Tim joined Tom Barnard and the crew for the “The KQ Morning Show” on KQRS-FM Thursday to review the drama “Falling” and the comedy romance “Wild Mountain Thyme.” Click to listen below. The segments are brought to you by Michael Bryant and Bradshaw & Bryant.
Jamie Dornan and Emily Blunt in “Wild Mountain Thyme” (Bleecker Street Media)
Tim Lammers reviews movies weekly for “The KQ92 Morning Show” with Tom Barnard on KQRS-FM, “Paul and Jordana” with Paul Douglas and Jordana Green on WCCO Radio, “It Matters with Kelly Cordes” on WJON-AM, KLZZ-FM, “Let’s Talk Movies with Tim Lammers” with Tim Matthews on KRWC-AM, “The Tom Barnard Podcast” and “The BS Show” with Bob Sansevere, and reviews streaming programming on WCCO Radio’s “Paul and Jordana” as well. On TV, Tim has made hundreds of guest appearances on NBC affiliate KARE on the news program “KARE 11 News at 11”.
The magic is back after 54 years with “Mary Poppins Returns,” the long-anticipated sequel to the classic, 1964 Disney musical starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke.
Disney clearly took its time to get the sequel just right, and while star Emily Blunt will inevitably suffer comparisons to the legendary Andrews, there’s no question that the actress has turned in a career performance as the enchanting nanny from the sky. Combining her talents with the burgeoning Broadway-turned-film star Lin-Manuel Miranda under the expert direction of Rob Marshall, Blunt may very well accomplish the incredible achieved by Andrews with the original and win the Oscar for Best Actress.
Like the original film, Mary Poppins comes to 17 Cherry Tree Lane in London to look after the Banks children, but the family has grown. Michael (Ben Wishaw) and Jane (Emily Mortimer) are adults, and Michael is a widowed father of three younger children, Anabel (Pixie Davies), John (Nathanael Saleh) and George (Joel Dawson). With the Great Slump hitting the family hard financially, Michael is in danger of losing the Banks family home; but things begin to look up when Mary Poppins returns and brings some magic back into the family’s life.
Like the original “Mary Poppins,” the sequel is filled with colorful characters, including Jack (Miranda), who mirrors the Van Dyke role in the original film as a lamplighter who has a special connection to Mary. Meryl Streep, who starred in Marshall’s adaptation of legendary composer Stephen Sondheim’s “Into the Woods” (along with Blunt”), also turns up in a memorable scene, and Colin Firth co-stars in a small but pivotal role as a banker who holds the fate of the Banks’ household in his hands.
Every frame of “Mary Poppins Returns” dazzles, from Blunt’s undeniable presence as the title character, to the songs — largely performed by Blunt and Miranda (but also include Streep, Wishaw and a couple surprise actors in cameos) – and production numbers, peppy dialogue and striking visual effects, especially in a scene, that like the original, features a hybrid of live-action and hand-drawn animation.
Topping things off is a brimming final musical number that will no doubt leave you in tears, and longing for the day when Mary Poppins returns again – whether it be in a repeat viewing, or if you have time and patience, another sequel. Let’s hope people are content with watching this new film over and over again, since it serves as a perfect bookend to the original that makes the big screen adventures of Mary Poppins complete.
Lammometer: 9.5 (out of 10)
Tim Lammers reviews movies weekly for The KQ92 Morning Show,” “KARE 11 News at 11” (NBC), WCCO Radio, WJON-AM, KLZZ-FM, “The Tom Barnard Podcast” and “The BS Show” with Bob Sansevere.
Josh Brolin and Benicio Del Toro are back with a vengeance in “Sicario: Day of the Soldado,” a compelling crime drama with heavy-duty, real-life overtones relating to the problems the government faces with cartels on U.S.-Mexico border. The follow-up to director Denis Villeneuve’s acclaimed 2015 original, “Day of the Soldado” doesn’t so much feel like a sequel than it does a continuation of an expansive story line, where the focus on drug trafficking shifts to human trafficking and the threat of terrorists infiltrating the U.S. with the help of the cartels.
With Emily Blunt’s idealistic FBI agent from the first “Sicario” no longer a part of the equation, “Day of the Soldado” keys in on CIA heavy Matt Graver (Brolin), who is saddled with the daunting task of trying to derail a major cartel’s human trafficking operation and new practice of smuggling in ISIS terrorists into the U.S.
Hear Tim’s review of “Sicario: Day of the Soldado” with Tom Barnard on “The KQ Morning Show.” Segment begins 10 minutes in.
But since the mission is off the books and no use of military is involved for political reasons, Graver convinces U.S. Secretary of Defense James Riley (Matthew Modine) that the best way to take on the cartels is to start a war between them, which is done by kidnapping cartel kingpin Carlos Reyes’ young teen daughter (Isabella Moner) — and setting it up to look like another cartel is responsible. To help execute the mission, Graver brings back his mysterious Mexican operative Alejandro (Del Toro), whose stake in the game remains very personal since Reyes’ is the man responsible for killing his family.
