Review: Company of Liars

Maitland's debut novel owes more than nod or two to Agatha Christie as a diverse cast of characters - all with secrets to hide - are gradually assembled, and then equally slowly bumped off again.  What makes it unusual though is the setting - a gruesome grind through the English countryside of 1348 (which just happens to be a particularly bad summer and heralding the Black Death).

Having previously read The Time traveller's guide to Medieval England, I felt Maitland did an excellent job of capturing the medieval mind with its leaning towards the supernatural, fear of the dark and open countryside.  The brutal reality of everyday life as well as a sense of the world collapsing feels authentic too.

It's a good read although the final twists had me slapping my forehead and felt out of character with the rest of the book.  I'd also felt some of the group felt too modern in their outlook and even that some of the slang felt out of place (eg Molly is 17th/18th century rather than 14th). Lastly, the author clearly has her favourite characters, and they are mostly male with the women of the group getting little in the way of dialogue or depth. Given the first person point of view - you may decide this is deliberate and reflects the bias of the narrator.

The unreliable narrator element leaves the book's closing chapters open to multiple interpretations meaning I can imagine continue to mull it over.

Verdict: Grimly compelling medieval road trip

Review: Home Alone

The core idea of a small child abandoned and on their own in a large house for the festive period is a great one. Add in two hapless burglars for him to defeat, and it should have been a Christmas classic.

Where this fails is all in the execution. More than two of thirds of the film is done before the principle characters encounter each over in a meaningful way. An eight year wandering about a big house and going shopping just isn't very interesting. One or two of the slapstick pranks hit the mark as does the creative use of a classic gangster film to impersonate adults.  The "Keep the change you filthy animal" line is used to particularly hilarious effect.

Culkin, Pesci and Stern are all well cast.

Verdict: The ingredients are there for Christmas magic, but something is lost in the mix. 

Review: Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

As seems to be a bit of trend nowadays, this is the disappointing sequel in the expanded universe of a popular series.  It was kicked off in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

Essentially, it only serves shift the focus to the bigger story of Grindelwald trying to do a Voldemort and to move various characters around a set of international locations while dishing out a few minor revelations. As a result, there's a distinct backgrounding of the actual beasts and wizard who loves to find them.

Depp is a welcome and suitably menacing presence - but criminally(!) underused, not least because he doesn't seem to commit many crimes.

Some scenes already felt like re-treads from the Harry Potter and I'll leave it to you to judge if the identity of a particular character was worth waiting a couple of hours for. I did like seeing the human form of Nagini though.

Verdict: Looks great, but feels like it's treading water. 

Review: Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup

Carreyrou's book rides the wake left by his stunning expose in the Wall Street Journal of fraud and deception at Theranos, a blood testing start-up.  I remember reading some articles around Theranos and its founder, Elizabeth Holmes and thinking where on earth has this come from? While my biochemistry knowledge is now severely rusty, it seemed odd that someone so young could have stumbled across such an innovation without actually explaining the science behind it.

The book is an excellent tool for navigating the tech and finer details of the fraud and personalities involved.

It's not without its flaws. The prose is straightforward rather than sparkling and even a little repetitive.  I also felt slightly wrong-footed when the author joined the story.

Verdict: Salutary and fascinating reading. 

Review: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

In Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Rowling travels back in time to the early 1920s to serve up another helping from the Potterverse. I was sceptical about trying this given the turgid mess the  original book series became (for me, only the third book and film really hits the spot).

Here the action wisely shifts to the US and a few peripheral historical characters from the original books to appeal to Stateside audiences and provide enough separation.  Redmanye makes for a compelling Scamander - a socially awkward wizard with a suitcase of wondrous creatures.  Sadly the creatures don't seem to be as grounded in folklore as the original series, but some of them are no less fun to watch.

Watching this I was reminded of sources as diverse as Ghostbusters and Men in Black - but with a wizarding gloss.

It's interesting to reflect on the clever choices Rowling has made here to give herself the ability to expand her canvas as widely as possible without breaking previous rules and to compare them with a series such as Doctor Who.  The principle character has a suitcase which is bigger on the inside and many characters can climb inside it. There's a near infinite supply of monsters which are largely unseen to the rest of us as they either inhabit a separate magical plane deliberately hidden from us or ordinary folks routinely have their minds wiped after an encounter Man in Black style.  There's a Gallifrey like bureaucracy in the form of the various Ministries of Magic to be avoided or circumvented. The ability to travel pretty much anywhere (even a limited ability to revisit the past).  Sonic screwdrivers - sorry wands - which can act as weapons or do pretty much anything else.

Verdict: Fun expansion to the wizarding world

Review: Bad Times at the El Royale

There's a lot to love in director/writer/producer Goddard's take on the noir mystery genre.  When you take on all of those roles - the responsibility for delivering something good largely rests on your shoulders. At times, it feels like distinctly Tarantinoesque patische - but doesn't reach either his highs or, fortunately, his excesses either.

He's assembled an ambitious cast who deliver some memorable perfomances - even when playing against type.  Bridges is as wonderful as ever and suitably absent as a priest with dementia.  But others are also credible and well-rounded characters, even with fairly slim back stories at times.

The setting is suitably lavish in period detail and conceit - as is the spin-worthy soundtrack.

The material and goodwill built up in the first two acts doesn't stretch to all of the way through the third and so justify the subsequent extended running time.  Despite all of this, the exposition is occasionally a little thin - leaving the audience to plug gaps with their own imagination. I was happy to do this, but your mileage may vary. The intervention by one character even feels a little deus ex machina actually.

Verdict:  Feels like it'll fall just a little short of being award-worthy (not least because of profile). 

Review: SuperBob

There's so much comedic potential to be had in the story of an ordinary British bloke given superpowers, that it's a shame SuperBob doesn't quite deliver. A little more budget and a couple more run throughs the script to amp it up - and it might have been a classic.  Similar territory has been better explored across the pond in Kick-Ass.

SuperBob isn't without some charm and the mockumentary format makes the best of a low budget by concentrating on talking heads and everyday south London interactions.  Unfortunately, this is no The Office either.

Acting wise Tate is sadly underused, while Goldstein and Tena are both plausibly charismatic choices to anchor the story.

Verdict: Heartwarming romance that lacks laughs.