Not really.Originally Posted by Merlin1958
Not really.
The salad dressing guy?Not really.
Hearts are tough, she said, most times hearts don't break, and I'm sure that's right . . . but what about then? What about who we were then? What about hearts in Atlantis?
Road to Perdition
The Verdict
Absence of Malice
Hombre
Torn Curtain
Hud
Sweet Bird of Youth
The Hustler
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
spoiler
And this is totally out of left field but I watched this the other night and I had no idea how insane the Roman Polanski case actually was/is. I had no idea about the other accusers and after seeing this interview, I mean, damn. The guy who made this video said he ran up against a LOT of opposition to get it posted but it tells a story I never fully knew. NSFW.
Road to Perdition
The Verdict
Absence of Malice
Hombre
Torn Curtain
Hud
Sweet Bird of Youth
The Hustler
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
spoiler
Towering Inferno
Color of Money
Slap Shot
28 in 23 (?)!!!!
63 in '23!!!!!!!!!!
My Collection: https://www.thedarktower.org/palaver...ion-Merlin1958
The Houston Astros cheated Major League Baseball from 2017-18!!!! Is that how we teach our kids to play the game now?????
I forgot Exodus too. That's a pretty decent film.
Some thoughts....
-Thinner was one of my favourite bad movies growing up. Along with The Mangler I watched it over and over again on the illegal black box.
-Dolan's Cadillac is one of my favourite King Short Stories, but it doesn't work as a feature. Like a 30-45min short film, sure. On the flipside, I like The Night Flier as a good horror B movie that could work as a feature.
- The Dark Half is the only Stephen King book I never finished. I've tried reading it twice. I still have the book mark in it from the second attempt in like 2008.
- I don't know if I've ever seen the entirety of Needful Things. It used to be on TV all the time...I think TBS loved using it to eat up an entire afternoon on the weekends, so I think i've only ever seen it in bits and pieces.
- I recently got into an argument on a Dark Tower facebook group page that the The Dark Tower film isn't close to the worst movie ever, nor is it even close to the worst King adaptation ever. I would likely rank it higher than where it is here...probably closer to 25-30, right in the middle. When I rewatched it years removed from the theatre, it's a perfectly average film in its own right even if it fails at doing the novels justice and was totally misguided conceptually that fans extremely exaggerate how bad it is. Gotta judge a film as a film. A big reason why most King adaptations turn out crappy (besides the budgets) is most of his works are unfilmable...too much backstory, too many inner monologues, too much weirdness to easily explain away when King devotes so many pages to exploring weirdness. So much of King's stories happen in the minds of the characters...which leads to the next thought.
- Dreamcatcher is a perfect example of what I was saying above. All the Jonesy/Mr. Gray stuff in the book is great, but actually depicting that visually on screen was just silly looking. Add to that the infamous toilet scene where reading it we understand the addiction to that toothpick so clearly by that point where in the movie The Beav just looks like a moron. Outside of a couple throwaway lines to explain his toothpick addiction, there isn't any way to explain that, and it's impossible to make the audience feel his need for that toothpick in a film...if it were a TV series and they could devote and entire episode to his toothpick it could work. It's placement on the list is about right. The film does some things really right and so, so much really wrong.
- I've never seen Cell and it was probably one of King's most disappointing books for me, up there with Desperation and Under the Dome, so I don't know if I ever will. I also used to love John Cusack but he's direct-to-video man now. Anything featuring him post 2010 is a hard pass.
- Cujo is my least favourite King novel (that I've finished, or else it's The Dark Half) and it's one of my least favourite adaptations. I love "people trapped in a situation" movies, but mother trapped with her son in a car with a rabid St. Bernard outside doesn't do it for me. It's incredibly dull and there's only so much you can do. It's a strong adaptation, but it just accurately adapted what made the novel so shitty. It's dull and way too long.
- The article mentioned The Clovehitch Killer, which everyone should watch. It's a really damn good film.
