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The Stephen King movie thread - Page 6

post #251 of 315
7/22/10 at 2:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Arjen Rudd View Post
Not about Needful Things, but he's firmly on record as being a huge fan of Bradbury and Something Wicked in specific. The general idea behind Needful Things is nearly identical too.
I re-read "Needful Things" last summer and I believe there's one explicit reference to Gaunt as one of the Autumn People. Between the lines (and aside from similar nature of the plots themselves), there's reference to Gaunt crawling the years down through history, acting as a peddlar moving from medieval village to medieval village etc. It's also the reason that Gaunt and his car transform at the very end into a driver and carriage. This mirrors Bradbury's descriptions of Cooger & Dark's Circus existing throughout history, sowing sorrow as they traveled.
Quote:
Something Wicked is a great 100 page read. The movie is nothing.
Absolutely. It's actually my favorite book.
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post #252 of 315
7/22/10 at 3:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mattioli
It's actually my favorite book.
It's in my top three. HIGHLY recommended.

Reading this thread has got me wondering where I'd got to find the definitive list of King properties brought to screen. IMDB? Or some King blowjob site?
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post #253 of 315
7/22/10 at 3:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Arjen Rudd View Post

That domestic abuse quartet was really weird, You knew he was working through something there.
I thought the same thing, and I'd really rather not know the details.
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post #254 of 315
7/22/10 at 3:51pm
I derailed that pretty hard. Yes, I'm insane. I don't deny that at all.

"Suffer the Little Children" is a really great King short story. As far as I'm aware it hasn't been adapted in any form yet, but I think it could work pretty well.
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post #255 of 315
7/22/10 at 3:55pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ratty View Post
I thought the same thing, and I'd really rather not know the details.
Agreed. It was just an awkward stretch of books to read.
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post #256 of 315
7/22/10 at 3:56pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MatthewH. View Post
"Suffer the Little Children" is a really great King short story. As far as I'm aware it hasn't been adapted in any form yet, but I think it could work pretty well.
Quality entertainment, I have no doubt.
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post #257 of 315
7/22/10 at 4:08pm
The Something Wicked movie is worth checking out, because it was part of the "Dark Disney" phase and with Johnathan Pryce and Jason Robards in key roles you get decent performances. Some of the imagery is pretty good too.

Bradbury wrote the screenplay also, so it's not a total hack job. But yeah, read the book. It's a classic.

EDIT: whoops, spoke too soon: (From imdb trivia page)
Disney made many changes to the film that Ray Bradbury and director Jack Clayton did not intend. Many extra special effects scenes were shot, and other changes were made before its release. According to the laserdisc commentary by Bradbury, much of his original intentions for the movie were destroyed.


Kinda want to hear that commentary.
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post #258 of 315
7/22/10 at 5:24pm
King's Danse Macabre was invaluable for me at age 12 by introducing new authors/books tome. I quickly devoured Ghost Story, Something Wicked, The Shrinking Man and most of James Herbert's crazy early novels based on King's praises in Danse.
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post #259 of 315
7/22/10 at 9:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by teledork View Post

Reading this thread has got me wondering where I'd got to find the definitive list of King properties brought to screen. IMDB? Or some King blowjob site?

http://bestsellers.about.com/od/step...king_films.htm
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post #260 of 315
7/22/10 at 9:55pm
That just reminded me! I never finished DANSE MACABRE!

ON WRITING is a great book too. As someone who is midway through writing their first book it provides lost of helpful advice, but I'd originally read it years ago just for funzies. I dislike King's EW column because I find his opinions on other mediums fairly meh and sometimes a little embarrassing (except horror films), but his opinions on literature and the writing process are fantastic. The book also has a lot of autobiography to it. Nice read.
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post #261 of 315
7/22/10 at 10:31pm
I enjoyed On Writing a lot. I'd forgotten that it includes a bit of 1408 in it towards the end, so seeing the movie got a bit surreal. The movie was pretty enjoyable by the way, if only because the entire haunting experience seemed to play out as a beat for beat recounting of an acid trip gone awry.

God forgive me, I had a weird love for The Langoliers when it was first shown. Youth will never excuse such a crime. Even without rewatching it (which I eventually did) I knew it was just the worst kind of tv-movie-bad. In the sense that it was awful, they wonderfully captured the spirit of the novella. The awful, awful novella.

