tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17244873.post5403925044987794546..comments2024-03-28T01:09:15.056-07:00Comments on Horrorthon: The Boys From BrazilOctopunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948127593611773731noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17244873.post-55373326708982760382009-10-26T20:34:32.838-07:002009-10-26T20:34:32.838-07:00This blog should be a college course. I feel like...This blog should be a college course. I feel like the review and the subsequent comments of TBFB have made me smarter, and I have an inexplicable urge to write a term paper on what I've learned from Jordan. Not just about movies, but about the art of writing.<br /><br />Weirdly, with Boys, I always loved the book and never sought out the movie. The bit about the audience getting drunk is the glistening maraschino cherry on top of the delicious sundae of this review.<br /><br />Misery was an ehh movie, and I never sought out the book.<br /><br />Stepford Wives I worked on, and I can only say this: I'll take a hot blonde robot wife that dispenses cash out of her mouth. (Original movie: so-so. Remake that I worked on: pretty much crap. But MAN we had some hot fucking extras.)<br /><br />I'm dizzy with stimulation - excellent review, sir.HandsomeStanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05948000388685402496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17244873.post-76932618167826186592009-10-25T20:04:59.692-07:002009-10-25T20:04:59.692-07:00Oh yay! I've read all but the Stepford Wives.
...Oh yay! I've read all but the Stepford Wives.<br /><br />I found the Boys from Brazil film to be confusing and weak as well. They did not carry forth the air of the book at all.Catfreeekhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06215307648862899154noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17244873.post-82386717244460192582009-10-25T19:46:46.045-07:002009-10-25T19:46:46.045-07:00Yeah, good move.
You see what I mean? When you ta...Yeah, good move.<br /><br />You see what I mean? When you take out "Misery's Return" you basically gut the novel; it's reduced to a shell of its true self. That was during that horrible late '80s/early '90s period when everything sucked (the Bush I era), but it still pissed me off. And then the movie was <i>acclaimed,</i> and I got even angrier. I was like, "Don't <i>reward</i>them!"Jordanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04915554155202804189noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17244873.post-68050784407835403752009-10-25T19:43:23.131-07:002009-10-25T19:43:23.131-07:00Oh yeah! I remember wondering when Misery first c...Oh yeah! I remember wondering when Misery first came out who they got to play the character Misery -- a complete mistake on my part and one I forgot completely by the time I saw it.<br /><br />That just reminded me of something I learned from the book. There's a scene early on in which a small fire is lit inside a house and gets just a little out of control for just a moment or two. Despite the innocuous threat, King observes how people tend to lose their shit when even a little fire is present -- I can't recall if he uses the phrase "fire dance" or if that's just how I remember it.<br /><br />I was at a party once and a candle had gotten knocked over, and while my friend freaked out and tore out of the room to get something, I remembered the fire dance and decided to just take a half second to assess the situation before doing something. In that half second I realized I had a drink in my hand and I poured it out on the small flame and put it out. <br /><br />Of course, had I been drinking brandy I would've made a much bigger fire, which I would have contemplated for a moment before fleeing.Octopunkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14948127593611773731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17244873.post-49203256458779293482009-10-25T18:59:13.746-07:002009-10-25T18:59:13.746-07:00Misery: it's not that it's soo bad, but it...<i>Misery</i>: it's not that it's <i>soo</i> bad, but it's just basic by-the-numbers late-eighties Hollywood crap, you know? There's no artistry to it at all. It's shot like television and written like most movies were written back then; <i>i.e.</i> super-obvious explaino of everything interspersed with bad jokes and patter.'<br /><br />Whereas the novel <i>Misery</i> has that windswept, ice-blue atmosphere that Sam Raimi conjured up for <i>One False Move</i>, and is one of those great stories that never leaves a single room for most of its duration. (The minute the movie starts showing you what's going on "back in town," where those funny cops are making cute flirty jokes, I was disgusted.)<br /><br />But the main difference is much more central and abstract: the entire theme of King's novel is basically scuttled by the movie. In the novel, Paul Sheldon (the main character) <i>hates</i> his "Misery" series and celebrates killing the character so that he can move on to more highbrow work. But the events of King's novel get him to realize not just that he should respect "Misery" but that "Misery" is really the essence of who he is; his gift to the world, the apex of his artistic vision. He discovers this while writing the "Misery" resurrection novel, <i>which we get to read</i> as he writes it, and it's one of the best examples of "book within a book" (in exactly the "Tales of the Black Freighter" sense) that I've ever come across. Paul's story is re-told as "Misery's" story, and the two concepts are tied together in a fashion that creates a deep well of metaphorical meaning and a lot of anguished, thinly-veiled soul-searching on King's part about what it means to be trapped in the role of a popular entertainer. It's quite clear that "Misery" saves Paul's life, not just because of the power he has over his captor as a storyteller but because the heroine's courage and, essentially, <i>refusal to be killed</i> is transferred to her creator. It's a beautiful, powerful idea; one of the best and most sophisticated King has ever come up with.<br /><br />But William Goldman and Rob Reiner don't care about any of that. As far as they're concerned, "Misery" means bad books that Paul is tired of writing, and that's the end of that. Paul does no soul-searching whatsoever; we don't know or care what happens in the book he writes over the course of his imprisonment (even though it's Rob Reiner and I was expecting some <i>Princess Bride</i>-style "book within the book" exerpts from <i>Misery's Return</i> as he writes it). The whole thing is reduced to a simple thriller; an escape story -- and the audience, who never knew there was more to <i>Misery</i> to begin with can't tell the difference and celebrate the leftover fumes of King's story.Jordanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04915554155202804189noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17244873.post-28779571193543694792009-10-25T17:52:01.474-07:002009-10-25T17:52:01.474-07:00Wow, I don't think I knew you felt that way ab...Wow, I don't think I knew you felt that way about Misery the movie. I read it and saw it, but so many years apart I only noticed the difference in how many feet everybody still had at the end. And I dug Kathy Bates.<br /><br />I know the basic plot of Stepford Wives because the concept is fairly iconic, but I haven't read or seen it. And you could have told me Boys From Brazil was about a mariachi band and I would've nodded my head trustingly.<br /><br />Anyway, I like your point about stories so good they defy their own ruining. I'll avoid BFB.Octopunkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14948127593611773731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17244873.post-91254422738320714372009-10-25T16:51:09.559-07:002009-10-25T16:51:09.559-07:00I have read both Misery and Boys from Brazil - lov...I have read both Misery and Boys from Brazil - loved both. Bummer the movie was crappy.DKChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06564455767137872485noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17244873.post-86145556275844352382009-10-25T16:27:58.897-07:002009-10-25T16:27:58.897-07:00If you do that, you won't regret it! Each of t...If you do that, you won't regret it! Each of them is amazing.Jordanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04915554155202804189noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17244873.post-65304522602651644032009-10-25T16:24:59.484-07:002009-10-25T16:24:59.484-07:00Note to self: read Misery. And Rosemary's Bab...Note to self: read Misery. And Rosemary's Baby, The Boys From Brazil and the Stepford Wives before Jordan's book is released.Johnny Sweatpantshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00096734271846528993noreply@blogger.com