Book: The Death Box by J.A Kerley

In the 10th book of JA (Jack) Kerley’s Carson Ryder series the author decides to take a chance and relocate the main character to Miami, leaving behind his previous life and friends in Alabama.

After an unenthusiastic welcome from his new colleagues Ryder is called to an alarming discovery. Numerous bodies have been buried in a cistern type box which has then been filled with concrete.

The investigation leads the dogged Detective to a despicable people trafficking organisation headed up by some truly awful individuals.

Kerley has a knack for bringing characters in for one book but never returning to them. Some are perhaps worthy of spin- off novels. However, this new setting for Ryder feels like a whole new beginning and I have the feeling that several of the new supporting cast will turn up again. Old favourite Harry Nautilus is gone (forever?) but the brilliant Jeremy (Ryder’s fugitive Brother) does appear with a vague promise of more future interaction.

Kerley’s story-telling and ability to present well-rounded characters ensure that this series easily survives the bold move and fans should embrace this change rather that be sceptical of it. The Death Box also works very well for anyone new to the books.

Easily one of the best ongoing detective novel series around.

Ric’s Rating: Essential

Film: 47 Ronin

The New Year begins with a cracker as we join Keanu Reeves as Kai, a half-breed outcast in the ancient Japanese world of the Samurai.

Found abandoned in the forest, Kai is taken in and raised by Lord Asano, much to the annoyance of his feared and devoted Samurai but his daughter Mika seems taken with the unusual boy.

Years later Lord Asano falls victim to witchcraft and treachery which leads to the imprisonment of his chief Samurai Oishi and the disbandment of the troop. On his release he vows vengeance and first seeks the help of the mysterious Kai before re-assembling his men and embarking on a quest that will most likely cost them their lives.

Spectacular martial-arts mixed with cool special effects make this a visual treat and the fantasy aspects of the tale weave into the more traditional elements effortlessly. You will believe in The Demons of The Forest and in a shape-shifting Witch.

The film is perhaps more suited to a proper Asian cinema release with subtitles for us English speaking folk but the Hollywood studio has to be admired for giving a totally Japanese story the full Stateside treatment while retaining the appropriate levels of integrity.

47 Ronin is an absolute must-see for fans of Asian cinema and martial-arts movies in general. Catch it in cinemas now.

Ric’s Rating: Essential.

Film: Sightseers

A socially awkward couple head off on a caravan tour of England in this offbeat British black comedy from 2012.

Still grieving the loss of her pet dog, Tina (Alice Lowe) agrees to let new boyfriend Chris (Steve Oram) take her on a meticulously planned caravan holiday. The plans soon change when the duo encounter a number of other travellers with murderous consequences.

There are some moments of humour in this otherwise dreary tale which only springs to life with the odd explosion of violence or totally inappropriate comment. Unfortunately it falls into the trap of not being funny enough to be a good comedy or serious enough to make a decent crime ridden road trip romp.

Lowe and Oram are good enough to hold the viewers attention but even their best efforts can’t elevate this above mediocrity.

Ric’s Rating: Dodgy. 

A look back at 2013.

I didn’t see as many films as I would have liked to in 2013 but hopefully I’ll catch up with some of them soon.

Movie highlights included the emotional Les Miserables, best in the series Iron Man 3 and surprisingly, Jack Reacher, starring little Tom Cruise as the man mountain drifter turned vigilante from Lee Child’s novels. Comedy of the year was the hilarious We're The Millers

Les Mis star Hugh Jackman also scored with tense drama Prisoners while The Wolverine was a bit disappointing.

The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug ensured the year went out on a high.

Straight–to-dvd land was very interesting with world cinema releases Jackpot, Thale and Hidden Face among the best on show. I also caught up with the unexpectedly enjoyable Battleship and was blown away by Disconnect.

Book highlights included 2 Scottish authors. Sinclair Macleod’s The Good Girl was a delight and old favourite Stuart MacBride delivered a brilliant stand alone thriller in Birthdays For The Dead. Rod Glenn brought his fantastic serial-killer trilogy to a conclusion (or did he?) with Sinema 3: The Troy Consortium and a captivating double whammy from JA Kerley saw out the year with Her Last Scream and The Killing Game, featuring Detective Carson Ryder.

Reviews for almost everything mentioned can be found elsewhere in Ric’s Reviews.

Films and books included may not have been released in 2013.

I hope everyone has a great Christmas and New Year and remember you can follow me on Twitter @ricsreviews.

Cheers!

Film: The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug

Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) continues his quest to help The Dwarves get their homeland back from the fearsome Dragon Smaug in the second part of Peter Jackson’s trilogy.