- People can say what they want about The Dark Tower film, but IT Chapter 2 is the most disappointing adaptation for me. It was easy to expect TDT film to be average at best, but we already got an IT film and it was very, very good. The casting for the adults was also very, very good. This should've been a slam dunk repeat. Only it wasn't. While it still gets a lot of stuff right in terms of the creepy stuff, the great character story built up in Chapter One is totally ruined in the sequel. And it's a shame because the adult half in the old miniseries was terrible because the actors were terrible and the dialogue was terrible. All the actors here are good, and the story itself lets them down. What was even the point of Henry Bowers? What a waste.
- I still haven't watched Christine and I don't know why. It's in my Netflix queue too....
- Hearts in Atlantis is one of the better adaptations, but it's only an okay film. It's one of those films where the script works and the actors work, but it just doesn't come together on film. I watched it once and I'll never watch it again. I'll just read the story again...the actual story Hearts in Atlantis, I mean, which is the much better story too.
- I'm shocked that the Pet Semetary remake is up there so high. This is literally the first good thing I've ever heard about it. The best I've heard before was "it was okay, but just watch the original instead"
- Dolores Claiborne is one that's always intrigued me yet I've never watched it or read it, despite having ample opportunities to do so. I love Kathy Bates and Jennifer Jason Leigh. So why haven't I? Hmmm.
- I keep hearing that the Doctor Sleep Director's Cut is much improved and I thought the theatrical cut was really good. I've had no opportunity to watch it and I've never seen it for sale. I guess I have to hunt it down on Amazon or Ebay.
- As I said before, I love "people trapped in a situation" movies and reading Gerald's Game as a kid is a big reason why. It's a thoroughly engaging read and an even better watch at the hands of Mike Flanagan, who is just the best genre filmmaker going today.
- I haven't seen or read The Dead Zone and it's one of those books/movies where no one seems to say a bad thing. I have no idea why I haven't read or watched it yet.
- I love Misery. The film is so strong that I don't know if I ever want to read the book. I felt that way about The Shining before I read the book and the book disappointed me. I am sure the adaptation is more accurate too, which makes me see even less of a reason to read it.
- Finally, I have never seen Stand By Me. i know, I know. I'm a bad King fan. A very bad King fan.
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I also wish I could understand why this forum adds all these empty lines between my paragraphs. It happens at random. I thought it was just my old laptop at first, but on three different laptops on several different browsers and on two cell phones it's done the same thing to me.
Very weird. (There should only be one empty line here, I bet there's at least two)
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You didn't talk about it but for me The Running Man will always be the worst adaption. Many people seem to love the movie and that's fine if it was just a stand-alone movie on it's own. It shares almost nothing in common with the book other than the title and the name of the main character.-Thinner was one of my favourite bad movies growing up. Along with The Mangler I watched it over and over again on the illegal black box.
I think I watched that movie once. The book ok. The movie was meh.
-Dolan's Cadillac is one of my favourite King Short Stories, but it doesn't work as a feature. Like a 30-45min short film, sure. On the flipside, I like The Night Flier as a good horror B movie that could work as a feature.
Agreed. I love the story. I don't think I've seen the film version though. From what I know of it, I don't know that I'd like it either. Seems to stray too far from the source material.
- The Dark Half is the only Stephen King book I never finished. I've tried reading it twice. I still have the book mark in it from the second attempt in like 2008.
One of many where the book was better. I'm not sure why, but for some reason I always get the film mixed up in my mind with Secret Window.
- I don't know if I've ever seen the entirety of Needful Things. It used to be on TV all the time...I think TBS loved using it to eat up an entire afternoon on the weekends, so I think i've only ever seen it in bits and pieces.
Again, the book was better. The movie tried to consolidate a lot of the story and it just didn't work as well.
- I recently got into an argument on a Dark Tower facebook group page that the The Dark Tower film isn't close to the worst movie ever, nor is it even close to the worst King adaptation ever. I would likely rank it higher than where it is here...probably closer to 25-30, right in the middle. When I rewatched it years removed from the theatre, it's a perfectly average film in its own right even if it fails at doing the novels justice and was totally misguided conceptually that fans extremely exaggerate how bad it is. Gotta judge a film as a film. A big reason why most King adaptations turn out crappy (besides the budgets) is most of his works are unfilmable...too much backstory, too many inner monologues, too much weirdness to easily explain away when King devotes so many pages to exploring weirdness. So much of King's stories happen in the minds of the characters...which leads to the next thought.