The end of the movie features some of the most comical effects work in history though. After a four hour buildup to these terrifying creatures, you're presented with rejects from Critters. Or toothy tumbleweeds.
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post #262 of 315
7/22/10 at 10:46pm
So he's really writing a sequel to The Shinning? Why? Probably turn out like Black House...
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post #263 of 315
7/22/10 at 11:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by audioofbeing View Post
God forgive me, I had a weird love for The Langoliers when it was first shown. Youth will never excuse such a crime. Even without rewatching it (which I eventually did) I knew it was just the worst kind of tv-movie-bad. In the sense that it was awful, they wonderfully captured the spirit of the novella. The awful, awful novella.
I have a very fond memory as a kid of listening to THE LANGOLIERS audiobook with my older sister. Audiobook read by? Willem Dafoe! I barely knew who he was, so in many ways he'll always be the dude who read me THE LANGOLIERS.
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post #264 of 315
7/22/10 at 11:23pm
Bronson Pinchot is a golden god in The Langoliers. Everything else is dung.
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post #265 of 315
7/22/10 at 11:23pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc7ZaZz4CoU
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post #266 of 315
7/23/10 at 2:50am
Quote:
Originally Posted by NickP View Post
So he's really writing a sequel to The Shinning? Why? Probably turn out like Black House...
God, at best. At least Talisman was just a light adventure book that only the fans really knew about. A Shining sequel just demands comparing old King and new King.
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post #267 of 315
7/23/10 at 4:41am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Arjen Rudd View Post
God, at best. At least Talisman was just a light adventure book that only the fans really knew about. A Shining sequel just demands comparing old King and new King.
A bad idead, I agree. However, you're not really being fair to The Talisman. That's not really an apt desciption.
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post #268 of 315
7/23/10 at 4:53am
That could be. I remember it being a very 'young' book, the kind of thing they would try to market to the Harry Potter crowd nowadays. Again, I'd like to see Spielberg's take.
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post #269 of 315
7/23/10 at 4:55am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mattioli View Post
Quality entertainment, I have no doubt.
Shit. Now I hate the story.

Okay, I kind of want to hear people's opinions on TNT's Nightmares & Dreamscapes miniseries. Which stories did you guys think were solid/awful? I think 'The End of the Whole Mess' was handled fairly well, and "They've Got a Hell of a Band" was handled as well as it could have been, considering what the story was.
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post #270 of 315
7/23/10 at 5:27am
They screwed up two of my favorites, Crouch End and Umney's Last Case, so badly that I couldn't have been bothered to watch most of them. I was amused that they changed Autopsy Room Four into the story of a wealthy baby boomer's struggles with impotence.
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post #271 of 315
7/23/10 at 6:10am
http://www.filmstalker.co.uk/archive...t_and_pet.html

If anyone is interested. Writer for the remakes of "It" and "Pet Sematary". Pretty interesting spiel he has going on here, and I feel like I have more faith in how he has been approaching "It". However, it seems "Sematary" might be dead.

I really hope "It" comes through. I have a soft spot for the mini because of Curry and I believe the first part is pretty good on its own.
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post #272 of 315
7/23/10 at 7:47am
Quote:
Originally Posted by MatthewH. View Post
Okay, I kind of want to hear people's opinions on TNT's Nightmares & Dreamscapes miniseries. Which stories did you guys think were solid/awful? I think 'The End of the Whole Mess' was handled fairly well, and "They've Got a Hell of a Band" was handled as well as it could have been, considering what the story was.
I liked the one with the army men attacking..........thats pretty much it.
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post #273 of 315
7/23/10 at 10:32am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Arjen Rudd View Post
That could be. I remember it being a very 'young' book, the kind of thing they would try to market to the Harry Potter crowd nowadays. Again, I'd like to see Spielberg's take.
Perhaps you're forgetting Jack and Wolf's stay at Sunlight Gardner's Home for Wayward Boys. It's waaaaay brutal for kiddie lit.
Quote:
Originally Posted by audioffbeing
After a four hour buildup to these terrifying creatures, you're presented with rejects from Critters. Or toothy tumbleweeds.
To be fair, they look almost exactly like King describes them.

As for the "Nightmares and Dreamscapes" series, I stopped watching once they ruined "Crouch End" (although I must say that Claire Forlani looked amazing in it).
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post #274 of 315
7/23/10 at 11:24am
Nightmares was pretty much worthless for me. They especially botched "The Road Virus Heads North".

