Quick takes on 5 films

I’m a big fan of The Shining (the film, and admittedly maybe because I’m a huge Kubrick fan), but ashamedly I’ve never read the book, much to my son’s consternation (one of his favorite books, and he dogs me about it because he hates the film). I’ve been excited to see Doctor Sleep, the sequel to that long-ago book and film. Danny Torrance (portrayed wonderfully by Ewan McGregor) is all grown up. He’s kept his “shine” skill locked up inside himself all these years, which probably, unknowingly, saved his life. There’s a group of evil beings that have been hunting people with the shine for hundreds of years, feeding on them to extend their own lives. While feeding on one such young boy in Iowa, the violence grabs the attention of a teenage girl, Abra, living in New Hampshire. Abra is very powerful in the shine, and while she is feeling the death of the boy, her power is felt by the evil cult. Knowing they will come for her, Abra reaches out to Danny for help. This film is tremendous. Not overly scary but definitely creepy, it is more of a thriller in the vein of Carrie or some of those kinds of Stephen King’s stories. I’m not a big fan of the very ending of the film, the last 15-20 minutes of this 2 ½ hour picture, but the rest of the film is so great, I still highly recommend it. As a huge fan of King’s Dark Tower series, I also appreciated the whole lot of references to other works of King throughout the film, including the Dark Tower. ★★★★

I wanted to watch Honey Boy because of its sterling reviews, but had a certain, subdued expectation going in as well. The film is a fictionalized biography written by Shia LaBeouf, about his childhood with her abusive father. It is based on a screenplay LaBeouf wrote while in rehab, as a form of therapy. LaBeouf is a fantastic actor, but let’s be honest, he can be a piece of shit sometimes. I expected this film to be a pat-on-the-back, “this is why I’m effed up” excuse for his behaviors. It isn’t. The film is a frank, open, honest, and vulnerable depiction of LaBeouf’s complicated relationship with his father. LaBeouf plays his own dad, with Lucas Hodges and Noah Jupe playing a fictionalized version of himself named Otis. Otis is a 12-year-old child actor living with his dad in a longterm motel. Dad is a former rodeo clown, a Vietnam vet, and an alcoholic, who, as a convicted felon, can’t hold a job. He’s awful to Otis, but it is obvious that his behavior masks his contempt for himself and the way his life has turned out, the failure as a man and father that he sees in himself. LaBeouf’s screenplay and the direction by Alma Har’el are perfect. This is a hard film to do well. Make it too sappy, and it would come off as contrived or preachy. Make it too documentorial, and it would be what I first expected, an excuse for LaBeouf’s problems. Instead, it really is perfect as it sits. The three main actors are all great (close your eyes, and Hodges sounds just like LaBeouf). ★★★½

Ford v Ferrari details the historical period when Henry Ford’s car company’s sales were down, losing business to rival Chevy and prestige to European speedsters like Ferrari. Up-and-comer Lee Iacocca convinces Henry Ford II to go after the latter to beat the former. Lee promotes getting more heavily involved in the racing format, with the goal to win the Le Mans 24 hour race, to show the world that Ford can build cars that can compete with anyone. To meet this end, they reach out to Caroll Shelby to help design Ford’s newest racing machine, and Shelby then approaches longtime friend and fellow racer, Ken Miles, to drive it. The film showcases these people’s attempt to beat Ferrari and his racing car, both through innovation in the garage and by getting the best driver on the course. The film does an excellent job of balancing the heart-pounding action of the races with the drama (and personality clashes) behind the scenes. Though a film like this doesn’t always rely heavily on acting chops, everyone turns in a good performance, from Matt Damon as Shelby to Christian Bale as Miles, and supported by Josh Lucas, Jon Bernthal, and a host of others. Very good film. As a racing picture, I think I dug Rush from a few years ago a bit more, but this film feels more balanced. ★★★½

If you are looking for a feel-good picture, it doesn’t get any better than The Peanut Butter Falcon. It takes a classic innocent boy running away to fulfill a dream kind of story, and swaps the young boy with a man with down syndrome instead. You don’t see many films with such a person in the main, leading role, and newcomer Zack Gottsagen is up to the task. In the film, Zack is a young man forced to live at a retirement community, because he has no family to do the things he cannot do for himself. However, he feels trapped, and while he has friends there, he’s also about 50 years younger than everyone else. Eleanor (Dakota Johnson) is a kind nurse/caregiver, but she doesn’t fully understand Zack’s predicament. One night, Zack successfully breaks out, and finds himself the unlikely companion of a local roughneck, Tyler (Shia LeBeouf again!). Tyler is on the run himself, and decides to lead Zack to a wrestling school a few miles away, where Zack hopes to meet his personal hero, a wrestler named The Salt Water Redneck. With Eleanor on their tail, as well as a couple hoodlums chasing Tyler, a bond forms between our duo on their multiple adventures. It’s heartwarming, thoughtful, eye-opening, and above all else, beautiful. ★★★★

Can a man learn from his mistakes, and the mistakes of his father? That’s the big question in James Gray’s Ad Astra, a deep and contemplative film, as was Gray’s last one, The Lost City of Z. Instead of the jungles of the Amazon, this time Gray takes us to the emptiness of space. Set in the “near future,” Roy McBride (Brad Pitt) is a cool, calm, and collected astronaut, who doesn’t get rattled even under extreme pressure. When sudden and deadly energy surges start hitting Earth, McBride is sent to Mars for a top secret mission. The brass have discovered the surges are coming all the way from Neptune, and the last thing that far out in our solar system was a mission by McBride’s long-last and presumed dead father, hero astronaut Clifford McBride. The elder McBride took a team to Neptune years earlier, to build a remote station in hopes of contacting life further out in space. He never contacted his family again, leading Roy to grow up with some serious relationship issues. On Mars, Roy receives the news that his father may have survived all these years out by Neptune, which brings back a lot of memories and feelings Roy thought to have buried long ago. Both introspective and gripping, with moments of sheer intensity that will get your heart rate going even in McBride’s isn’t, I absolutely loved this film. It is downright scary at times too, when Roy is out in space with no one to help when something goes wrong. Some may find the pacing a bit slow, but if you are a fan of Kubrick’s 2001, you’ll probably like this one too. ★★★★½