Stephen King
Tilt Shift: Andy Muschietti’s “IT: Chapter One”
What is it about Andy Muschietti’s It, an adaptation of Stephen King’s monstrously sized novel of childhood trauma and clowns, that makes the film feel so bland and unimportant? It certainly wants to feel lively and fun and maybe even a little important. It wants to feel alive. The various iterations of It have all tried to reconcile with otherness, being an outsider, a “loser”, if you will. But the gravity of those implications isn’t there perhaps because It is a film that is unsure of what It is, shifting and transforming in tone as quickly as the monster haunting the film’s characters. But It is unable to settle confidently in any one of its tonal or aesthetic personae. Read the rest of this entry »
The Cruelty of Growing Up: Carrie
As far as formative experiences go, high school is one of the big ones. There is nothing like the stress of trying to fit in, one of those age old stories that effectively describes humanity cruelty to one another and to the Other. You could argue that, from high school on, everything is the same, just perhaps more brutal and more overt in this enormous seeming microcosm with deadly fluorescent lights. But no one is deadlier than Carrie White, whose special powers render others to be lifted up or to be thrown into deep peril. In Kimberly Pierce’s adaptation of Stephen King’s breakout novel Carrie, the director and screenwriters Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Lawrence D. Cohen update high school Hell to contemporary times, offering a middling depiction of the bitch of growing up and finding empowerment.
2012 in Film: #51 – The Shawshank Redemption
2012 in Film: #51
The Shawshank Redemption (1994) | Directed by Frank Darabont
Grade: A
Thoughts: I honestly have no idea why it took me so long to see this film. I mean, isn’t it like number one on IMDb? While I’m not entirely sure I agree with that, I do agree that it is one of the best films I’ve ever seen. Dripping with emotion, tension, suspense, and beautifully acted by everyone, this Stephen King adaptation is gut wrenching. Melancholy and yet optimistic. One absolutely superb film.
I Like Things That Look Like Mistakes 