Even though the film maintains the foreboding tone of he original “Sicario,” “Day of the Soldado” isn’t perfect, and it particularly gets muddled as director Stefano Sollima tries to juggle the main narrative with a sub-narrative about a teen boy (Elijah Rodriguez) getting in over his head as he joins a human trafficking operation. Fortunately, the film comes together when the story lines intersect, leading to brutal conclusion that leaves as many questions as there are answers.
While Brolin and Del Toro are terrific as usual, the real MVP of “Day of the Soldado” is screenwriter Taylor Sheridan, who wrote the script for the first “Sicario,” as well as “Hell or High Water” and “Wind River” (which he also directed). He has an incredible handle of bringing dark and violent tales of realism to light, and miraculously makes his stories engaging even though they can be depressing as hell. And while “Day of the Soldado” is coming out at an odd time as a summer movie release, hopefully the film will gain enough momentum for Sheridan’s screenplay to gain some recognition come fall. It’s far too important a story to ignore.
Lammometer: 7.5 (out of 10)
Tim Lammers reviews movies weekly for The KQ92 Morning Show,” “KARE 11 News at 11” (NBC), WCCO Radio, WJON-AM, KLZZ-FM, “The Tom Barnard Podcast” and “The BS Show” with Bob Sansevere.
VIDEO: Watch Tim’s review of ‘A Quiet Place’ with Zac Lashway on KARE 11 above.
“A Quiet Place” (PG-13)
Silence has never been so golden as it is in “A Quiet Place,” writer-director John Krasinski’s brilliant horror thriller that elevates the genre to a whole new level. Also starring Krasinski opposite his real-life wife Emily Blunt, the 90-minute film — almost completely void of any dialogue — is a complete nail biter from its shocking beginning until its blast of an ending.
Krasinski and Blunt star as Lee and Evelyn Abbott, a couple in the near future with an uncertain future after what appears to have been an alien attack that has decimated the population on the planet. Picking up 89 days after the perceived invasion, Lee and Evelyn and their young family are rocked to the core when an unspeakable tragedy hits them. There’s no crying out loud in pain, though, because the aliens who have invaded their world, while blind, have a hyper-sensitive sense of hearing and viciously kill their subjects when they are startled by any sudden noises. Because of that, the only way Lee, Evelyn and their young son, Marcus (Noah Jupe) can communicate is through sign language, a skill they acquired because their daughter, Regan (Millicent Simmonds) was born deaf.
Jumping ahead about nine months after the invasion, the family has taken refuge in an abandoned farmhouse, which Lee has equipped with several monitors to detect the creatures that hunt them. They’re far from completely safe from the aliens, though, as an upcoming event will present a whole new challenge for their survival: Evelyn is very pregnant and ready to give birth, and with loud cries of pain and hopefully joy in their future, it leaves the family more vulnerable than they’ve ever been with no hope to battle the creatures in sight.
In his third effort at the helm of a feature film (and he’s also directed three episodes of his ensemble comedy alma mater “The Office”), Krasinski shows incredible skill as a filmmaker, and in the unlikeliest of genres, to boot. While he’s done comedy drama before, the actor/filmmaker shows with “A Quiet Place” that he has an incredible handle on horror/suspense filmmaking, a feat made remarkable given the film only contains about three dozen lines of short dialogue in its entirety. And while most communication is done through sign language (with the aid of subtitles), it doesn’t matter whether how the words are delivered, since the film’s quiet desperation is captivating from the very first frame.
Naturally, the most shocking moments in the film come when noises are made and the creatures (which appear to be an arachnid in form, and a cross between xenomorphs from the “Alien” movies and Spider-Man’s foe Venom) attack. The great thing is, Krasinski holds off a full reveal of the creatures until the third act, which goes a long way as the film escalates in tension as we see more and more of the ghastly beings as the film moves along. Of course, the attacks mean nothing if we don’t root for the protagonists, and expressive portrayals by Blunt, Krasinski and their two young co-stars are so subtle and so engaging that you almost feel that you’re right there with them. They may not say much, but their emotions feel real.
Fresh and inventive, “A Quiet Place” is easily one of the best films of 2018 to date, and a horror thriller that has unquestionably raised the bar for what is dangerously becoming a stale genre.
Lammometer: 9 (out of 10)
AUDIO: Hear Tim’s review with Tom Barnard on “The KQ Morning Show.”
Tim Lammers reviews movies weekly for The KQ92 Morning Show,” “KARE 11 News at 11” (NBC), WCCO Radio, WJON-AM, KLZZ-FM, “The Tom Barnard Podcast” and “The BS Show” with Bob Sansevere.
