The Thirteenth Doctor

October 08, 2018 / Roger Edwards

Last night Jodie Whittaker made her debut as the thirteenth incarnation of that iconic Time Lord known as The Doctor. And despite eighteen months of negative comments, criticism and bile from those who disliked the idea of a female lead, the first episode, The Woman Who Fell to Earth was watched in the UK by 8 million people. At this point, popular opinion appears to be broadly positive and the franchise has weathered the storm. Naturally, there are some fans who have elected not to continue watching and there are those who intend to remain in the wings spouting disproportionate criticisms because they feel that something has been taken away from them. However, churn is a common facet of all industries and TV entertainment is no different. The BBC may well lose some long-time viewers due to this casting change, but I think it will gain far more new ones. I say this with some confidence because I too have chosen to return to the Doctor Who fold.

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categories / Doctor Who, TV, The Thirteenth Doctor

Strictly Come Dancing 2018: Part 1

October 07, 2018 / Roger Edwards

With each successive season of Strictly Come Dancing there appears to be more and more celebrity participants who seem to be “good”, right from the get-go. For many years now there have been ongoing debates about whether those from certain backgrounds, IE music, acting and possibly even sport, have an advantage over the usual chefs, astrologers and ageing minor celebrities. Although I can see the initial sense of such arguments, I don’t think they hold up to close scrutiny. Having performed a few arbitrary dance moves whilst touring or having done a stilted routine for a TV drama or play is not the same as the rigour and scrutiny that comes with Strictly Come Dancing. However, setting aside this perennial question, despite only being three weeks into series sixteen, we saw some extremely strong movie themed performances last night and the potential emergence of several dark horses. Subsequently tonight’s results were interesting.

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categories / Strictly Come Dancing, 2018, TV, Reality Show, Populist Entertainment, Part 1

Star Trek Online: Red Alert Controversy

October 05, 2018 / Roger Edwards

Developer’s Cryptic announced this week that the various Red Alerts that are currently available continuously in Star Trek Online would hence forward, only be available to players on the weekend. Their official explanations was as follows. Starting this weekend, Red Alerts are moving from being always available to being special weekend events, with improved rewards! When these Red Alerts are live, you’ll be able to earn 35 Marks of your choice every time you play, with no cooldowns to prevent you from getting back into the action. These Task Force Operations will return to the galaxy regularly, as the groups of invaders do their best to take control of the four quadrants of the galaxy. As with any change of this nature, it has not been met with open arms by the STO reddit community and the official forums.

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categories / Gaming, MMORPG, Star Trek Online, Red Alert Controversy

LOTRO: An Unnecessary Increase in Level Cap?

October 04, 2018 / Roger Edwards

I’ve logged into the Bullroarer test server and looked around several of the preview builds of Update 23 for LOTRO recently. So far what I’ve seen has broadly met with my approval. It’s pretty much more of the same, with the main selling point being the story and a new area of Middle-earth to explore. However, there’s one aspect of the soon to be released Update 23: Where Dragons Dwell that does strike me as a little odd. The level cap is being increased from 115 to 120. Last summer’s Mordor expansion raised the cap by ten to 115, so this new increase does feel a little too soon to me. However, if you look at the LOTRO Wiki, it would appear that increases tend to occur regularly every eighteen months to two years, so it can be argued that this pending change isn’t anything unusual. Yet, it somehow feels “off” to me, which I shall now endeavour to explain.

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categories / Gaming, MMORPG, LOTRO, Update 23, Where Dragons Dwell, Level Cap Increase

Unfriended: Dark Web (2018)

October 03, 2018 / Roger Edwards

I wondered recently whether Unfriended (2014) would kick start an entire subgenre comparable to the “found footage” format. It would appear that it has, and these movies shot on phones, computers and other digital devices have subsequently been labelled “screenlife” films. It’s worth noting that Unfriended: Dark Web is produced by Russian filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov who has already produced two other movies (Profile and Searching) using this technique. So, it won’t be surprising to see further forays into this style of film making. It is cheap, quick to make with a lot of box office potential. So, it’s hardly surprising to see Jason Blum (of Get Out and The Purge fame) attached to the credits as well. As for Unfriended: Dark Web it’s suitably nasty, voyeuristic, fare that is competently made. At this point the novelty of the “screenlife” films has yet run out, but it is still a physically challenging format to endure (as I found with its predecessor).