Jackson’s face is the first on camera as he makes a fleeting appearance before we move on with the tale. Two thirds of the film is a chase movie with the evil Orcs on the trail of Bilbo and the gang who are helped this time out by Elves Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly). There are some fantastic fight scenes as the Orcs catch up with their quarry several times prior to the film’s glorious climax in Smaug’s lair.

Voiced brilliantly by Benedict Cumberbatch (Star Trek: Into Darkness) Smaug is a wonderful addiction to this series and more than makes up for the absent Gollum. At no moment do you doubt the validity of a talking Dragon, such is the atmosphere created. The fire-breathing is fantastic too and the battle between Dwarves and Dragon is absolutely terrific.

I had my doubts about this but thankfully The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug exceeds expectations and leaves the viewer crying out for the final instalment.

Ric’s Rating: Essential.

Film: Disconnect

A tv reporter investigates the webcam sex industry. Two young boys play an on-line prank with tragic results and a grieving couple become victims of identity fraud.

These three interweaving stories all illustrate the influence that on-line activity can have on our lives today.

Released in 2012 Disconnect failed to find much of an audience (I hadn’t heard of it myself) which is a real pity because what we have here is the best connecting-stories drama since the brilliant Amores Perros.

Jason Bateman successfully emulates Robin Williams by growing a beard for a serious part and then managing to carry it off. His is one of the best performances (as a troubled Father) among many on show here.

Max Thieriot (Bates Motel) is also fantastic as the misguided youth who turns to webcam work and then sees a possible way out through Andrea Riseborough’s reporter.

Throw in a desperate man tracking down the person responsible for his financial ruin and you have a totally compelling drama.

There is more going on besides what I have mentioned but you can expect to see some of the characters 

overlap into each others stories at some point in proceedings.

Thoughtful, powerful, absorbing and brilliantly performed Disconnect deserves to be seen and is undoubtedly the best film I have seen so far this year.

Available on all the usual formats now.

Ric’s Rating: Essential.

TV DVD: The Escape Artist

David Tennant proves that Broadchurch was no fluke with this three part drama which was recently shown on BBC tv here in the UK.

Tennant is Will Burton, a lawyer who has won every case. Burton sees to it that the eccentric Liam Foyle (Toby Kebbell) is not convicted when charged with murder, but Foyle is not best pleased when the lawyer refuses to shake his hand at the end of proceedings.

Turns out that Foyle is one seriously unhinged individual and he soon turns his attention to Burton and his family.

The first episode of this crime drama is absolutely riveting. Toby Kebbell (Dead Man’s Shoes) is outstanding as the intelligent but deranged Foyle and further excellent support comes from Ashley Jensen, as Burton’s wife, and Sophie Okonedo as a rival lawyer.  Things cool down a bit in episode two when the characters concentrate on preceding events but it all comes to a glorious climax in the gripping finale.

With The Escape Artist David Tennant has cemented his status as the UK’s top tv drama star.

Available as a two disc set on dvd from 18^th November 2013.

Ric’s Rating: Highly Recommended.  

  

Book: Instinct by Ben Kay

When eminent entomologist Dr Laura Trent is approached by a secretive group known as MEROS she is intrigued by their proposal but unable to take the offer of employment.

Things change when her Son goes missing and MEROS reveal themselves as being responsible.

Dr Trent finds herself blackmailed into helping the shady organisation control their most fearsome project, genetically altered wasps.

The giant wasps are held in a remote laboratory in Venezuela but a new, and more aggressive, batch have killed a scientist and are threatening to escape.

Trent and the team, made up of soldiers and scientists, must keep the situation contained but the vicious insects are hungry and they want out.

I was looking forward to the wasps marauding through cities and towns but after the opening scene the flying killers are contained to the MEROS lab, where the entire novel takes place.

While attempting to escape the facility the team must pass through a long forgotten section known as the abdomen which was sealed off when the mutated insects got out of control.

This brings some much needed variety to proceedings as along with the wasps there is a plethora of other giant nasties for the humans to deal with.

The characters all have a full background story which helps the reader become engaged in their plight.

Instinct is an entertaining read and would work well on film but I so wanted the insects to get loose. Maybe we’ll get that in a sequel.

Ric’s Rating: Good.       

Film: Escape Plan

Ray Breslin (Sylvester Stallone) escapes from maximum security prisons for a living. Hired by the government he uses his expertise to test the robustness of the security procedures.

When the CIA come calling with an unusual offer Ray accepts the chance to test a secretive prison known as The Tomb. The Tomb houses the type of individual that has been deemed no longer welcome in society but can’t be dealt with through the normal legal process.

