Doctor Sleep

A sequel to the The Shining? Are you kidding me? It came out in 1980. Doctor Sleep was released in 2019. Quick math, that's 39 years later. I will say it again, are you kidding me?
I don't remember when I saw The Shining exactly, but I was a teenager and it scared the shit out of me. Between it and 2001: A Space Odyssey, I became a huge Stanley Kubrick fan. Stephen King apparently was not a fan. I never understood King's beef with Kubrick, because it was the greatest film based on his work until Misery came along and then The Shawshank Redemption. Anyway, if you are a fan of King's work or a fan of Kubrick's, Doctor Sleep might surprise you. It certainly did for me. What's it all about? Remember the little kid in The Shining, Dan Torrance, little Danny? Well he grew up and PTSDed into an alcoholic - his father tried to murder him and his mother with an axe, so it's understandable. Dan (Ewan McGregor) also has the gift of telepathy, although he calls it shining. There are a bunch of others out there like Dan where their powers merge into telekinesis. There is a bad bunch of them who go around like vampires and suck the shine out of others of their kind. They do this so they can live an extra long time. Does it sound ridiculous? Yes it does and it is. But here is the thing, it's really well crafted and it sucked me in. This film looks great and there are little homage bits to Kubrick all over the place, including some of the haunting musical score from the original. There are just so many wonderful visuals in this film. Anyway, back to the story. These vampire shiners, they sense a presence out there of a super powerful shiner, a young girl named Abra (Kyliegh Curran) and they want to eat her, consume her shine. Well Abra and Dan are friends as they have been communicating telepathically through Dan's chalkboard wall. I know, it's ridiculous, but I'm telling you, I got sucked in. Dan won't let them eat Abra and well I don't think I will tell you anymore. Doctor Sleep shines. Catch it on Streaming Services.

Brittany Runs a Marathon

So I think it would be reasonable to put Brittany Runs a Marathon into the category of a Rom-Com. However I'm not really sure that's were it belongs. What's it all about? It's about Brittany (Jillian Bell) who lives in New York and she is 27. She is a bit of a party animal. She is also out of shape, badly. She has always been the chubby girl and she doesn't like herself because of it. Brittany has a lot of body image issues and the film tackles these with a honesty that is refreshing. Amy Schumer did something similar in Trainwreck, but Brittany Runs a Marathon seems a lot less Hollywood. Anyway, after Brittany is told by her doctor that she needs to lose weight, she tries to join a gym but realizes she can't afford it; instead she dons a pair of Converse and takes up the frugal sport of jogging. Brittany and her skinny bitch roommate always make fun of Shannon, a woman who lives in their building who they believe has the perfect life. Turns out Shannon is going through more than a rough patch and invites Brittany to join her running club. A new friendship is forged and the goal of running the New York City marathon soon becomes their final quest. The romance aspect of the film comes from her fellow dog-house sitter; they share the job and end up squatting in this rich couple's apartment. It's all very amusing. This came out last summer and I finally got around to watching it. I'm so glad I did. Catch it on Amazon.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

My relationship with Star Wars, like many people of my Gen-X generation, is a rather profound one. It may have shaped my moral compass. For sure it was one of the first films where I fell in love with all the characters. It was magical. And the toys! I collected all the cards, action fictions, posters, and books. It was schoolyard conversation. Star Wars was a huge chunk of my childhood. Return of the Jedi was released in 1983; I was thirteen years old. Then I grew up.

When The Phantom Menace was released in 1999, I was twenty nine. I had watched Pulp Fiction, Silence of the Lambs, Terminator 2, Seven, Jurassic Park, and Good Will Hunting. I was an adult (well my wife might disagree) watching adult movies. Star Wars was happy memory for me. So when I watched The Phantom Menace, not only was it boring, but it was designed for children. It wasn't how I wanted it or I remembered it. The fun seemed to be sucked out of it. And let me tell you, I wanted to love it. I wanted to love it so much and I didn't. I waited like everyone else for the next two films; saw them on opening day. They weren't much better. Fast forward to 2015 and I'm now forty five years old with two kids who I inflicted my love of the original films on. The Force Awakens was the film I had been waiting for since I was thirteen. I thought it was really good. Not great, but good. There was hope. Then The Last Jedi came out. It crushed my love of Star Wars all over again. I hated it. I was done with Star Wars for good. Thought about selling all my toys and moving on with my life.

I read the reviews on Rotten Tomatoes for The Rise of Skywalker and they were pretty awful. Many people told me, oh, if you didn't like the last one, you won't like this one. I put off going. I had always gone on opening day. I waited weeks before going to see it. I guess I was dreading putting the final nail into my Star Wars coffin. I took my son, who is now thirteen (the same age I was when I watched Return of the Jedi). We were two of four people in the theatre. The words came across the the screen, "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. . . " It pulled at my heart strings. I waited to be crushed. 

I'm very, very happy to report, The Rise of Skywalker is my favourite Star Wars film since Return of the Jedi. It has everything you want. It has the childhood fun I remember. It's nostalgic, it's fresh, it has magic. And it's got a new droid, Cone Head, or as I call him, Squeaky Wheel. This is the Star Wars film I've been waiting for, for thirty six years. My son loved it too. Go see it in theatres now. 

