Elsewhere – Dean Koontz

Posted on August 3, 2021 by ashleymanningwriter

In Elsewhere, father and daughter Jeffy and Amity are given a package that contains the key to everything, and told to keep it safe and never use it. The key to everything lets them jump to an infinite amount of Earths in the multiverse. They only use it after their house is under siege from some kind of secret government agency.

I really enjoyed this book. It’s a fun fantasy adventure that spans the multiverse but doesn’t really delve too far into the strange to make it hard to follow. Most of the story takes place either in our universe or ones very similar, even if there are hints of other more dark universes that we don’t get enough time with. It would be nice for a sequel to explore those darker worlds a little more.

The characters are great. Amity’s mum Michelle left before the events in the novel and no one has seen her since. One of the best bits about the book is that Amity straight away, being 12 years old, thinks that she can use the key to find a version of her mum that wouldn’t leave. It’s a catalyst for the main events and definitely interesting.

It’s quite short at just over 350 pages so it doesn’t outstay its welcome at all. I would have preferred it to be a little longer and explore the universe where robots have taken over or maybe some more universes.

Elsewhere is a quick sci-fi/fantasy read. It’s enjoyable enough but isn’t breaking the mould or doing anything completely original. It’s still entertaining and I would recommend it.

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My Upcoming Watch List – 02/08/2021

Posted on August 2, 2021 by ashleymanningwriter

This week there isn’t much out in the cinema, at least near me. I’m seeing Stillwater tomorrow night. I like Matt Damon, and the film looks interesting enough. I’ve not heard anything about the film, good or bad.

There are a couple of other films out this week, Profile and Zola. I don’t know if I will get round to seeing them. They’re on quite late, and I don’t know anything about Profile. I’ve heard very good things about Zola, though.

Looking forward to Vivo on Netflix coming on Friday. It’s from Lin-Manuel Miranda and looks good.

I’m also going to be watching Wrong Turn 4. I haven’t seen the series before and been making my way through them slowly. 3 more to go. I did like the 1st one a lot more than I thought I would.

I’ve been given a long list of recommendations and I’m going to try and make a start on those this week as well. My shift pattern this week does make it had to fit in as many films as I would like and I have plans at the weekend, meaning I’ll be out of the house most of the time.

I’ll still get a daily review out. My one for Stillwater will be up on Wednesday evening. I’ve got a review for The Happening coming tomorrow. Not sure about Thursday and Friday just yet, but it’ll all be coming.

Thanks for reading and until next time,

Ashley

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Can’t Buy Me Love – Film Review

Posted on August 2, 2021 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: Steve Rash

Written by Michael Swerdlick

Starring: Patrick Dempsey, Amanda Peterson, Tina Caspary, Darcy DeMoss, Cort McCown and Seth Green

Rating: ★

Naming a film after a Beatles song is bold. Playing that same Beatles song in full to open the film is bolder. Once that’s out of the way the actual film better stand up. With Can’t Buy Me Love from 1987, it doesn’t.

Ronald (Patrick Dempsey, Grey’s Anatomy) is a social outcast who has his eyes set on Cindy (Amanda Peterson), the popular cheerleader at school. After Cindy’s outfit is ruined, Ronald offers her $1000 to pretend that she’s dating him for a month. This is all in a bid to join the popular group at school, Cindy accepts thinking it won’t work. Ronald gets a taste of a better life and lets it go straight to his head.

The concept could be good. There could be some fun and comedy about trying to keep up the pretence of a relationship. Cindy not wanting others to see her with him. Ronald’s other outcast friends being jealous maybe trying it themselves. What we get isn’t fun. Their fake relationship month lasts about half an hour, and we then have almost an hour of Ronald with his new popularity just being rude and obnoxious.

Ronald and Cindy connect during that month, and she doesn’t want their relationship to end, but he breaks up with her anyway. Instead of realising what he’s done he moves from girl to girl, rejecting his earlier friends and acting out in the worst way possible. He becomes something he should despise.

The whole film, apart from one scene at the dance is void of humour. It’s a comedy where you can’t even tell where the jokes are supposed to be most of the time. It’s cringy, boring and a real waste of time watching it. The performances are also poor, making the film really drag.  

The worst thing about the film is that despite how bad of person Ronald becomes, he doesn’t suffer long. After he loses everything towards the end; he still gets a happy ending. It’s frustrating because you want him to suffer. If the ending broke the mould and he ended up alone with no friends, then it would have at least had some originality, instead it’s a cliched mess.

Can’t Buy Me Love is simply an insult to the song. The film was originally called Boy Rents Girl which is a better title and gives no chance of unsuspecting victims accidentally clicking on it while browsing Disney Plus thinking it would be a fun little comedy. Watching this is scarier than most horror films, purely because it’s 100ish minutes you will never get back.  

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Weird Science – Film Review

Posted on August 1, 2021 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: John Hughes

Starring: Anthony Michael Hall, Ilan Mitchel-Smith, Kelly LeBrock and Robert Downey Jr.

