The Life of Chuck (2025) - A Guest review by Chad Dixon

Based on a short story by prolific author Stephen King, The Life of Chuck (2025) is told in Three Acts but in reverse. Set some time in the near future, Marty Anderson (Chiwetel Ejiofor), is a High School teacher in an unnamed medium-sized American town. Halfway through his English class, everyone's smartphones receive notifications at the same moment that there's another massive earthquake in California - which has already lost a massive chunk of its landmass to the the Pacific Ocean, just months previously.

Basically, the whole planet has recently gone to hell in a handbasket with worldwide floods, droughts, massive forest fires and new volcanoes in unexpected places filling the daily news bulletins. Incredibly, what most people, including the parents of Marty's students seem to be annoyed about the most is the internet slowly going down. "They shut down Porn Hub!" cries one distraught father in a one-to-one meeting with Anderson. He nods politely as he states that there's still a multitude of text and other books freely available in the school library. The useful advice seems to be falling on deaf ears during these tedious meetings with disillusioned parents.

On his way home, in yet another traffic jam, Marty notices a billboard displaying the message, "Charles Krantz: 39 Great Years! Thanks Chuck!" next to a picture of a seated middle-aged white man in a grey suit with glasses and short curly dark hair. In the following days, as worldwide disasters seem to escalate exponentially, this message seems to appear everywhere. Even on TV when no other channels seem to be broadcasting. "What does it all mean?" says Anderson to an older black man (Carl Lumbly), sitting on a bench in a deserted town centre one day, "...and who is Chuck?"

In the second act we meet Charles Krantz himself (Tom Hiddleston), as a disillusioned accountant dressed in the same grey suit 'playing hooky' from an accountants' business conference. We discover that his true love is dancing. As he passes a busking drummer on a street corner, he spontaneously breaks into a routine with moves akin to Christopher Walken's steps in Fat Boy Slim's 'Weapon of Choice' video. He encourages a young woman in the gathering crowd to join him and the performance goes on for a quite a while. This was much better than a stuffy conference!

In the first act (shown last), we meet the pre-highschool-age Charles Krantz (Benjamin Pajak). After the loss of his parents and unborn sibling in a car accident, he is now living with his beloved grandparents, an aged-up Mia Sara and Mark Hamill - the latter looking like a real life Geppetto. He's a thoughtful boy, constantly learning from his surroundings and actually taking advice from teachers, unlike almost all of his peers. One day, after a particularly disruptive class on the last day before the Summer recess, his 'hippy dippy' English teacher reminds him that between his ears is not just his brain but also everyone and everything he will collectively experience in life. "I contain multitudes", she quotes as she holds both his temples. He then discovers that there is an after-school dance group run by the gym teacher and soon he feels that he is fully in his element.

There are definitely some profound ideas being presented here in the guise of a 'Wonder Years' style narrative. Conflicting advice from his straight-talking, maths-promoting grandfather about what he should be concentrating on - compared with the sheer joy he finds from watching 20th Century musicals on Blockbuster video with his grandmother - and from the dance partner he eventually finds in the group. This leads to the way Chuck Krantz admirably tries to navigate from childhood to adulthood but ultimately it flies completely in the face of the very weird ending that comes surprisingly quickly in this 111 minute runtime.

Even though I watched this story intently, I left the cinema wondering if I may have missed the key message. But I suppose like the many other Science Fiction and/or Supernatural stories penned by Mr King, it's meant to be unconventional and slightly unsettling. Maybe another viewing might help? What I am clear about is that it's beautifully filmed with some great 90s needle-drops. All the acting is spot-on with some heavyweight names cast here. Hiddleston is all over the promotional materials and is quite engaging but I really have to champion Pajak for a beautifully heartwarming performance! Surprisingly rated as a (15), I think it's easily more like a (12A).

Motorola Moto G86

The G86 is, surprise, surprise, Motorola's update to the G85! My interest was piqued because on the spec-sheet at least, the updates do seem to be significant enough to give this squarely mid-range handset knocking on the door of, well, at least upper mid-range territory. It's quite an impressive-looking value prospect too, for those looking to not pay flagship money out, but getting a high percentage of features and performance. So we'll see.

I reviewed the Motorola G85 in November 2024 which, in turn, I compared with the G84 from the year before that. My conclusion back then was that very capable as the G85 was, for those willing to pay an extra £70, the Motorola Edge 50 Neo offered significantly more. So will I conclude the same here, I wonder - or have Moto updated the G-line here so as to not need that bump. The G86 at time of writing is available mainstream in the UK for £279 and the Edge 50 Neo, now time has passed, £269 down from the RRP of £399 - so £10 less and as such, maybe an even bigger ask of the G86.

The UK retail box is a simple affair. White, small enough to not have a charger in, big enough to have some papers, a pokey-SIM tool, USB-C to USB-A cable and a colour-matched hard plastic cover with cut-outsat the side and bottom for essential buttons and ports. It's very slippery. First thing I did was to buy a simple, clear, soft TPU for a fiver from Amazon! The deal with Pantone seems to have gone (at least with anything like this, mid-range) as there's no pungent perfume smell wafting out from the carton.

