Doctor Sleep: Or Doctor Edge of My Seat. 

Well this was a pleasant surprise. I won’t lie to you I basically had to drag myself into this cinema for this one as I was very sceptical about a follow up to The Shining. I also won’t lie to the fact I’m not the worlds largest fan of The Shining but still found it ridiculous they would dare to make something even close to approaching the Kubrick universe. 

Doctor Sleep however far surpassed all my expectations to a point where I might posit the question ... Could it be possible that this film is better than The Shining? Well I dare not say from fear of the backlash I’d get from the “Uber Kuber” fans out there. 

Now I’ve not actually read Doctor Sleep so I can’t say this with huge amounts of authority, but from what I’ve heard and read from other reviewers, this film is very much one for the Stephen King fans over the Kubrick fans. Kubrick, as some of you may know took a few liberties with The Shining, especially its ending, whereas Mike Flanagan was a little more faithful.

Mike Flanagan also pulled no punches and it was an incredibly gripping film, with a fantastic narrative and some bits that were genuinely hard and quite distressing to watch. I don’t want to spoil any of it for you my readers because I want you to go see it for yourselves, but the scene with the baseball boy had my teeth reaching for my fingers nails. 

This was all made possible by three or four fantastic performances by our leading actors. First off, this was a properly good showcase of what Euan McGregor can actually do. I’ve always liked him but he does has the tendency to go for the easier roles but this was a hard, gritty, highly complex character that he really bedded himself into and it was brilliant to watch. 

Euan plays a grown up Danny, ie the little boy from The Shining, who is still struggling with the traumas from his past and also wrestling with his ability to “Shine” (Telepathy on steroids). He meets a little girl played by Kyliegh Curran, who incidentally is stunning in this film and one to watch out for.  Abra (Kyleigh) has seen a vision of these “Steam Catchers” who are stealing people’s “shine”. It is their mission to stop them. One such steam catcher, the leader, is played by Rebecca Ferguson, who was remarkably unnerving in this movie and I would love to see her play more roles like this. It is up to Danny and the girl to stop her. Simple.

There are some lovely throwbacks to the original which I hear are causing tremendous amounts of historical whining from the die hard Shining fans but I really enjoyed them. 

Overall, even though it was a touch too long, I really enjoyed this film and it has edged its way to a RATING OF 8.1/10, which is darn good going. I urge everyone to see it in the cinema and if you hate it then please get in touch and i’d love to have you on my podcast to discuss it further. 

My names been Christopher Whitmore and thank you for reading. 

Joker - “That’s Life” 

Yeah it’s pretty good I guess ......

       

      Christ it was so tempted just to write that and leave it there but what with everyone raving about how great it is you just want to say something negative, but I can’t. It really is a true masterpiece in acting/writing and direction. It’s an absolutely stunning movie, visually, aesthetically, emotionally, existentially .... grammatically.... but jokes aside this film had me at hello. 

Todd Phillips how do you go from The Hangover to this? Boggles the mind, not that The Hangover is a bad film but the two just don’t relate in anyway. Very impressive sir, I tip my hat to you. 

       

 Joaquin Phoenix, as I knew he probably would be, was a perfect Joker. He adhered and respected the phenomenal character that Heath Leger “created” but completely made it his own with additional support of a very compelling back story. 

The story follows the life of Arthur Fleck who is a socially awkward (putting it mildly) clown performer with, what slowly unfolds throughout the film, very severe mental health issues. I’m not going to spoil this movie at all but there’s some stand out scenes to watch out for. The scene in the train carriage is utterly heartbreaking and the scene where his “friends” visit his apartment to show their support after his mother dies had me on the edge of my seat! 

Some fantastic supporting performances from Frances Conroy who plays Arthur's disturbing mother, Brett Cullen who plays Thomas Wayne, where he gets taken down from that Nolan pedestal and shown for the true man Mr Wayne was more likely to have been. (Yes these characters are real to me) And finally do I really need to tell you how excellent De Niro was? ....... no I didn’t think so. 

Other things I loved was the spellbinding score by Hildur Guonadottir which captured the horrific yet beautiful essence of this movie. Hildur composed around one of my favourite songs of all time ‘Smile’ - which has been used for the trailers so wonderfully - but gave the song a Zimmer like Brahms punch to it that really hit you right in the chest at the crescendo moments in the film. ‘That’s life’ was also an excellently moving choice of song for this film and made me feel all the emotions at once. 

I could go on about the music all day long but I must also mention the fabulous script written by a large writing team including Todd Phillips himself. I couldn’t believe this film included my favourite joke of all time “my friends always laughed at me when I said I wanted to be a comedian ..... well they’re not laughing now” by the genius one liner comedian Bob Monkhouse.

This brought me a lot of joy and just added another layer of person joy and adoration to this almost perfect film.

Haaaaving said that, a few negatives though if I may (I know right?!!)This is a very brave film to make about a character who is an aggressive, murdering, psychopathic, anarchist, who you (maybe just I) wholeheartedly sympathise, empathise and identify with. It really does make you question morality and by the end of the film I was genuinely thinking “yeah f*^k It Joker, kill the lot of them” Therefor I can understand the controversy and backlash this film has been getting. 