Unbelievable

This is a Netflix miniseries. It stars Kaitlyn Dever, Merritt Wever, and Toni Collette. It's based on a true story of a serial rapist and a young girl, Marie (Kaitlyn Dever), who has been through the American foster care system and has been badly let down. We begin with Marie's rape and her eventual recanting of her ordeal to the police. In parallel, we have Detective Karen Duvall (Merritt Wever) and Detective Grace Rasmussen (Toni Collette) who are on the lookout for a rapist at large. Soon enough these two women release they are looking for the same man and begin working the case together. This is riveting stuff. It reminded me of Mindhunter, another Netflix show I love. The main differences being, this is an investigation driven by women, about the abuse of women, within the context of a male centric police world; this alone makes it fascinating to watch. But what might be the most compelling thing about Unbelievable is Kaitlyn Dever's performance as Marie, her PTSD post rape and they way she conveys her repressed and highly complex emotional state. When the police question her and she recants her story, it's a remarkable piece of acting. Even the cop pressing her (Eric Lange) does a fabulous job.
This is not easy material to wade through but it's important and incredibly well told. Catch it on Netflix.  

Uncut Gems

My favourite film of 2017 was Good Time. Uncut Gems is the second feature film by the same dynamic duo, the Safdie brothers. Uncut Gems stars Adam Sandler. Hold on, don't stop reading. I like Adam Sandler, I by no means love Adam Sandler. He has made lots of bad films (Jack and Jill, Murder Mystery), a few funny ones (The Wedding Singer, 50 First Dates), and some good ones (The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected), Funny People, and Spanglish) but Sandler has never been in a great film; until now. Uncut Gems ranks as Sandler's best work. I loved this movie. What's it about? Sandler plays a jeweler who is looking for the big payoff. He is up to ears in debt, has a gambling problem, a mistress on the side, and his life is falling apart. He has a chance to turn it all around with one magical rock full of uncut gems. He has to get it sold before the mobsters close in and beat the living shit out of him. It's riveting.  
Let me take a moment and talk about John Cassavetes. If you only watch two Cassavetes films, make sure to watch A Woman Under the Influence and The Killing of a Chinese Bookie. Cassavetes was an independent film maker and his influence can be felt in so many films. Watch the scene in A Woman Under the Influence where Peter Falk brings his work crew home and they sit around the dinner room eating spaghetti and then watch the scene in Ridley Scott's Alien where the crew are all sitting around eating after they have come out of hypersleep - Scott is a fan of Cassavetes. Or watch the chase scene at the end of Blade Runner and then compare it to the The Killing of a Chinese Bookie.
So why have I digressed into this Cassavetes rambling, you might ask? Because Uncut Gems is almost the modern version of The Killing of a Chinese Bookie. There is so much I loved about Uncut Gems, the retro 70s and 80s zeitgeist of independent film, the music, the lighting, the overlapping dialogue - it's like it was made in a different time. And yet it's completely contemporary; it even has a cameo by the Canadian group, The Weekend.
It's playing this week in Ottawa at the Mayfair. Go watch it. 

The Report

To my surprise, a few people have told me they don't like Adam Driver. I suppose there are a few actors that rub people the wrong way. Or maybe they are just miscast in Star Wars films like Hayden Christensen. I personally love Adam Driver as an actor and he is everywhere these days: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Marriage Story, and The Report. If you only see one of these films, see The Report. What's it all about? This is a whistle-blower story that really isn't a whistle-blower, but somebody who is really persistent in doing his job. This is the true story of Daniel Jones, a US Senate staffer in charge of reviewing 6 million pages of CIA material relating to the destruction of the 2005 CIA interrogation videotapes of supposed Al-Qaeda suspects. Remember all those photos that came out? If it doesn't ring a bell, then you really should be watching this movie. I don't think The Report is breaking a lot of new ground cinematically; there are lots of films like it, Spotlight, The Insider, to name a few. A bunch of people sitting around a room with dramatic music playing while they ask questions about who knew what when. This is an important movie and it's a story that paints the CIA in a very bad light. The USA has done some awful stuff. Catch this on Amazon Prime. 

Ford V Ferrari

If you are looking for something fun to watch, get your motor running (so to speak), Ford V Ferrari is your picture. I took my thirteen year old son to see this one and we both enjoyed ourselves immensely. What's it all about? This is the true story of how Ford beat Ferrari at one of the world's greatest car racing events, Le Mans. This is a 24 hour race with multiple drivers. It's an endurance test of both man and machine and in 1965, Ferrari was King and Ford, well Ford made a lot of automobiles, but they didn't make anything as good as Ferrari. Ford attempts to buy Ferrari, but this takeover goes skidding into the ditch and ends with Ferrari insulting Ford on a personal level. This is a story of revenge. Ford, with deep, deep pockets hires Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) to get the job done. Whatever it takes. Shelby builds a car to win, but they need a renegade to drive it, to push the car to maximum potential. In comes the Englishman and madman, Ken Miles (Christian Bale). Miles isn't the image Ford wants, but only Miles can drive the car to the limit. Christian Bale is great, speaking to the car as he drives like the car was alive - it reminded me of Steve McQueen talking to the engine in The Sand Pebbles. This isn't a Samson and Goliath tale, this is a Goliath vs Goliath tale at top speed. Take a wild ride with this one and catch it at a cinema near you.