The material on the back, which I assume must be silicone polymer (eco-leather) is actually very nice - and very nearly grippy enough to not need the above-mentioned case. But not quite. It is nice to the touch, though and almost feels padded. Spongy. I have the Spellbound finish here as supplied by Moto PR for review, which is a kind of dark blue. There's also Golden Cypress (a golden yellow/green), Cosmic Sky (purple/blue) and Chrysanthemum (red/pink). The do seem to be Pantone shades, so it's just the perfume in the box that has been skimped on!

There's a big 'M' of course in the middle of the back and up-top and left (in portrait) the by-now iconic sloping camera island. It sloped subtly up on the two sides facing the back then again on the others, facing the frame. There are four circles on the island, which I'll come to later, though one of them is clearly an LED flash. The four edges join the plastic, flat edging (iPhone style) abruptly. So much so that the edge can be felt when the finger runs over it.

The flat plastic frame runs around the perimeter of the phone and up the top, there's a Dolby Atmos logo next to a microphone. On the right side there's another microphone, a volume rocker and power button - all of which feel sturdy enough with no 'play' and on the bottom, another microphone, one of the stereo speaker pair (so bottom-firing) and a USB-C port. On the left side we have the long-reaching SIM Card Tray which takes a single nanoSIM and microSD Card. No choice for a second physical SIM Card but the phone does support eSIM in the mix.

The front of the phone is flat glass with a Selfie camera up front and centre (cut-out circle), under the second of the stereo speakers, doubling-up as the phone app's earpiece, and not quite so abruptly meeting the edges as the back. Gorilla Glass 7i is employed here which according to the blurb make it significantly less likely to get scratched than last year's Gorilla Glass 5 and has greater drop-resistance for shattering. With certification for IP6/8, IP6/9 and MIL-STD-810H you'd like to think that the phone should survive various accidents and environmental ingress.

It's a big phone at 161.2 x 74.7 x 7.8mm, very slightly less tall than last year's G85 but also slightly wider and fatter. It's 185g which again, is heavier than either of the finishes available (acrylic or vegan leather) on last year's model. And it feels it, too. Last year's G85 seems more stealthy mainly because of the slightly curved screen and slim edging around the perimeter.

In usual Moto style, the screen is a 1220 x 2712, 6.67" P-OLED (no doubt made by LG again) and as such, bright (4,500 nits - up from 1,600 last year), colourful and beautiful to look at. It has a refresh rate of 120Hz but is not LTPO which means that in auto modes it will only go down to 60Hz, not 1Hz (as I understand it). You can force it onto 120Hz all the time if you like (Hyper smooth) but there's also Smart and Balanced (auto) or Efficiency first (which presumably means 60Hz always). I think these terms are new as I don't recall having seen them on a Moto phone up to now. It has a ratio of 20:9 and returns 446ppi (up from 395 last year).

The Moto G86 arrived on Android 15 and will get 2 OS updates (same as the G85), so to Android 17, and similarly to last year's model) they are promising 4 years of security updates, so to June 2029. I guess that at this price it's approaching reasonable, though Moto are no doubt aware that Samsung, particularly, even down in this segment are offering significantly more to customers. As usual, Moto go their own way on updates.

The G86 has a Mediatek Dimensity 7300 chipset, which is the same found in the Edge 50 Neo and proves to be a great performer for all-round use for most of the people out there doing most of the things that most people do with phones - particularly at this price-point. Last year's G85's SnapDragon 6s Gen 3 was also squarely in the same ballpark, as I reported in my review and performed perfectly well. Let's face it, if people are expecting to play demanding games or process high-end video, they're going to using specialist tools. This is a phone for the people - not extremes - and is nicely priced as such. I have no complaints here about the speed around the UI or tasks executed in general use.

Talking of which, there are a range of options for storage and RAM available depending on market/region. I have the 256GB/8GB version here. It looks like 256GB is the baseline now, which is great, though those hoping to shave more off the cost will look back at last year's 128GB version with envy. I applaud the hike in storage and Moto are tackling this one, often making 512GB the baseline in some lines. So yes, you can also get 256GB/12GB or 512GB/12GB RAM versions. Of course you can 'boost' the RAM (up to 24GB in fact) by utilising some of the storage for swapping working data around but trendy as this is to include, it's clear that this function is mostly smoke'n'mirrors.

What will make an impact for many is the inclusion of a microSD Card slot in the SIM Tray, just like last year's model. I do think people still value this so as to move data around readily, even if only once during setup. Well done Moto, I say! They say that up to 1TB is supported in the slot and I happen to have a 1TB card to test - and sure enough, works like a charm.

The G86 has got the pair of stereo speakers to which I referred earlier and they sound very similar - maybe a touch louder - than last Year's G85. At full volume they can get a little tinny, but playing with the Dolby Atmos equaliser settings and installing Wavelet sorts that out nicely. What you lose in a little volume you can make up for in quality. No, it's no Sony Xperia, but the stereo effect is good and soundstage wide and impactful 18" from the face. The vast majority of users will have no complains about the sound from the speakers and, yes, as I say, maybe a slight improvement. Much better to use the Bluetooth of course, if you can, with a decent pair of ear/headphones or hook it up to an external speaker, which all then sounds as good as what the supporting equipment provides.

Connectivity in my tests here is good. All boxes ticked and appear to be working well, for 5G, Wi-Fi 6 (over last year's 5), tested on 3 networks, Bluetooth 5.4, with good range and holding on well - again depending on attached gear, GPS for mapping applications - locking on quickly and staying so - and also NFC talking to other gear and payment terminals in shops. Again, check your region for what's included/supplied/working with all this stuff. Security seems good too with an under-glass optical fingerprint scanner and face unlock working together well, or indeed in isolation, in all-but the darkest conditions for face. Fingerprint scanning software, though never going to be as good as ultrasonic in my experience, makes registering easy/quick and in use, reliable.

