Hello,
Just some quick movie reviews today, starting with "Mockingjay, Pt. 1"
First up I hate the greed of splitting one book into two movies. It was "Twilight" that started that trend. However that was understandable as "Breaking Dawn" is one heck of a long book. "Breaking Dawn" checks in at 768 pages. However "Mockingjay" is only 400 pages long and it's the weakest of the three books in the "Hunger Games" trilogy. I read all three books, the first two books are classics, whereas the third one comes up a bit short.
I saw "Mockingjay, Pt. 1" yesterday and it was okay. I really should've watched "Catching Fire" again as I'd forgotten so much of that movie. The movie does a great job in building tension, but knowing that this is only about the first half of the book dissipates a lot of that tension quickly. I was just waiting for the movie to get to a really good part and fade to black. Peeta struggling against the restraints of his bed were as good as any place to stop. There are also too many scenes when the screen goes black, which makes me think the movie may be over but then the movie continues. A movie should only have one ending.
But Jennifer Lawrence and Woody Harrelson are great in this movie, indeed in the entire series. Although Liam Hemsworth is a bit wooden. I also can't help but think of Miley Cyrus whenever I see him, which doesn't help the movie. Josh Hutcherson as an action hero? At least he's more believable than Tobey McGuire as Spiderman.
Thanks to my friends at "Netflix" I was able to watch "Flight" the other day. I'm a humongous fan of Denzel Washington, but didn't get around to seeing "Flight" until this week. What a great movie and a typically amazing performance by Denzel. The way he walked to his character's hearing after John Goodman brought in the drugs to help him get straight was amazing. He has so much charisma as he walked to his eventual fate.
I also loved the John Goodman line about "Ceelo guarding the door" (paraphrase).
The ending did feel a bit hollywoody, but it did feel true to the character of Whip Whittaker. It took the death of his sorta girlfriend, legal issues, losing his aviation license etc. before he finally hit rock bottom. It was that hearing and repeating those same lies that he already had said many times to finally force him to realize he had hit rock bottom. Finally something broke in him and he realized he just couldn't lie any more. I love how he articulated that in the prison scene.
Then in my movie watching binge I watched "The Last Stand" last night. The movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger is a movie that can be skipped. It's definitely a video movie, but I've also seen a lot worse movies.
Now on to "Mr. Mercedes", I'm 90% through this book and will probably finish it tonight. It's been a typically good King novel. This won't finish anywhere in his top ten all-time best books, but it has been a decent book.
Stephen King's Top Ten books: Although I know how highly unlikely it seems that I'm a huge King fan, but I've never read the entire books of "The Shining" or "Salem's Lot". In fact the list below is based on the about 40 King books/stories I've read over the years. This list was actually easier to compile than I expected, I dismissed many books out of hand. Sadly so few of these great books were turned into great movies or TV shows.
1) "It" From the beginning when the character kills himself in his bathtub, but first writes "IT" in his own blood on the wall this book pulls me in to the story. This is one of those extremely long books that I'm grateful for every page, a book that I simply never wanted to end. The miniseries was meh.
2) "Christine" Back in the mid 80s, when I was a Stephen King snob, I finally decided to give his books a shot. I read this book and quickly realized why so many people love his books. One of the better adaptations of a King book, but still nowhere as good as the book.
3) "The Dark Tower: Wizard and Glass" I loved the entire "Gunslinger" series and would highly recommend to anyone that loves reading. But "Wizard and Glass" the prequel about the life of Roland the Gunslinger and his one true love, Susan. A romance that's written so well that it even appeals to men. Still not made into a movie or television series, it may be unflimable though. Turning about 2000 pages of 7 books into one cohesive movie. It would have to be a series of movies, just as long as they don't turn the final volume into two movies.
4) "The Tommyknockers" I'm pretty sure a miniseries was made, but I don't remember it.
5) "Pet Semetery" Like "IT" a book that grabbed me by the collar at the beginning of the book and didn't let go until the last page. Again the book is considerably better than the movie.
6) "The Stand" A decent miniseries.
7) "The Dead Zone" I'm fairly sure I've seen this movie, but remember almost nothing about it. That tells me all I need to know about how good it was.
8) "Carrie" I haven't see the classic Sissy Spacek version or the recent movie version.
9) "The Running Man" One of the best movies made from King's books, which sadly isn't saying much.
10) "Cujo" Again a so so movie, nowhere close to it's source material.
11) "Different Seasons" This collection contains "The Body" (which became "Stand By Me"), Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption" and "Apt Pupil". The fourth short story was "The Breathing Method" the weakest link in this collection of great stories. Arguably King's two best movies came from this collection. I recently watched "Stand By Me" again. It's a bit dated, but still a great movie. Then without a doubt one of the best movies of all-time is "The Shawshank Redemption", what an amazing movie. Great acting by both Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins.
12) Hearts In Atlantis" I loved, loved, loved this series of interconnected stories.
The Five Worst King Books
1) "Under The Dome", perhaps Kings worse book has been turned into an even worse TV series. I have no idea how it got a second season, the first season was brutally bad. Some of the acting and characters are very brutal. There's hardly anyone to cheer for.
2) "Thinner"
3) "Cell"
4) "From A Buick 8" These three books again aren't terrible, but are far below King's normal level of writing mastery.
5) "Four Past Midnight" I loved "The Langoliers" and enjoyed "Sun Dog". However the pedophilia of "The Library Policeman" was a huge mistake. That story was unreadable because of that, otherwise marring what was a pretty good collection of stories.
I was holding "Arrival", his newest novel, in my hands yesterday. However I resisted the urge to buy it.
themusicaddict
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