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Post by prodigaltwit on Jul 8, 2007 2:12:28 GMT -5
Stephen King's past works were great, but there was a time afterwards where his stories leaned towards more drama type stories with a bit of horror mixed in especially:
Bag of Bones
The Girl who loved Tom Gordon
Hearts in Atlantis
The Green Mile
These were beautifully done and didn't have as much of the blood and gore that his other books usually have. They were more about the characters and how they faced an extraordinary situation.
Out of the four, 'hearts in atlantis' in particular was a beautifully written book that had a lot more depth than the movie portrayed.
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Post by member727 on Jul 8, 2007 6:45:57 GMT -5
I loved Hearts in Atlantis, but only the first two books, and the final scene. The other two were a bit bland, unfortunately. A lot of his earlier works have that dramatic undercurrent as well (although it's not easy to write a memorable novel without strong dramatic themes). IT is my personal favourite - as well as featuring the horror theme, there's a subtheme of returning to your hometown and finding everything changed...  |
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Post by DonnaJo on Jul 8, 2007 8:45:14 GMT -5
Ooohh, a Stephen King thread! I love his earlier work, my personal favorite being The Stand. A great book, a not so great film. King's novels never transfer well to the screen. Especially IT, which was such a fantastic book, but the film was silly.
Of your list, prodicaltwit, my favorite is The Green Mile series. One of the few King stories that turned into a decent film.
Another excellent book is The Long Road (or is it long mile?) which follows a group of contestants in a deadly futuristic race. Not sure if that was written under King's pen name, Richard Bachman
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Post by Sirenna on Jul 8, 2007 14:06:58 GMT -5
My favourite S.K and one of my all-time favourite stories ever is the Shawshank Redemption a novella he wrote. I remember being a student in Toronto and picking up the 80-odd page book at a Hudson's Bay clearance sale, flipping through it and being so engrossed by page five that I took the rest of the day off school and holed up at the crappy department store restaurant ordering stuff I wasn't eating just to keep being able to sit there and finish my read.
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Post by ragincajun on Jul 8, 2007 16:30:10 GMT -5
Love his books, too bad the Movies usually don't do his books justice. Such as Children of the Corn was a great short story but horrible movie.
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Post by member727 on Jul 8, 2007 20:35:00 GMT -5
I think the biggest problem with filming the books is there's so much content, and a lot of it is in unfilmable form. So after it's trimmed down to a bearable length, there's not much left.
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Post by prodigaltwit on Jul 8, 2007 20:59:41 GMT -5
So true member727 and I know his earlier works had drama, but I feel that it wasn't until between 2000-2003 or something that he really flushed out the drama and the horror theme became the undercurrent.
But I think he's back to his old self after 'Dreamcatcher' (which he wrote recovering from a horrible accident) which really took elements from a couple of his previous books and stuck them together. I loved IT....but that book was sooo long.
I agree with everyone here that, with the exception of the green mile, a lot of movies butchered his books, the green mile was a awesome book as Donnajo said. I totally loved it
As for shawshank redemption, i never got to read the book, it was part of a novel that had four stories in it wasn't it Sirenna?
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Post by ragincajun on Jul 8, 2007 21:44:57 GMT -5
Forgot I read Dreamcatchers, and saw the Movie, Must say my imagination, did more for it than the movie could ever do, Loved the book. That was the last book I read, anyone have any suggestions of his recent works I should attempt? Didn't read Shawshank, but loved the movie.
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Post by DonnaJo on Jul 9, 2007 9:12:52 GMT -5
Yesterday my daughter & I went to see 1408, a film based on a short story by Stephen King. It was pretty good. I didn't remember reading the story, but I knew I had the book of short stories somewhere.
Just found it & plan on reading it today (I'm off from work) to see how close it is to the film.
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Post by sarahlee on Jul 17, 2007 23:57:04 GMT -5
"Silver Bullet" is one of my favourite SK movies. Even with all the flaws, (the werewolf makeup was awful) it was worth it to see Uncle Gary Busey trick out the boy's wheelchair. (Named "Silver Bullet") I still hold my breath every time in the fog, and in the living room. waiting for Preacher.
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Post by diablodeblanco on Jul 18, 2007 1:07:20 GMT -5
When the young boy was on the bridge lighting fireworks and the werewolf was in the woods getting in position to attack was one of the scarier scenes in that movie. Love Stephen King.
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Post by sarahlee on Jul 18, 2007 11:46:14 GMT -5
OOOH yeah! (gotta find that vid now...  ) |
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Post by untitled on Feb 8, 2008 21:46:02 GMT -5
You know I've never read a Steven King book but most of his movie adaptations tend to well...suck. I have a cousin who lives in Maine and when I went up to visit she took us to see his house. Well...the outside of it. His House in Maine (he's got some awesome looking gates)   |
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Post by Cassie on Feb 8, 2008 22:29:03 GMT -5
Thanks for sharing.... I love old homes. I would have thought he would have had more land, far away from the public eyes.
I also agree most of the movies stink..... I think he is a great writer, not crazy about some of the subject matter, especially as I am getting older. I also feel he tells a great story, and sometimes the endings can be a let down. Not sure if I am disappointed that the story is over, or not always pleased how the book ended.
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Post by diablodeblanco on Feb 9, 2008 9:30:17 GMT -5
You know I've never read a Steven King book but most of his movie adaptations tend to well...suck. I have a cousin who lives in Maine and when I went up to visit she took us to see his house. Well...the outside of it. His House in Maine (he's got some awesome looking gates) Somehow that house seems fitting for him. |
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