The 5,200mAh battery will charge at up to 30W with an appropriately-powered adapter. No chance of the 125W charging of the high-end units or even the 68W of the upper-mid-range. No, here, we have 30W wired and no wireless charging either. I guess something has to give and personally, I'm OK with the 30W wired charging but have really come to rely on wireless (overnight) charging, inefficient and bad for the planet as I'm told it is. 30W wired is no slouch however and certainly better than it used to be with these lower-mid-range phones - and this one can be charged up in around an hour and a half, much like the G85. But the 5,200mAh battery is really well-performing, getting through 2 days of moderate/light use. The 10% Reading Test I do returned excellent result at well over 2 hours. You can always add a 3rd party Qi coil for a fiver from Amazon as long as you're OK wielding a case.

Moto's HelloUI is present and every phone released by them now comes with it. Even, yes, down here at this price-point. And it's very pretty, been redesigned in terms of front-end, colours, display options, all those great Moto Gestures which I have written about so much - all present and correct. The UI is very Vanilla - like a Pixel in many ways sticking to the tried and tested, but with Moto's sprinkling of genuinely useful additions, including some AI sneaking into some settings like CrystalTalk for reducing background noise on VOIP calls and whatever Google make available, like Gemini Live! It goes deeper than ever now as Moto prioritises security in keeping with what Google are doing as they evolve Android. As I say, I have written loads about HelloUI now, so check out my linked-to reviews above, especially the recent ones where I dig into the nitty-gritty of it all.

Moto's Smart Connect works brilliantly with the G86, wirelessly of course - only the very top phones get wired support, but actually, wireless is so good, I really don't think, armed with a reliable network connection in your space, wired is becoming unnecessary. Never thought I'd hear myself say that, being a big HDMI-Out fan for so long! Now of course sometimes a situation may arise where a network can't be relied on, then a cable becomes like gold dust. But networks are generally getting very good these days and the hospitality sector gearing themselves up generally for customer's needs. Anyway, it works perfectly here. I shall point you to my Smart Connect Review and Features piece on my Blog as all the details are there, so click on through and see what's so great about it! And it's amazing that Moto are including all the hooks to make it work in even their lower-end phones now. Kudos.

The main camera is a 50MP one with OIS, a supporting 8MP wide-angle with autofocus, up to 4K video at 30fps. There's a 32MP Selfie too. The test shots that I have taken here all seem perfectly good enough for the 98% of users who are going to post photos to social media and share with friends, leaving the 2% pixel-peepers no doubt to zoom in and tut-tut! That autofocus in the wide-angle camera allows for nice and close so-called Macro shots and shooting in Night Vision seems to pull out shareable photos even when the human eye sees pitch blackness! The camera software looks exactly the same to me as it is in various recent Motorola phones, so perhaps I'll point you now to my coverage in those. ThinkPhone, Edge 50 Pro, Edge 50 Neo, Edge 40 and so on! There's oodles of Moto stuff on my blog here. You'll have gathered that I'm a fan!

So there's a fair bit here that has been added and made better since last year's G85, the Gorilla Glass and IP-rating/Military certification for protection, the brightness of an already great P-OLED panel, a slightly improved chipset with storage and RAM options and a bigger battery that performs every bit as well as last year's model - if not better. Physically, the design seems to have gone down the road of many others these days, copying iPhone's squared-off edges. Personally, I prefer the G85's design, but each to their own. To be fair, the G86 fits just as snuggly in the hand, particularly without a case on, and I'm sure I'm outnumbered in preferring the non-Apple leanings!

There's stiff competition in this mid-range as I'm sure you know. Lots of choice and ranges of features - but I think this is where Moto gets it right. With a great camera performance all-round the feature for me that tops all that is Smart Connect. This makes a huge difference for desktop options and I strongly recommend that you follow my links, above, to read up about it and see how Moto have swiped the crown away from Samsung and their DeX option. Moto's Smart Connect is really impressive. And it's fully available right down the range to even these sub-£300 units for all to enjoy - families keeping in touch, business users hot-desking, gamers or simply people wanting to get content out of their phones to a TV or monitor. It's the jewel in Moto's crown as far as I'm concerned and makes this handset worth every penny.

Cold Fish (2010)

Today's treat was a film I've been meaning to watch for ages and not got round to it. It's a Japanese gruesome, grizzly and dark body horror which you can currently catch on Shudder (or Shudder via Amazon Prime Video) in the UK. Not for the faint-hearted or queasy!

We follow the antics of a mild-mannered chap minding his own business running his small tropical fish shop when one day he gets a call from a local store to tell him to come down and fetch his wayward teenage daughter who's been shoplifting. He races down with his wife (and the girl's stepmother) to find the security guard laying into his daughter verbally, all guns blazing.

During the process, another man turns up who appears to be a local businessman (who also runs a bigger, more successful tropical fish shop in the town). He obviously has some influence because he talks flatteringly to the security guard who lets the girl go. When they all leave the store, he insists that the group go and look at his fish shop, which they do. It seems that he and his wife make a habit of employing wayward young girls to work in the shop, even giving them accommodation. So he offers the family the same for this shoplifter daughter.

