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The Masque of the Red Death (1964)

7.0 (6 Ratings) Rate It

Movie

Adaptation of the Edgar Allen Poe story from producer-director Roger Corman, starring Vincent Price....

David McK (3425 KP) rated The Winter King - season 1 in TV

Feb 26, 2024 (Updated Feb 26, 2024)

I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with Bernard Cornwell adaptations.

I (generally) like his books.

I've yet to encounter a good adaptation, with the possible exception of the 90s Sharpe series (with Sean Bean), although those definitely needed a bigger budget!

This is loosely based on Cornwell's 'Warlord' trilogy - The Winter King, Enemy of God and Excalibur - which Cornwell himself views as his best works.

They're a 'realistic' retelling of the Arthurian stories, basically.

Kudos

Sharpie0499 (114 KP) rated Murder on the Orient Express (2017) in Movies

Jul 10, 2018

Surprise ending (2 more)

All-star cast

Heart-wrenching

Poirot's moustache (1 more)

Kenneth Brannagh isn't David Suchet

Intriguing Agatha Christie Adaptation

I was very excited to watch the most recent adaptation of Agatha Christie's Poirot and for very good reason. It was a very well-rounded film filled with humour, intrigue, and devastation. I particularly loved the surprise plot twists so the audience can never really tell (unless extremely clever) who the culprit actually is until revealed by Hercules Poirot himself. The camera angles used were absolutely brilliant and refreshing. The all-star cast was a plus as it was nice to see familiar faces in unexpected roles. The acting, costumes, writing, and set all contributed to making the film have that true Agatha Christie feeling to it. On the downside, I was not a huge fan of Poirot's moustache and found it to be over-the-top and irritating. I also find myself leaning more towards David Suchet's version of Poirot than Kenneth Brannagh's. But, overall, this film was extremely entertaining and had my brain doing somersaults trying to figure out who the culprit was.

Kudos

Perpetual Carnival: Essays on Film and Literature

Colin MacCabe

(0 Ratings) Rate It

Book

Upholding literature and film together as academically interwoven, Perpetual Carnival underscores...

Awix (3310 KP) rated Count Dracula (1977) in Movies

Nov 15, 2020

Count Dracula (1977)

1977 | Classics, Horror

7.4

(5 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Surprisingly faithful BBC adaptation of the famous story has definite merits, but also perhaps shows why most people don't stick so close to the text. Young solicitor Harker goes off to Transylvania to close a deal with the engimatic Count Dracula; you can probably guess the rest.

Scores very highly for its acting - Frank Finlay is a charismatic Van Helsing and Louis Jourdan a playfully evil Dracula - and also for its atmosphere, even with BBC TV production restraints (videotaped interiors, some rather weird special effects). For an adaptation to stick quite so close to the book is very nearly exceptional, too - Savory makes Lucy and Mina sisters, combines Arthur and Quincey into one character, and cuts down the final act, but that's about it. The drawback to this, of course, is that after the first act Dracula gets relatively little screen-time and even less dialogue, and it does drag on just a tiny bit. Nevertheless, its fidelity and seriousness mean that this is certainly among the top echelon of Draculas in any medium.

Kudos

Stamped

Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi

(0 Ratings) Rate It

Book

In this important and compelling young readers adaptation of his National Book Award-winning title,...

Liliannar (58 KP) rated Stephen King's It in TV

May 22, 2018 (Updated May 25, 2018)

Stephen King's It

1990 | Drama, Horror

8.1

(95 Ratings)

TV Show Rating

Follows the book (0 more)

Made for TV (0 more)

Decent adaptation

This movie followed the book as well as can be expected considering it was a "made for TV" min-series comprised of two separate parts. Characters were explored as much as possible in the time frame given but the world isn't nearly as well developed as it is in the book. Like any amazing book brought to film many vital pieces get left behind, but the heart of the story is still captured.