Thankee, Bev.My review is up at CD Online.
This message board permanently closed on June 30th, 2020 at 4PM EDT and is no longer accepting new members.
Thankee, Bev.My review is up at CD Online.
Bev Vincent reviews 'The Dark Tower' - Cemetery Dance OnlineDo you have a link? Can't find it.
Thank you. I didn't know CD stood for Cemetery Dance.
Thanks, Bev! You gave me some hope.My review is up at CD Online.
Neil Gaiman's American Gods on Starz has proved to me you can have a nearly direct adaptation and have it be excellent in that longer format. Hollywood and filmmakers just need to trust that the audience can handle it (because they can). I don't have an opinion on the Dark Tower movie yet as I've not gone to see it. I'm waiting on more reviews from those here.
That's a good example you cited. I read American Gods just when the series premiered. I was amazed at how faithful the television adaptation was, and they only covered (I think) about a third of the book in that first season.
Yup. I think the TV route would be the best for a real adaptation of the DT series.Neil Gaiman's American Gods on Starz has proved to me you can have a nearly direct adaptation and have it be excellent in that longer format. Hollywood and filmmakers just need to trust that the audience can handle it (because they can). I don't have an opinion on the Dark Tower movie yet as I've not gone to see it. I'm waiting on more reviews from those here.
Yep. That series is wonderful, true to the source material, and doesn't dumb a damn thing down. It doesn't insist that things MUST change for the medium. That is a myth. It can be done right and still be attractive to audiences too. That series is blowing people away and very popular. I suppose that has been the thing that bothers me most over the last year, this notion that the literal adaptation can't be done. Of course it can be done. Yes, it can sell tickets. Yes, it can make money. It is my personal opinion, biased though it may be, that the DT languished in development hell all these years for no good reason. They spent all this time arguing about how to change it for film. They couldn't agree on how it should be changed, never once embracing the notion that it didn't really need any changes at all.
You could, in fact, storyboard the first book almost word for word. It is a very short novel and broken down into very potent scenes. There are wonderful flashbacks. There are large bits of description that would work very well in montage. Why the decided to spend decades trying to reinvent the wheel when they already had a perfect one in front of them baffles me. I tale solace in the fact that the excellent series being done all but ensures we will see a faithful adaptation of the Dark Tower someday (and I think soon). Please note that I am not talking about this to cast shade on the film release. I haven't seen it. I'm just discussing the adaptation we all hope to see someday.
Yep. That series is wonderful, true to the source material, and doesn't dumb a damn thing down. It doesn't insist that things MUST change for the medium. That is a myth. It can be done right and still be attractive to audiences too. That series is blowing people away and very popular. I suppose that has been the thing that bothers me most over the last year, this notion that the literal adaptation can't be done. Of course it can be done. Yes, it can sell tickets. Yes, it can make money. It is my personal opinion, biased though it may be, that the DT languished in development hell all these years for no good reason. They spent all this time arguing about how to change it for film. They couldn't agree on how it should be changed, never once embracing the notion that it didn't really need any changes at all.
You could, in fact, storyboard the first book almost word for word. It is a very short novel and broken down into very potent scenes. There are wonderful flashbacks. There are large bits of description that would work very well in montage. Why the decided to spend decades trying to reinvent the wheel when they already had a perfect one in front of them baffles me. I tale solace in the fact that the excellent series being done all but ensures we will see a faithful adaptation of the Dark Tower someday (and I think soon). Please note that I am not talking about this to cast shade on the film release. I haven't seen it. I'm just discussing the adaptation we all hope to see someday.
The film doesn't open in my country until next week, so I'll have to wait until then. I'd like to indulge in a few observations, if I may.
Whenever I watch any film based on existing literature (book, play, comic, poem), I always critique it based on two criteria: how well it holds up as a film on its own, and how well it stands as an adaptation of the source material. Understandably, it's difficult to separate the two. There were instances where I was entertained by a movie but didn't think it was a good/faithful adaptation of the source material (those instances were so few that I can't even think of an example right now). Other times, I've been intrigued by how closely a film would stick to the source material yet leave me emotionally un-invested (Watchmen is a perfect example) by the time the credits roll.
I mention the above because I think that for us SK fans, it has a lot to do with how we approach any of his filmed work. The minute I saw Mr King's "Last Time Around" tweet and then the follow-up announcement explaining that the film is the final cycle of Roland's journey, I thought: okay, that's interesting. Obviously not what I want, but the creative team now have the luxury of cherry-picking parts of the entire series to weave an entirely new narrative which should be intriguing not to mention being able to translate it better for cinema. I kept an open mind. I was happy when I heard the lead actors announced. I enjoy both their work and I thought it was one of those rare cases where the roles could have been reversed and it would still make for a great watch. I was disappointed when Ron Howard left the project and Akiva Goldsman remained in charge because the latter has a poor track record of adapting any genre material that isn't a straight-up drama. But I kept an open mind. I saw the trailers, both the leaked and the official releases. It looked like a fun action movie, but it did not fill me with anticipation.
That being said, I'm still going to watch it. I read a few of the reviews today and yes, they weren't terribly enthusiastic. But reviews don't sway me. I pretty much make up my mind whether I want to see a film based on the story, creative and casting teams involved, and the trailers. Critics aren't paying for my ticket, so I couldn't care less what they say. If any money gets wasted, it's mine and mine alone, and life will go on. This isn't the Dark tower adaptation I want, but since I don't have clout in the entertainment industry or a hundred million dollars to produce my own film, i'm gonna saunter into the cinema next week and hope for an enjoyable film. For good or ill, I'll be happy to exchange thoughts with you folks when I do. In the mean time, keep Ka and carry on.
I think you have to add a caveat that it depends on the original material. Gaiman and King are very different writers. Gaiman's books are very visual, as befits a former graphic novel writer, whereas King's material tends toward inner monologues. Not every book, of course, but many of them. That is very hard to film without massive expositionary dialogue, which is boring to sit through for the average moviegoer. Visually representing thoughts without that kind of narrative takes time, and that is exactly what movies don't have to spare, especially when Mr. King has leaned toward TOMES (that word needs the pomposity of all caps ) in recent years.
Of course, that's not to say that H'wood can't cock up even the more visual books. Look what happened to Cell *smdh*
YupGood point. Which is why the more successful King adaptations tend to be the mostly drama/thriller-type storeis (Stand By Me, Shawshank, Dolores Claiborne, Misery).