Turns out that this businessman is much more than he seems on the face of it and frankly is a bit of a fruit-loop, more of a Dexter-a-like (but with no Dark Passenger to tame him or give him any rules)! He ensnares our mild-mannered chap into a staged business meeting where he's ripping people off for money, then finding the more radical and permanent ways of making sure they don't care or tell the tale to the police or anyone else!

I guess that you're getting the idea by now and yes, the film turns into something of a series of bloodbath (literally) scenes, one after the other as our businessman hides his tracks. In the meantime he's threatened our man that if he tells anyone what's going on, he will be after his family. So our man just gets further and further sucked in and down the road, way over his head before he realises or could hope for a way out. Trapped - and the only way out might be a radical one!

Apparently the director is quite well known in certain circles, Sion Sono - but I don't think I've heard of him. I had a scour through IMDb at the actors in it and I similarly drew a blank, so I clearly don't move in the right circles! The cast does well with the material on offer though - suitably loopy when needed and grizzly in their antics on cue. It's quite shocking in places with scenes or rape, murder and abuse but also, dare I say in the same sentence, decent entertainment and dark fun. Yes, an extreme, uncontrolled likening to Dexter.

It's quite a long film at two and a half hours. Which version of it you'll get to see will probably depend on censorship for different platforms, but the one I saw on an old DVD looked like it was pretty much uncut! Hold onto your hats for the thrill ride and grab a sponge!

Zombie Tidal Wave (2019)

What a scream this was. I'm sure it must have been made as a scream. Surely! I guess it's a kind of spoof thriller/horror where most of the budget has been spent on makeup and probably one known actor. Oh, you know - that one from Beverly Hills 90210. For anyone who watched such stuff in the 90's. Ian Ziering. That's his name. He was in all 292 episodes of that show!

Anyway, this bonkers film is about a bunch of Zombies with blue blood who start appearing from the sea in some American coastal town and chomping the locals. Some of whom get together in order to work out how to combat them (often in choreographed fight/dance scenes) and save the day. The acting is pretty awful throughout by everyone, including (and maybe especially) him!

After these Zombies start popping up, there's some sort of tidal wave (hence the title) which scoops up many hordes of them and washes them all ashore. Our hero is on his boat at this time and somehow manages to get it to surf the wave and get him and his mate safely ashore!

The water from the wave is gone in an instant on the land and the Zombies start walking the Zombie-walk amongst the living. Bite the living in the head and it explodes a gush of blood - and they are then a Zombie too. Bite them anywhere else and it takes time to get ahold. The Zombies can't seem to be stopped/killed in any way except for the one which they discover - using electricity. So our crack team start to work out ways to trap them all and zap them all! Yeah, OK, it's a spoiler. But you're not going to watch this! And if you do, you won't care!

It's all so ludicrously tongue-in-cheek and clear that director Anthony C Ferrante and Ian Ziering have cooked this yarn up for their amusement and sport. The CGI is dreadful throughout, but some of the gore-based scenes have worked well-enough with makeup aplenty. There's some kind of explainer thrown in towards the end involving a pharmaceutical firm from 30 years back who were testing something-or-other which wasn't allowed - and went wrong - so it had to be done on the quiet - they, lining the local authorities' pockets with silver in the process!

This is utter tripe of course, but it's also great fun to watch - beers, mates, Friday night after the pub. Not to be taken in any way seriously - just to be silly-entertained! It's also quite good fun looking out for continuity errors if the effect of the beer wears off! So don't rush out and pay extra to see it - wait until it's included with one of your streaming services. But if you must, you can. Cough the price of a large coffee and see it now on various of them!

The Shrouds (2024)

David Cronenberg's latest seems like a near autobiography of his life as he makes up Vincent Cassel to look pretty much like him and the story deals with his grief around the loss of his own wife at a young age to cancer in 2017. As you might expect, it's dark and feels like some kind of mix between his signature body horror, a thriller and even Sci-Fi outing.

The film centres on Karsh (Cassel), a businessman who is similarly grieving the death of his wife. Karsh's company is called Grave Tech and offers tech burial shrouds which allow family members to view their dead loved ones in real time as their body decays in their grave, via a live feed on their phone and on the gravestone monument.

To begin the film, 4 years after his wife has died, Karsh takes a lady he appears to be dating to look at his wife's grave and view the inside of the coffin via the technology, which is actually, amongst all this, a fairly dark comic moment. Needless to say, we don't see much of her again! What we do see a lot of is Karsh wrestling with grief and desperation, full of love still for his deceased wife.

There's also paranoia thrown in the mix as the story gets rather complex and Karsh tries to explore the possibility that the doctor, who was in charge of his wife's case and dealing with her amputations as the cancer took hold, was actually planting something in her bones and experimenting - with, or without her consent.

Diane Kruger plays his wife, Becca, in the coffin, but also via various flashback scenes and fantasy situations conjured up by Karsh's imagination as he deals with the psychological impact of his grief. She appears to him (mostly naked) with various limbs missing (enter the body horror bit) as he imagines scenes through his obsession where they talk together and on one occasion try to make love before a rather shocking halt!