I think the article said it pretty well. It's not the worst adaption but maybe the most frustrating. There were so many years of build up and then when it came out it was just disappointing. They tried way too hard to balance the line between attracting the mainstream audience who knew nothing about the story and satisfying the die-hards who wanted this to be the first in a line of many movies to tell the entire story. Then in the end they did neither.
- Dreamcatcher is a perfect example of what I was saying above. All the Jonesy/Mr. Gray stuff in the book is great, but actually depicting that visually on screen was just silly looking. Add to that the infamous toilet scene where reading it we understand the addiction to that toothpick so clearly by that point where in the movie The Beav just looks like a moron. Outside of a couple throwaway lines to explain his toothpick addiction, there isn't any way to explain that, and it's impossible to make the audience feel his need for that toothpick in a film...if it were a TV series and they could devote and entire episode to his toothpick it could work. It's placement on the list is about right. The film does some things really right and so, so much really wrong.
Agree with most of that. I always enjoyed the book but the movie sort of put a bad taste in my mouth for it. I need to go back and re-read it again to see if I still enjoy it as much as I did.
- I've never seen Cell and it was probably one of King's most disappointing books for me, up there with Desperation and Under the Dome, so I don't know if I ever will. I also used to love John Cusack but he's direct-to-video man now. Anything featuring him post 2010 is a hard pass.
I love the Desperation and Under the Dome books. But like Cell, the adaptions were terrible. UtD suffered because they had to try and stretch the story out over multiple TV seasons and just couldn't do it. Cell was ok for the first half of the movie. But the second half and especially the ending were just terrible. The ending in the book was actually one of his better ones IMO. The ending in the movie made zero sense.
- Cujo is my least favourite King novel (that I've finished, or else it's The Dark Half) and it's one of my least favourite adaptations. I love "people trapped in a situation" movies, but mother trapped with her son in a car with a rabid St. Bernard outside doesn't do it for me. It's incredibly dull and there's only so much you can do. It's a strong adaptation, but it just accurately adapted what made the novel so shitty. It's dull and way too long.
Agree. Book and movie are both pretty boring.
- The article mentioned The Clovehitch Killer, which everyone should watch. It's a really damn good film.
- People can say what they want about The Dark Tower film, but IT Chapter 2 is the most disappointing adaptation for me. It was easy to expect TDT film to be average at best, but we already got an IT film and it was very, very good. The casting for the adults was also very, very good. This should've been a slam dunk repeat. Only it wasn't. While it still gets a lot of stuff right in terms of the creepy stuff, the great character story built up in Chapter One is totally ruined in the sequel. And it's a shame because the adult half in the old miniseries was terrible because the actors were terrible and the dialogue was terrible. All the actors here are good, and the story itself lets them down. What was even the point of Henry Bowers? What a waste.
Agree again. I don't know why they can film a decent ending for this story. I don't expect the book ending to be filmed exactly but at least get the spirit of it...
- I still haven't watched Christine and I don't know why. It's in my Netflix queue too....
Love the book and the adaption wasn't bad either. They made a few variations from the book that I didn't quite like but it was still pretty good.
- Hearts in Atlantis is one of the better adaptations, but it's only an okay film. It's one of those films where the script works and the actors work, but it just doesn't come together on film. I watched it once and I'll never watch it again. I'll just read the story again...the actual story Hearts in Atlantis, I mean, which is the much better story too.
The entire Hearts in Atlantis story collection is probably my favorite in the entire SK catalog. The movie suffered from the same issue as The Dark Tower movie did. They have to balance the people that know nothing about the backstory with the people that do. They had to take out all the DT references in the movie which made it a bit blah IMO.
- I'm shocked that the Pet Semetary remake is up there so high. This is literally the first good thing I've ever heard about it. The best I've heard before was "it was okay, but just watch the original instead"
Nobody will ever beat Fred Gwynne as Jud Crandall.