Once in The Tomb, Ray enlists the help of fellow inmate Rottmayer (Arnold Shwarzzeneger) in his attempt to escape and the duo must fend off the attentions of sadistic warden Hobbs (Jim Caveizel) and violent guard Drake (Vinnie Jones) as they put the plan into action.

I didn’t expect too much of this one going in but the draw of Rambo teaming up with The Terminator was too much to ignore and much to my surprise this isn’t the corny one- liner, tongue-in-cheek affair I was expecting.

Escape Plan is a serious, and often brutal, film that keeps the quips to a minimum. Sly and Arnie have great on-screen chemistry and bad guys Jones and Caveizel approach their roles with all the gusto required.

The two main stars may be approaching 70 years of age but this proves that they can still make the type of film that pretenders to their thrones such as Vin Diesel and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson often struggle to achieve.

Escape Plan is in UK cinemas now.

Ric’s Rating: Essential

Book: The Hardcore Truth by Bob Holly

Professional wrestling was at its most popular in the late 1990s and early to mid 2000s. During that time two rival companies (WCW and WWF) were competing for the biggest audience share.

This rivalry spawned the “attitude” era, a time when the WWF wisely chose to aim their product not at children but at 18-30 year old males. The resulting edgier content was a resounding success, leading to the eventual demise of WCW.

During this era many popular wrestlers emerged, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) became household names while old pros like The Undertaker and Ric Flair enjoyed continued spells in the limelight. Amongst the mid-card wrestlers was Bob Holly, a guy who had toiled for years in the business after being saddled with the gimmick of being a wrestling race car driver. The more adult orientated programming gave Holly an opportunity to showcase his genuine toughness and Hardcore Holly was born. This was a tough guy in the anti-hero mould of Jake “The Snake” Roberts but with the believability that he could legitimately beat-up most other wrestlers. This is his story.

In general I’m not a big fan of (auto) biographies, I usually find that no matter how interesting a person is I quickly tire of their tales of high school woe and childhood. Holly is an exception. I was a fan of his during the attitude era of wrestling and this continued until his departure form the top company in 2008. I even got to see him once when he appeared in Glasgow so I was keen to hear what he had to say.

The man (just like his wrestling persona) pulls no punches. Names are named. Jerry Jarrett (Jeff Jarrett’s Dad), Triple H, Shawn Michaels and Scott Hall (to name but a few) are exposed here as Holly provides details of their questionable behaviour. He also covers wrestling’s most controversial subjects like the Bret Hart screw job, Owen Hart’s death and the Chris Benoit murder / suicide.

Holly could not have addressed these subjects (and others) in the frank manner that he does if this had been endorsed by WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) and the book is all the better for it. Between these issues is the tale of a man giving his all to the business only to be thwarted every time the chance of real success came along.

At times The Hardcore Truth can be a bit of a wistful lament but Holly’s no-nonsense insight into the most successful and controversial period in the history of professional makes interesting reading for anyone who was a fan at the time.

Ric’s Rating: Highly Recommended.             

Film: Prisoners

A Thanksgiving party turns sour when two young girls vanish in broad daylight.

One of the Fathers (Hugh Jackman) decides that when the Police release the main suspect in the case he will take matters into his own hands.

What follows is a disturbing tale of the lengths a Father will go to to protect his little girl.

Meanwhile cop Jake Gyllenhall (Donnie Darko) is also attempting to find the girls.

The two men clash over the case but they have the same objective. Who will get to the bottom of it and where are the girls?

At a lengthy 2hrs 30mins Prisoners is a slow burner in the mould of the Jack Nicholson child abduction thriller The Pledge and it’s just as intriguing. The clues are there for a keen viewer to spot (I did) but even then there are one or two unexpected twists.

Often uncomfortable but always compelling Prisoners is up there with Gone Baby Gone in this particular genre. Catch it in cinemas now.

Ric’s rating: Highly Recommended.

Film: Filth

Irvine Welsh’s popular novel finally makes it to the big screen and James McAvoy (Wanted) takes the lead as corrupt Edinburgh cop Bruce Robertson.

Robertson has his sights set on promotion and sets about eliminating the competition while attempting to solve a tricky murder case.

Along the way he uses and abuses pretty much everyone he meets. There’s the hapless millionaire (Eddie Marsan), the colleague’s wife (Kate Dickie) and the rookie detective (Jamie Bell).

Each are treated harshly and the story often veers off in odd directions before we get to the unexpected finale.

Tragic, funny and repulsive in equal parts Filth is a film that won’t appeal to everyone but fans of the book, and Welsh’s previous hit Trainspotting, will love it.

Filth is in UK cinemas now.

Ric’s Rating: Good.