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DrVenkman posted:Enjoyed IT. I'm usually fine with changes from book to screen usually, but completely sidelining your black character and giving his story to someone else is a little odd, particularly when the idea for the second movie is to give it back to him again. Yeah, Mike just "being there" was kind of lovely, I felt. Especially since the movie "went there" in a couple of spots I thought it would back off of Georgie's brutal death, Bev's abuse by her father, but you only knew Mike was black because you could see him, and I couldn't tell you what his primary character trait was in the film. He was just there.
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Sep 16, 2017 12:15
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i did think it was really funny that the very first time Mike ever hung out with his new friends they went to war against a supernatural clown horror
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Sep 16, 2017 17:16
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About Stan, he was also the first to walk away from the circle at the end.
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Sep 16, 2017 17:29
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WattsvilleBlues posted:About Stan, he was also the first to walk away from the circle at the end. Yeah I did like how, if you've read the book, you kind of see where it's going for Stan. He's constantly the one who gives the most resistance to what's going on. Even early on when they go head in the sewer, he and Eddie are the ones who want to back out of it. And then of all the kids he's the one that comes closest to dying. Also, man is CHRISTINE not a good book. It's messy, characters are inconsistent, it's long-winded and bizarrely just changes perspectives part of the way through and then changes back again because King admitted he wrote himself into a corner. And it's loving long. It's somehow longer than THE SHINING. DrVenkman fucked around with this message at 19:49 on Sep 16, 2017 |
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Sep 16, 2017 19:46
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chernobyl kinsman posted:i did think it was really funny that the very first time Mike ever hung out with his new friends they went to war against a supernatural clown horror
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Sep 16, 2017 20:19
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DrVenkman posted:Also, man is CHRISTINE not a good book. It's messy, characters are inconsistent, it's long-winded and bizarrely just changes perspectives part of the way through and then changes back again because King admitted he wrote himself into a corner. And it's loving long. It's somehow longer than THE SHINING. i'd love to live in the universe where king actually plotted his books.
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Sep 16, 2017 20:24
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DrVenkman posted:. Christine is godawful yeah
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Sep 16, 2017 20:45
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Groovelord Neato posted:i'd love to live in the universe where king actually plotted his books. He outlined all of Insomnia and then decided to never do it again.
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Sep 16, 2017 20:47
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Franchescanado posted:He outlined all of Insomnia and then decided to never do it again. Wise decision, I have to say. I did not care for Insomnia.
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Sep 16, 2017 21:14
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Franchescanado posted:He outlined all of Insomnia coulda fooled me.
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Sep 16, 2017 21:49
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Ok finally got around to seeing IT. I'm glad I didn't pay full price, but if it's your first experience with the story then I would. It's very solid and the kid actors are adorable, but there was something that didn't connect to me. I think it was that the sheer amount of ground the movie has to cover can't help but feel a bit diluted and rushed. Plus y'know, I'm an adult and I've read IT, seen the Tim Curry version, and watched IT have loads of influence on pop culture so any adaptation would have to work really hard to be fresh to me. I imagine it's going to hit a lot of kids really hard in a good way. The only thing that bugged me more than I could ignore was the same problem the Tim Curry adaptation had-- Hey Pennywise, you've got one of the kids dead to loving rights. Why aren't you killing them? Yeah yeah "seasoning the meat" but for loving real there are other kids you can eat and if you eat one of these you'll be sitting pretty. I know part of that is to show that Pennywise isn't some all-powerful creature despite his pretensions and parlor tricks, but it goes too far and ends up cheapening the stakes. I will give the movie this (completely plot-irrelevant spoiler but tagging just in-case)-- I rolled my eyes when Richie mentions going to play Street Fighter in the beginning because it's 1989-90 and Street Fighter 2 wasn't released until 1991 (e.g: Street Figher 2 was the game that made Street Fighter a series anyone cared about)... then later they showed him playing Street Fighter 1. Well played filmmakers. Very well played. Still, hey it's IT but with modern effects. It nails the moments that count. Definitely worth a low-price matinee or a Netflix watch. Also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bp6uJJJMaLs
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Sep 16, 2017 22:41
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Wow. I don't get all the Christine hate. I liked the book as well as the movie.
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Sep 16, 2017 22:53
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mind the walrus posted:The only thing that bugged me more than I could ignore was the same problem the Tim Curry adaptation had-- Hey Pennywise, you've got one of the kids dead to loving rights. Why aren't you killing them? Yeah yeah "seasoning the meat" but for loving real there are other kids you can eat and if you eat one of these you'll be sitting pretty. I know part of that is to show that Pennywise isn't some all-powerful creature despite his pretensions and parlor tricks, but it goes too far and ends up cheapening the stakes. this is true to the book.
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Sep 16, 2017 22:56
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Why would IT see the kids as a threat to kill immediately? It's like a cat playing with it's food
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Sep 16, 2017 23:05
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the new movie doesn't do a good job of showing that IT sees itself as a superior being (which is why it doesn't take out the losers even though it could). it's probably the weakest part of the movie.
