What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[J Harker]

Originally Posted by Rik

Certainly does, nice looking steelbook too

I've got it in the BFI Herzog set. Still only seen Nosferstu and Aguire though.

[Rik]

Originally Posted by J Harker

The Dark Tower. Nikolaj Arcel. 2017.

A young boy in NYC dreams of another world where a sinister man in black is attempting to harness the psychic powers of abducted children to destroy the pivotal Dark Tower, a strange monolith that stands at the centre of time and space and protects the multiple dimensions from demons seeking to devour mankind.
Roland Deschain is the last in a long line of mythical figures known as Gunslingers. Think knights of the round table with six shooters.
The destinies of Jake and Roland collide in a battle to defeat the man in black and the world, all worlds.
Nikolaj Arcels Dark Tower sees the long awaited adaptation of Stephen Kings eight novel epic series finally get to the screen, and its a bit of a conundrum. As an adaptation of the novels it plays fast and lose. Adding in a bit here, dropping a bit there. But then it is condensing eight novels some seriously thick buggers (this is King we're talking about) into a 95 minute scifi yarn. And do you know what?? It does a bloody good job of it. The fact that the films feels tight and cohesive and drops enough hints at the backstory and deep mythology is very impressive. The casting is excellent too. Some important characters from the books don't get a look in but the three primary ones, Roland, Jake and Walter aka The Man in Black are portrayed superbly by the always impressive Idris Elba as Roland and the superb Matthew McConaughey as the man in black. With relative newcomer Tom Taylor playing Jake Chambers perfectly.
The film feels more like a traditional sci fi than the novels with technology being largely a relic in the books and here still very relevant. The more fantastical elements of the books also seem to be played down slightly with everything being presented as more rational and explainable. The best parts of the film for me are seeing Elbas fish out of water Roland Deschain tackling modern Manhattan and its a pity this wasn't played on for longer. There are endless easter egss scattered throughout for King fans and ultimately i don't think the film will dissapoint hardcore fans too much. As an adaptation i thought it was rather well done all things considered and as a film in its own right i thought it was a blast.

I've only read the first book, will watching this spoil the rest of the series?

[J Harker]

Originally Posted by Rik

I've only read the first book, will watching this spoil the rest of the series?

Tricky. It borrows bits from all over, so to some degree yes. But i do have to admit its been 7 years since i finished reading the main series so i can't remember precisely which bits of which books it keeps. I'm inclined to say no overall it doesn't follow the books close enough to really spoil them. You might want to crack on though, apparently there is a tv series and other films to follow so i presume at some point they will begin to touch on things in more detail.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by J Harker

The Dark Tower. Nikolaj Arcel. 2017.


Nikolaj Arcels Dark Tower sees the long awaited adaptation of Stephen Kings eight novel epic series finally get to the screen, and its a bit of a conundrum. As an adaptation of the novels it plays fast and lose. Adding in a bit here, dropping a bit there. But then it is condensing eight novels some seriously thick buggers (this is King we're talking about) into a 95 minute scifi yarn.

I was told i was wrong on here when i suggested the film was basically all the books.

[J Harker]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

I was told i was wrong on here when i suggested the film was basically all the books.

By whom? And have you seen the film Dem? I didn't think you did the cinema?

[Rik]

Originally Posted by J Harker

Tricky. It borrows bits from all over, so to some degree yes. But i do have to admit its been 7 years since i finished reading the main series so i can't remember precisely which bits of which books it keeps. I'm inclined to say no overall it doesn't follow the books close enough to really spoil them. You might want to crack on though, apparently there is a tv series and other films to follow so i presume at some point they will begin to touch on things in more detail.

Cheers, my girlfriend is a big Idris Elba fan and wants to go see it so I thought I'd check first

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by J Harker

By whom? And have you seen the film Dem? I didn't think you did the cinema?

No i haven't. I read in Empire in an interview with King where he said it was all the books condensed, mentioned it on here and someone dismissed it.

I've tried to find it bit can't. Looked on the King thread, the remakes thread, the TTT thread and the upcoming films thread.

I'm drinking Red Stag so can't be arsed to look into any more threads. Don't want it to get warm.

[J Harker]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

No i haven't. I read in Empire in an interview with King where he said it was all the books condensed, mentioned it on here and someone dismissed it.

I've tried to find it bit can't. Looked on the King thread, the remakes thread, the TTT thread and the upcoming films thread.

I'm drinking Red Stag so can't be arsed to look into any more threads. Don't want it to get warm.

Nah its all the books condensed. Though it barely touches on some of them. I was well impressed with the way it managed to pack 7 intermittently good, sporadically brilliant novels into one very good and not particularly long film. Just goes to show what I've said for years. Stephen King needs a stricter editor.

[Rik]

Early test screenings of IT are looking pretty good, I'm tempted to go to the midnight opening after band practice (and many beers) in a couple of weeks

[nosferatu42]

Cherry Tree

cherry-tree-dvd.jpg

This came up on the Horror channel and thought i'd give it a watch because the adverts for it made it seem intriguing.

Well we have a story about a teenage school girl who lives with her father, when dad develops Leukemia and becomes ill she is obviously worried for him and her future.
As luck would have it there's a coven of witches who meet under a Cherry tree who tell the girl that they can cure her father, only downside is she has to become pregnant and give it up to the witches for their dark purposes.

I found this reasonably well acted and the photography was good, there is an 80's horror vibe to it i thought, with some gore and boobs and some effective scenes of prosthetic style effects and faces being ripped of that all reminded me of Hellraiser type stuff.

The witches coven seems to have a fixation with centipedes and there are a lot of scenes of these creatures crawling about and burrowing into skin which are quite unsettling.Also for some reason the coven likes wearing old sacks over their heads in a 'Batman begins' Scarecrow style.

So i quite enjoyed this up to a point and would certainly watch it again sometime, but it was let down by a script that seemed a bit scattershot, and not enough characterisation to make you really feel for the characters, also the ending seemed a bit rushed and underwhelming.

But i would definitely say it is better than a lot of the tat that turns up on the horror channel and the head witch is quite sexy too.

An interesting 7/10