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David McK (3185 KP) rated The Dark Tower (2017) in Movies
Jul 7, 2019
Well, that was nothing at all like I expected.
I've read the first book in Stephen King's Dark Tower series, and (honestly) hadn't really thought it was all that great or understood what all the fuss was about - for my money, David Gemmell did a far better job in his Jon Shannow trilogy of novels.
Having said that, I recognise that Gemmell's name may not have quite the same resonance, the same 'pull' as Stephen King.
I wanted to see this when it came in the cinema, and now haven't watched it on Netflix, honestly? I'm glad I didn't waste my money.
Having only read the first book in Stephen King's series, I can't say how true (or otherwese) this is to the novel(s), but I've always thought the best book and movie adaptations compliment each other: watching (or reading) one, say, would make you want to hunt out the other. This was far from the ideal: only an hour and a half long, but felling MUCH longer, I found this to be slow, plodding, and lacking any real originality or flair or excitement.
One to avoid!
I've read the first book in Stephen King's Dark Tower series, and (honestly) hadn't really thought it was all that great or understood what all the fuss was about - for my money, David Gemmell did a far better job in his Jon Shannow trilogy of novels.
Having said that, I recognise that Gemmell's name may not have quite the same resonance, the same 'pull' as Stephen King.
I wanted to see this when it came in the cinema, and now haven't watched it on Netflix, honestly? I'm glad I didn't waste my money.
Having only read the first book in Stephen King's series, I can't say how true (or otherwese) this is to the novel(s), but I've always thought the best book and movie adaptations compliment each other: watching (or reading) one, say, would make you want to hunt out the other. This was far from the ideal: only an hour and a half long, but felling MUCH longer, I found this to be slow, plodding, and lacking any real originality or flair or excitement.
One to avoid!
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Jesters_folly (230 KP) rated The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon in Books
Dec 29, 2020
I'd never heard of this Stephen King novel before but that's the joys of charity shops. The blurb on the back book didn't give much away and going into any King book blind can be a bit of a gamble, will it be horror, dark tower related, Shining related or some kind of hybrid. Oddly 'The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon' doesn't necessarily fit into any of these category's.
Set in Mane (Like a lot of Kings works.) 'The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon' follows 9 year old Trisha McFarland as she gets lost in the wood whilst on a hike with her mother and brother. The story is more about coping with horror than an actual horror story as Trisha tries to find her way out of the woods whilst having to contend with the changing landscape, dead animals, hunger, thirst and exposure. Oh and there may or may not be something stalking her and that's the real extent of the horror, the 'not knowing' what's out there. There is no 'Dark man' or plague and no one has any shine, the story is just a little girl trying to find her way home. King mix's the real threats with those of Trisha's imagination , blurring the line so that, by the end the reader is not sure what really happened. Pushed to her limits Trisha is forced to dwell on the nature of god(s) and whether she should wait for a miracle or try to save her self .
Overall a good book that is slightly different to Kings other works and, at just over 200 pages (the copy I read) it's a refreshingly quick read
Set in Mane (Like a lot of Kings works.) 'The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon' follows 9 year old Trisha McFarland as she gets lost in the wood whilst on a hike with her mother and brother. The story is more about coping with horror than an actual horror story as Trisha tries to find her way out of the woods whilst having to contend with the changing landscape, dead animals, hunger, thirst and exposure. Oh and there may or may not be something stalking her and that's the real extent of the horror, the 'not knowing' what's out there. There is no 'Dark man' or plague and no one has any shine, the story is just a little girl trying to find her way home. King mix's the real threats with those of Trisha's imagination , blurring the line so that, by the end the reader is not sure what really happened. Pushed to her limits Trisha is forced to dwell on the nature of god(s) and whether she should wait for a miracle or try to save her self .
Overall a good book that is slightly different to Kings other works and, at just over 200 pages (the copy I read) it's a refreshingly quick read
Vicki Gooderson (18 KP) rated The Wastelands - Dark Tower III in Books
Jul 10, 2018
A good entry in the series
Contains spoilers, click to show
I’ll start with an admission - I love these books so much I have a dark tower tattoo. The Wastelands was the first book in the series I read. I found the book in the library at school and took it home with me. Anyway I’m just rereading the series and thought I’d post some thoughts.