Rating: ★★½

John Hughes was the 1980s master of teen comedy. Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Ferris Buller’s Day Off and Pretty in Pink all being written by him and released within a span from 1984-1986. That’s not even mentioning his family comedy classics, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Uncle Buck and multiple instalments to the National Lampoon series. He also directed several of the above. A prolific career (and that’s only one decade) that has stood the test of time. A weirder entry to his list of films is the cult classic Weird Science, written and directed by Hughes and being released in the same year as The Breakfast Club.

The premise: two geeky teenagers with no friends, who create their ideal woman using a computer. It doesn’t make any more sense in the context of the film either. Unlike his previous teen comedies, Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club, this one is clearly written for a male audience. His other films have a universal appeal, while this one starts with two teenagers ogling cheerleaders and then debating the ideal size of their creation’s chest within the first five minutes. It’s a cringy opening with humour that wouldn’t appeal to many outside of the teenage boy demographic.

Once you get passed the opening, which feels juvenile at best and sexist at worst, the film does pick up. The humour can feel dated at points, which is to be expected over thirty-five years later and it’s essentially a male fantasy story, but there is still some chuckles to be had, especially with the more absurdist moments. The moment they create Lisa is bonkers, it makes no sense at all and as it’s happening the world goes crazy, dogs are on the ceiling, lightning is striking down. After Lisa’s appearance the film also picks up and has some funny moments. Kelly LeBrock gives a good performance as Lisa, bringing a nice sense of humour.

The main leads, Anthony Michael Hall and Ilan Mitchel-Smith are fine. Nothing spectacular, but they are good enough. It’s not believable that either of them are awkward geeks, but they stop the film from becoming too creepy in some moments. There is a moment in a club, when both of them are drunk and just plain annoying. That whole sequence could have been deleted and the film would be half a star better already. There is also a very young Robert Downy Jr., showing his acting skills

Like over films that Hughes’ wrote, this does feel like it captures the teenage life. The dialogue is well written and the characters feel realistic enough to carry the plot along. The music is also great. Overall Weird Science is the weakest of Hughes teen comedies. It may be seen as a classic by those that remember it coming out, but looking at it now it’s dated, not funny enough and too awkward. Which is a real shame because Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club both still feel fresh and relevant today and are genuinely great films. 

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Videodrome – Film Review

Posted on August 1, 2021 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: David Cronenberg

Staring: James Woods, Deborah Harry, Sonja Smitts and Peter Dvorsky

Rating ★★★½

David Cronenberg is a master of body horror and gore. His films from The Fly to Scanners and The Brood all feature extreme body horror effects, with interesting characters and situations. Something like The Fly can be seen as just a gross-out horror film, but there is also something underneath that where it can be seen as a love story where Jeff Goldblum’s character is suffering from an incurable disease, and his partner must watch him suffer or choose to euthanise him. It’s done it a gross way, but there is a relatable and horrific story beyond that as well.

Inspired by American broadcasts that would come across statically after Canadian TV had switched off for the day Videodrome is one of Cronenberg’s most well known and loved films. As a child Cronenberg was always worried about finding something he shouldn’t from the American broadcasts. This tiny spark grew into the story of Videodrome, where Max Renn (James Woods, Once upon a Time in America, Casino) stumbles across a broadcast of extreme violence and torture while looking for new shows for his small time TV station. His search for the source of the transmission leads his down a road of hallucinogenic horror.

Cronenberg has a reputation for making extreme body horror and with effects legend Rick Baker (An American Warewolf in London) Videodrome lives up to that with some literally stomach-churning moments. From a pulsating TV to a slit opening in Max’s stomach where he can store a gun, there are moments in this film that are both puzzling in how they achieved it and sickly in watching it. The effects are the best part of the entire film.

The performances, which come from a wide cast including Woods, Deborah Harry (Singer of Blondie, Hairspray, Cop Land), Sonja Smitts and Peter Dvorsky to name a few, are all good enough for the story, but there isn’t amazing acting on display here, but it’s believable enough to keep the story going. The characters don’t really stand out. Deborah Harry as the sadomasochistic radio host, Nicki Brand is the most interesting, but we don’t get that much time with her to really understand her character.

Videodrome is a film that will mess with your mind. As Max follows the trail the world around him becomes trippier and more hallucinogenic. You’re never completely sure what is reality and what is in his head, blurring the lines between TV and the reality of the world we live in. Through this Cronenberg explores the idea about people’s desensitisation to violence and sex and the world’s obsession with extreme violence and torture. It plays on a fear in the 1980s that TV and film was becoming too violent and extreme.

Videodrome is an interesting film, it’s just nothing spectacular. The effects, for the time, are great. The performances are fine. The story is still relevant today, with the way in which horrific events are filmed and shared online. There are striking moments in the film, but other than the effects it’s not that memorable. 

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