By Roy Mathur, on 2024-11-29, at 23:23:57 to 00:23:56 GMT, for Captain Roy's Rusty Rocket Radio Show
I'm back now that archive.org and my arm are on the mend, hopefully, to spread cheer in what little way I can as a geek podcaster.
Sit back in your soft, fluffy slippers, with a refreshing drink within reach, and let us begin.
2024 psychological horror movie about a family living secluded in the woods. There's a young daughter (Caoilinn Springall), a mother (Ashleigh Cummings), a woodsman father (Kit Harrington), and occasionally, a visiting grandfather (James Cosmo). The premise is that there is something badly wrong with the dad.
Boring sets, classic era Doctor Who creature FX, and nothing happens until the last twenty minutes.
This film is a case in point of why the production industry's love of getting a star attached to a script in order to finance a film has to die. It also dragged enough to make me rethink what I review. Should I ditch media I don't enjoy?
The movie at least had a deep point to make about abuse, albeit a very obvious, overly telegraphed, point. I also appreciated the timelessness of the setting, which was very A Company of Wolves. And yes, I did notice that the little girl wore a red hooded coat in that scene. But I came for lycanthropy. Where wolf?
2020 Paramount horror film in which rich lawyer and his family crash their plane in the woods and then an evil hoodoo woman abducts them for sacrifice. The twist is that the lawyer grew up in the same culture It doesn't end well for anyone.
Though seemingly low budget, it's nasty and effective, with a largely black cast. The script seems well researched in terms of hoodoo practice, e.g. the woman calls herself a root worker. It's the typical spooky countryside horror with evil bumpkins up to no good far from the sight of normal folk.
A mother (Halley Berry) protects her sons from demons in the wood. A well acted, 2024 survivalist horror, but the twist is apparent too early on, then it's a slog until the end.
2020 horror seems like Let the Right One In, if the right one was actually the right one. Then, tragically, the real world intrudes in the shape of needy teen, Amber.
Nice idea, good acting, realistic in execution, but the snail's pace makes this vampire love story anaemic.
I started and stopped watching Disney+'s Marvel 2021 miniseries back in 2022 (pod 376), then recently boxsetted it in preparation for Agatha All Along because the latter, introduced in WanadaVision, appealed to me.
WandaVision explains Scarlet Witch's grief and transition to the nastier character in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (pod 446).
Everything I said before applies, but maybe I should have given it a chance because it was mildly engaging if you're into that comfortable Desilu-style sitcom and I am; I Love Lucy, Bewitched, Tabitha, Sabrina, I Dream of Jeannie, etc. Which reminds me, I haven't finished watching the rebooted Sabrina, I started years ago back in... god knows when.
In Disney+'s 2024 Marvel miniseries, Agatha regains her memory after Wanda's spell breaks. We find out that her modus operandi was killing other witches for power, including her first coven, then made her son act as bait, so that she could consume more witches. The serial killing witch and a teen goth then recruit a team for a quest to regain lost powers.
This is another origin story with Agatha reaching her most familiar comic book ghostly form by the end. It is The Wizard of Oz as a horror story and occult Escape Room with too much time spent spent solving the puzzles. However, I thoroughly enjoyed Agatha's unrepentant evil witchiness by the excellent scenery chewing Kathryn Hahn who really sells the story.
Amazon Prime Video's second season finished in October 2024.
I was looking forward to the mysterious and jolly Tom Bombadil, but making him a god-like being, while a favourite fan theory/fantasy, wasn't something Tolkien had in mind. I was annoyed that Gandalf was, well, Gandalf, and Saruman was, in fact, Saruman. It's not bad, there was a big battle, but in summation, I found the season humdrum with no surprises, apart from an elf with a beard.
I tried, unsuccessfully, to give HBO Max's DC 2020--2023 (two seasons so far) superhero series a go again. The weird black comedy and schlock reflected Grant Morrison's take on the comic book, but didn't wash out enough of the soapy script. However, Brendan Fraser's Robotman is superb.
Apple TV+'s Silo returns for a second season of more underground repression.
Ah, Rebecca Ferguson. I could just leave it at that, but it's doubly compelling now that Juliette's gone outside, seen the true horror of the poisonous atmosphere, and found another Silo.
HBO's 2024 miniseries has come to an end.
I suppose the immolation scene and the fratricide should have confirmed Oz Cobb's evil. If it didn't, the ending did. Poor Vic and Oz's mum. Hypnotised by his style, I used to think Penguin was my kind of villain, and that portrayals were always a little unfair. I obviously hadn't read enough of the original Bob Kane, which painted him right from the start as a murderous, traitorous, rotter.
Bravo, Colin Farell, Cristin Milioti, and Rhenzy Feliz.
HBO's 2024 SciFi adaptation of Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson's prequels to Frank Herbert's Dune books. It stars Emily Watson as Mother Superior Valya Harkonnen, Mark Strong as Emperor Javicco Corrino, Travis Fimmel as a creepy soldier Desmond Hart, and Chris Mason as Keiran Atreides, Swordmaster of House Corrino, who's also secretly a rebel.
Claustrophobic set design, too many indoor scenes seemingly indicating Hallmark's Dune level of spending, with Game of Throne's-like plotting, guignol, and sex. Well, it is HBO.
I'm calling it now: robots! Like Goyer's Foundation, sinister robots are bundled into another boring prequel, this time of Herbert's universe. Why didn't they be brave and do a sequel set into the far far future?
By the way, didn't bloody Goyer know that Asimov loved robots?
The BBC's shortest episode in their long-running A Ghost Story for Christmas series first aired on 29 December 1977, but I watched it on Saturday 2024-11-23. It is a 32 minute short horror film, with Peter Bowles.
Mrs Delgado and teen daughter drive to their holiday cottage and await her husband played by Bowles. Bowles wants a nice lawn. So, going against his local workers' advice to leave well alone, he has instructed them to dig out a big ancient stone from his garden. As the raise it, something unseen gushes out and later Mrs. Delgado is struck with profuse recurring stigmata.
I liked the spooky countryside, but it's muddled and neither did it earn its shock ending, though Clive Exton went on to write Rosemary and Thyme, so I can't slate him entirely. I'm also irritated because I was supposed to move to a house like that before the sale went pear-shaped.
What I forgot to mention in 558 is that holidays are stressful!
I'm progressing more slowly than I would like. I have only clocked about 250 miles thanks to a series of very minor health problems.
However, even though it's Winter and I'm a little worried about ice, I don't intend to stop riding now that I'm getting into the swing of it. To cope with the increasing cold, I bought the last onesie, with loose stitching in the hood, for 12 quid from my local Sports Direct's closing down sale. At Mum's insistence, I also bought a hivis vest from the market.
I've always wished I could shared some of my experiences with you, but I don't have any appropriate video gear. That may change soon as I've bought a phone mount for my bike, but don't expect pro-motovlogging content.
I don't believe in blocking hostile social media users, not because I'm tough, but because an enticing open honey pot leaves an evidence trail.
However, I'd rather not be stressed by seeing hateful comments, so in go the blocks the moment I feel uncomfortable.
I had to draw the line somewhere, so this episode's content had to be cut short, but there's much more to come and soon.