summer of shit movies (in winter) Doctor Sleep (go see it)

as unbelievable as this sounds, I thought Doctor Sleep was fantastic

the trailer doesn't do the film any justice. Makes it look like shit, really.

for some reason, its a sequel to The Shining. Both the book and the movie. Its a weird sequel in that you won't be lost if you never saw The Shining. But! You won't get the full effect of the scenes that do.

the plot is the most Alex Jones thing ever. Its mostly a cat and mouse chase between Star Wars force users and gypsy force vampires that prey on force users. Somehow it works. The thing that seems to make everything work is the stylized approach and off putting soundtrack to increase tension. Its very clearly an imitation of Kubrick's directing with The Shining. Its not in the same league as Kubrick, but it worked for me.

Of note is The Shining is almost 40 years old, and Doctor Sleep uses characters from it. Obviously they couldn't get the original actors as most of them are fat, ancient, senile, or dead, so they resorted to using the worst look-a-likes possible.

Except for

Ewan McGregor who does a pretty convincing impersonation of Charlie Sheen the entire movie.

Doctor Sleep really isn't a horror movie. Its more a thriller. Its easy to get attached to McGregor's character, so the parts that are meant to bother the viewer where his fate looks uncertain and you don't know what's gonna happen.

This is something that The Shining also does well.

Doctor Sleep also revisits the monster in The Shining. Believe it or not, The Shining is a parable about alcoholism and addiction. The scene with Lloyd the bartender for instance. Lloyd is written as a ghost. But he actually represents temptation. Jack is weak and fucked up over being stranded in a hotel, having writers block, dealing with his retarded fucked up kid, and being married to Olive Oyl from the Popeye movie.



This is revisited a few times in Doctor Sleep and it produces the most uneasy moments of the film where you are left wondering if Danny is going to hit the sauce. AKA grandpa's cough medicine.

But if there's anything clear to me about Doctor Sleep, is that it continues the theme of addiction. The fart huffing vampires are clearly analogues of dope smokers 'chasing the dragon'.

there were only 2 major things that disappointed me about Doctor Sleep.

there's no random scene involving the man with a dog mask (more like Winnie the pooh) sucking off some dude.

and

there was no scene that is only made memorable because of pictures of naked black women with enormous afros

if you don't know what I'm talking about:



anyway, I recommend seeing it. I thought it was really good. I haven't read the book, but the film is solid. Its not schlocky like most film adaptations of King's books are.

its also one of the few films critics and viewers seem to agree is a good film on rotten tomatoes

its a shame its bombing so hard.