- Dolores Claiborne is one that's always intrigued me yet I've never watched it or read it, despite having ample opportunities to do so. I love Kathy Bates and Jennifer Jason Leigh. So why haven't I? Hmmm.
Read the book once. Watched the movie once. Probably wouldn't make my top 50 list at all.
- I keep hearing that the Doctor Sleep Director's Cut is much improved and I thought the theatrical cut was really good. I've had no opportunity to watch it and I've never seen it for sale. I guess I have to hunt it down on Amazon or Ebay.
Still need to sit and watch this movie. Not sure why I haven't yet.
- As I said before, I love "people trapped in a situation" movies and reading Gerald's Game as a kid is a big reason why. It's a thoroughly engaging read and an even better watch at the hands of Mike Flanagan, who is just the best genre filmmaker going today.
I was surprised at how good this adaption was. Mike Flanagan needs to do more.
- I haven't seen or read The Dead Zone and it's one of those books/movies where no one seems to say a bad thing. I have no idea why I haven't read or watched it yet.
I read the book years ago and thought it was ok. Watched the movie and hated it. Turned it off halfway through. Then just recently I re-watched the movie for the first time in like 20 years. Didn't hate it but I didn't see what the hype is about either.
- I love Misery. The film is so strong that I don't know if I ever want to read the book. I felt that way about The Shining before I read the book and the book disappointed me. I am sure the adaptation is more accurate too, which makes me see even less of a reason to read it.
Honestly, as good as the movie is, the book is slightly better IMO.
- Finally, I have never seen Stand By Me. i know, I know. I'm a bad King fan. A very bad King fan.
I don't even know what to say.
Stand By Me and Shawshank are always 1 and 1A for me as far as adaptions go.
If they would ever make a film that actually follows the plot of the book, I'd love to see that. Because the story in the book was really good. They have to change the ending obviously.
Hearts are tough, she said, most times hearts don't break, and I'm sure that's right . . . but what about then? What about who we were then? What about hearts in Atlantis?
Edgar Wright To Direct Stephen King’s ‘The Running Man’ At Paramount Pictures
I think I remember hearing about that last year. Sucks that no new news about has come out since.Edgar Wright To Direct Stephen King’s ‘The Running Man’ At Paramount Pictures
Hearts are tough, she said, most times hearts don't break, and I'm sure that's right . . . but what about then? What about who we were then? What about hearts in Atlantis?
I just rewatched both Get Out and Us, two superb films by Jordan Peele. I had not seen either of them for a second time and wanted to introduce my two daughters to them, age 17 and 20, so we could go see Nope in the theaters as a family. I was surprised that they both enjoyed Us more, and I am equally surprised to say that I did as well. I had enjoyed Us the first time around, but I really missed some of the smaller nuances that make it such a great film. Funny what a second viewing does.
I liked US until the final third. Then it became Exposition: The Movie, and I liked it a lot less.
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US was fine but the
Spoiler:
Still, Peele is one of our younger auteurs and any film he helms is worth a watch.
Absurd, yes, but as an allegory about race and social class in America it's a first rate film: I get chills when I hear the line "We're Americans."
I thought of Us as a nightmarish metaphor for class warfare and the consequence of poverty/capitalism.
Get Out is probably a better film but I must admit that Us made me think harder.
Absurd, yes, but as an allegory about race and social class in America it's a first rate film: I get chills when I hear the line "We're Americans."
I've seen/read plenty of allegories that are powerful yet make sense. Nothing about the allegory in Us makes sense.
Spoiler:
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I loved both of his films and can't wait for the next one.
Only the gentle are ever really strong.
Uh oh... NOPE review embargo doesn't lift until 24hrs before release date. This is hardly ever, ever a good sign...
allow me to agree with one word... NOPE
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Insomnia #459
ANY S/L #459
I thought the original trailer was fantastic. I thought the most recent trailer made the film seem a whole lot less interesting.
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Early reviews are calling this a masterpiece. I just read a ton of them…, ALL VERY POSITIVE
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HELP ME FIND
Insomnia #459
ANY S/L #459
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