Also this film might have been just too good. At quite a few moments in this film you can so tell they finished shooting the scene, patted each other all on the back very smugly knowing they were making a “masterpiece” and part of me wants to rebel against that - which I’m sure the Joker would be very happy with. 

For those reasons I can only give this film a rating of 9.4/10 .... so there. But obviously you MUST go and see this film while it’s in the cinemas, you won’t be disappointed. That is a Christopher Whitmore guarantee. 

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood: Second times the charm. 

I went to go and see this film in the cinema right at the beginning of august assuming it was out already due to the fact I was reading so many reviews online that I now realise were all coming from America. I was very aghast and outraged to find out it wasn’t going to be out in England for another two weeks!!! So yes I’ve been waiting for this film to come out for a while now, and I don't mind telling you, with a bit of a rocky start. 

Like most Tarantino movies I walked into the cinema a fortnight later not really knowing what to expect. No matter if I’m watching his films, talking about his films or even just thinking about them I’m tense, which I can only assume is learnt behaviour from repeat exposure to his methods. True to form there was a sense of a low churning undercurrent of paranoia right from the beginning of this one, until classically, the gruesome finale leaves you with all the right endorphins from the grateful release of pressure. It’s a very clever film trope that has “done Quentin” very well throughout his career. With most of his new films, ie 'Inglorious Bastards' and 'Hatefull 8' this creative tension has been a bit more in your face whereas in this film it was far more subtle. 

We follow the three main characters Rick Dalton (Leonardo De Caprio) Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) and

Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) in their day to day Hollywood lives the three days leading up to the famous tragic event - don't worry i'll explain later. - Rick Dalton is an Actor on the verge of becoming irrelevant with the big modern changes (in the 1970’s) happening in the industry. Cliff Booth is his stunt double who tied himself closely to Rick , a very loyal character, a close friend, driver and general handy man. The slow demise of Ricks career obviously affects Cliff's too, so their relationship and destiny is very intertwined and established brilliantly very early on. 

Brad and Leo were just so bloody good in this film. Instead of a hardy story line the audience can get their teeth into, this movie is made from lots of little "sketches." Some were based in the real world, small intimate one person scenes showcasing normal life and daily routine. One such stand out scene was Brad Pitt feeding his dog. Sounds simple, but it built a character and his world very quickly and very well. 

Other “sketches” were scenes we see Rick acting in. Leo does an incredible job of acting an actor acting his very last socks off, which is a mind fuck in itself. We also see Rick chastise himself very harshly in his trailer after screwing up a scene. This very comical but at the same time very moving, as this is a man cashing in his last chips, a desperate last hora for a flagging actor. 

These scenes perfectly set up the characters stories and as always Tarantino’s dialogue was utterly spellbinding. Yes these scenes sometimes left you thinking “where in the Sam Hill is this film going?” but that was all part of the suspense. 

The biggest tension building scene was when Cliff was invited by an underage girl, brilliantly played by Margrette Qualley, (one to watch out for) who (as we’ve all done) falls under Brad’s charming spell. When we arrive to the Ranch things are quickly established as "not as they seem." There’s a large family with plenty of young and attractive women. They’re all starting, and they keep referencing a man they call “Charlie” .... Dakota Fanning plays one of the daughters and some what of a ringleader that has a lovely exchange of dialogue with Brad that really makes you feel uneasy. Cliff (Brad) just about escapes with his life but that is the through-line of the story set up for our grande Tarantino finale. 

Before we get to that I want to quickly talk about another lovely “sketch” where Margot Robbie (Sharon Tate) goes to the cinema to watch herself, unannounced, in her break through film with Dean Martin. The gorgeousness of the scene paralleled Margo’s own beauty. I connected so much with this character enjoying the positive reaction from the unassuming audience around her. As an actor I can’t wait to experience this for myself and Margot portrayed that sense of achievement and self congratulation to a tee. 

So in true Tarantino form I’ve probably made you wait long enough for the conclusion to this review and film and yes SPOILERS Quintin does rewrite history again! 

The Manson family end up attacking Rick and Cliff who live next door to Sharon Tate instead. However with their far more aggressively Wild West and war movie experience they kick the shit out of these “hippies” and when I say “kick the shit” I mean Kill Bill level of bloody grotesque violence, which - as always- is thoroughly satisfying. Therefore in this universe Sharon lives on and Rick and Cliff get the break they need from the freshly introduced “new wave of cinema” who live next door .... 

"And they all lived happily ever after."

Very clever Quentin.

Overall this wasn’t my favourite Tarantino film. I much prefer Inglorious Bastards but it’s still darn good film making and acting so I’d give this film A RATING OF 8.2/10. Go and see this and please be patient with it. It’s well worth it, trust me. 

I've been Christopher Whitmore, thanks for reading. 

The Lion King (2019): And I can honestly say I wasn’t "prepared" for what I saw.


