Crowhurst – Film Review

Originally published on Set The Tape

Based upon the tragic true life story of Donald Crowhurst and his attempt to sale around the world Crowhurst tells a story about the mental breakdown of a man in over his head.

Donald Crowhurst (Justin Salinger) is an average family man struggling to make money after investing all of his savings into his navigational aid for sailors, the Navicator, which wasn’t selling. Instead of listening to his wife and getting a regular job, he chooses to enter the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, a single-handed circumnavigation of the world. Designing his own boat, he enters the race but soon realises that he has no hope of winning. Instead of quitting the race he falsifies his progress, hoping to cheat and come last, but find himself in an impossible situation when he becomes the likely winner.

Despite having been beaten to release by The Mercy, the Colin Firth starred telling of the Donald Crowhurst story, Crowhurst was actually filmed first, and takes a very different approach to telling it’s tale. Whilst Mercy was a glossy big budget affair, Crowhurst feels a lot smaller in scale, focusing on the mind of the man rather than his journey.

The film feels very low-tech, filmed with a fuzzy 60’s vibe and shot in tight, confining sets I actually had to check that it wasn’t a re-release of a much older film. It’s made to look very much of the time it’s set, with an older style of shooting not just in quality, but in the way shots are frames and the camera lingers for long pauses. In a lot of ways, the film comes across more like a television drama than a feature film.

What surprised most about Crowhurst, however, is how strange the film decided to be. We know from the real life log books found on board the Teingmouth Electron that Donalds mental health went seriously downhill during his voyage, and most likely led to his suicide, but I wasn’t prepared for how the film would portray this loss of sanity.

Director Simon Rumley, better known for his work in horror, makes the film feel more like an experimental movie. Characters spend time screaming at the camera, scenes are inter-cut with strange and bizarre cutaways, shots linger for no reason, and you’re assaulted by loud noises.

I understand that they’re trying to depict a man losing his mind, but these moments often feel too over the top and bizarre to actually be entertaining, and drew me out of the film on several occasions.

Despite Salinger’s good performance throughout, which is no easy feat given he’s in every single scene and has to show a descent into madness, the film often feels quite dull. It’s no fault of the filmmakers, there’s only so entertaining one man in a boat can be, but often the stylistic choices from the director harm the overall quality of the product.

Crowhurst is a tale of tragedy, of a man who got in over his head and ultimately lost his life. It should be heartbreaking and sad, but by the time the end credits rolled I was relieved that the film was over.


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TV Rewind… Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 1×04 – ‘Eye Spy’

Originally published on Set The Tape

‘Eye Spy’ proves once again that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. are really good at doing cool, intriguing opening sequences. Following the previous episode’s truck flipping gravity tech, this episode takes on a much less showy, but equally stand out, approach, with dozens of red masked suited men making their way through the streets of Stockholm. It instantly stands out, it’s slightly creepy, and the moment when one of them is killed in a dark subway, their hand ripped off, is genuinely shocking. It’s easy to see why this was one of the scenes that Marvel decided to show off at Comic Con before the series aired as it’s bold and different.

It also introduces the best mystery we’ve had on the show so far as the team have to track down Akela Amador (Pascale Armand), a former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and protege of Coulson (Clark Gregg).

With Skye’s (Chloe Bennet) initial suggestion that Amador could have psychic powers pretty much laughed at (something which definitely wouldn’t happen in later seasons) we slowly learn that her seemingly supernatural abilities actually comes from technology, more specifically, a mechanical eye that allows her to have x-ray vision. Despite this being a universe where we’ve already experienced super soldiers and aliens, and will eventually meet super powered Inhumans, having Amador’s powers rooted in tech is a good choice.

It makes the extrarordinary feel more grounded, plus, it gives Skye, Fitz (Iain De Caestecker), and Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) the opportunity to get involved and actually do some stuff this week; which is good as Fitz and Simmons have felt much more like background characters up to now. The scenes with the tree of them in the ‘short bus’ (a silly name but it genuinely made me laugh at the rest of the team’s reaction to it) are all fun and very charming, although the moment Skye fails to use her gun right may have been a little too far.

