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ohBlanca, you may be right . . . .
It would be difficult to hold an audience's attention for so long, but the book was captivating.  I think it was King at one of his best moments of writing.  For it to work as a movie, there would have to be the constant tension of the unknown, perhaps some gifted screenwiter/director team will find some way to pull it off.

posted by archiew on January 28, 2004 at 5:49 AM | link to this | reply

I loved The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon too, but do you really think it could be made into a movie?  I don't know, the little girl is alone most of the time, with only her thoughts to keep her company.  I wonder how that would translate into film...  But then again, look at Castaway.  Gosh, I love this blog!  I'm adding it to my favorites.

posted by ohBlanca on January 27, 2004 at 9:33 PM | link to this | reply

Almost forgot!
I also really enjoyed Insomnia and would like that one made into a movie, although that would be a bir more diffiuclt than the earlier two I mentioned.

posted by archiew on January 27, 2004 at 9:03 PM | link to this | reply

OhBlanca . . .
I, too, come and go with King, but the Dark Tower series has really captivated me.  One of his shorter pieces I recently enjoyed was Riding the Bullet, and a year or so back, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.   I think either of those could be made into movies fairly easily.

posted by archiew on January 27, 2004 at 9:00 PM | link to this | reply

The Regulators is one of my absolute favorite books of all time.  You have to read Desperation too.  I also loved Gerald's Game and The Stand.  I've never really gotten into the Dark Tower series. 

As for movies based on his books, I'm of two minds on the issue.  On one hand, his books can produce wonderful movies.  I really like 'Misery' and 'The Green Mile', and I thought 'The Shawshank Redemption' and 'Stand by Me' were much better than the stories they were based on. 

But I also think that some of Stephen King's books are rough to translate.  His characters have a certain way about them, and there are a lot of character nuances and inner monologues that don't translate well into film.  For example, a major network did a true-to-form version of 'The Shining' and it was awful.  Some of that supernatural stuff looked so dumb when it was made into a movie.  The abridged Jack Nicholson classic was much better because it took out a lot of that stuff, and just left the basic story line.

Um, as you can probably tell, I was a HUGE fan.  I haven't read one of his books in a while, and now you've made me nostalgic. 

posted by ohBlanca on January 27, 2004 at 8:56 PM | link to this | reply

Hearts of Atlantis Movie
It's a pretty good movie if you have not read the book, or if you can force yourself to look at it as "not the book."  But, if you have read the book and then see the movie, you are bound to be disappointed.  The movie is a mere shadow, and a poor one at that, of the book.

posted by archiew on January 24, 2004 at 4:53 AM | link to this | reply

Is the Hearts In Atlantis movie worth watching?
I always hate the way the movie studios portray King's novels; I think the best interpretation they did was Misery; a brilliant book, and a pretty good film too.  Christine was a good interpretation too, but the others just seem to become epic movies badly drawn out.

posted by markd on January 24, 2004 at 1:10 AM | link to this | reply

Funny thing, though . . . .
I didn't care much for King until the past few years, and I am well past high school age! 

posted by archiew on January 23, 2004 at 4:48 PM | link to this | reply

Thanks!

I just started reading The Regulators by Bachman.  Strange, strange book . . . . 

My main complaint with King is that he sells his books to movie studios who then turn about and ruin the stories.  As much as I'd love to see a movie, a series of movies, based on the Dark Tower series, I'm afraid of what Hollywood would do to that epic.  Look at what they did to Hearts in Atlantis!

posted by archiew on January 23, 2004 at 4:47 PM | link to this | reply

I just discovered this blog.  Oh my god, when I was in junior high and in high school, I was obsessed with Stephen King!  I thought I was going to marry him!  And you're right, he has a tremendous talent for short stories.  My favorite collections will always be the "Bachman Books" and "Nightmares and Dreamscapes".  Cool blog!

posted by ohBlanca on January 23, 2004 at 4:43 PM | link to this | reply