So, the book itself. Roland, Susannah & Eddie have started their quest towards the tower in MidWorld but Roland, their dinh (leader) is slowly going insane due to the paradox he created by saving Jake in New York (see book 2 The Drawing of the Three).
Safe to say during the book perils are faced, sanity is restored, Jake joins the quest and there’s a deadly train.
Ok so what I like - the plot moves along nice and swiftly. I never got bored reading this. Stephen King has occasions where I loathe his style (Gerald’s Game as an example) but this moves along quickly and flows really well. I like the characters, they’re all fully formed people and not just plot devices. They take actions because of who they are not just because the plot needs them to. The world King has created is absorbing, interesting and I always wanted to know more.
The bad - that cliffhanger. Blaine is a pain. I read this a few years before Wizard and Glass came out and I was raging about the cliffhanger. There’s zero resolution. It’s not so bad now you can move straight on but at the time I was really annoyed. Also, I’m not a big fan of the illustrations just because they don’t match the pictures in my head. Have to admit I’m never a fan of illustrations though, I think imagination is much more powerful.
Anyway, I do recommend it. I love these books. It’s maybe not the best jumping on point (though it got me when I first found it) but it is an excellent book.
So, the book itself. Roland, Susannah & Eddie have started their quest towards the tower in MidWorld but Roland, their dinh (leader) is slowly going insane due to the paradox he created by saving Jake in New York (see book 2 The Drawing of the Three).
Safe to say during the book perils are faced, sanity is restored, Jake joins the quest and there’s a deadly train.
Ok so what I like - the plot moves along nice and swiftly. I never got bored reading this. Stephen King has occasions where I loathe his style (Gerald’s Game as an example) but this moves along quickly and flows really well. I like the characters, they’re all fully formed people and not just plot devices. They take actions because of who they are not just because the plot needs them to. The world King has created is absorbing, interesting and I always wanted to know more.
The bad - that cliffhanger. Blaine is a pain. I read this a few years before Wizard and Glass came out and I was raging about the cliffhanger. There’s zero resolution. It’s not so bad now you can move straight on but at the time I was really annoyed. Also, I’m not a big fan of the illustrations just because they don’t match the pictures in my head. Have to admit I’m never a fan of illustrations though, I think imagination is much more powerful.
Anyway, I do recommend it. I love these books. It’s maybe not the best jumping on point (though it got me when I first found it) but it is an excellent book.
Steven Sklansky (231 KP) rated Overlord (2018) in Movies
Nov 8, 2018
Action (2 more)
Great Acting
Intense
F******* Insane
Holy crap, this movie was amazing in IMAX, so you have the chance go see it there. On to the review. From the begin of this movie it was absolutely amazing. The film opens with the paratroops in the the plane getting ready to jump out in France to knock out a radio tower to let the planes know when to make their bombing run. This opening scene was done so well. It made you feel like you were in the plane being shot at and trying to get blown out of the sky. The soldiers getting ready to jump, you could really feel their fear and not wanting to die. It was edge of your seat fun wait to see what was going to happen.
Once they hit the ground the action did not stop, you had Germans shoot at you and explosions and wondering who was going to survive. This really did start like every other war movies, except for some reason I felt more invested the characters and not knowing what was going to happen. Once they arrived to the small town to take out the radio tower you just knew something strange was going on. There was a curfew and if you were out after dark you got taken to the church.
Now this was a really good plot about the Nazis and the crazy science experiments that Hitler was known for working on during the war. Now Nazi-zombies aren't necessarily new but I was a good take. This movie really had the feel of the video game Wolfenstein which was really cool.
Overall the action and scare factor was there on display, props to the crew for making this a great movie. If you are a fan of war and horror and not know what is going to happen. Get out there and enjoy the show.