       For this review I’m going to pretty much set aside all the was wrong about this film. Yes it’s a shot for shot remake, and yes I thought yet again after Aladdin and Dumbo the music was a bit lack lustre. But for what this film has done to revolutionise the film industry, by using this popular remake to showcase what is possible now to create in a computer graphics studio, it cannot be ignored. This new technology should not be shunned to one side, mislabelled as unimaginative, uncreative "not art" when the creation is SO beautiful!

       I was openly saying before I saw The Lion King to anyone who cared to listen to my film ramblings and rantings, that the problem with these remakes is we lose the anthropomorphic element that we engage with so readily in cartoon/animated animal films. The reason for this is it is much easier to add human like emotions and expressions, like eyebrows  to an animal cartoon character than to a photographic realistic image (see every Disney 90s/early Noughties movie from Flounder the fish to Donkey in Shrek). This makes it easier for an audience to empathise with a non human narrative in relation to these films as opposed to a documentary. This is the tricky tight rope that Jon Favero and his team were walking with the first film of this kind, The Jungle Book. In my opinion it wasn’t quite there and it's where I based a lot of my initial opinions on "Photoreeltm" (Reel-Easy's coined expression for the new art form) films . I naively believed that was the limit of that technology but The Lion King kicked it up another gear and the visuals were jaw droppingly extraordinary. There is such a tactile element to the “animation” of Africa and you keep having to remind yourself that you’re watching a something created on a computer rather than a very well sequenced documentary that just so happens to follow the story of The Lion King. I can’t wait to see what can be done with this technology, especially when it comes to original material that really holds no boundaries or limits of what is possible to depict. 

      Character wise I seem to have gone back full circle in terms of my favourite characters. When I first watched the original Lion King as a very young child, my favourite characters were obviously Timon and Pumbaa. Voiced by the brilliant Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella they were the easiest for me as a kid to relate to with their seamless comedy timing and high energy scenes, they seemed most natural behind the mic. This changed a lot with multiple viewings.

      When my sense of humor became more complex, the dry wit of Zazo, voiced by the legend of sarcasm that is Blackadder’s own Rowan Atkinson, had me in stitches. Then when I started to appreciate acting performances, Jeremy Irons and James Earle Jones as Scar and Mufasa blew me away. However, in this remake Seth Rogan and Billy Eichner with their incredibly infectious, improvisational witty banter was script wise the only fresh part of the film. There was a lot of tongue and cheek fourth wall breaks and nods back to the original that had me laughing out loud a fair few times.

       What The Jungle Book did do well in their remake is increase the plot and story line, expanding The Jungle Book's original film to include more of the Rudyard Kipling novel. In the same way as The Jungle Book increased our understanding of the "Law of the Jungle" I would like to have seen The Lion King expand on the idea of "The Circle of Life". Therefore, unfortunately despite my efforts to overlook it, the slightly lazy shot for shot attitude is what let the film down from being a real success-but you still have to appreciate what the film makers achieved.

Overall I would give this film a rating of 7/10 and a recommendation for everyone to go and see it in the cinema for the pure spectacle of the thing. Just don't expect anything else from it.


I've been Christopher Whitmore, thanks for reading and happy watching. 

Yesterday: All my troubles seemed to be with the love story. 

Review: I have a confession to make. I am not what you would describe as a normal human, ie. I’m not particularly a fan of The Beatles. I appreciate everything they have done for music and I enjoy a few of their songs but unlike Rocketman, I don’t get a huge rush of adrenaline when I hear the first few bars of Elena Rigby. This then may have an influence on my enjoyment of the film but I will try to be as fair as possible.

When I first heard that Danny Boyle and Richard Curtis were collaborating to create this movie I was interested to see how this potential clash of style would affect the creativity of production. My fears were realised I am sad to inform you. What we got was a disjointed and confused narrative with a great concept. The concept being “what if The Beatles never existed and you were the only person that could remember their music?” Pretty cool right? Well you are right, but along side this nice Sci-Fi problematic universe with hundreds of intriguing possibilities, we got this tagged on, old fashioned, Richard Curtis style, completely unbelievable and needless Rom-com. This sidetracked you from everything interesting about the film and the writing and directing conflict made Hamish Patel (Jack Malik) seem like a bad actor. You really believe him going through this experience and going to a place of near insanity but which made the RC style love affair feel very disjointed based on little truth. Also come on let’s be honest, who takes 20 years to realise they’re in love with Lilly James .... and even she as his ex manager throws an ultimatum at him staking it’s her or the music! A scene that made no sense for her characters motivations. This is no reflection on her as an actress, I like Lilly James but I think her character in general was miswritten and misdirected. 

There were some nice supporting cast performances from Joel Fry as Rocky who kept things realistically amusing and also from Ed Sheeran who plays the most convincing portrayal of himself I’ve seen any non acting celebrity do. 

So I’m happy to conclude that the reasons I didn’t enjoy this film had nothing to do with its Beatles soundtrack but more with fundamental flaws in making films with engaging plots that coincide with character arcs that make sense.

Overall I would give this film a rating of 6.8/10 with a mild recommendation as a Netflix watch when you’ve got an evening free that doesn’t have any pressure on banking a good movie.

I've been Christopher Whitmore, thanks for reading.