No way does The Talisman have a "light" fantasy vibe. It's seriously dark in a lot of places and contains some really creepy sequences that rival anything from his more "adult" horror novels.
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post #275 of 315
7/23/10 at 11:27am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Abbott & Prospero View Post
Fank you verra much.
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post #276 of 315
7/23/10 at 11:29am
I actually wouldn't mind King writting a sequel to "It".

After reading Dreamcatcher, I thought he was hinting that he was going to.

Anyone who read that, remember when they went through Derry and saw the writting "Pennywise Lives"...


If they do make an IT movie, I think it would be a smart idea to somewhat disregard all the adult stuff, and just concentrate on when they were kids. If the film is succesful, then make a sequel with them as adults.
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post #277 of 315
7/23/10 at 2:30pm
Quote:
Bronson Pinchot is a golden god in The Langoliers. Everything else is dung.
I did remember him as the only person I wasn't actively rooting against, which was quite an accomplishment considering he shoots a blind girl. Also that he was competing with David Morse, who's capable of giving life to cardboard cutouts.

But Morse didn't get to have a breakdown in front of an imaginary board of executives headed by a scowling Stephen King, so the odds were never in his favor.

Quote:
To be fair, they look almost exactly like King describes them.
They do, and I actually really like the concept. The main issue is nothing but the quality of the special effects. It's understandable considering the year, but in a movie filled with so much cheese, it's a final pound of brie shoved into your mouth.

It's unfortunate, because as much as I dislike the story it does have some fun concepts. They just got beaten into the ground by a terrible group of characters.

I never knew about the TNT series. The End of the Whole Mess was a fun riff on Flowers For Algernon. Is it worth hunting down?
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post #278 of 315
7/23/10 at 2:40pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by audioofbeing View Post
They do, and I actually really like the concept. The main issue is nothing but the quality of the special effects. It's understandable considering the year, but in a movie filled with so much cheese, it's a final pound of brie shoved into your mouth.

It's unfortunate, because as much as I dislike the story it does have some fun concepts. They just got beaten into the ground by a terrible group of characters.
I recently saw the Langoliers on Sci-Fi, and I just can't stop from laughing every time I see the ending. It's like, they almost got eaten by giant pacmen, a little girl died, and another guy sacrificed himself to save them, but they are all hopping and skiping around. Then it ends with the freeze frame of them jumping in the air like a Fat Albert cartoon. So much cheese.
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post #279 of 315
7/23/10 at 2:42pm
Nightmares and Dreamscapes is a pretty great read. From what I've seen, the TV show completely fucks it up.
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post #280 of 315
7/23/10 at 2:44pm
I haven't seen The Langoliers in years, but I remember being thoroughly spooked by the deserted airport. Although I also remember the awful effects and that terrible freeze-frame ending. And a pre-Wire Frankie Faison.
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post #281 of 315
7/23/10 at 2:51pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by audioofbeing View Post
I never knew about the TNT series. The End of the Whole Mess was a fun riff on Flowers For Algernon. Is it worth hunting down?
No, there was barely anything in it that was even decent. Most of it was pretty terrible, really. Umney's Last Case and Crouch End being the two most disappointing ones, for me.
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post #282 of 315
7/23/10 at 3:39pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MatthewH. View Post
No, there was barely anything in it that was even decent. Most of it was pretty terrible, really. Umney's Last Case and Crouch End being the two most disappointing ones, for me.
I'm a huge King fan but after watchng one episode of NAD, I didn't even give another one a shot. I saw the one that had the guy from IT, as a comatose patient who is about to be disected alive. The look, tone, and just everything was a total turn off, and from what I hear, that was one of the better episodes.

You know it's bad, when i rather watch reruns of "Monsters", then to suffer through that again.
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post #283 of 315
7/23/10 at 4:53pm
My fave part of The Langoliers is any time heroic square jawed Brit Mark Lindsay Chapman gets pissed at Balki. I kind of like the proto-Lost vibe too. The effects are soooooo fucked, though.
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post #284 of 315
7/23/10 at 5:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Disciple_72 View Post
My fave part of The Langoliers is any time heroic square jawed Brit Mark Lindsay Chapman gets pissed at Balki. I kind of like the proto-Lost vibe too. The effects are soooooo fucked, though.
no, they stand up today

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post #285 of 315
7/23/10 at 5:10pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Waaaaaaaalt View Post
I liked the one with the army men attacking..........thats pretty much it.
That one's great. Very silly and fun. Showed it to a heap of friends.

Forget the name of that macro-vision blur effect you see people use of photos on cities to make them look like models, but they used it really well here with the guys in green plastic soldier costumes.

