TV/Movies Megathread

[celedhring]

The Dark Tower film has been moved and now has a prime July release. That's good news, I want it to make obscene amounts of money so more Dark Tower stuff gets made.

I ain't hopeful, to be honest. Signs point to a 're-interpretation' that resembles the books only slightly.

To give but one example - the female lead is not going to be playing Susannah Dean, but "Tirana".

"Abbey Lee, who is coming off Mad Max: Fury Road and who stars in Gods of Egypt, is expected to star in the female lead role of Tirana. The report describes the character as "sexy and dangerous" with "fake human skin and cold snake-like eyes." In King's original series, Tirana doesn't show up until the seventh novel and only has a relatively small part, but it looks like she will be a key figure in the movie version."

WTF? She was a blink-and-you-miss-her spear-carrier for evil in the series, shows up in a crowd scene inn the Dixie Pig in Book Seven. Now, she's the female lead.

There isn't even anyone cast as Susannah or Eddie. Yet there is a Jake. 

Chances it will be crappy = unfortunately, high.

I have read that it works as a semi-sequel to the books - and that it actually kinda closes the narrative (as much as that narrative can be closed), so some characters that appear in the later books feature more prominently. It might be bullshit to disguise they are changing it a lot, certainly.

Anyhow, the word was that if it does well they'd commission a miniseries that adapts the previous books proper.

[Malthus]

It's a Stephen King book, so that's a good sign.

Meh. Some King adaptations have been great movies. Shawshank Redemption, anyone? What about The Shining?

Others, not so much. 

[Grey Fox]

Frontier is a new tv show shot in 4k by Discovery Canada.  The blu ray might be nice, but I remain unconvinced at the beauty of a 4k tv show aired in 720p.

Anyway.  The premise looks intriguing, it's about the fur trade of Northern Canada in the early 1800s.  However, in the preview, they show both the Union Jack and the old Kingdom of France flag, with the Fleur de Lys.  by this time, France was nowhere to be seen in Northern Canada, hadn't been seen in a while.  Don't know what this is about.

In the US it's on Netflix in 4k. Also it's in 4k on the DiscoveryGo app.

[Malthus]

The Dark Tower film has been moved and now has a prime July release. That's good news, I want it to make obscene amounts of money so more Dark Tower stuff gets made.

I ain't hopeful, to be honest. Signs point to a 're-interpretation' that resembles the books only slightly.

To give but one example - the female lead is not going to be playing Susannah Dean, but "Tirana".

"Abbey Lee, who is coming off Mad Max: Fury Road and who stars in Gods of Egypt, is expected to star in the female lead role of Tirana. The report describes the character as "sexy and dangerous" with "fake human skin and cold snake-like eyes." In King's original series, Tirana doesn't show up until the seventh novel and only has a relatively small part, but it looks like she will be a key figure in the movie version."

WTF? She was a blink-and-you-miss-her spear-carrier for evil in the series, shows up in a crowd scene inn the Dixie Pig in Book Seven. Now, she's the female lead.

There isn't even anyone cast as Susannah or Eddie. Yet there is a Jake. 

Chances it will be crappy = unfortunately, high.

I have read that it works as a semi-sequel to the books - and that it actually kinda closes the narrative (as much as that narrative can be closed), so some characters that appear in the later books feature more prominently. It might be bullshit to disguise they are changing it a lot, certainly.

Anyhow, the word was that if it does well they'd commission a miniseries that adapts the previous books proper.

This is part of the problem - it will only "work" for people who already know the story, many of whom will be pissed off that they aren't adapting the story and have clearly changed it completely from the books in any event (to give but one example, a major plot point - a large part of the second book - was devoted to the conflict created by "Susannah/Detta" and her "Detta" part of her psyche having an exaggerated hatred of White folks, and consequent hatred of Roland and Eddie, based purely on their race (and how Roland solves that conflict and forces Detta and Susannah to merge into one); now they have cast Roland as Black, which kinda screws that plot completely).

It will only work if the new stories are so compelling that it attracts audiences who haven't read the books, and overcomes the resistance from those who have.

Which is I suppose possible - but I am not very hopeful.

[viper37]

It's a Stephen King book, so that's a good sign.

Meh. Some King adaptations have been great movies. Shawshank Redemption, anyone? What about The Shining?

Others, not so much. 

Shawshank diverged from the source material, but I don't know about the Shining, never seen it.
Exception that proves my point

[Malthus]

It's a Stephen King book, so that's a good sign.

Meh. Some King adaptations have been great movies. Shawshank Redemption, anyone? What about The Shining?