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Sep 16, 2017 23:24
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Yeah, IT only starts to appear as a character in its own right at the very end, and while IT is clearly enjoying the fear IT doesn't give off the impression of a cat toying with food. IT gives the impression of being really lovely at its job, especially because once IT gets injured in the house, you'd think IT would either display more arrogance or outright kill one of the Losers off early (like Stan) to break the cohesion that demonstrably caused IT to get hurt. Because the movie doesn't do either, it's generally weak. Plus that Cure song was put in the worst loving place.
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Sep 16, 2017 23:31
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Mel Mudkiper posted:I dont think its unreasonable to think a person might be sensitive to depictions of a lynching of a gay man and his sobbing lover dismissed by a generally unsympathetic police force with the perpetrators going almost wholly unpunished, especially since its hit particularly hard to the realities of being gay in small communities. I've been reading IT for the first time and I felt like I missed something here. The DA wants the guys convicted, so don't mention the clowns. They all are convicted and sentenced and then just... let go while the sentences are appealed? I didn't think that's how appeals work. Also two foot wide yellow eyes watching the losers in the barrens holy loving god gently caress that. That made my hair stand up on end.
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Sep 17, 2017 01:50
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I like that the barrens is called that and then it ends up being one of the loser's club's defining characteristics in adulthood. Maybe it was radiation from Pennywise's crashed space ship or something.
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Sep 17, 2017 02:36
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I read IT when I was, like, 13 and intentionally modeled my boyhood after it. My friends and I had already started exploring the storm drains which ran from a small wooded area to beneath the town center so it wasn't much of a push to get us to start calling that place 'The Barrents'. My attempts to get us to call ourselves the Loser's Club were, however, less succesful
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Sep 17, 2017 04:23
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BiggerBoat posted:Wow. I don't get all the Christine hate. I liked the book as well as the movie. I think even King said that it's a good 300 page book stretched right out. It's just a mess of ideas and genuinely feels like a first draft that they just pushed right into publishing. It's one of the few cases where a King movie adaptation is better than the book.
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Sep 17, 2017 10:43
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chernobyl kinsman posted:I read IT when I was, like, 13 and intentionally modeled my boyhood after it. My friends and I had already started exploring the storm drains which ran from a small wooded area to beneath the town center so it wasn't much of a push to get us to start calling that place 'The Barrents'. My attempts to get us to call ourselves the Loser's Club were, however, less succesful I'm sure part of it is that I moved from a very small town in Western Pennsylvania to a very not-small city in Eastern Pennsylvania, but it's hard to imagine kids nowadays tromping off into the woods from morning to night like I used to, which is at least somewhat supported by a bit I'd once heard on NPR, with a link to the original study in there as well. If I'd had access to the storm drains like you did I totally would have been exploring them with my friends, but I just don't see the whole "out the door in the morning to play with friends until dinner without checking back in" flying today.
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Sep 17, 2017 10:53
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mind the walrus posted:Yeah, IT only starts to appear as a character in its own right at the very end, and while IT is clearly enjoying the fear IT doesn't give off the impression of a cat toying with food. IT gives the impression of being really lovely at its job, especially because once IT gets injured in the house, you'd think IT would either display more arrogance or outright kill one of the Losers off early (like Stan) to break the cohesion that demonstrably caused IT to get hurt. Because the movie doesn't do either, it's generally weak. this is the one thing the miniseries does a lot better. even though the kid they got did a good enough job they didn't write enough of the taunting into the film so it just looks like pennywise sucks at his job plus tim curry just knocked that poo poo out of the park.
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Sep 17, 2017 11:47
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tetrapyloctomy posted:If I'd had access to the storm drains like you did I totally would have been exploring them with my friends, but I just don't see the whole "out the door in the morning to play with friends until dinner without checking back in" flying today. I remember as a kid my dad locking us outside the house so we had to stay and play outdoors instead of sitting inside with video games or something. I don't even know a kid now who doesn't have their own cell phone to be in contact every second of the day.
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Sep 17, 2017 12:13
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DrVenkman posted:I think even King said that it's a good 300 page book stretched right out. It's just a mess of ideas and genuinely feels like a first draft that they just pushed right into publishing. It's one of the few cases where a King movie adaptation is better than the book. I didn't care for Alexandra Paul. She didn't so much act as show up and read lines in front of the camera.
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Sep 17, 2017 12:14
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DrVenkman posted:I think even King said that it's a good 300 page book stretched right out. this is how i view almost all of his books.
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Sep 17, 2017 12:18
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Hunterhr posted:Also two foot wide yellow eyes watching the losers in the barrens holy loving god gently caress that. That made my hair stand up on end. Yeah that part was great. It was on page 666 of the edition I had.
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Sep 17, 2017 13:14
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Tom Guycot posted:I remember as a kid my dad locking us outside the house so we had to stay and play outdoors instead of sitting inside with video games or something. I don't even know a kid now who doesn't have their own cell phone to be in contact every second of the day. Funny to think it's the same country that arrested a mom for letting her kid walk half a mile to the park.
