Redrum

[cantdog]

I don't think it was a full-length novel, just a novella, but The Shawshank Redemption is definitely the best.

I think Glynndah has the nub here. Great, great film, and the best of the adaptations to the screen of King's stories.

The Shining missed the point of the story completely. The story was about a Bad Place, where bad things must happen. It was the place which eroded and destroyed the people in King's story. In the movie, the dude was someone who would have been a whacko in any place whatever. The casting decision to star Nicholson showed that the people making it had no concept what the story was about.

 

[SlickTony]

I seem to remember King saying, in Danse Macabre, that the possession part was really about alcoholism.

 

[slyc_willie]

I seem to remember King saying, in Danse Macabre, that the possession part was really about alcoholism.

Of which he would know. Isn't he an alcoholic?

 

[cantdog]

The Shawshank Redemption is the only I'd consider, even though it's inspired on a short-story and not a novel.

Novels are too long and complex for the movie format. Much must be excised to bring a novel to the form.

The Man Who Would Be King is about the correct length. So is the Shawshank Redemption, or Stand By Me. Novella length works have the best chance of making a movie with all the elements still present.

 

[SlickTony]

Of which he would know. Isn't he an alcoholic?

He has an addictive personality. He had problems with concaine, too, IIRC.

 

[slyc_willie]

He has an addictive personality. He had problems with concaine, too, IIRC.

Yeah, I heard something about that. Seems that addictions, a little madness, etc, go hand-in-hand with being creative.

*smoking my cigarette and listening to the voices in my head*

 

[Belegon]

Shawshank is without a doubt the best movie in the bunch...

 

[cantdog]

Even though they changed the ending, I enjoyed The Dead Zone.

The Chris Walken one
good movie

 

[slyc_willie]

The Chris Walken one
good movie

Christopher Walken is a god amongst actors . . .

Just sayin'

 

[cantdog]

It's a pretty good trick to get an audience rooting for the guy lying in wait to commit the political assassination, going, "For God's sake! Kill him! Kill him!"

 

[cumallday]

I'm going to say Shawshank wins it for me, but Dolores Claiborne is a pretty close second. It seems anything with either Christopher Plummer, Jennifer Jason Leigh, David Strathairn, John C. Reilly, Eric Bogosian, or Kathy Bates is good. And there they all are in the same movie. I so wanted to kick the shit out of Strathairn's character, Joe. The movie is also a perfect example of how to seemlessly balance multiple flashbacks that keep building the psychology and suspense of the narrative.

As for the worse King movie - Dreamcatcher. I did not read the book, but the movie was just a complete disaster despite all the talent behind it.

 

[starrkers]

Christopher Walken is a god amongst actors . . .

Just sayin'

Just agreein'

 

[slyc_willie]

Just agreein'

One of his best moments . . . the scene in True Romance . . . he didn't even have to say anything, just watching the expressions on his face was enough.

'Course, he was playing off of Dennis Hopper, whom I also happen to love.

(forgetting Waterworld)