The episode also gives Ward (Brett Dalton) a good opportunity to do something other than grumble. Sent in undercover posing as Amador for her handler is a really good story thread, and it shows how good an agent he can be, even if he is dodging reflective surfaces and avoiding looking at his hands the whole time. He feels more like the pilot episode Ward, the confident field agent that can go in on his own and get the mission done. That being said, the moment when he’s instructed to flirt with a guard right after vowing he’d do ‘whatever it takes’ just a moment before is ridiculous, yet works so well.

The combination of action, intrigue, and banter are pretty much perfect in this episode, and it appears that many of the slight missteps that the series has taken up to this point have finally been resolved.

By the conclusion of the episode every character has had the opportunity to show off what they can do, even the criminally underused agent May (Ming-Na Wen) who gets to have a brilliant fight scene this episode; as well as having set up an hugely intriguing ongoing mystery for the rest of the season. Who was controlling the man who was controlling Amador? What what that mysterious writing Ward found? What did Amador see in Coulson to ask ‘what’s been done to him’? The show has already left a few threads open so far with The Rising Tide and Centipede, but this feels like the most intriguing one, the one with the most potential.

I said that the previous episode, ‘The Asset’, was a good spy story, ‘Eye Spy’ in comparison is a great spy story. I struggle to think of anything in the episode that doesn’t work or fails to meet it’s mark, other than maybe one joke that it could have done without. If the first half of this season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. maintained this quality I think a lot more people would have stuck with it, unfortunately, due to some less than stellar writing over the next few episodes this is definitely the high point until the series lines up with Captain America: The Winter Soldier.


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Dungeons and Dragons: Evil At Baldur’s Gate #2 – Comic Review

Originally published on Set The Tape

The second issue of the Dungeons and Dragons: Evil At Baldur’s Gate comic takes a big step up in quality this month as the focus shifts from the somewhat dull Minsc the Mighty to the duo of thieves/rogues Krydle and Shandie.

Having returned to Baldur’s Gate after adventuring in Ravenloft and the frozen north, Krydle is faced with some ghosts from his past as he discovers that his former friend turned enemy Burgust is back in the city, having reformed the gang of killer thieves, The Blades.

Whilst the first issue was a fairly shallow tale that didn’t delve into character, this story takes a look into the past of Krydle, giving an insight into his previous time in Baldur’s Gate. The story reveals that he was part of a quartet of thieves called the Outcasts. Having become successful Burgust wanted to form a guild, which the others did not. When one of the group was killed and another captured, Krydle fled the city; though Burgust murdered his mother as punishment.

With Burgust back in the city this gives Krydle a reason to go after him, not only to atone for his past, but to gain justice for his mother. It’s a surprisingly emotional story, one that shows how damaged and troubled by his past Krydle is. Luckily for him, Shandie is there not only to watch his back, but offer him the emotional support that he needs.

The main bulk of the action of the book takes place during Burgust’s assault on The Parliament of Peers, a meeting of the people who run the city. The attack has two aims, to plunge the city into chaos, and to kill Krydle’s father. The sequence is not only entertaining due to the twists and turns that the fighting takes, but also because of the emotion of Krydle fighting to save his father, and the baggage of his lost mother.

With the first issue of the mini-series being something of a disappointment, issue two is a huge improvement and very impressive. Maybe it’s the change over to new characters to focus on (perhaps Minsc isn’t that deep a character to do a story on) but it feels like a completely different book. It’s deeper and more personal, the characters feel like real people, with flaws and motivations that make more sense.

Steve Cummings’ art is good throughout, but looks the best in the scenes where’s there’s some kind of weather or atmosphere look the best. The scene where Shandie comforts a crying Krydle in the rain is particularly stand out, and the fight at the end of the book where the meeting hall is filled with smoke looks great.

With Dungeons and Dragons: Evil At Baldur’s Gate focusing on different characters each issue there’s bound to be changes in quality; it’s not always going to be possible to produce satisfying oneshots each issue. However, this issue is a good indication that quality can improve over that of the first issue.


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Go Go Power Rangers Volume 3 Details Released

The details for the third collected volume of Boom! Studios 'Go Go Power Rangers' has been released. The book collects together issues 9-12 of 'Go Go Power Rangers', written by Ryan Parrott.

