Last Film You Watched

[Gilbert..]

Caught mona lisa on one of the channels last night
Bob hoskins at his best.

 

[COYBL25]

Carrie, Christine, Stand By Me and The Dead Zone also very decent ones... and although I don't like them as much, both Misery and The Running Man have plenty of fans.

Although I think King adaptations will always be in negative equity on account of The Dark Tower.

There are two of his books, that I think deserve to have proper money thrown at them and turned into big films :

The Stand and Salem’s Lot.

Although they’ve both been done as TV mini series, that were great at the time, I really think that there’s the scope with both of them to do a super re boot, as they’re both such tremendous books.

 

[Shevin Keedy]

Carrie, Christine, Stand By Me and The Dead Zone also very decent ones... and although I don't like them as much, both Misery and The Running Man have plenty of fans.

Although I think King adaptations will always be in negative equity on account of The Dark Tower.

Oh interesting on The Running Man as I always assumed that was Philip K. Dick. Well you live and learn eh.

 

[dholliday]

There are two of his books, that I think deserve to have proper money thrown at them and turned into big films :

The Stand and Salem’s Lot.

Although they’ve both been done as TV mini series, that were great at the time, I really think that there’s the scope with both of them to do a super re boot, as they’re both such tremendous books.

There was a higher-budgeted Stand recently, but middling reviews:




The book was grand story-telling, tho' his Dark Tower series is clearly his magnum opus. What a strange way to treat 7 epic novels...turning it into a 90-minute rubbish film:




if ever a book-series was crying out for a Game-of-Thrones style TV-treatment it's The Dark Tower.

Oh interesting on The Running Man as I always assumed that was Philip K. [Poor language removed]. Well you live and learn eh.

lol i always get that when referencing the classic 50's movie Moby Dick.

 

[COYBL25]

There was a higher-budgeted Stand recently, but middling reviews:




The book was grand story-telling, tho' his Dark Tower series is clearly his magnum opus. What a strange way to treat 7 epic novels...turning it into a 90-minute rubbish film:




if ever a book-series was crying out for a Game-of-Thrones style TV-treatment it's The Dark Tower.





lol i always get that when referencing the classic 50's movie Moby [Poor language removed].

I‘be seen the higher “ budget “ version of the Stand and didn’t think it was that much better than the original tbh.

It deserves to be done properly, like they did with the Dune re make and Blade Runner 2049.

 

[get-your-coat-on]

Watched that Oat Studios Vol. 1 last night. It's a collection of sci-fi films/shorts from Neil Blomkampf.

First one is your classic Alien invasion, nothing ground breaking - but Sigourney Weaver is in it, so yeah, decent.

 

[Amw79]

To add to the Stephen King based movies, Gerald’s Game was a good recent adaptation. Directed by Mike Flanagan, who did The Haunting of Hill House, Doctor Sleep, Oculus, Hush. On Netflix, and I thought it was excellent.

 

[dholliday]

I‘be seen the higher “ budget “ version of the Stand and didn’t think it was that much better than the original tbh.

It deserves to be done properly, like they did with the Dune re make and Blade Runner 2049.

i think it's had its time now.

Dark Tower, surely, that ending 'battle' with

Spoiler

the Crimson King

could make for a really trippy live-action scene.

so would:

Spoiler

Flagg's gruesome death, the succubus birth, leaving Jake behind with the immortal send-off: "there are other worlds than these", the portal-doors, the battle at the bridge, Blaine the Pain, the flashbacks to a young Roland, the android wolf attacks, the beams, Eddie shooting goons naked....

so much epic imagery ripe for epic scifi-fantasy live-actions...just skip the cringy bits where Stephen King himself makes an appearance...

 

[ClausThomsen]

Carrie, Christine, Stand By Me and The Dead Zone also very decent ones... and although I don't like them as much, both Misery and The Running Man have plenty of fans.

Although I think King adaptations will always be in negative equity on account of The Dark Tower.

There are two of his books, that I think deserve to have proper money thrown at them and turned into big films :

The Stand and Salem’s Lot.

Although they’ve both been done as TV mini series, that were great at the time, I really think that there’s the scope with both of them to do a super re boot, as they’re both such tremendous books.

