Movies
After the first movie, Andy Muschetti and co. had three major problems in adapting the remainder of Stephen King's novel: 1. The adult material is far weaker than the kid material in the novel, 2. The adult material only really makes sense when it is cross-cut with the kid material (as it is in the book), and 3. The adult material features a good chunk of the super bizarre mythology that made people talk about the novel being "unadaptable." For problem #1, the filmmakers basically just threw up their hands and said, "What are ya gonna do?", as Chapter Two makes no real attempt to make the adult material any more compelling than it is in the book. For problem #2, Chapter Two decides to invent new material for the kids to cross-cut with the adult scenes, which is an inelegant solution, but the more elegant solution was to have planned the first one to account for the necessary cross-cutting, so now that they're stuck making just the sequel, again: "What are ya gonna do?" For problem #3, the movie basically jettisons all but the barest sketch of the book's mythology (goodbye, Cosmic Turtle, we'll miss you), which would probably have been the best decision had this movie had any good ideas on what to replace it with, and unfortunately, it doesn't; the finale is instead a protracted, CGI-heavy, repetitious slog tied together with some pretty weaksauce themes. So what you have with Chapter Two is a movie that's overlong, undercooked, and unfun. It has little of the complexity of the novel and none of the charm of Chapter One, and I didn't have a good time at all. Grade: C-
On the one hand, this is a great conceptual documentary centered around the idea of myth-making and the slippery concept of what "Bob Dylan" actually is—the insertion of intentionally misleading/false information here is getting all the attention, but just as important is the use of fictional scenes from Dylan's film Renaldo and Clara as if they are actual footage of conversations between Dylan and Baez, etc. It's all very interesting and funny and playful, and I dug it. On the other hand, this movie is just a great compilation of some truly stupendous concert footage—the "Rolling Thunder Revue" performances are much less iconic and well-worn than the folk/electric period Scorsese used in his other Dylan doc, No Direction Home, which means that this movie's live footage feels much more special and revelatory and fresh, especially if (like me) you hadn't heard the Bootleg Series release of this music beforehand. These particular renditions of old classics are incredible, and the intense performances of then-contemporary material from Desire and stuff stands toe-to-toe with the reinterpreted '60s material. Plus, you get an off-the-cuff moment of Joni Mitchell playing an early version of "Coyote" for a room of Dylan and his folks, which is beyond cool. So whether you're here for the weird thematic games or just some stellar concert doc material, you're going to have a blast. Grade: A
Its lack of that Lord and Miller touch makes the humor feel forced rather than effortless, and the screenplay in general is just kind of dull and predictable (although "Evil Steve Jobs" is a fun enough [albeit redundant] concept for a villain). That said, though, the creature design is super fun—the movie never runs out of inventive ways to visualize food/animal puns, and I thought that was a hoot. Grade: B-
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