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Sep 17, 2017 14:30
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I think people who say King doesn't plot any of his books haven't read Firestarter or The Dead Zone which are plotted rather tightly. The man has had different stages of his career. His books definitely got bigger and more bloaty after a certain point.
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Sep 17, 2017 14:36
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Zwabu posted:I think people who say King doesn't plot any of his books haven't read Firestarter or The Dead Zone which are plotted rather tightly. The man has had different stages of his career. His books definitely got bigger and more bloaty after a certain point. He's straight up said he doesn't use outlines, which I think is what most people mean.
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Sep 17, 2017 14:51
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BiggerBoat posted:He's straight up said he doesn't use outlines, which I think is what most people mean. My favorite King story of how little he outlines his plots is when he blew up half the cast of the Stand because he had no idea what to do next
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Sep 17, 2017 16:00
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Mel Mudkiper posted:My favorite King story of how little he outlines his plots is when he blew up half the cast of the Stand because he had no idea what to do next Admittedly, it DOES show an awful a lot in his work and I think he'd be better served, most of the time, at least using a basic outline even if it's just a list of plot points numbered 1 -10. I guess he's not comfortable writing that way and likes to take more of a "jam band" approach, figuring it out as he goes. I dunno. He's done something right so who the gently caress am I to give him advice?
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Sep 17, 2017 17:52
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christine is really good & the book is better than the movie because the meat of the story is in the introspection just like in the shining king doesn't usually pull off metaphor very well but christine is an example of him succeeding. i view it as particularly relevant today, when dumb macho influences (which is what the car & the old dude's ghost that influences arnie represent) are leading a disturbing number of young dweebs toward the alt-right
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Sep 17, 2017 19:33
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BiggerBoat posted:Admittedly, it DOES show an awful a lot in his work and I think he'd be better served, most of the time, at least using a basic outline even if it's just a list of plot points numbered 1 -10. I guess he's not comfortable writing that way and likes to take more of a "jam band" approach, figuring it out as he goes. it would be nice if more of his books didn't have dumbass endings.
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Sep 17, 2017 20:13
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I've never been horribly bothered by his endings, a lot of longer books struggle with the last hundred pages but I can't think of a King ending where I was like "ugh".
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Sep 17, 2017 20:31
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The Stand's kickoff for Act 3 and the end both kick serious rear end, imo. The council bomb and Hawk's end never fail to get the waterworks going, and that's a book that gets loving heavy page 1.
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Sep 17, 2017 20:43
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From re-reading his works again in order, it's standing out that actually there's nothing wrong with most of his endings. He struggles with it in a few of his later books (CELL I'm looking at you) but then again I think that JOYLAND, REVIVAL and 11.22.63 all ended well. So far he hits more than he misses.
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Sep 17, 2017 21:53
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I thought It was great but the jump scares were pretty weak.
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Sep 17, 2017 22:37
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Jazerus posted:christine is really good & the book is better than the movie because the meat of the story is in the introspection just like in the shining Agreed. I liked the book as well as the movie and thought Carpenter did a really great job with it. King is really hard to translate to film, especially as he gets more and more far out, because so much of his stuff takes place in the mind and internal dialogue of the characters who are experiencing the fear. It's one of the reasons I thought IT was so great because, gently caress, that's hard book to turn into cinema. There's a reason that King's most successful and really good movies tend to deal less and less with the far out and supernatural, The Shining notwithstanding. But with that one you had Kubrick directing so of course it would crush. Groovelord Neato posted:it would be nice if more of his books didn't have dumbass endings. Yep. And I personally think that's a weakness with his approach. But this whole back and forth started with the assertion that King doesn't "plot". Which he doesn't, by his own admission. Yeah, you're right. It tends to show and you can sort of detect those moments where he's gotten bored with whatever he's doing and just says "gently caress it". Then again, he seems like he just wants to write it, get it out of his head and just march or GO, much like what I said about "jam bands" who never know how to end a song but who are really good until they reach that point. I dunno. Hope that made sense. BiggerBoat fucked around with this message at 23:35 on Sep 17, 2017 |
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Sep 17, 2017 23:29
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Minor aside, but King must've really dug the name Hockstetter since there's a Patrick Hockstetter in FIRESTARTER as well. I'm going through King more or less in order where I can and that book is one of the few I hadn't read (this run through is also my first DARK TOWER experience). It's not bad! It's just a solid well-written thriller with the occasional dose of nastiness and some good villains. I think it could maybe do with being just a little bit leaner than what it is, but it's a fairly minor complaint. Also, I realised how many movies use some real similar elements to that book. There's the shady government organisation, the man and girl on the run, superpowers, the kindly family who takes them in (usually on a farm) until it goes bad. At times it felt like a novelization of LOGAN.
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Sep 19, 2017 10:12
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DrVenkman posted:Minor aside, but King must've really dug the name Hockstetter since there's a Patrick Hockstetter in FIRESTARTER as well. That's one of those things I appreciate about King because anyone who grew up in a small town will tell you that repetitious regional names are definitely A THING. Back home, I can usually tell you what county someone is from based on their last name.
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Sep 19, 2017 10:49
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