'Dealing with the fallout of Rita Repulsa’s abduction of Matthew, the Power Rangers are confronted with a dark specter from the future with a shocking connection to Lord Drakkon–ties into Shattered Grid!

CAN THE POWER PROTECT THEM?

The Power Rangers have just exhaled a sigh of relief after their friend Matthew narrowly escaped Rita’s clutches on the moon, but a new enemy has already emerged, one that will have the Rangers question every decision they’ve made so far. Tying into the critically acclaimed, bestselling Shattered Grid event, the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers must confront the future to save the past as they face off against the mysterious Ranger Slayer.'

'Go Go Power Rangers' volume three is set for release 30th April 2019.


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Dark Souls: Age of Fire #2 – Comic Review

Originally published on Set The Tape

Previous entries into the Dark Souls comics have been good, but rarely have direct connections to the video games that they’re based upon, content with telling their own stories within the universe. As such, they’re good but sometimes lack a little something that makes them special. Dark Souls: Age of Fire bucks that trend by not only having connections to the games, but telling an origin story for several of the characters that appear and exploring some of the lore in greater detail than we’ve had before.

Whilst the first issue began the important process of setting up characters such as Knight Artorias the Abyss Walker, and Ornstein the Lion Knight way before the events of the first game, the second issue is where the story really starts to move forward, and these characters are put on the path that will lead them to their eventual fates.

One of the enemies that players are sure to remember from the first game are the black knights, once proud warriors cursed and burned to ash who now wander the world as disembodied spirits. Here we see the beginning of this transformation, as Arkon, a silver knight, actually fall victim to this curse. It’s a dramatic moment, and one that fans of the game have been hoping to see for a long while.

Even knowing it’s coming, the moment still manages to surprise in it’s execution, and you can’t help but feel awful for Arkon and his men because you know their eventual fate.

This issue also gives us a look at Artorias, another character that players will remember fighting in the games. Whilst we got a deeper look into Arkon, Artorias is still something of a mystery here, though his appearance is pretty damn cool. Appearing in the middle of a battle against the undead, coming to the aid of Gravis and Wurdow by decapitating several skeletal warriors.

There’s not a great deal of story within this issue, with most of the page count being handed over to fighting and action sequences, but the small moments of story that you do get go a long way into exploring some of the beloved lore of the Dark Souls universe, and as such is sure to satisfy many fans.

Anton Kokarev provides the art for the book, and there’s not a great deal that can be said about it other than it’s absolutely phenomenal. It’s hard to tell how he produces his art, whether it’s 100% hand painted, or if there are computer generated images involved as well, but however it works, it works wonderfully. It gives the story a richness and sense of grandeur that may have been missing if this was more traditional comic art. The painted style definitely fits with the idea that this is an ancient history being told to the readers.

The artwork also looks amazing during the action sequences, with the blood and fire effects standing out as particularly good, jumping out of their panels. Any panel could be taken from this book and made into a poster, a piece of art that could hang on your wall. All comics are pieces of art, but here it feels like a work of art, images that even people who turn their noses up at traditional comics would look at and take a moment to appreciate.


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Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Volume 6 Details Revealed

The details for the sixth collected volume of Boom! Studios 'Mighty Morphin Power Rangers' has been released. The book collects together issues 21-24 of 'Might Morphin Power Rangers', written by Kyle Higgins.

'The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers face their greatest challenge yet as their deadliest foes return.

Danger surrounds the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers on all side as Finster’s monsters erupt around the globe. Even with Zordon’s return, it will take more than the Rangers themselves to face down these terrible leviathans. Meanwhile, the return of the Rangers’ deadliest foes reveal hidden secrets from Promethea that will change everything…'

'Mighty Morphin Power Rangers' Volume 6 is set for release 18th October 2018.


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Go Go Power Rangers Volume Two Details Released

The details for the second collected volume of Boom! Studios 'Go Go Power Rangers' has been released. The book collects together issues 5-8 of 'Go Go Power Rangers', written by Ryan Parrott.

'No one said being a Power Ranger would be easy, but the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers didn’t expect Rita Repulsa to kidnap one of their own before the Homecoming Dance!