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categories / Horror, Unfriended: Dark Web, Movies

Diary of a Podcaster Part 15

October 02, 2018 / Roger Edwards

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I’ve been pondering a new podcast project for a while, since Contains Moderate Peril ended a year ago. As I’ve discussed in previous posts, I want to create a movie-based show and have been considering of late exactly what sort of format to adopt. I don’t go to the cinema often enough these days to produce a contemporary review orientated podcast, plus I don’t find a lot of mainstream releases to be sufficiently engaging. Despite looking and pursuing discrete enquiries, I haven’t been able to find a co-host who is sufficiently knowledgeable, motivated or available to do a regular show producing the audio equivalent of long form criticism of films and the movie industry. So, it’s been a bit of a chore to try and work out which niche to explore. However, I have now a clear idea of what I want to do.

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categories / Podcast, Podcast Diary, Podcasting

The Expendables Extended Director's Cut (2010)

October 01, 2018 / Roger Edwards

If you are expecting more violence, explosions and sundry mayhem in the extended director's cut of The Expendables, then you'll find none. What you will discover is an additional ten minutes of character development and back story, which greatly improves the overall film. The theatrical cut was certainly not lacking in the action department but was a bit thin on narrative and back story. This extended version of the movie with over two hundred changes to the original cut, bolsters the dramatic elements of the plot. We get to know more about the team and as a result care a little more for them. You can find a comprehensive comparison over at moviecensorship.com of both versions of the movie.

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categories / Action, Movies, The Expendables, Extended Director's Cut

A Creature of Habit

September 30, 2018 / Roger Edwards

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I woke up on Saturday morning only to discover that my watch had stopped. I still wore it throughout the day as I don’t feel properly dressed without a wristwatch. As I was out for the day I wasn’t able to immediately resolve the issue. Today I decided rather than replace the battery, why not just buy a new watch. So, I went to my local branch of Argos and bought exactly the same make and model of watch. When I used to work in “the city” I wore a quality Rotary analogue watch that my wife had bought me as a gift. However, due to my work it kept getting scratched and damaged, so I swapped to something cheap and functional. This change has now become a habit and the fancy watch only gets worn on high days and holidays. Hence, I bought yet another a bog standard analogue black Casio watch today. It costs £7.99 which is about the same price I’d be charged for the battery to be replaced in the old one.

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categories / Editorial, Social Commentary, A Creature of Habit

Peppa Pig World

September 29, 2018 / Roger Edwards

Having twin granddaughters who are three years old makes our family prime candidates for Peppa Pig World. So, we decided to go this year, rather than leave it to next summer, only to find that the twin’s tastes have changed. Today was a beautiful autumnal day with plenty of sunshine, making it ideal for adventures in a theme park. Peppa Pig World is actually just part of Paultons Park, which has a broad variety of rides and entertainment. However, the girls age restricts them from a lot of these, so we remained at Peppa Pig World which proved sufficient to keep children and adults busy. We ended up spending seven hours, perusing the park and went on most rides. Despite the lateness of the season, Peppa Pig World was still well attended and there was a large crowd throughout the day. However, the theme park is very well organised and run so there were no major problems.

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categories / Tourism, Theme Park, Paulton's Park, Peppa Pig World, Social Commentary

Where's That Fire? (1940)

September 28, 2018 / Roger Edwards

Until a copy was found by the BBC television in 1975, this was considered a lost film. Where's That Fire? is an often over looked comedy. Will Hay plays Captain Viking of the Bishop Wallop fire station in his usual seedy incompetent fashion. He and his trusty assistants Albert (Graham Moffatt) and Harbottle (Moore Marriott) run an antiquated Victorian fire tender but seldom put out any fires. After the Town Hall burns down they find that their jobs are on the line. Viking tries to solve their problems by inventing a new fire-retardant foam as well as renting the tender to a film production company, who may not be quite what they seem. It all ends in mayhem, with an attempted robbery of the Crown Jewels at The Tower of London.

