“The Open House” is a Netflix film that was written and directed by Matt Angel and Suzanne Coote.  It stars Dylan Minnette and Piercy Dalton.  A widow and her teen-age son leave their home and piling debts behind to spend some time in a mountain house that her sister put on the market.  The two of them have to leave the house during the open house sessions.  Anyway, there are the usual spooky happenings such as water heater issues, cell phones missing and then turning back up, strange sounds from the basement. The kid is upset understandably about his father’s recent death.  There is a strange neighbor turning up suddenly.  There’s a flirtatious man who may or may not be as nice as he appears.  There isn’t much that hasn’t been explored in other films of this genre.

Look, this is a B film. I know that expectations need to be set low, however there was a lot left unexplained when it comes to why these two people were terrorized.  There were some decent jump scares.  The acting could have been worse.

There were some interesting concepts and moments, but I was not too satisfied with it when the end credits rolled up.  I should be more annoyed that I wasted my time with this, but I know this happens when one’s tastes can be as macabre as mine.

“The Fourth Doctor Adventures Series 7: Volume 2” is a Doctor Who audio boxset from Big Finish Productions.  This is the second half of the seventh series of Fourth Doctor Adventures where Tom Baker and Louise Jameson are reunited in their reprised roles of the Doctor and Leela, respectively.

Justin Richards is the author of “The Shadow of London” which has a small guest cast with Darren Boyd, Timothy Speyer, and Catherine Bailey.  The Doctor and Leela apparently arrive in a curiously sparsely populated London in the late 1940’s and find the ferocious results of an unholy experiment stalking the streets.  There were some pretty good twists in this one. This turned out to be a pretty engaging story.

Dan Starkey delivers “The Bad Penny” in which he also performs alongside a guest cast that includes Greg Haiste. Keith Barron, and Laura Rees. The Doctor and Leela arrive at a hotel with disappearing guests and a very malevolent resident in the VIP suite.

Guy Adams finishes off the collection with “Kill the Doctor!” and “The Age of Sutekh” where the Doctor find a very powerful and very evil adversary who only lives to destroy. Gabriel Woolf reprises his role of the fanatically destructive sole surviving Osiran which was introduced in the 1975 television serial “Pyramids of Mars”.  Sutekh has arrived on a human colony world known as Drummond in the far future where he wants to change it in his image before obliterating it.  Woolf still sounds fantastic as does Tom Baker.

There really isn’t a bad story in this set.  I am not usually a fan of bringing back villains who only had one appearance of the television series, but Sutekh was kind of fun to have back to go against the Fourth Doctor again.

This collection also showcases why The Fourth Doctor and Leela enjoy such popularity among the fans and leaves us hoping that not too much time goes by before their next pairing.

“Night Moves” is the most recent Alex Delaware novel written by Jonathan Kellerman.  A family goes out to dinner and returns home to find a mutilated corpse dropped in the den.  Homicide Detective Milo Sturgis enlists the assistance of psychologist Alex Delaware for his insight.

Kellerman is still an intriguing author, however there is not much I found terribly unique here.  Some of the side characters seemed to be somewhat caricatured.  The family at the center of the story were quite dysfunctional, which is nothing unusual for a Kellerman novel.  Certainly nothing unusual for a thriller, however I was not finding the Corvin family all that compelling.  It was another family with bratty kids, an overbearing, obnoxious husband who doesn’t take much of what is going on all that seriously, and the panicky, overprotective mother.  It just all seems familiar, particularly in a Kellerman novel.

There also seemed to be a lot hinging on some pretty far-fetched coincidences.  I guess most of Kellerman’s works is pretty far out there, but this one just hit me more noticeably.

I am still a fan of this particular series, and this did have some scenes which I appreciate.  I often say that I really enjoy the scenes when Delaware and Milo get together and discuss their case over a sandwich or something.  I am not sure why I like those moments so much, but I look forward to those scenes when I read a Delaware thriller.

It appears that Kellerman seems to really try to outdo himself when it comes to bizarre murders, and he often seems to try a little too hard.

This novel is fine.  It’s not bad, but there was not much to make it stand out for me.

Next up, will be a literary journey into the final frontier with an anthology of adapted stories from the original “Star Trek” series.  “Day of the Dove” was first published in 1973 and has a small collection of episodes adapted to prose form by James Blish.

“On the Basis of Sex” is a film about the early legal career of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.  It is directed by Mimi Leder and stars Felicity Jones, Armie Hammer, Justn Theroux, Sam Waterston, and Kathy Bates.

It begins when Justice Ginsburg is already married with a child and starting her first year at Harvard Law School in 1956.  Her husband, Martin Ginsburg, is stricken with cancer, however not much is spoiled by revealing that he survived since it is known they were married for over fifty years before his death.  The big case at the climax of the film is about a man who was refused a tax deduction usually given to caregivers due to him being a bachelor caring for his ailing mother.  The movie deals a lot with the challenges women faced in the mid-twentieth century when they had aspirations such as practicing law or other more lucrative careers.

