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Stephen Kings "The Dark Tower": 'Losely' based on the novels???

VanceMack

VanceMack

Less like the tiger...more like the lion.
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Wow. I'm still trying to make sense of what I just saw. We have waited since 1982 for this series to come to the screen. Without giving too much away, I'll just say...we are STILL waiting for this series to come to the screen.
 
Jesse Booth said:
Oh geez. On a scale of one to ten, how mangled was it?
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A friend of mine saw it last night, with about the same reaction Vance had. So, we're probably talking mangled to the level of Defcon 8 or higher. :lol:

I was actually considering to see it myself. But...I can wait for the Stream release date.
 
calamity said:
A friend of mine saw it last night, with about the same reaction Vance had. So, we're probably talking mangled to the level of Defcon 8 or higher. :lol:

I was actually considering to see it myself. But...I can wait for the Stream release date.
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Man, my parents are going to be LIVID. Particularly my mom, she absolutely loves those books.
 
Jesse Booth said:
Man, my parents are going to be LIVID. Particularly my mom, she absolutely loves those books.
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Then I probably recommend they not see the movie. :lol:

From what I've read, the people who really liked the books will be bitterly disappointed. This movie is more for those who either just read a couple of the books or those who didn't but are big fans of Elba and/or McConaughey.
 
calamity said:
Was the acting at least good?
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Elba was fine. I mean...if you follow the books he isn't at ALL Roland. The rest. Man...it's hard to even judge it. None of the characters were as written.


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IT and THE DARK TOWER series were some of the major reasons I stopper reading King. No surprise that this series is a dog also.
 
Fledermaus said:
On par with "Hitchhikers Guide" bad adaptation?
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Much worse. I think you could recognize HG. This...the more I think about it the worse it gets.


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Fledermaus said:
That is where the studio should state the movie is "Inspired by" characters in the novels.
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Yep. We saw the words 'Based on the novel The Dark Tower' and just laughed.

We didnt have a very full theater. Going in we heard people talking. Most were there as fans of the series. After it was over there werent any boos, but the mood was very somber. Most started getting up before the last scene faded. We just sat there and tried to make sense of it...and ended up just laughing.
 
Jesse Booth said:
Man, my parents are going to be LIVID. Particularly my mom, she absolutely loves those books.
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I am always disappointed in the movie because I have usually already read the book. His books are always much better than the movies because he is a great writer. Plus it is not easy to put a 40 or 60 hrs. of reading into a 2 hr. movie. In the movie you just don't have the time to get into the background and introduction of the characters that the book does.

Like all great writers he draws you in and leaves you not wanting to stop reading. Plus in a lot of his books you cannot truly be sure of the ending until it ends. That turns me off about most movies or books when I know the ending by the end of the first chapter or less. I love thinking I have it figured out only to have the next chapter send me in a whole new direction.
 
haymarket said:
IT and THE DARK TOWER series were some of the major reasons I stopper reading King. No surprise that this series is a dog also.
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Yeah, I was a massive King fan, right up until the early-mid 80s when his style of writing changed and I really couldn't stand it anymore. I read the first of the Dark Tower series and... no thanks, not at all for me.
 
Cephus said:
Yeah, I was a massive King fan, right up until the early-mid 80s when his style of writing changed and I really couldn't stand it anymore. I read the first of the Dark Tower series and... no thanks, not at all for me.
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Nice to see you have great taste in literature. ;)
 
i'm going to check it out so that i can comment, but i'm not optimistic that these movies are going to do justice to The Dark Tower series. it would probably take eight to ten movies over the course of fifteen years. you have to take into account that the Dark Tower series is the spine of most of what Stephen King has written; there's a way to connect most if not all of of his books and short stories to that universe. to the casual reader, when you figure out that part, it's mind boggling. hence, when they release a movie called "The Dark Tower," you just kind of suspect that it's going to fall short.
 
Fledermaus said:
On par with "Hitchhikers Guide" bad adaptation?
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Those are the books that made me swear never to read the him again. From the very first sentence of the laborious seven books he wrote i knew straight away how it would all end. And i was right. predictable bastard that he is.
 
VanceMack said:
Yep. We saw the words 'Based on the novel The Dark Tower' and just laughed.

We didnt have a very full theater. Going in we heard people talking. Most were there as fans of the series. After it was over there werent any boos, but the mood was very somber. Most started getting up before the last scene faded. We just sat there and tried to make sense of it...and ended up just laughing.
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How did you feel about World War Z?
 
Was Blaine the train in it? And did they have a riddle contest? It can't be the Dark Tower without the riddle train.
 
Fledermaus said:
How did you feel about World War Z?
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I was OK with the movie because I hadnt read the book. My wife read the book...and liked the movie though she said it was very different.
 
ThoughtEx. said:
Was Blaine the train in it? And did they have a riddle contest? It can't be the Dark Tower without the riddle train.
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No...not in the movie.
 
VanceMack said:
I was OK with the movie because I hadnt read the book. My wife read the book...and liked the movie though she said it was very different.
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If you had read the book the term "Inspired by" would be a stretch.

A statement "Shares the name of" would have been better.
 
I hope is decent but usually loosely based movies, if there is such a large number of pages to use for a movie, I am curious why one would have to loosely base it on the books.

I love very precise following of King's books. The Stand is pretty consistent with the movie, IT is reasonably close, the Shining (original version) pretty good as well, loved the Dead zone movies (not the series) but a lot of other King movies are often poorly made or really disappointing. I hope that the Dark Tower is going to be a pleasant surprise but based on the "loosely based" content, I have to wonder.
 
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