Once they hit the ground the action did not stop, you had Germans shoot at you and explosions and wondering who was going to survive. This really did start like every other war movies, except for some reason I felt more invested the characters and not knowing what was going to happen. Once they arrived to the small town to take out the radio tower you just knew something strange was going on. There was a curfew and if you were out after dark you got taken to the church.
Now this was a really good plot about the Nazis and the crazy science experiments that Hitler was known for working on during the war. Now Nazi-zombies aren't necessarily new but I was a good take. This movie really had the feel of the video game Wolfenstein which was really cool.
Overall the action and scare factor was there on display, props to the crew for making this a great movie. If you are a fan of war and horror and not know what is going to happen. Get out there and enjoy the show.
Katherine Howard: The Tragic Story of Henry VIII's Fifth Queen
8.5
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'An impressive revisionist biography' The Times Looming out of the encroaching darkness of the...
Sarah (7798 KP) rated The Dark Tower (2017) in Movies
Aug 20, 2017
Stephen King let them make this?
I'll start off by saying I knew I was going to hate this film. From the moment I heard of the casting and then saw the first trailer. I get the justification for them making this film completely different (i.e. Horn of Eld - but was that even in the film?!), but for me it just doesn't work.
The book series is a fantasy masterpiece, but they appear to have made a standalone Dark Tower film pulled together with a vague mishmash of characters and ideas from the entire book series. It just doesn't work, especially not in a paltry 90 minutes. This is just far too different from the books - the characters are undeveloped, their motives are unclear. You almost have to have read the books to get an understanding of the characters as it just doesn't come across in this. Casting for me was poor too. McConaughey and Elba are fantastic actors but it doesn't show in this, they're let down by a poor script and a poor plot.
My only hope for this film is that it prompts those who haven't read the books to pick them up and realise how awesome they are.
The book series is a fantasy masterpiece, but they appear to have made a standalone Dark Tower film pulled together with a vague mishmash of characters and ideas from the entire book series. It just doesn't work, especially not in a paltry 90 minutes. This is just far too different from the books - the characters are undeveloped, their motives are unclear. You almost have to have read the books to get an understanding of the characters as it just doesn't come across in this. Casting for me was poor too. McConaughey and Elba are fantastic actors but it doesn't show in this, they're let down by a poor script and a poor plot.
My only hope for this film is that it prompts those who haven't read the books to pick them up and realise how awesome they are.
Sarah (7798 KP) rated The Outsider in Books
Jul 13, 2018
King does it again
My main worry about this book was that it didn't sound enough like King - on paper it almost sounded like a bog standard crime thriller. Fortunately though that wasn't the case!
This is yet another brilliantly written King novel, filled with intrigue, suspense and a lot of fairly gruesome horror. The characters are, as always, well written and the story centres mainly around the lovable detective Ralph Anderson (although chapters centred around other characters offer some nice variety). The central supernatural plot is one that I've seen/read before in other works of fiction, but it definitely doesn't get boring seeing it from King's point of view. There are some unexpected links to some other of King's stories - one obvious and direct, but another link for me was more of a similarity to a previous character - neither of which is a bad thing.
My only criticisms of this book are fairly minor. The first is that the ending seems fairly rushed in comparison with the slow build of the rest of the book. And the second is that although it is a very good and enthralling read, it doesn't quite have the impact of some of his older epic novels (The Dark Tower series, The Stand, Needful Things etc).
This is yet another brilliantly written King novel, filled with intrigue, suspense and a lot of fairly gruesome horror. The characters are, as always, well written and the story centres mainly around the lovable detective Ralph Anderson (although chapters centred around other characters offer some nice variety). The central supernatural plot is one that I've seen/read before in other works of fiction, but it definitely doesn't get boring seeing it from King's point of view. There are some unexpected links to some other of King's stories - one obvious and direct, but another link for me was more of a similarity to a previous character - neither of which is a bad thing.
My only criticisms of this book are fairly minor. The first is that the ending seems fairly rushed in comparison with the slow build of the rest of the book. And the second is that although it is a very good and enthralling read, it doesn't quite have the impact of some of his older epic novels (The Dark Tower series, The Stand, Needful Things etc).
Emma (519 KP) Jul 7, 2019