Thursday, February 6, 2020

Doctor Sleep


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In case you haven’t seen the intro from my entry dated 1/26/19 (it’s in my archives whenever you want to read it), I’m no longer going to review every single movie I see.  I’m going to review one, with the occasional bonus, and just give ratings for the rest from now on (unless I decide to pick it up again in the future).  You can always ask me why I gave the ratings for the films without reviews though (via comments or the e-mail addresses under the ‘About Me’ section).
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Doctor Sleep                                                               OK
Direct sequel to Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining made almost four decades later.  Stephen King, the author of this and its predecessor, has been very vocal about his dissatisfaction with Kubrick’s adaptation but apparently did like the 1997 TV movie remake.  I do remember liking that remake enough, but I love Stanley Kubrick’s version.  I did read the book too and remember it being different, as many King adaptations and their sources tend to be.  I didn’t read this book, even though I do own it (no excuse), but there’s actually a few (not many) King books I never got around to reading despite owning them; therefore, I had nothing to compare to while watching this.  It is different than The Shining instead of feeling like a remake/reboot/whatever, and does contain King trademarks (multiple characters from different locations that are all connected somehow), but it still had the feel of a TV movie (not that there’s necessarily anything wrong with that either, but this was theatrically released).  It was decent for a sequel (regardless of being based on an actual novel), especially since it was made almost 40 years later (as I said), and it didn’t seem like it was actually 2 ½ hours, but I can’t say I was entirely impressed.  2/4/2020


Bonus review:


The Gallows Act II                                                      B
The Gallows (2015) was a much maligned film, having received only 1 out of 5 stars on All Movie and 15% out of 114 critics on Rotten Tomatoes, even being voted the worst film of that year in Rue Morgue Magazine, but I actually didn’t think it was that bad.  No, it wasn’t great, but it had a lot of atmosphere going for it; I mean, an empty high school at night?  Kind of a creepy setting, no?  It also kind of, sort of reminded me of a “Goosebumps” story (Phantom of the Auditorium).  For those of you that hated the first one, I think you might have a little more respect for it after this drivel of a sequel that rightfully received 0% out of just 13 critics on Rotten Tomatoes.  The victim/villain (Charlie) does return here as well as the same directing duo, but this film is an entirely different beast than the first, a much worse beast if I haven’t made that clear.  It doesn’t get good until the very end, but even that kind of negated everything that came before it.  I am willing to give an Act III a chance if it’s much better than this Act.  I hated this movie…if I haven’t made that clear.  2/5/2020



Other movies I've seen and their ratings (see above):

Abominable (2019)  >>>OK/G

Bad Moon  >>>OK

The House That Dripped Blood  >>>G

Nothing Bad Can Happen  >>>OK/G


---Sean O.
2/6/2020

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