#Middlebury #DVD
“Doctor Sleep” (R) – Building on the 1980 iconic terror of “The Shining” and loosely based on Stephen King’s story, we find little Danny Torrance (Ewan McGregor) all grown up and 40 years removed from the snow-encapsulated events at Overlook. Now in control of his psychic abilities, he’s a hospice worker in a small East Coast town. Abra (Kyliegh Curran), a teen who shares Dan’s strange powers, seeks to form an alliance against a group of roving extrasensory power thieves called the True Knot. Headed by Rose the Hat (Rebecca Ferguson), the group has targeted Abra, and Dan must submit to his own powers in order to help her.
Scene from “Playing With Fire” (Paramount Pictures photo)
“Playing With Fire” (PG) – John Cena stars as a tightly wound supervisor of a top tier team of firemen. He and his squad – comedy backup by Keegan-Michael Key as Mark, and John Leguizamo as Rodrigo – rescue a trio of plucky kids (Brianna Hildebrand, Christian Convery and Finley Rose Slater) from a raging wildfire, and they’re going to have to look out for them until their parents are located. Big boy babysitters get a lesson in wildly unpredictable forces of nature: kids. The laughs resonated with the 10-13 set. Also stars Judy Greer as Amy Hicks, a child psychologist and wholesome love interest.
“The Nightingale” (R) – A young Irish woman (Aisling Franciosi) is bound to the cruel Lieutenant Hawkins (Sam Claflin) in colonial Australia. At the end of her indentured service, he refuses to free her, and she is victimized by Hawkins and his cadre of friends. With no saviors, and no authority to turn to, she enlists the help of an aboriginal man named Billy (Baykali Ganambarr) to guide her as she tracks down her attackers. Although distrustful, he helps the girl, and the pair find commonalities between them. Determination for retribution is a fearsome thing to behold, and the mood is set perfectly by director Jennifer Kent.
“Last Christmas” (PG-13) – Emilia Clarke and Henry Golding play an odd couple in director Paul Fieg’s sassy comedy based on a song by the 1980s pop group Wham! It’s meant to be inspirational – and in many ways it is – but as cute as the leads are, it doesn’t quite live up to its promise. Kate (Clarke) is a retail clerk in a year-round Christmas shop. She isn’t the most successful elf, having just been kicked out of her apartment. One day she meets an extraordinary man named Tom (Golding) who is affable and uplifting, generous and optimistic. As London blossoms into full magical Christmas season, she is influenced enough by him to open up about an illness she’s just gone through. There’s a heck of a twist at the end.
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“Sonic Boom” Season 1
“Spirit” The Ultimate Collection
“Dragonheart: Vengeance”
© 2020 King Features Synd., Inc.
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