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categories / Comedy, Movies, Where's That Fire?, Will Hay

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)

September 27, 2018 / Roger Edwards

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, is very much a film of two halves. The initial hour is filled with gunfights, explosions, and bullet time fist fights. Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey, Jr.) and Dr. Watson (Jude Law) unravel the sinister plans of Professor Moriarty (Jared Harris) and proceed to deal with it in the idiom of Frank Martin, as director Guy Ritchie's pulls every visual trick he knows out of the bag. The pace is fast yet a fairly strong script and superb chemistry between central characters, makes this a cut above the usual PG-13 rated action fodder served to the masses at present. It is beneficial that the bulk of the original cast and crew returned for this sequel as it maintains a strong sense of continuity with it predecessor.

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categories / Action, Movies, Starcrash, Sherlock Holmes, A Game of Shadows

Sherlock Holmes (2009)

September 26, 2018 / Roger Edwards

For me the inherent appeal of Conan Doyle’s great detective is the way in which it lends itself to continuous reinvention and interpretation. And so, I was greatly surprised by how well director Guy Ritchie handled the 2009 reboot. He in fact did so well, that you could argue it put his career back on track. You won’t find a deerstalker on the head of Robert Downey Jr’s Holmes. This is very much a Holmes for the current times, with bar knuckle boxing, explosions and frenetic chases around a stylised CGI London, but despite how it sounds it works extremely well. The pacing, tone and humour are just right and so the movie avoid becoming a caricature. Under all the modern trappings the screenplay retains the essential elements of source text, such as a densely plotted narrative, cunning mental gymnastics and of course the complex dynamics of the Holmes, Watson relationship.

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categories / Action, Movies, Sherlock Holmes

Evil Dead (2013)

September 25, 2018 / Roger Edwards

Urugyan writer and director Fede Alvarez obviously has a great deal of passion for the horror genre and certainly understands it a lot better than may other mainstream film makers. Make no mistake, Evil Dead is an extremely hard R rated movie and is certainly not like the usual tame studio output we see so often these days. There is also an emphasis on physical effects rather than CGI. The film also endeavours to re-invent the movies iconic plot to avoid a scene-by-scene retread of Sam Raimi's original. The idea of a groups of friends electing to stay somewhere isolated to help one of the group go "cold turkey", is a clever one. Perhaps the smartest thing the production does is the removal of the character Ash. Replacing someone such as Bruce Campbell is virtually impossible.

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categories / Horror, Movies, Remake, Evil Dead

Comfy Questions

September 24, 2018 / Roger Edwards

Despite having written a blog posts claiming that there’s always something to write about, even I have days when I’m lacking inspiration. Or more to the point lacking in motivation to write. And today is a prime example. I’d much rather be doing something else, but I made a promise to myself to keep the blog content flowing. However, I discovered a selection of questions that have been doing the rounds, via Marathal over at Deez Words and decided to answer them. I’m sure you know the form. They’re a selection of “touchy-feely”, non-threatening questions designed to give the reader a simple thumbnail sketch of your “personality”. So, I thought to myself, “there’s today’s blog post”. I will try my best to answer sensibly and give as relevant answers as I can, but you know me.

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categories / Blogging, Newbie Blogger Initiative, Q&A, Comfy Questions, Questionnaire

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)

September 23, 2018 / Roger Edwards

Critical opinion was very much split this summer when Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom was released. However, the viewers were somewhat indifferent to the opinions of the professional critics and the movie made a healthy $1,303,476,615 globally, proving once again that the public’s’ continuing love affair with “all things dinosaur” shows no sign of abating. When you factor in the home media market into overall profits, the entire Jurassic Park franchise will have made $5 billion worldwide. So, bearing in mind the old adage that “money talks and bullshit walks”, I think it’s safe to say there’ll be more instalments in the years to come. When faced with such overwhelming box office popularity it seems somewhat pointless to dissect the latest movie, because the film seems to be bullet proof regardless of narrative flaws or ill-conceived plot devices. However, film criticism isn’t about box office popularity but about analysing the relative quality of a movie’s construction and its subsequent standing.