Kruger, just to complicate things further, also plays Becca's identical twin sister Terry, very much alive but very different to Becca. She is open-minded and a bit of a free spirit as she deals harshly with her tech-savvy husband Maury (played by Guy Pearce). Maury has helped Karsh to set all the tech stuff up and is the man he goes to when needing tech help. He's bitter and twisted about the fact that Terry doesn't want to be with him any longer - and is deeply impacted by the fear that she wants to now be with Karsh.

It all gets even more complex as a Korean lady, Soo-Min (played by Sandrine Holt), with no eyesight, turns up offering Karsh pots of money to start a similar graveyard in Hungary. He has plans to build these across the globe including, significantly for the plot, in Iceland. Karsh, not having shown any interest in a relationship since the loss of his wife, starts to unravel details from the medics involved with her care, fuelled by encouragement by Terry, and begins to explore sexually driven emotion again - eventually bedding Terry and Soo-Min. No, not at the same time!

I'll stop with the plot there and leave you to enjoy the reveals as they come along, nicely paced as they are. It's pretty complex but pay attention and it all makes sense, littered with Cronenberg-style elements throughout. It's very well shot, superbly acted by the whole cast, particularly the two leads, and remains dark and mysterious throughout. Almost art-house in style too.

The focus is very much on a man's deep love for his wife, the emotion in grief and how he deals with this loss - until the unfolding thriller elements arrive. A love story at the core, very sad and moving in many ways but certainly also an outpouring of real-life sadness and reflection by a director with the means to turn it into art. Highly recommended from me - it's available on various streaming services now.

Android Launchers and their Permissions (2025 version) - A Guest Post by Malcolm Bryant

A launcher has a highly privileged position on your device. It can know a lot about your usage patterns - what you do on your device. That's valuable information that can be mined. If your launcher has internet permission (most do) then it could upload that information for monetisation purposes.

So out of curiosity, I installed several well-known launchers on my phone and checked the number of permissions they request. The more permissions, the more the launcher can keep track of what you do. Some permissions are deemed to be 'dangerous'. Google's definition: "In the Android security model, a dangerous permission is one that gives an app access to a user's private data or control over the device that could potentially harm the user." Other permissions are granted automatically (eg. internet access). As we'll see, it's perfectly possible for a launcher to do its primary job of opening other apps with zero dangerous permissions (in fact zero permissions of any type).

Here's the list, from high to low

• Microsoft Launcher: 73 permissions, 14 dangerous
• Lawnchair Launcher: 53 permissions, 6 dangerous
• Pixel Launcher: 52 permissions, 3 dangerous
• Action Launcher: 44 permissions, 7 dangerous
• Hyperion Launcher: 44 permissions, 6 dangerous
• AIO Launcher: 41 permissions, 13 dangerous
• Smart Launcher: 35 permissions, 13 dangerous
• Nova Launcher: 31 permissions, 12 dangerous
• Big Launcher: 24 permissions, 9 dangerous
• Niagara Launcher: 29 permissions, 5 dangerous
• Total Launcher: 27 permissions, 8 dangerous
• Lynx Launcher: 24 permissions, 4 dangerous
• OLauncher: 12 permissions, 0 dangerous
• Octopi Launcher: 10 permissions, 0 dangerous
• Basic Launcher: 0 permissions, 0 dangerous

Since it's at the top, let's consider whether the permissions MS Launcher requests are justified or whether it's a case of 'launcher overreach'. Let's drill down on the permissions it requests, starting with the 'dangerous' ones. For each one, ask yourself why your launcher actually needs this permission:

• Access your approximate location
• Access your precise location
• Directly call phone numbers
• Take pictures & videos
• Find accounts on the device
• Show notifications
• Read calendar events and details
• Read your contacts
• Read contents of your shared storage
• Read image files from shared storage
• Read user-selected image & video files from shared storage
• Read phone status and identity
• Record audio
• Modify or delete the contents of your shared storage

MS Launcher requests other permissions that aren't 'dangerous' but leave me scratching my head as to why. Here's a selection:

• Read the settings for other popular launchers, if installed (there are a bunch of them, named individually)
• Pair/access your Bluetooth devices
• Change your network connectivity
• Turn on your flashlight
• Change your audio settings
• Stop your phone from sleeping
• Modify your system settings

Conclusion
Microsoft is a reputable company and it's very unlikely to be doing anything nefarious on your device with these permissions. That probably goes for the other launchers as well. But you can bet your house that they are uploading very detailed usage patterns of how you use your phone, what apps you install/delete, what apps you run - how often and for how long, what media you consume, who you call or message, what peripherals you connect and so on. Maybe that's fine and to be expected in this day and age. But if you don't like it, switch to a less intrusive launcher like Octopi.

Malcolm is a Developer based on his Freepoc website. He's been coding there since 1999 including his above-referenced Basic Launcher. He also has a YouTube Channel where he posts interesting videos about his work and is an active member of Phones Show Chat with us.

The King (2019) - A Guest Review by Chad Dixon

This film is a faux historical drama film currently on Netflix. Set in the early 15th Century, England is at a low ebb near the end of the reign of an extremely sick King Henry IV (Ben Mendelsohn). Sir Henry 'Hotspur' Percy (Tom Glynn-Carney), a former loyal knight but now distrustful of the ruler, has created a fraction between the nobles within court and threatens to bring civil war to the land.