It was a film I appreciated a bit more than I expected.  The performances were strong. I did also like that Martin Ginsburg was portrayed as having a formidable legal expertise as well.  I may not agree with Ruth Bader Ginsburg on her political leanings these days, but if this film was at all accurate in the depiction of her early struggles to practice law, I can easily respect her intelligence and tenacity.

All of the cast did well ,even the young actors who played the Ginsburg children. The legalese could get a little dry at times.  I had a little trouble at times following the legal terminology, but I got the gist of what was going on.

The movie is certainly one of the stronger releases to kick off 2019.

“Only Mine” is a thriller on Netflix which was directed by Michael Civille. Amber Midthunder, Brett Zimmerman, and Chris Browning are included in the cast of this B movie.

This takes place in a small town where a young, somewhat reckless woman falls for the new police officer.  It turns out to be a basic thriller about an obsessive boyfriend with a badge and a gun.  It is apparently based on a true story, however it would be more accurate to note it as being inspired by a true story.  It seems quite a few artistic liberties were taken.  There is some Native American folklore sprinkled in this, which was actually rather interesting.

There was no one I really recognized in this piece, but the performances were not actually that bad.  This is by no means a beacon of masterful filmmaking, but it really isn’t the worse I have seen either.

The climax and ending was a bit hard to swallow unfortunately.  I will say the depiction of Officer David’s mental and emotional unraveling was rather well done.  The dialogue wasn’t all that inspired, but I have heard worse.

Amber Midthunder played the at first smitten Julie pretty convincingly as she starts notice that her new boyfriend may not be the charming and reassuring presence he appears in the beginning.

The film has the rather unusual and unnecessary presentation of a true crime program.  It also starts with a flash forward scene in which the bulk of the movie has to catch up to. It starts off with the character of Julie getting gunned down.

I am sure the fans of this sort of B film may find some elements to enjoy.  If someone is just curious to try this one out, I would say that they could do worse.

“Glass” is the latest film directed by M. Night Shyamalan and ties his two previous films , “Unbreakable” and “Split” together.  Of course, no one knew that the two preceding works were connected until the post-credits scene in “Split” which was released in 2016.

Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson reprise their roles from “Unbreakable” while James McAvoy brings back all of the various personalities of the Horde from “Split”.

So, “Unbreakable” explored the notion of comic books being based on actual people who possessed extraordinary abilities which is followed through in this film.  Various traditional storylines from various comic books were touched on as well.

I have often had a particular gripe with M. Night Shyamalan movies for years.  He would have some fascinating ideas at times, but the execution of them is rather inconsistent at times.  Oftentimes, I end up being more frustrated with the final twists than intrigued.

Sarah Paulson joins the cast as some psychiatrist who specializes in the study of people who delude themselves into thinking they have superpowers.  I am not sure if that is enough of a problem in the world of mental illness to actually have someone specialize in that.  It may have worked better to just present her character as some very talented and renowned psychiatrist without such a specific focus of study that probably isn’t that prevalent in the real world.  Of course, the whole movie is a supernatural thriller, but still, there’s no need to get that silly.  I will apologize if there are actually psychiatrists who have some niche like that.

McAvoy gives a standout performance, but it’s not surprising since we saw it before in “Split”. Jackson also does well, but he almost always does.  Bruce Willis give kind of a one-note act throughout the film, except I blame the way the character of David Dunn was written more than any lack of talent from Willis.

The movie often seems bogged down with long expository scenes.  Most of it takes place at a mental institute which I found rather stifling when dealing with characters who are supposed to have extraordinary gifts.

But there were times when some of the interactions drew me in. Another returning presence is the girl who escaped from McAvoy’s character in “Split”, played by Anya Taylor-Joy.  Her efforts to connect with the Horde’s original persona was pretty compelling.

Whatever success “Glass” has in the box office returns will likely be due to die-hard Shyamalan fans or curiosity to see how he concludes the unexpected trilogy.  My favorite movie reviewer really hated this one, however I wouldn’t go that far in my own assessment.  I was just a bit disappointed considering the hype behind it.  I didn’t find the ending to be satisfying.  It just could have just gone much better.

“Stay Hungry” is the latest televised stand-up routine with Sebastian Maniscalco at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.  It premiered on Netflix a few days ago.

I have been trying to keep up with Maniscalco since I saw a previous stand-up special called “Why Would You Do That?”

Maniscalco has a wealth of comedic material from his upbringing in a family of Italian immigrants in Chicago.

He is also pretty adept at incorporating some impressive physical and facial contortions as he relates his exaggerated observations and anecdotes.

Maniscalco doesn’t entirely avoid the adult language, but neither does he rely on it too much.  He is a pretty recent father, so I look forward to hearing more about his impressions of that.  As usual, his own father is at the receiving end of his rapier wit, but I gather the old man loves it.  Maniscalco started off his set by revealing his presence at this particular show.

This is a pretty good special to get know the comedic talents of Sebastian Maniscalco.