Others, not so much. 

Shawshank diverged from the source material, but I don't know about the Shining, never seen it.
Exception that proves my point

Pretty well every movie differs from the source material.  In the case of the Shawshank Redemption, it is still very recognizably the same story; the differences merely highlight the drama, and bring better closure (one warden versus three, having the two cellmates meet in Mexico rather than not meet, etc.).

In the case of the Dark Tower, they aren't filming the same story at all. They are simply using some (not all) of the same characters. And from what little we know, they are changing those characters (Roland, in the original, was a White fellow, which was an integral part of the plot - there is racial conflict in the plot; for the "adaptation", they cast a Black man).

Thus, even though we know very little yet about the movie, I'm not very hopeful. It may be good, if the entirely new story and characters are good.

[Syt]

King hated the Shining movie, and instead made his own adaptation at a later point (it bombed).

But yeah, King adaptations are hit and miss. For every Misery there's a Langoliers, for every The Stand there's Lawnmower Man.

[Malthus]

King hated the Shining movie, and instead made his own adaptation at a later point (it bombed).

But yeah, King adaptations are hit and miss. For every Misery there's a Langoliers, for every The Stand there's Lawnmower Man.

King has historically been a terrible judge of adaptations of his own work.

One of the biggest bombs in history was the musical version of Carrie. King, almost uniquely, loved it. 

[Berkut]

It's a Stephen King book, so that's a good sign.

Meh. Some King adaptations have been great movies. Shawshank Redemption, anyone? What about The Shining?

Others, not so much. 

Shawshank diverged from the source material, but I don't know about the Shining, never seen it.
Exception that proves my point

Pretty well every movie differs from the source material.  In the case of the Shawshank Redemption, it is still very recognizably the same story; the differences merely highlight the drama, and bring better closure (one warden versus three, having the two cellmates meet in Mexico rather than not meet, etc.).

In the case of the Dark Tower, they aren't filming the same story at all. They are simply using some (not all) of the same characters. And from what little we know, they are changing those characters (Roland, in the original, was a White fellow, which was an integral part of the plot - there is racial conflict in the plot; for the "adaptation", they cast a Black man).

Thus, even though we know very little yet about the movie, I'm not very hopeful. It may be good, if the entirely new story and characters are good.

That actually makes me slightly more hopeful than what you originally described.

I am ok with them making a movie inspired by the setting and characters. I would MUCH rather have that than them claiming to do the actual DT story, but then just making up whatever the fuck they want anyway, which would almost certainly be a total disaster.

[Malthus]

That actually makes me slightly more hopeful than what you originally described.

I am ok with them making a movie inspired by the setting and characters. I would MUCH rather have that than them claiming to do the actual DT story, but then just making up whatever the fuck they want anyway, which would almost certainly be a total disaster.

Yeah, I thought it was the second from reading the cast list; now I have learned it is the first.

I agree, it is more hopeful. But only slightly. I still think early signs point more to disaster than not. The writers will have to pull a rabbit out of a hat - create a story that is both compelling in its own right, and fits the setting and characters.

Edit: calling it "The Dark Tower" will not help.

[Syt]

Chairiffic proof that Star Trek TNG takes place in the same universe as Friends and Fresh Prince:

[Savonarola]

The Phantom Carriage (Körkarlen) (1921)

The person who dies at the final stroke of midnight on New Years Eve must drive Death's carriage for the following year.  Every day for the driver is like a century as he does his master's bidding.  David Holm (played by director Victor Sjöström) is killed by his fellow ruffians as the final stroke of midnight as the film opens; then Death's carriage appears...

While this sounds like it should be a horror movie its actually sort of a Swedish "It's a Wonderful Life." It's every bit as gloomy as Frank Capra is cheery, but it's a story about redemption, forgiveness and second chances.  It wasn't at all what I was expecting from a film called "The Phantom Carriage," but it's still a good movie.

[celedhring]

Star Trek Beyond. Decent. One of those movies that I can't say much wrong about, yet it isn't particularly exciting. I guess that's the problem, it's well done but the story isn't particularly compelling.

Pissed off Bones is great though. I think it's my favorite part of the reboots.

[Josephus]

The Shining was a great film, I think King hated it because it was so different than the book he wrote (that whole maze thing in the movie, for instance, isn't in the book). I think a good "adaptation" should stand well on its own. The Shining did that.

Speaking of Dark Tower, as a teenager, back in the 80s, I loved Stephen King, but for some reason I never got into this series at all.

[CountDeMoney]

King can be incredibly turgid.