Meanwhile the King is also trying to reconcile the broken relationship with his wayward eldest son Hal, The Prince of Wales (Timothée Chalamet). Disillusioned with the responsibilities of being the heir for some years now, he has been living as a drunken playboy amongst the poor folk of Eastcheap in a modest, wooden, two floor cottage with his friend - ex-military man and pseudo-father figure, John Falstaff (Joel Edgerton).

It comes to a head one day when Hal is summoned to court. He still has no interest in a direct parlé with his father but discovers that Percy Hotspur has amassed a substantial army on the borders of Wales to directly challenge the King's authority there. Knowing Hal's attitude to all things royal, initially Henry IV wishes to send his 2nd teenage son, Thomas (Dean-Charles Chapman), to confront Hotspur and cull the insurrection - but Hal insists that he must go with him.

On the battlefield, as the two forces face each other across a field, Hal pushes his way to the front, in a bid to override the authority of his commander, Thomas. He insists that if he challenges Percy directly, on a one on one fight to the death, this could stop the insurrection in its tracks and it will avoid mass bloodshed. Even though it did not look likely, Hal kills Percy but as a result, upstages his younger brother.

It's now a decade later. King Henry IV has finally succumbed to his mystery illness and his 2nd son Thomas is away in Scotland when the news of King's death reaches Hal. He cannot now avoid his responsibility of becoming the new King, Henry V. Within months, the interception of a French assassin to the crown reawakens a claim to the throne, by France, that was previously challenged by Edward III, the King's Great Grandfather. With the help of Falstaff, now a Knight, Hal leads the English army across the channel to face the Dauphin (Robert Pattinson), on a French field near the hamlet of Agincourt.

Just like some of Shakespeare's historical plays, this period drama is somewhat playing hard and loose with the accuracy of the events of the era. Similarly, the addition of the Bard's completely fictional Falstaff character, whose unpopular and unconventional military tactics seem to be the key to how the grossly-outnumbered English army approach the battle with the French knights on that field in 1415.

The 2 hour 20 minute runtime is often a slow build-up of scenes that are quite low-key or indoors in one-room locations, but they do build-up nicely towards the iconic Agincourt battle itself. Filmed on a modest budget of $23m, the battlefield action is quite epic. The viewer is brought right into the middle of the action, as it's filmed in close-up with countless fully armour-clad warriors and their broad swords gripped in a deadly melee in the mud. You can't really tell who is friend or foe!

Mendelsohn is unrecognisable as the barely-alive Henry IV and successfully sells the vulnerability of the throne. There's a devilishly machiavellian performance by Sean Harris as William Gascoigne, the King's Chief Justice and confidant, but it's Chalamet whose understated, slovenly delivery transcends the biggest character-arc here as the reluctant heir who eventually embraces his destiny - and ultimately becomes one of the most well known monarchs in English history.

Himizu (2011)

There was a big earthquake which hit northern Japan in March 2011 and this film's setting is in the aftermath of that as we scrabble about with the general population. In particular our interesting group of characters, as everyone tries to survive and rebuild their lives. In this case, a small group of people who have decided to clutch to each other by a lakeside.

The story is centred very much on two 14-year old teens, a male and female, both from horribly broken and abusive homes/families - where suicide and murder is never far from the minds of parents and kids alike. We witness much physical slapping, hatred and loathing - and even openness from parents regarding how they rue the day that the kids were born - and how much easier life would now be if they hadn't been. So as you can imagine, our two teens are fairly broken, despondent and pessimistic. Mozart's Requiem Mass plays frequently as the cameras meander over the physical destruction of the location and people too.

Keiko (the girl) is a little more positive than Sumida (the boy) and even though she's been abused at home too, tries to inject some optimism into him It's difficult though as his mum, who lives with him in the lakeside shack, brings home a trail of men to sleep with and neglects him (she eventually leaves) - and to make it worse, his dad regularly turns up drunk, looking for money, and often brutally and violently beats Sumida. Sumida's family (what's left of it) run a now-neglected lakeside pleasure boat hiring service, which he needs to take over, being the only one left, and make good. But he's not interested, enthused or motivated.

There's a kinda cute love angle going on here too though as Keiko has previously eyed-up Sumida at school (which he has now abandoned in order to run the boat business) and in the early stages of the film, hopes for a future with him. So she hangs around him, despite him rejecting her through is pessimistic misery and also sometimes physical abuse. She doesn't give up and tries to clean the business up, market it locally and get things going again. Meanwhile, Sumida is so fed up with beatings by his dad that he's considering drastic and fatal action. Both of our characters clearly, given the above, end up with lowly poor self-esteem as they feel rejected and unwanted by their parents.

In and around the boatyard/lake a group of other characters have landed and made tents and shacks of their own. This is where much quirky humour comes in as these characters interact and conflict often with the misery and gloom surrounding our main characters and their situation. To make things worse, they are all under threat, and suffer violence from, the local Yakuza mafia who keep turning up to get the money Sumida's dad owes them. By hook or by crook, taking no prisoners and casting the blame net widely.

Director Sion Sono seems to have specialised in making films about teenagers on the edge of society, often involving murder, crime and abuse - and this is clearly no exception. Apparently the story project started off with Manga roots before being adapted here for this outing. That's probably where I get lost on that stuff! Himizu means mole in Japanese and Keiko describes Sumida as such in the film, as he's often covered in mud in this rainy, dour setting, often after beatings and thrown into it.

