I didn’t travel to the theatre this week, and so I was watching some Crave and Netflix instead.
A word about one of my favourite ongoing talk shows, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. To put it simply I really like this show and it was one of the reasons for me to get Crave. John OLiver started with Jon Stewart and then has grown from there. This is a multi-Emmy winning show for writing. This is brilliantly written and researched, and he seems to genuinely enjoy what he does. Segments on FIFA (as shown below) are hilarious but also bringing forth issues of the day. He talks at length and in multiple episodes about Brexit, and if you don’t feel that you have a real grasp on the issues, check him out and his three segments on it. For me, FIFA was outstanding as well as his piece on the Russell Crowe Divorce Auction. Most are posted on YouTube now, but the more recent ones about Stupid Watergate II and the Ukraine fiasco you will need to wait for…
And now, this……
I had watched the previews for Doctor Sleep, which in essence is The Shining 2. For me I was unsure about whether I wanted to spend money to see this, and I decided to re-watch the original Kubrick film from 1980 starring Jack Nicholson at his crazy best and Shelley Duvall. It also stars the young Danny Lloyd, who does his best impression of young Anakin Skywalker and/or Eight is Enough star (??) Adam Rich who all share the distinction of having a head waaaay too big for their bodies and a bad haircut to boot that makes it look even worse. But I digress…. The Shining is the Stephen King novel brought to life by one of the most renowned and influential directors (Stanley Kubrick). I have to admit that I have the DVD for 2001: A Space Odyssey but there are elements of that where I still scratch my head and say “what was that about?”. The same goes here. The basic structure is there of a family deciding to hotel-sit for a winter in this big resort in the middle of Colorado. Dad, Nicholson, is a writer with writer’s block and you learn early on that he should avoid the booze. His Wife is stay-at-home and watches over their son, Danny, who has an interesting talking finger. I know! We learn that some bad things had happened in the hotel before, and an older black gentleman explains to Danny that he has a gift. Things happen unexpectedly, and there are some head scratching moments about what appear to be dreams or hallucinations, but they can apparently do very real things, like leave marks on living people and move things around. In the end it is all a wonder what happened and why. I can’t say that I can wholeheartedly agree with the resolution. Maybe that is the point. When all is said and done, I don’t think that I need to spend the money to watch the sequel. Even though it is the return of an adult Danny to the silver screen, only his second movie credit. There are some borrowed aspects here with a little of The Omen (1976) and the little boy riding around the house on a tricycle (in this case a big wheel). And some of the creepiness of The Exorcist (1973) which is giving it far too much credit since I regard The Exorcist as the best horror film ever. But the visual of the petrified little boy with the “orange on a toothpick” head was cool as he watched the elevators bleed in spectacular fashion.
Mondays With Robbie 