Jason, Kimberly, Zack, Trini, and Billy are well on their way to finding their place as the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Juggling school, superhero extracurriculars, and budding romance–our favorite teen heroes have it all under control. But when one of them has the opportunity of a lifetime that might lead to leaving the team, the dastardly Rita Repulsa kidnaps a Ranger to use the deadliest weapon known to teens: high school drama.'

'Go Go Power Rangers' is set for release 10th January 2019.


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No Way Out – Blu-ray Review

Originally published on Set The Tape

Chances are, if you talk about No Way Out, people will think that you’re referring to the 1987 Kevin Costner film. It’s even the first thing to come up if you search for the title online. It’s a good film, but it is easily overshadowed by the lesser known No Way Out from 1950 that launched the career of the legendary Sidney Poitier.

Poitier plays Dr Luther Brooks, an intern that has just passed his state board exam and received his license to practise medicine. It’s his first night back at the hospital after his exam and the newly qualified doctor is assigned to the hospital’s prison ward. When brothers Johnny Biddle (Dick Paxton) and Ray Biddle (Richard Widmark) are brought in after their failed robbery attempt, Luther is put to the test as he tries to help the sickly Johnny whilst receiving racist abuse from Ray.

Despite trying his best to help Johnny, the man dies whilst receiving treatment from Luther, which leads Ray to blame the man for his brother’s death. With the hospital and Ray Biddle refusing to allow an autopsy on Johnny to prove that Luther did the right thing, tensions mount as Ray stirs up anger and racial prejudice with his gang, getting them to blame Luther and wanting revenge against any black person they can find. Unfortunately, things reach a head when a full blown race riot breaks out.

Sidney Poitier is on excellent form throughout and it’s extraordinary to consider that this was his first major role at just 22 years of age. He has a presence in all of his scenes that speaks of an actor not only comfortable in his craft, but with confidence. Even when he’s in scenes where he’s doubting if he did the right thing and is questioning himself, he comes across as an incredibly strong man; but then as a black actor in the 1950s, Poitier would have needed to be, much in the same way that his character of Luther would have been in trying to enter the medical world.

The standout performance has to be Richard Widmark, who played the racist Ray Biddle. From what I’ve learnt about him Widmark was a good friend of Poitier’s and found it incredibly difficult to say a lot of the racist lines he was given, regularly apologising to Poitier after their takes. You can’t tell this from his performance though. He makes you believe that he’s a thoroughly un-likeable and evil man.

The rest of the cast are good in their roles too, with even the smaller characters brilliantly cast. Linda Darnell is great as Edie Johnson, Johnny’s ex-wife, who is initially manipulated into Ray’s way of thinking before seeing the evils of those racist views and learning to accept that black people are regular, decent human beings. Stephen McNally also shines as Doctor Wharton, Luther’s colleague at the hospital. Despite in one scene claiming not to be pro-black, he never once treats Luther with anything less than his utmost respect, supporting him and backing his decisions, whilst also pushing for others to accept that Luther is a good doctor and decent man.

I’ve seen some claims that No Way Out is a bit heavy handed in its portrayal of racism and that it makes things very black and white (pardon the pun) in regard to right and wrong. Whilst the film might not be the most nuanced depiction of institutionalised racism in America, it’s important to remember that the film was produced in the 1950s; a time where these kinds of issues weren’t talked about, especially in mainstream film, and this is one of the few examples of progressive liberals getting their views out into the public.

The Blu-ray itself looks fantastic and the film looks great. There’s a small amount of grain in the picture, but it appears that a lot of work has been put into restoring as much of the quality as possible. I’ve got more modern films that look a whole lot worse than this does as examples of how not to do Blu-ray. The release also comes with a lot of extra content for your money, with a commentary track, and a two-part documentary about director Joseph L. Mankiewicz that totals close to two whole hours.

No Way Out is not an easy film to watch, but not because it isn’t well made or well acted, it’s hard to watch because it shines a spotlight on the racism in America in the 1950’s. This is a time when segregation still took place, where black people were refused entry to businesses or schools, where white people threw the n-word around all the time, and when black people were still brutally lynched and murdered. Whilst the film doesn’t go to the degree of showing events such as lynching, it doesn’t shy away from how insidious and pervasive racism was during the time, but what makes it so uncomfortable is how relevant it still is to modern day.