I don't know any of the cast but top billing goes to Shôta Sometani and Fumi Nikaidô, the boy and girl. The two teens are terrific throughout and worth sitting through the fairly long 2 hours and 10 minute runtime for. The cinematography is compelling and engaging to watch as it leaps between all sorts of scenes of the bleak and depressing urban landscape, powerful horror and violence - and moving, touching adolescent romance.

The message here and reflection for the people of Japan following this tragedy is to be inspired, don't give up, gather up optimism from where you can and dream of a better future. A super film which I found hard to track down I'm afraid, snagging a used DVD in the end. The kind of film that will show on Channel 4 in the UK and the likes of MUBI - or even your local arthouse cinema. Watch out for it.

Maniac (1980) and Maniac (2012)

The 1980 cult classic Maniac, directed by William Lustig, and its 2012 remake, helmed by Franck Khalfoun and produced by Alexandre Aja, are two thematically linked but stylistically divergent films that explore the harrowing psyche of a serial killer. While both movies follow the story of Frank Zito, a deeply tormented individual who murders and scalps women, their approaches to the horror genre, character portrayal, and cinematic style are worlds apart. The original is a grimy, raw character study and a quintessential piece of grindhouse cinema, whereas the remake is a sleek, stylized, and immersive psychological thriller that leverages modern filmmaking techniques to terrifying effect.

Joe Spinell's Frank Zito in the 1980 film is a physically imposing, sweaty, and unhinged man who haunts the dirty streets of a crime-ridden New York City. The film is shot from a traditional third-person perspective, giving the viewer a voyeuristic and deeply uncomfortable look into his repulsive life and horrific crimes. Spinell, a veteran character actor who also co-wrote the script, delivers a performance that feels less like a polished act and more like a visceral, unbridled descent into madness.

His sheer physicality and unsettling demeanor make him feel like a real monster, the kind you might actually encounter in the darkest corners of a city. The film's low-budget aesthetic, brutal practical effects by master Tom Savini and the authentically grimy setting of Times Square contribute to its reputation as a disturbing, mean-spirited piece of exploitation horror. It is a product of its time, capturing the urban decay and genuine terror of a city on the edge, with a jarring score by Jay Chattaway that heightens the sense of dread and unease.

The 2012 remake, in stark contrast, is a polished and modern re-imagining. Its most significant and defining departure is its near-exclusive use of a first-person point-of-view (POV) perspective. We see the world literally through Frank's eyes, and his face, played by the seemingly innocent Elijah Wood, only appears in reflections or brief "out of body" moments during his most psychotic breaks. This masterful stylistic choice forces a deeply unsettling identification with the killer, making the audience a reluctant accomplice to his atrocities.

Wood's portrayal is less of a hulking monster and more of a fragile, broken man whose handsome, approachable exterior is a cruel disguise for his inner turmoil. His casting subverts expectations and adds a layer of terror - this Frank is the person you might befriend, a soft-spoken individual with a hidden darkness. The shift from New York to a neon-drenched Los Angeles and the pulsating synth-wave score by "Rob" give the film a polished, almost beautiful quality that stands in stark contrast to its sickening violence. This juxtaposition of beauty and brutality is a key element of its unique horror.

Both films delve into Frank's "mommy issues" as the root cause of his psychosis, but they handle the theme with different levels of ambiguity and intensity. The original provides vague glimpses of physical and verbal abuse, leaving much to the audience's imagination and Spinell's unhinged monologues. The remake, however, makes this trauma more explicit, showing hallucinatory flashbacks of his mother, a prostitute, and her neglectful behaviour. This makes the remake's Frank seem more consciously tortured and conflicted, even trying to fight his compulsions. In both versions, Frank's obsession with mannequins is a twisted attempt to recreate and control the women he cannot have. But the remake's POV cinematography makes this obsession feel more personal and claustrophobic, as we are trapped inside the killer's mind as he meticulously staples scalps to his lifeless creations.

A crucial difference lies in the character of Anna, the photographer who becomes entangled with Frank. In both films, she represents a potential for redemption, a chance for Frank to forge a normal connection. However, the original's Frank is a purely monstrous force, and his relationship with Anna is a brief, false hope that is brutally extinguished. The remake's Frank, in his fragile state, genuinely seems to yearn for a normal life with Anna, and his eventual descent into targeting her feels more tragic and inevitable.

Ultimately, the choice between the two films comes down to a preference for a particular style of horror. The 1980 Maniac is a shocking, visceral experience that puts a repulsive character on full display in an ugly, unforgiving world. The 2012 version, in contrast, is a more sophisticated and intellectual film that uses clever filmmaking techniques to force an uncomfortable and unforgettable psychological experience on the viewer. Both are masterpieces in their own right, and both are equally horrifying in their unflinching portrayal of one man's madness. (Reviewed with the assistance of Gemini.)

The Veil (2024) - A Guest Review by Adrian Brain

This TV Series, currently on Channel 4 in the UK, is the latest creation from Steven Knight (Peaky Blinders, SAS:Rogue Heroes and the forthcoming Bond). It is about a British secret agent, codename Imogen, working on behalf of the French secret service, who is dispatched to verify the identity of a high-level female ISIS operative, Adilah, who may know the details of a large terrorist plot.

Unlike many of Knight’s previous offerings, this isn’t a high-octane thriller with lots of violence, but more of a 'road movie' character-study between the lead actresses, who are absolutely mesmeric. Imogen is played by Elisabeth Moss (The Handmaid’s Tale) and is charismatic as ever.

