ghoulish path of revenge after his son is murdered by a drug cartel.

There’s some dark comedy served on the side alongside the body count.  I don’t know much about Bateman , who plays the sadistic ringleader, but he put in an interesting performance.  He was perfectly despicable.

Neeson is a talented actor, but he does not appear to be stretching himself much these days.  Of course, this matter of admitting some effort to avenge the rape of a friend on any black man who crossed is path almost forty years isn’t going to help the returns on this film.

There are better movies in this genre.  There is apparently some comparison to “Fargo” out there.  I haven’t seen “Fargo” all the way through, so I can’t make a personal comparison.  This is merely a decent movie.  There are times where it drags a bit, and not every decision made by characters made much sense at the time.

I did end up enjoying it a little better than I anticipated in spite of the huge pile of excrement surrounding it due to Neeson’s ill-timed public soul cleansing.  It probably doesn’t deserve to be any kind of mega blockbuster, but I didn’t mind catching it.

“Fog Over Frisco” is a 1934 Warner Brothers film directed by William Dieterle.  The script was written by Robert N. Lee and Eugene Solow and was adapted from a story by George Dyer.  Bette Davis, Margaret Lindsay, Donald Wood, and Alan Hale are part of the talented cast.

Bette Davis plays a bored and bratty socialite who gets involved in a plot steal security bonds from her step-father’s company for a crime boss.  When she disappears, her intrepid and spirited step-sister takes it upon herself to find out what happened.

It’s a pretty fun romp of a film, but I probably would not find it all that memorable for the most part, except as an early Bette Davis performance.  It is interesting that she does not seem to have much more than a supporting role in this one.  Some of the characters come off as pretty cliché, but I have found this to be a common observation for the films of that period.

It’s pretty enjoyable but probably not one I will go out of my way to see again.