Steven King movies and books; the good, bad and mediocre

POSTED BY: chrisisall
UPDATED: Tuesday, April 26, 2005 20:35
VIEWED: 5900
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CHRISISALL

Tuesday, April 26, 2005 2:46 AM

From MEMORY??!!
I have a hard tim remembering my SS#!!!!

Feeble-minded Chrisisall

NEEDLESEYE

Tuesday, April 26, 2005 4:29 AM

I liked, as far as movies: The Shining and Carrie.
The Stand, was OK as far as a TV presentation. I'm a sucker for any variety post-apocalyptic crud. Been meaning to read the book for years, free time isn't something I have much of though.

Keeper of Jayne's goggles. 8)
"You only live a day, but it's brilliant anyway" ~ Elliot Smith

MALICIOUS

Tuesday, April 26, 2005 8:52 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
I have a hard tim remembering my SS#!!!!

Oh, it's 644-11-9128.

KIDDING!! (was I close?)

Mal-licious

I think I will add cursing and the hurling about of things to my repertoire.

MANWITHPEZ

Tuesday, April 26, 2005 11:41 AM

1408 was great, as was hmmm...what's it called, 10'0clock People, as well as Lunchtime in the Gotham Cafe. I don't make it a point to hunt down short stories (Except from F.Paul Wilson! Worth the hunt!), but King's just got so damn many good ones! Not to mention a few bad ones. I know that when I was a kid, The Boogeyman from Night Shift used to continually both confound and terrify me. It was confounding to me because the good guys didn't win. And, I had never been presented with the idea before I read that story. But, if you've read enough King, then you know, the good guy rarely wins, or, if he does, its at the expense of great personal loss.

Kaylee: "What's so damn important about being proper? It don't mean nothing out here in the black."
Simon: "It means more out here. It's all I have..."

BLACKOUTNIGHTS

Tuesday, April 26, 2005 5:23 PM

The movies of Sai King's books usually let me down, so I don't go out of my way to see them.

For years I loved his books. However, with the possible exception of Desperation and The Dark Tower, I don't typically like his endings.

That may be because, as he explains before The Dark Tower ends, his books are more about the story and getting to the ending, than the ending itself.

Good excuse; I accept that.

However, in my opinion the best stories have a perfect ending and conclusion, a-la The Lord of the Rings. The journey ends; the work is done. Anything less is just an excuse.

But that's just me.

"You're either in or you're out, and I'm playing to the in."—Greg Dulli

CHRISISALL

Tuesday, April 26, 2005 5:48 PM

That's exactly why Firestarter is my favourite SK book ( that, and it's the most science- fictiony ).

Love the book/love the movie Chrisisall

MANWITHPEZ

Tuesday, April 26, 2005 6:13 PM

The ending to the Dark Tower books is a sore spot with me. I agree with what King's saying...just not how it was said. I loved and hated it at the same time, and the arrows were kinda pointing in that direction while they were pointing everywhere else. But, just because not all (or even the majority) of Stephen King's books have happy ending, I don't think they're bad endings.

King writes (specializes) in books that take the mundane and make them terrifying. As silly as that can be, the real strength to a Stephen King book, (besides great characterization) is that they seem to be grounded in a reality of sorts. Yes, he's talking about ghosts and vampires and werewolves and a dimensional portal in the trunk of a Buick...but the characters react to these things as most people would, I think.

To me, one of King's most terrifying stories is "Apt Pupil" of which, there is on supernatural occurences whatsoever. The idea that evil is an infection that can be spread to the willing is horrible, yet totally feasible. You know what Todd's going to do about halfway through the story. The only downfall of Apt Pupil is that there isn't a clear cut bad guy. My wife read that story (actually, I think she listened to Frank Muller's excellent audiobook reading) and said she felt sorry for Dussander...Sorry for the NAZI! And, that is what is at the underpinnings of almost every great Stephen King story. Real, lifelike, touchable characters. That's why, when one of the good guys bite the dust, you are upset.

I would rather take an unhappy ending over a cop out one anyday. (See most of Dean Koontz's writings ((which is not to discount Koontz...love most of his books))) The unhappy ending feels more real, because, more often than not, in life, this is how things work out for us, as real people.
SPOILERS BELOW!!!

I believe that if I walked as far as Ray Garraty , I would probably go insane. I don't things were going to work out okay for Thad and Liz Beaumont. If you're going to use people for a Hand of God metaphor with a nuclear weapon...they're not all going to make it. King told us all along that not everyone would make it to the Tower! Ted Braughtigan should have gotten caught...he was a little sloppy. Jack Sawyer has to die to Flip forever!

SPOILERS OVER

So, I'll take King's endings over a lot of other authors. At least they aren't abrupt, or needlessly sappy. Some, are downright perfect. Most, are lifelike.

Kaylee: "What's so damn important about being proper? It don't mean nothing out here in the black."
Simon: "It means more out here. It's all I have..."

GONZAI

Tuesday, April 26, 2005 8:35 PM

First up, for Chrisisall, I find I tend to approach most movies with a particular mindset. My mindset for TV movies is that they're probably lousy. So, the Stand was good, not outstanding, just good, but considering what I was afraid of...

I must confess that King writes way too fast for me these days, I think I finally fell off the pace around 2000 (halfway through Nightmares & Dreamscapes, so I haven't read Head Down! Left off the Dark Tower series around the third book too.) And finding reading time these days is darned tough.

Wanted to comment that in the case of 'Apt Pupil' - I read it once and threw up. It continues to disturb me greatly 20 years later, and I refuse to see the film, which is particularly notable since I'm a huge fan of Sir Ian McKellen.

"I'm not a control freak. I'm a control enthusiast." - Joss Whedon

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