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categories / Creature Feature, Movies, Jurassic World, Fallen Kingdom

Classic Movie Themes: King Solomon's Mines

September 22, 2018 / Roger Edwards

King Solomon’s Mines is a 1985 Cannon Films production based on the pulp works of H. Rider Haggard. It was quickly made to cash in on the ongoing success of Indiana Jones franchise, although the finished movie bears little resemblance to the classic original novel. Like most Cannon movies from that boom era, it was a cheap and fast enterprise that superficially sported a good cast, but ultimately didn’t do much with them. Veteran director J. Lee Thompson favoured a light and comic approach to the material, as the film’s budget could hardly sustain any major notable set pieces. Yet, it proved popular enough at the box office to warrant a sequel the following year. Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold proved to be as equally silly but by then the public’s interest had waned.

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categories / Classic Themes, Movies, Jerry Goldsmith, King Solomon's Mines

War for the Planet of the Apes (2017)

September 21, 2018 / Roger Edwards

There are times when watching the third instalment of the contemporary Planet of the Apes franchise that you feel like your experiencing something akin to Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line. There is a narrative depth and an intelligence to the screenplay that you seldom see these days coming from a major studio production. As with the original movies, the story makes multiple subtle points about the nature of humanity and our self-destructive tendencies. Yet it’s all done in a thought full and measured fashion. If you wish to treat War for the Planet of the Apes as simply a science fiction action movie then you will certainly be provided with such a film. However, if you choose to engage your intellect and ponder some of the deeper aspects of the story you’ll be rewarded with much more.

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categories / Science Fiction, Movies, War, Planet of the Apes

LOTRO: The Maps of Middle-earth

September 20, 2018 / Roger Edwards

I logged into the third preview of Update 23 on Bullroarer test server this evening and perused the various changes that Standing Stone Games have made. For a lot of the “serious” LOTRO players, the focus of this latest build are the statistical changes to all the various classes. As I am not so au fait with this aspect of the game, I shall leave the matter until it is finalised then discuss it with my kinship who are more learned in these matters. My primary motivation for using the preview server is to get an advance look at any new region and to explore the environment. Standing Stone Games continue to do a sound job of realising the Third Age of Middle-earth and I enjoy the attention to detail they provide along with their adherence to the lore. One of the aspects of LOTRO that I’ve always enjoyed are the regional maps. In this latest preview build, all maps for the new region of Ered Mithrin are now available and the temporary placeholders for Erebor and The Steel Keep have been removed.

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categories / Gaming, LOTRO, MMORPG, Maps, Middle-earth

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)

September 19, 2018 / Roger Edwards

Unlike so many other blockbusters Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is not just peddling a vacuous spectacle lacking any substance. The sequel to the 2011 reboot embraces both political and social concepts and attempts to explore them in a meaningful fashion. It is absorbing and intelligent, making its point without being too heavy handed. The motion captured performances and visual effects are outstanding, yet do not swamp the story or the subtleties of the actor’s performances. It is also surprising to see a mainstream Hollywood movie cultivate such a bleak and melancholic tone.

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categories / Science Fiction, Movies, Dawn, Planet of the Apes

Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)

September 18, 2018 / Roger Edwards

The greatest asset of Rise of The Planet of the Apes is the CGI chimpanzee, Caesar, played by Andy Serkis. It is also the films greatest hindrance. Too much focus is spent on the titular character at the expensive of the remainder of the cast. The pace is also purposely pedestrian to accommodate a list of cinematic pre-requisites that the producers felt must be included. These include moral dilemmas, relationship issues and contemporary ethical themes. If you were hoping that Rupert Wyatt’s Rise of The Planet of The Apes would be a more cerebral spectacle, then you may well be a little disappointed. It is functional and efficient entertainment, but no more than that.

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categories / Science Fiction, Movies, Rise, Planet of the Apes