“Doctor Sleep” Review

Director Mike Flanagan, last of the Big 3 of the New Generation of Horror (see my review on The Lighthouse), closes out 2019 with his incredibly bold take on the follow-up to The Shining. I cannot even fathom how intimidating it must have been for Flanagan to approach this film. How do you reconcile a universally renowned director who created what is arguably the greatest horror/thriller of all time, with the universally renowned author of the source material who hated said film?

Stephen King’s well-known distaste of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining makes sense. It was much more so a Kubrick film than it was an adaptation of his work. The two iterations clashed with each other in terms of its tone and narrative. And then you have the fans of the classic film. The Shining has been given decades to grow its legacy as being one of the most iconic films of its genre, so obviously a follow-up to it would be heavily scrutinized. As usual, I had no idea what to expect going into this movie because I didn’t see any of the trailers, and I’ve never read the book. What I found was a movie that honors both the original film and book in what is easily the most ambitious film of 2019.

Set many years after the events of The Shining, an adult Danny Torrance (Ewan McGregor) is still battling his inner demons as he continues to wrestle with alcoholism, much like his father. Over the course of its very lengthy 2.5 hour runtime, events in Danny’s life causes him to cross paths with a young girl named Abra (Kyliegh Curran) and a sinister cult called the True Knot, led by Rose the Hat (Rebecca Ferguson).

While the film takes a bit of time to pick up, it must be stated that most of this movie is almost completely it’s own thing, and references The Shining very sparingly. Throughout the film, I sort of forgot that it was a sequel to one of the biggest movies ever, because it was wholly original and completely owned that. One of the ways it draws you in is how it spends a surprisingly large amount of time with the new characters that we are not familiar with. I don’t think I’ve seen a movie in recent memory that has given this much screen time to the villain of the film, and maaan was it worth every second. Rebecca Ferguson continues to prove that she is an incredibly versatile actor with the way that she carries herself as the sly, sexy, and cunning harbinger of evil.  There have not been many standout female performances in the films I’ve seen this year, but Ferguson is easily one of the best. Kyliegh Curran is also great as Abra. She has a lot of screen time and has to tackle a wide range of emotions as a young kid who also has the gift of the Shine. There are times where I felt like she didn’t completely nail it, but I can’t really fault her because she had a herculean task of doing so much for the film.

When it comes to fan service in this film, I think it was done very tastefully for the most part. The Overlook Hotel definitely plays a part in the film, and some of these nostalgic moments are incredibly well done. At other times, it can be just a little bit too much, as I felt that some scenes were inserted without a good reason for it to be there other than to let fans know that it’s a sequel of The Shining. For reasons I won’t get into, there’s also a bit of an uncanny valley feel to some of the references, but it makes sense given the circumstances of the film. It’s fascinating because one of the biggest strengths of Doctor Sleep is also its biggest weakness and reason for criticism. The film itself is so vastly different from its predecessor, and yet it is dependent on drawing from the mythos of the first film. The Shining is a cerebral, bone-chilling thriller while Doctor Sleep is basically like a superhero movie. Fans of The Shining may not be able to let go of how tonally different this film is compared to the original, but I think Doctor Sleep is viewed much better off if you consider it to be more of its own film than a sequel. After all, Flanagan did say that he was basing this film more off of the novel, and it definitely comes across as such. I think this has been one of the best adaptations of King’s work, which totally redeemed it for me after seeing the train wreck that was It Chapter Two.

I did not expect to like Doctor Sleep nearly as much as I did. It’s so hard to tackle a film like this due to the expectations that it has to live up to. Based on its box office numbers, it looks like it’s having difficulty generating any sort of buzz. Doctor Sleep is very much the Blade Runner 2049 of 2019; it had the impossible task of doing a follow-up to a critically acclaimed film, it proved that it was a great film that could stand on its own, and it’s barely made any money. It’s a shame because I think Flanagan pulled off something miraculous and made a film that acknowledges both its film and book roots, and turns it into something truly entertaining and memorable.