I've not read an awful lot of Stephen King so I'm far from knowledgeable on it but do his novellas tend to stack up better as films than his full novels or multi-book stories? Something like The Stand is a pretty huge book and would have to be cut to ribbons to make a single film of reasonable or even slightly long length. It could go the path of more than one film in which case the line between big budget cinematic mini-series and film becomes pretty blurred.

 

[COYBL25]

I've not read an awful lot of Stephen King so I'm far from knowledgeable on it but do his novellas tend to stack up better as films than his full novels or multi-book stories? Something like The Stand is a pretty huge book and would have to be cut to ribbons to make a single film of reasonable or even slightly long length. It could go the path of more than one film in which case the line between big budget cinematic mini-series and film becomes pretty blurred.

Very good points there, about the novellas and the " big " books like the Stand.

I haven`t really read many of Kings novellas, as I prefer his books.

In a lot of his " big " books, there would always be room to cut away what could be deemed as " filler ". Things like where the characters are holed up in places for a period of time / travelling, when not much happens, other than the development of the characters ( imo )

They did the two part thing, with IT one and two and tbh, I much preferred the original version with Timmy Curry as Pennywise, as I thought he portrayed him exactly how you imagined him to be in the book.

It all boils down to money in the end.

Would an audience today, sit through three hours plus of a Stand re boot, a book that was written in the late seventies and then possibly do it all again for part two, a year later ?

 

[rylojr]

View attachment 168982


Another very underrated and somewhat forgotten gem that just never found its audience at the time, I think it might have been up against T2 and Disney were low on cachet at the time. But its a really solid boys own adventure, with great cinematography, practical stunts and bags of charm. Give it a whirl if you've not seen it, perfect Sunday flick.

Disney.

A great gee-whiz serial cliff-hanger homage with so much to like. A shame it never got the audience it deserved.... i was definitely aiming for "Indiana Jones" style adventure, it just wasn't marketed well. The animated "What will happen if the Nazis get hold of the rocket pack gizmo" section is just brilliant, I'd watch a movie/tv show of that.

 

[rylojr]

Caught mona lisa on one of the channels last night
Bob hoskins at his best.

Best delivery of a headbutt in cinema history on that pier ha ha ha

 

[Daz1878]

I've not read an awful lot of Stephen King so I'm far from knowledgeable on it but do his novellas tend to stack up better as films than his full novels or multi-book stories? Something like The Stand is a pretty huge book and would have to be cut to ribbons to make a single film of reasonable or even slightly long length. It could go the path of more than one film in which case the line between big budget cinematic mini-series and film becomes pretty blurred.

It's kind of amazing that he's put out so many great books over the past ~50 years yet no one has chanced on a formula when it comes to successfully adapting his work. It's interesting that some of the best-received adaptations - Shawshank, Green Mile, Stand by Me - are the least 'King-like' in many ways, and often people are surprised to learn that they're based on his work. I've read a lot of his work and it's always dispiriting when a really limp screen adaptation comes along. I think The Dead Zone may be one of the best, as it really taps into the sadness at the core of King's book.

 

[Daz1878]

Best delivery of a headbutt in cinema history on that pier ha ha ha

Indeed. Also the sunglasses he wears on the pier just make it all so perfect ?

 

[ClausThomsen]

Very good points there, about the novellas and the " big " books like the Stand.

I haven`t really read many of Kings novellas, as I prefer his books.

In a lot of his " big " books, there would always be room to cut away what could be deemed as " filler ". Things like where the characters are holed up in places for a period of time / travelling, when not much happens, other than the development of the characters ( imo )

They did the two part thing, with IT one and two and tbh, I much preferred the original version with Timmy Curry as Pennywise, as I thought he portrayed him exactly how you imagined him to be in the book.

It all boils down to money in the end.

Would an audience today, sit through three hours plus of a Stand re boot, a book that was written in the late seventies and then possibly do it all again for part two, a year later ?

Which can be an issue for films. The film I mentioned (Fireball) the little girl in it was essentially a McGuffin to hang a villainous villain and lots of explosions and fires on. I'd imagine that felt like a kick in the teeth to a writer who's spent a long time developing the character over however many hundreds of pages.

I can imagine The Stand working. If the film is good and marketed very well with a big hitter or two in the cast then the source material is pretty much irrelevant to the majority and would pull in King fans on top of that.