“Relatable” is the Netflix special that sees Ellen DeGeneres return to stand-up comedy after fifteen years.  I am not sure that is entirely accurate since she does a daily monologue on her daytime talk show.  I guess it’s still impressive that DeGeneres can come up with over an hour’s worth of material and stay pretty consistent.  She does use some video excerpts at times.

Anyway, fans of stand-up comedy, and in particular DeGeneres groupies, should be more than satisfied.  She still has the chops for this.

She starts off with an anecdote on how she came up with the idea for the title and of course embellishes it with the acknowledgment of how wealthy she really is.  She manages to make her point without being too obnoxious about it.

DeGeneres and I would have opposite views on many things if we were ever to meet. I am not someone who would be in complete agreement with her on many things, however she is still very funny.  Even if some of her material clashes with my Christian conservative leanings, I still had plenty of laughs at her observations.  Her message and mission of encouraging more kindness among people is hard to rebuke intelligently.

DeGeneres does live a life that seems pretty unattainable and unrelatable to most of the population, but her gifts as a comedienne makes it hard to resent that. And I wouldn’t want to resent anyone for success in their lives.

DeGeneres still has great timing and delivery, but she still gets practice that daily in her day job, so that is not surprising.

Yes, I may have profound disagreements with some of her philosophies and views, but it was still somehow gratifying to see her return to the venue where she started all those years ago.  It will be interesting to see if she keeps her hand in stand-up.  “Relatable” proves that DeGeneres still has the instinct and delivery to remain formidable entertainment when it’s just her, a mic, and an audience for an hour.

“Whistling In The Dark” is a 1941 film starring Red Skelton, Ann Rutherford, and Conrad Veidt and was directed by S. Sylvan Simon.  It was based on a play by Laurence Gross.

The writer and star of a radio mystery series and his girlfriend are held by a cult leader/gangster while he comes up with the perfect murder so the cult can collect on some kind of inheritance.
This was supposed to be pretty comedic in nature, but I didn’t find much that worked all that well.  The cast was talented enough, however I didn’t find much that amused me.  It was interesting to find that this was the first in a trilogy of films to feature Skelton as a Wally Benton, who is the writer and star of some radio series called “The Fox”.  There just wasn’t much that didn’t come across as really all that original.  There weren’t any lines I found that memorable.

It was another film that seemed longer than the actual running time.

“Short Trips: Life Science” is a collection of Doctor Who short stories collected and edited by John Binns.  Big Finish Productions used to publish a series of anthologies, and this particular volume was published in 2004.  There are sixteen stories here that feature the first eight incarnations of the Doctor, so I won’t get into an examination of each one.  The theme presented is the idea of different aspects of life that from clones to artificial intelligence as well as other entities not so easy to categorize.

David Bailey starts off with “Syntax” in which the Eighth Doctor and his companion, Izzy, arrive on a planet where a mysterious form of algae is able to exert a powerful influence on the inhabitants.  It’s a pretty good story, however Izzy is not all that profound of a companion.  I am not terribly familiar with this one because she appears to have been featured in the comic books.  Izzy was once in a Big Finish audio play but she was not featured regularly.

“Observation” by Ian Farrington has the Fifth Doctor anxious to see the meeting between Cro-Magnon and Neanderthal man, however things don’t go quite as planned, as usual. It’s a rather interesting story in which Turlough is the only one with the Doctor here.

“The Reproduction Cycle” by Matthew Griffiths has the Sixth Doctor and Peri finding that a child has been left by another previous occupant of the TARDIS.  A rather surprising revelation occurs as to the origin of this baby and the effect on the two friends’ perception.  I thought it was pretty cleverly presented.

“Jonah” by Todd Green has the Eighth Doctor explore the morality of using cloning as a means of healing the sick.  He isn’t too pleased when he finds a doctor doing just that.

Alexander Leithes’ “The End” has the Eighth Doctor in a startling encounter with his first incarnation who reminds him of the difference between him and other time travelers.  That was a nice surprise.

I also enjoyed “The Age of Ambition”  by Andy Campbell in which companions Victoria Waterfield relates a story in which she returns to 1866 with the Second Doctor and Jamie McCrimmon and finds that an old family friend has been experimenting with reviving the dead.

Jim Mortimore’s  “A Rose By Any Other Name” ends this collection in a situation where I was not sure which Doctor was featured.  I think it was the Seventh, but I cannot swear to it, which is frustrating.

There are other stories that didn’t quite grab me as much, but it’s a pretty good collection for the most part.  All of the anthologies in this series are engaging.  It is pretty fun to figure out which Doctor comes next once a story ends.  I was a rather impressed that the Sixth Doctor was featured rather heavily here considering his was not the most popular in the television series.  He tends to come off considerably better in print or in the audio adventures which Big Finish produces much more prolifically.

If one can find this volume, it’s worth a look. This series is sadly out of print, so the collection of the remaining volumes is slow going.

The next literary indulgence has Dr. Alex Delaware pitching in to help his friend, Milo Sturgis, which another murder investigation in “Night Moves” by Jonathan Kellerman.