Directed by Brian Henson I think?

The others were really pretty bad. I missed a few here and there, so maybe there's another one worth catching on repeats.
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post #286 of 315
7/23/10 at 5:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by NickP View Post

Those are still better than everything from the Star Wars prequels.
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post #287 of 315
7/23/10 at 5:17pm
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Originally Posted by NickP View Post
no, they stand up today

CGI from mid nineties tv movie. What did everybody expect? Jurassic Park had come out 2 years prior.
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post #288 of 315
7/23/10 at 5:21pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MatthewH. View Post
Those are still better than everything from the Star Wars prequels.
lol, you know what, if those would have replaced the CGI Yoda, the prequels would have been much better.
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post #289 of 315
7/23/10 at 5:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Carnotaur3 View Post
CGI from mid nineties tv movie. What did everybody expect? Jurassic Park had come out 2 years prior.
who cares if it's a product of it's time. We'd be more forgiving of them if the movie was atleast decent, but the movie was an abortion. These CGI effects are just the icing on the cake.
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post #290 of 315
7/23/10 at 5:30pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by audioofbeing View Post
I did remember him as the only person I wasn't actively rooting against, which was quite an accomplishment considering he shoots a blind girl.
Out of context, this is the greatest thing ever.

William Hurt v.s. a bunch of green army men was great fun, and Ron Livingston was terrific in his bit. But Crouch End...my God...

Also, I remember The Fifth Quarter being a lot more fun as a short story. King should dabble in over-the-top crime short stories more often.

As for The Langoliers, its wierd to watch it now in a post-Lost world. I would have loved to see Bronson's character on Flight 815.
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post #291 of 315
7/23/10 at 5:52pm
Was the blind girl supposed to have The Shinning or something?
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post #292 of 315
7/23/10 at 6:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by NickP View Post
Was the blind girl supposed to have The Shinning or something?
Its not Stephen King without a character like that.
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post #293 of 315
7/23/10 at 6:17pm
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Originally Posted by fuzzy dunlop View Post
Its not Stephen King without a character like that.
True, the kid in Desperation had something like that too.
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post #294 of 315
7/23/10 at 11:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by NickP View Post
who cares if it's a product of it's time. We'd be more forgiving of them if the movie was atleast decent, but the movie was an abortion. These CGI effects are just the icing on the cake.
I was not disagreeing with the fact that the movie is downright terrible. It is. But maybe I find those badly made CGI creatures kind of... endearing?
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post #295 of 315
7/24/10 at 12:15am
Quote:
Originally Posted by NickP View Post
I actually wouldn't mind King writting a sequel to "It".
A horrible idea.
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post #296 of 315
7/24/10 at 1:55am
The cheif virtues of the Langoliers on the page are its brevity and the loose one-thing-leads-to-another plotting. King's famous for not outlining his stories, and this can be a problem (Dark Tower) as often as not. But sometimes it's a boon, and I think that's the case with Langoliers. The movie is the exact opposite on both these, and adds horrible acting, effects, writing, and pacing. I also hate Pinchot in it, because he's not threatening or scary, just wacky.

On the other hand, it's just Langoliers. About as minor a work as you can get.

ETA: In regards to Talisman, my recollection isn't good enough to argue the point. I'm sure it was darker than I remember. I just recall a lot of Huck Finn motifs getting mentioned. Which isn't to say I didn't like!
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post #297 of 315
7/24/10 at 2:46am
Read "Dolan's Cadillac" today. Was envisioning it as an art film, a study of obsession and drive. Starring Stanley Tucci in a Raging Bull type role where he transforms himself from schlub to fit over the course of the movie. A brutal wordless 15 minute sequence of him digging the grave, setting the trap, and the toll it takes on his body.

Then I get home, look it up, and see this:



Of course. Of course.
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post #298 of 315
7/24/10 at 2:56am
heh, yeah. It's been on my Netflix instant queue for awhile, but I can't imagine getting around to watching it. It's such an inactive story that it pretty much requires someone like Jim Jarmusch to make anything cinematic out of it.
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post #299 of 315
7/24/10 at 5:07am
Yeah I saw it....ehhhh not the greatest. Anyone remember when Christian Slater was good? I never read the short story but I think they may have slightly changed the ending. I mean I think the revenge method was still exactly the same but the "twist" on the end may be new. If not then it just feels really tacked on.
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post #300 of 315
7/24/10 at 6:27am
What was the new twist?
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