Grade: A-/87

“The Lighthouse” Review

2019 is starting to look a lot like 2016, where most of the year was filled with mediocre films, only to have the last few months redeem it. Robert Eggers’s The Lighthouse is a sleeper hit film from none other than A24, a studio I cannot stop heaping praise upon.

While this film is incredibly light on story, it is weighty in its symbolism and contains some really memorable performances. I won’t claim to know what exactly this film truly means, apart from some of the Greek mythological allusions that I read about afterwards. Generally films like this would not sit well with me, but the performances were so captivating that it gave me plenty of moments to really think about.

The best way to describe this movie is The Shining but between two sailor bros in a lighthouse. The film focuses on the daily tasks that the two wickies, or lighthouse keepers, have to do to make sure that it stays operational…until things get freaky. I really didn’t know anything about this movie going into it. However, as I began to see how the story was playing out, I had a good feeling that I was going to have a lot of questions and not a lot of answers.

Like I said, this movie is driven very much by the performances. Dafoe gives one of his best, but Robert freaking Pattinson! Who knew??? This dude really gave it his all and went for it. Certainly one of the best performances of the year, Pattinson completely transforms into his role and gives a very convincing argument as to why he’ll be a hundred times better as Batman than Ben Affleck could ever be.

The black and white picture coupled by the grainy look gave this film a very old, early 1900s feel. Definitely had some vibes of Nosferatu while watching this film. It perfectly encapsulates the setting of The Lighthouse, and the only thing that feels modern about it is Eggers’s refined skill in directing suspense and horror. His ability to direct two big performances without one overpowering the other was magical, and paces the film so expertly all the way until its insane ending.

One of the things I loved about this film was how it was so thematically and stylistically different from Eggers’ previous work in The Witch. It almost felt like it was directed by two completely different people, whose only commonality is that they are really freakin good at directing horror films. I loved the uniqueness of The Lighthouse, and how it kept me guessing even though I had no idea what many of the answers to the film’s secrets were.

As far as I’m concerned, Hollywood has been blessed by the new Big Three of the Next Generation of Horror: Ari Aster, Robert Eggers, and Mike Flanagan. All three have very distinct styles, and all of them have horror movies that came/are coming out in 2019. Gone are the cheap jump scares of old, as we welcome more refreshing ways of conjuring up scares—like a drunk Robert Pattinson with a Maine accent.

Grade: B+/85

“Downton Abbey” Review

I love Downton Abbey.

Prior to watching The Americans, DA was my favorite show of all time. There’s just something about British period pieces that I love, whether it be the costume design, the locations, or just hearing that wonderful accent. It also helps that the show itself has fantastic character arcs for almost their entire cast. I loved the music, the writing, the direction, and I loved the ending. So when they decided to come out with a movie, I definitely had some hesitations as to whether or not it would be worth watching or if it would decrease my overall enjoyment of the show.

I had already been burned by Toy Story 4 from earlier this year, but there’s no need to go into that anymore. Regarding this film, I think I had a similar reaction but completely different effect. Let’s get one thing out of the way—this is a completely unnecessary and inconsequential movie. However, it’s also a great time, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching it.

Some of the characters get a bit more closure to their stories, but the show ended it in a way that was good enough. This movie is literally the cherry on top of a delicious sundae. It doesn’t really make a huge difference to the overall enjoyment of the whole thing, but it’s pleasant enough where you don’t mind it. It’s really just an excuse to revisit all of the characters again, but this time on the big screen. It did feel a bit surreal, because you don’t often get the TV to movie adaptation done in a way that is both critically acclaimed and commercially successful.

There really isn’t much to say about this film. If you’re a fan of the show, you will enjoy the movie. I can’t justify giving it a really high grade because it really is unnecessary, but that’s what movie comfort food is, I suppose.

Grade: B/80