Adilah, played by Yumna Marwan, who I've not seen before, is easily her match. The interplay between them is fantastic as each misleads the other, whilst also unveiling truths - but what is the truth and what is fabrication?

There is comic relief in the form of incompetent and arrogant French and US Secret Service agents, constantly getting into fisticuffs - and some wonderful scenery on view as the plot moves from Syria to Istanbul, Paris and London. There is some violence (Imogen turns out to be pretty handy with a bollard in her hands) but it isn’t at the level of Peaky Blinders and the like.

This had me thoroughly engrossed in the characters and plot over the six episodes. Yes, it does fall apart in the last episode when Imogen catches up with her past (watch out for that red dress - strikingly self-indulgent) and Knight yet again demonstrates he rarely knows how to elegantly close a story off, so overall, the ride was better than the destination. Not perfect, but well worth a look if you like this sort of slow-burn drama.

PodHubUK Podcasts for the Month of July 2025

 ...a roundup of our month of podcasting. Links to the team, communities and podcast homes on the net at the foot, so scroll down!

The Phones Show Chat Podcast

Episode 861 - Slick Clicks Tricks!

Saturday 5th July

Another of our world-famous two-headers this week as Steve and I unpack all sorts of goodies. The Nothing Phone 3, Jolla japes, Edge and Razr antics with Clicks Keyboard, iPhone battery replacing, Xiaomi 15 Ultra - the one-trick-pony (but what a trick!), adding an assistant on phones for voice-only with oodles more - and Steve even learns what M3E stands for!

Projector Room

Episode 189 - Drag the Net
Wednesday 10th July

Gareth, Allan and I natter about film, cinema and TV as usual. This time we get stuck into Nine Puzzles while Four Mothers pop up 28 Years Later, we slaughter Tales from the Lodge in Sweet Virginia while Rose spends The Longest Day on Everest. Loads more as always, so do join us.

The Phones Show Chat Podcast

Episode 862 - A Galaxy of OPPOrtunities!

Saturday 12th July

Steve and I are duckin' the heat again this time by recording before breakfast(!) to bring you our weekly thoughts on all things phone. We Unpack the new Galaxy devices, x-ray Xperias, talk location tracking and even safety with powerbanks. Steve catches us up on the Surface Duo/Android 16 and iPhone news while I dive into early thoughts on the Oppo Find X8 Pro. Loads more as always, so do join us.

The Camera Creations Podcast (at Whatever Works)

Episode 2 - Pilot 2 of 2

Thursday 17th July

Joe Hickey, Chris Kelly, Ian Bundey and I dip our toes into the water of podcasting about all things camera and photography for a second time. It's still a bit of a getting-to-know-you pod as we chat about what we expect from it, introductions and throw ideas around. It's published on the back of Whatever Works so you'll find it in Podcatchers under that feed (for now).

The Phones Show Chat Podcast

Episode 863 - Find the Duo Open!

Sunday 20th July

Mike Warner joins Steve and I this week and he dives deep into the Xiaomi 15 Ultra with Photography Kit, Surface Duo ROMs and Elder-friendly UIs. Steve explores Doro and KaiOS for the T9 experience and I roundup my coverage of the Oppo Find X8 Pro. Lots more of course, so do join us.

Whatever Works

Episode 229 - Chicory Tip Chips!
Tuesday 22nd July
Aidan and I are here again with a headline (well it should have been) Camp Coffee Taste Test! With an Iced Coffee one thrown in for good measure. Loads more stuff as always to waste an hour of your time as we leap from Ninja HandBrakes to Polymorph Salt of the Earth and oodles in between. Do join us so as to wipe that miserable frown and furrowed brow off your tedious world-shattered faces if nothing else. And bring a beer. For me!

Projector Room

Episode 190 - A 2001 K-PAX Oddity
Wednesday 23rd July

Gareth, Allan and I are here again to catch up on a bunch of stuff happening in film, cinema and TV for your audio delight! We're Dazed and Confused - but not on Speed, grab ourselves a Cliffhanger with Superman, apply a Scanner Darkly to Heads of State and fit loads more in Before Sunrise! So do join us.

The Phones Show Chat Podcast

Episode 864 - Materially Expressive Liquid Glass!

Saturday 26th July

Steve and I welcome Shane Craig back to natter about almost exclusively folding Android phones, as you'd imagine. Samsung, Oppo, OnePlus, Pixel and so on. Steve also highlights the changes in iOS26 for the Apple faithful.

The Camera Creations Podcast (at Whatever Works)

Episode 3 - Phones vs Cameras

Thursday 31st July

Joe Hickey, Chris Clayton, Ian Bundey and I bring you another bunch of thoughts about all things cameras and photography. We pick up some device-release news, chew over thoughts about the way forward for the pod and finish up with a discussion comparing photos shot with cameras vs phones.

The Podcasts

PodHubUK - Phones Show Chat - The Phones Show - Whatever Works - Chewing Gum for the Ears - Projector Room - Tech Addicts - Camera Creations

The MeWe Community Groups (follow the links to join up)
Phones Show Chat & The Phones Show - Whatever Works - Chewing Gum for the Ears - Projector Room - PSC Photos - PSC Videos - PSC Classifieds - Tech Addicts

The Team
Ted Salmon - Steve Litchfield - Aidan Bell - Gareth Myles - Allan Gildea