Some more quick reviews

“Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice”

A very good and entertaining documentary about Linda Ronstadt. She narrates this film herself and it spans her entire career. It captures all the different times she’s reinvented herself when she didn’t have to whether it be performing in Broadway shows, doing American standards or tackling Latin music, which she ultimately won a slew of Grammys for. She always did things her way. The music, of course is terrific and if you weren’t a fan of hers before, you will be now.

Rating: (****)

“Doctor Sleep”

A very long and unneeded follow-up to The Shining. This film got a very favorable response from Stephen King so I checked it out. I had a really difficult time following a lot of the story. The film is told with Dan Torrance (Ewan McGregor) in the forefront many years older, but still pretty messed up. In this story, you’ve got witches, cults, multi-dimensions and all kinds of nonsense. Rebecca Ferguson plays a pretty compelling witch/villian but I also didn’t really understand what she had to do with the whole Shining ability. The last 30 minutes when they finally incorporate the Overlook Hotel is probably the best part of the film as the action picks up a little. It’s just a mess and for 2.5 hours, I was really wondering what the point of this was.

Rating: (**)

“Ford v Ferrari”

One of the Best Picture contenders of 2019 is a very entertaining film based on the true story of the battle between 2 automakers to win the LaMans Race in the 60s. Matt Damon and Christian Bale play partners in a constant battle with the Ford company to do things their own way and to ultimately give them the car to win the big race. Bale plays the driver who doesn’t have the right image, but Damon fights for him. There are some terrific sequences in this such as Damon taking Henry Ford II (Tracy Letts) for a ride and the LeMans race is also quite exciting. The racing sequences are very well done and there are a bunch of them. There is lots of humor sprinkled in to help move things along and lighten the film. Not sure I would’ve ranked this among one of the best films of last year, but it’s very good and worth sitting through.

Rating: (***1/2)