The targets may have changed to include people of other ethnicities, but there are still stories and videos uploaded to the internet every day of white people refusing service from people of colour, refusing to be treated by non-white doctors, and calling the police on black people simply going about their everyday lives.

No Way Out may be over 60 years old, but it’s still relate-able to the world we live in; and that’s absolutely heartbreaking.


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Power Morphicon 6 Artwork Revealed

The official artwork for Power Morphicon 6, the premier Power Rangers convention, has been revealed online ahead of the event.

Designed by Tsuyoshi Nonaka, the artwork depicts the original Red Ranger from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, the evil Lord Drakkon, and the Red Ranger from the upcoming series, Power Rangers Beast Morphers. The artwork will be featured on programs, t-shirts, badges, bags, and more.

Power Morphicon 6 will take place at Anaheim, California, from August 17th to 19th.


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TV Rewind… Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 1×03 – ‘The Asset’

Originally published on Set The Tape

The third episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. finally starts to give the audience a peak at what the series is going to look like now that the hype of the pilot episode has gone and after the first episode without a movie character appearing (other than Clark Gregg’s Coulson of course) in order to garner interest of excitement. Thankfully, whilst not perfect, ‘The Asset’ does give a good indicator as to how the show will be going forward.

It’s the first episode we have where the team is already established and they have their first real secret agent story. When scientist Franklin Hall (Ian Hart) is kidnapped from a S.H.I.E.L.D. convoy using mysterious gravity manipulating technology it’s down to Coulson and the gang to locate him and plan his rescue.

It’s a good spy story and in some ways it reminded me of early Alias, especially with the female agent infiltrating a swanky party, but luckily it has enough of its own identity and Marvel-ness to be different from other such espionage stories.

The episode in many ways feels more like a second pilot, using Skye (Chloe Bennet) as our introduction to a side of S.H.I.E.L.D. that we’ve not yet seen. She gets to see how they gather their intel, plan their operations, and ultimately is the ‘agent’ they send in to complete an important part of the mission.

Whilst Skye is a good vehicle for introducing the audience to this world as she’s as much in the dark about S.H.I.E.L.D. as the audience, it is something that is already running the danger of making her the central focus in what should be an ensemble show.

Thankfully, the rest of the team do get small moments to shine, even if they don’t get a chance to really do much. Ward (Brett Dalton) reveals some insight into his past when he tells Skye about his childhood and the cruelty of his older brother. Despite the future developments that will take place with Ward, this is actually a very honest look into the character’s past, an important event that massively shaped the man he is. It also gave the character some much needed depth, rather than just the snarky agent who doesn’t like working with a team.

‘The Asset’ also gave Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) and Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) some good moments too, with a few lines that stole the scenes they were in. Simmons calling out Coulson for repeatedly shouting Fitz’s name whilst he’s trying to bring down the security system – “Saying his name repeatedly does not increase productivity!” – is a fun little jab at what is a big television/film trope. Fitz also manages to get a few laughs, both when he turns up to listen in on the mission with a huge bowl of popcorn, and when trying to avoid what he really means when he stammers “she probably used her… uh… boobs”.

This episode will also go on to be massively important later down the line in season five, so if you’re not up to date jump ahead to the next paragraph to avoid spoilers. The inclusion of Franklin Hall, the comic book identity of super villain Graviton, had fans expecting this to be an origin story for that character, one that would give the series a super powered antagonist. Keeping it on the back burner for years, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. would surprise viewers by not only bringing gravitonium back in season five, but making it a huge story component, and Graviton their finale villain. Having set this all up in episode three but waiting five seasons to use is a actually a pretty genius move, and feels like a lot more organic and real series of events, rather than falling into the television trope of setting things up in the same season they’re going to be used, or possibly the end of the season before.

‘The Asset’ isn’t a perfect episode, it still feels like it’s trying to push the humour too much for what feels natural and right for the tone, but it’s an episode that shows much more what the series can be than those that came before it. It’s fun, it has mystery and intrigue, it shows the characters outside of their comfort zones, and it has some crazy set pieces too. The first half of season one of the series was definitely a show that had ups and down, but this is very much one of the ups.


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