Tim joined Jordana Green Tuesday to review the original streaming series “Loki” (Disney+) and “Lisey’s Story” (AppleTV+) on the “Paul and Jordana” show on WCCO-AM. Click to listen below. The segment is brought to you by Michael Bryant and Bradshaw & Bryant.
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”.
On assignment for Looper.com, Tim talked with actor Joan Allen about her role in the new Stephen King series “Lisey’s Story” on AppleTV+. Head over to Tim’s interview page on Looper to read the interview or click the links above or in the tweet below:
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 haunting visions of Stephen King’s “The Shining” have been frightfully reawakened with “Doctor Sleep,” a creepy, intense and too-disturbing-for-its own good at times sequel to the director Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 horror film classic.
Based on King’s 2013 novel of the same name, writer, director and editor Mike Flanagan’s 2-hour, 30-minute opus doesn’t come close to “The Shining,” but it is still impressive, nonetheless. It’s clear that Flanagan (“The Haunting of Hill House”) was intent on making the sprawling tale of Danny Torrance his own while honoring the Kubrick film; yet it somehow manages to capture the same tone of “The Shining” even though “Doctor Sleep” is set largely away from the Overlook Hotel.
AUDIO: Hear Tim’s review of “Doctor Sleep” with Tom Barnard on “The KQ Morning Show” on KQRS-FM. The segment is brought to you by Michael Bryant and Bradshaw & Bryant.
“Doctor Sleep” begins in flashback, where Flanagan casts lookalike actors to step in for the young Shelley Duvall and Danny Lloyd to pick up the lives of Wendy and Danny Torrance not long after the murderous events at the end of “The Shining.” Naturally, Danny has been left deeply traumatized by the actions of his father, Jack, and coupled with his gift (or curse) of “the shine” — which gives psychic abilities to see horrific visions of the past and communicate with others who have similar abilities –- he’s barely able to function. The trauma is so debilitating that it drags on into Danny’s (the always great Ewan McGregor) life as an adult, where, like his father, Jack, he has taken refuge in a bottle.
Danny’s life takes a turn, however, when he meets a fellow alcoholic, Billy Freeman (Cliff Curtis), and begins to communicate with Abra Stone (Kyliegh Curran in an impressive big screen debut), who has a more powerful version of the shine. Unbeknownst to both Danny and Abra, however, is a growing, deadly threat: There’s a small group of quasi-immortal people known as The True Knot, led by the malevolent Rose the Hat (a brilliant Rebecca Ferguson), who hunt down and kill children with the shine, consuming a steam that they expel while they are dying, the essence of which fuels their immortality.
While he doesn’t quite have the presence that Jack Nicholson did in “The Shining,” there’s no question McGregor commands your attention in “Doctor Sleep” as a deeply troubled individual trying to lock away his past in metaphorical boxes, only to be faced with confronting those demons once again as Danny is forced to return to the Overlook Hotel for a cataclysmic showdown in the last 20 minutes of the film’s third act.
It’s there where we get to experience Abra’s true powers and Rose the Hat’s ultimate wickedness, and not surprisingly, the return of Jack Torrance. But instead of using the benefits of CGI or clips from the original “Shining” to bring Jack back, Flanagan opts instead to recast the role, presenting Henry Thomas (“ET the Extraterrestrial”) as Jack Torrance/Nicholson in 1980, along with the recasting of all the other specters that haunted the young Danny from the original film.
It’s hard to say why, exactly, Flanagan took that route, other than to guess he did so to fend off any accusations that he was ripping off Kubrick to benefit his own film. No matter the case, the recasting works enough to grab viewers for the film’s frightening conclusion.
Rebecca Ferguson and Kyliegh Curran in “Doctor Sleep.”
Not having read the original source material, it’s hard to say how faithful “Doctor Sleep” is to the original King novel. My guess is that it’s very faithful, given that it takes some time (exemplifying King’s meandering ways) for the plot to come together. No matter the case, one thing is certain: King has an unhealthy obsession with the way children are brutalized, either psychologically or physically (or both) in his novels.
From the doomed teenage character in “Carrie” to the Loser’s Club in the “It” films to the unfortunate child victims in “Pet Sematary,” there’s no doubt King forces adults to confront their worst fears; but in the case of “Doctor Sleep,” there’s a disturbing scene with a pre-teen (Jacob Tremblay) that crosses the line as Rose the Hat and her frightening band of immortals carry out a ritual to feed upon the fear and pain of their young victim. It is downright amazing Warner Bros. didn’t take a harder look at the scene and ask Flanagan to tone things down. It’s an unnecessarily disturbing scene that stains an otherwise stellar horror film.
Lammometer: 8 (out of 10)
Tim Lammers reviews movies weekly for “The KQ92 Morning Show” on KQRS-FM, “Paul and Jordana” on WCCO Radio, “It Matters with Kelly Cordes on WJON-AM, KLZZ-FM, “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 “KARE 11 News at 11” (NBC).
One of Stephen King’s most ambitious novels has finally been given its due with “IT: Chapter Two,” the monstrously thrilling second half to the first chapter of “IT” in 2017. Yes, it will feel long to some audience members with a 2-hour, 49-minute runtime (it’s more than a half-hour longer than the 2017 original), but for those enamored with the details of King’s source material, there’s plenty more story to revel in.
The great thing is, not only is this chapter told from the standpoint of the adult versions of The Losers’ Club, it melds in many more pages from the stories of the young Losers in flashback, which naturally involves more nightmare scenarios with the ghoulish Pennywise the Dancing Clown.
“IT: Chapter Two” picks up where the 2017 film left off in 1989, where a group of adolescent outcasts – after they seemingly defeated Pennywise – make a blood oath to return to their hometown of Derry, Maine, and reunite to fight the embodiment of evil once again should he resurface. Just as the Pennywise legend foretold, the demented clown returns to Derry and begins to claim more victims 27 years later in 2016, and its up to traumatized adults to not only muster up the courage to stand united in the hometown they left behind, but carry out a tribal ritual that will rid their town of the creature they call IT once and for all.
Starring an impressive cast almost entirely made of young teens in the 2017 film, “IT: Chapter Two” is twice as good from an acting standpoint, as we not only get the adult versions of the Losers’ Club (including Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy and Bill Hader), the young cast returns as well in flashback scenes that expand their storylines. As for Pennywise, Bill Skarsgard is back and even more frightening than the original, appearing in not only creepy clown form (which is scary enough), but as an assortment of nightmare-inducing creatures that will make you jump, squirm, turn away in disgust and laugh at the same time. It’s a howling great time and bloody brilliant follow-up to the 2017 blockbuster.
Lammometer: 8 (out of 10)
Tim Lammers reviews movies weekly for “The KQ92 Morning Show,” WCCO Radio, WJON-AM, KLZZ-FM, “The Tom Barnard Podcast” and “The BS Show” with Bob Sansevere. On TV, Tim has made hundreds of guest appearances on “KARE 11 News at 11” (NBC).
