After reading "The Green Mile" thread I got the idea to make a Stephen King book/movie thread. He is one of (if not my all time) favorite author. My mom has read most of his stuff (everything except the darktower series, I think) and because of that I've been reading his stuff from a young age. I've read: Bag of Bones, Black house, Desperation, The Eyes Of The Dragon, Gerald's Game, The Green Mile, (part of) It, 'Salem's Lot, The Talisman, The Tommyknockers, Everything's Eventual, Four Past Midnight, Different Seasons, On Writing. I've seen: Carrie, The Shining, Cujo, Salem's Lot, Children of the corn, Maximum Overdrive, Stand by me, The shawshank redemption, Apt Pupil, The Green Mile, Secret Window, The Langoliers.
I haven't read or seen much. I've read Carrie, It, and Pet Cemetary. Seen those 3 too. IMO the books have been way better then the movies. I think I've read other, but I'm blanking at the moment....
I think I've read pretty much everything he's written, although with King it's tough to know. I've liked most of the movie treatments of his work except the early stuff - Carrie and The Shining the two notable exceptions in that group. I agree with King as to his disappointment with the casting of Nicholson in The Shining, with regard to Jack's portrayal of the character and the changing of the story; but Kubrick's film is such a masterpiece on its own that it can only be considered a quibble.
You really need to read "The Stand." It's my favorite book of his. And The Dark Tower is just excellent stuff, at least the first four books. I haven't gotten around to reading the last 3.
How could it NOT be? The Stand is an epic in scope as well as characterization. I think the only way to do justice to any of King's works is as a miniseries on either HBO or Showtime. I was thinking about that when Trueblood came out. Give King his choice of directors, give them total creative control and enjoy. Only way to truly explore his works the way they deserve.
The Stand, the first four Gunslinger novels and The Talisman/Black House (with Peter Straub) are his best works IMHO. But that's like naming your favorite Cezanne; they're all at least good, it's only a matter of taste. You'll be mightily disappointed in the last Dark Tower book, I think. I was.
I've been reading King since I was like 10 years old. Love his stuff for the most part, and The Stand, as has been stated is an epic masterpiece. Hollywood destroys many of his stories when they translate them to the big screen, but the more recent ones have been better than some of the past ones. For instance 'The Mist' IMO, was a great take on the novella and '1408' was thrilling.
Gotta check out The Mist; 1408 was PHENOMENAL! Did anyone see Dreamcatcher, the TV treatment of the novel? I haven't bothered because it was network TV, but can anyone offer an opinion?
Dreamcatcher was kinda weird to me. I remember watching it years ago, the main character was actually the guy from Band of Brothers and Life, the new show on NBC, but I digress. It was one of those M. Knight Shamlaysaasndadad (sp?) or Clive Barker style jobs where the ending has nothing to do with the storyline and changes your opnion of the entire film. I felt the same at the end of Dreamcatcher as I did at the end of The Village.
It was nothing I'd watch a second time. The only thing worse than a Hollywood movie adaption of a King book is a TV adaption. The Stand?!?!?! WTF were you thinking? That book should have never been made into any sort of movie. It was the second King book I read and I buy a new copy every 3-5 years because I usually read it once a year or so. Greatest character development, great premise (that is even scarier today), awesome antagonist, chilling visuals...it had everything you could want in a book. Edit: I forgot, yes, rent 'The Mist' I would be curious to your reaction, some people loved it (me) some hated it and I can understand why. Marcia Gay Harden's role in that film stole every scene, she was frightening.
I've read the entire Dark Tower series. Pretty good stuff. Books one [The Gunslinger], four [Wizards and glass], and five [Wolves of the Calla] were probably my favorites. Probably because those are the stories that feel like a good western a lot of the time. I've also read a few others but its been a while. I've read a couple of the short story compilations.
As a whole the Dark Tower series was fantastic and I agree those three were the best of the lot, with Wizard and Glass being the absolute high point of the series. It still brings tears to my eyes when I read it.
Unfortunately, Darabont made "The Mist" a one trick pony. I don't want to spoil you but the ending is a run of the mill genre cliché that completely ruined an otherwise solid adaption. It's not a TV movie. And overall, it was okay considering that the source material isn't exactly amongst King's better works.
I beg to differ: The last three novels completely ruined it for me with the ending being the low point of King's entire career. I've never wasted so much time into something so utterly meaningless and arbitrary. I seriously wished I had stopped reading it after "Wizard and Glass", which, I agree, is one of King's best works.
It was a hell of a trick though. I understand that after his accident he realized that he mortal and wanted to finish the series. I believe he rushed it to the end a bit and it did get strange and surreal during books 6 and 7, with the ending of the series being a huge kick in the balls in one regard. But he warned us when to stop reading, now, didn't he? Spoiler When the last book ended with the beginning of the first I damn near crapped my pants! I hated it at first, but as time passed and I digested the whole thing I appreciated the dark humor and evil irony of ending it that way. Some things in life are so friggin grand they can never be reached. And some things are never resolved. That's what I got out of it, at least.
I dunno. I actually found it very run down the mill - been there, seen that ... especially in a genre flick. I also fail to see what the trick actually accomplishes other than provoking a rather cheap emotional reaction and - at the end of day - making the whole movie and its characters irrelevant. I won't say I wasn't surprised; it just wasn't a pleasent surprise. An honest author would've warned me before I went through the effort of reading a couple of thousands pages
i've been waiting for a screen adaption of the long walk and rage for a long,long time but i guess that will never happen..o well can't win them all.
