Lilja's Library (64 page)

One thing I really like is that we get to see Alan’s thoughts in the form of a second Alan. In some scenes he stands and talks to himself and in others the “thought” Alan is sitting behind him, talking and commenting on things Alan or someone else does or say. A brilliant way to make Alan’s thoughts easy to access for the audience.  

Alan is very well played by Jonathan Jackson, and George Staub and Jean Parker are played just as well by David Arquette and Barbara Hershey. Besides these, who are the main characters, you can also see Cliff Robertson as the farmer who gives Alan a ride and Erika Christensen as Alan’s girlfriend, Jessica Hadley. They all do a good job bringing their characters to life.  

Garris has also put in some hints that this is based on a King story. First, you see a car that looks incredibly like Christine, which turns out to be George Staub’s car. Christine was a 1958 Plymouth Fury and in the movie they use one from 1960, but who’ll notice? Also, Garris himself plays a doctor at the end of the movie and his wife Cynthia (who has been in many of his films including the dead woman in the bath tub in
The Shining
) plays the nurse called Annie, a tribute to King’s
Misery
.  

Lilja’s final words about
Riding the Bullet
 

So, what do I think about
Riding the Bullet
? Well, I really liked it! It’s a well-done movie with a lot of surprises in store. I highly recommend that you watch it this upcoming Sunday!
 

****

Desperation
 

Posted: May 23, 2006  

What can I say? Mick Garris has done it again. He has taken a King book, turned it into a movie and done a superb job.
Desperation
is one of the movies based on King’s books that is probably truest to the book itself. Garris’s version of
Desperation
is extremely close to the book. Some things are missing or shortened, but still, it’s very close. 

Desperation
is about a group of people who for different reasons (mostly the sheriff) end up in the small town of Desperation, where the dark force of Tak is present. For a very long time it has been trapped in an old mine, but now it’s out and it’s determined to not let anyone leave Desperation alive… 

As early as April last year Garris showed the first fifteen minutes of
Desperation
at the World Horror Convention in New York. The reports from that showing were very positive, and after seeing it for myself I can only agree. Ron Perlman as Collie Entragian is perfect. He is just as I imagined him to be when I read the book…maybe he’s a bit slimmer than I imagined, but otherwise perfect. 

The rest of the cast is also very good. In fact, there isn’t anyone who doesn’t deliver what’s expected of them. The biggest names are Steven Weber (from
The Shining
miniseries) as Steve, Annabeth Gish (from the
X Files
) as Mary and Matt Frewer (from
Riding the Bullet
and
The Stand
) as Ralph Carver.  

The movie is just over two hours ten minutes without commercials, and that feels like a pretty good length for this one.
Desperation
in itself is sort of a slow book, so if the story had been stretched out it would have probably felt too long. I know that there are some King fans who feel that Garris stretched the story in
The Stand
or
The Shining
, and some of you will probably think so here as well, but given the type of story
Desperation
is I think it’s perfect. 

What surprised me the most is that it’s so gory. If it had been done for the big screen or for DVD I wouldn’t have thought about it, but this is for TV and that usually means no gore. So, thank you ABC for not stepping in with the big scissors and instead letting Garris do his thing!  

Lilja’s final words about
Desperation
 

So, whatever you do, don’t miss
Desperation
when it airs tonight! I know it’ll be out on DVD later this summer, but trust me, you don’t want to wait that long. 

**** 

Nightmares & Dreamscapes, Episodes 1 & 2
 

Posted: July 11, 2006  

So, the first two episodes of
Nightmares & Dreamscapes
are set to air this Wednesday. First out are
Crouch End
and
Battleground
. Both episodes are very good, but my favorite this week is
Battleground
, but let’s start with
Crouch End
since that one is on first.  

Episode 1:
Crouch End
 

Here we get to meet Lonnie and Doris (played by Eion Bailey and Claire Forlani), who are in London and by coincidence are set to attend a dinner party at a friend’s house in Crouch End. When they try to get a cab to take them there they find out there is something special and frightening about Crouch End. But, as it often is in horror movies they, despite all the warnings, go there.  

As they arrive they discover they have lost the address, and while they phone their friend to get it again they also lose their cab. Stranded, they try to find their way back by foot. As they get more and more lost, stranger and stranger things are starting to happen and before long they find themselves lost in another dimension… 

Both Bailey and Forlani do a good job with their parts. Bailey is especially believable as he is getting stranger and stranger. A strong episode that has kept King’s feeling from the written story very well.  

Episode 2:
Battleground
 

Battleground
is a very good episode…even one of the best in the entire series. Before I saw it I thought to myself that it would either be very good or very bad. This is the kind of story that can’t be done semi-well. Either all the toy soldiers would look pretty silly or they would be awesome. They look awesome! 

Battleground
tells the story of professional hit man John Renshaw (perfectly played by William Hurt), who after killing a CEO of a toy company receives a strange package. The package contains a complete set of toy soldiers…that’re pissed! 

Hurt plays the role extremely well. It couldn’t have been easy to act against nonexistent toy soldiers, but he pulls it off brilliantly.  

Another very effective thing about this episode is that there is no dialogue in the entire episode. No one says a word! This may sound like something negative when I say it here, but please believe me when I say that the effect it has on the story is phenomenal!  

Lilja’s final words about
Nightmares & Dreamscapes, Episodes 1 & 2
 

So,
Nightmares & Dreamscapes
premiers strong and the first two episodes are very good. If the rest of the series is as good, TNT will have a smash hit on their hands! 

**** 

Nightmares & Dreamscapes, Episodes 3 & 4
 

Posted: July 18, 2006  

Like last week, this week’s episodes are very enjoyable to watch. They are both so good it’s actually hard for me to tell which one is the best. So, this week it’s probably a tie between the two episodes. That said, I also want to say that the two episodes are very different.  

Episode 3:
Umney’s Last Case
 

Umney’s Last Case
tells the story of Clyde Umney, a private eye in the late 1930s. He lives the life we all know from detective novels taking place during that era, filled with bad criminals, easy girls and no problems whatsoever—a very easy and likable life, in other words. Until the day God enters Clyde Umney’s office, that is… 

God, in this case, is Sam Landry, a writer from our time. Sam writes detective novels and his most famous character is Clyde Umney. 

The episode may seem a bit strange until all the facts are revealed. My guess is that it’s director Rob Bowman’s way of showing that Umney’s life really is nothing more than a fictional world, full of cliché.  

Oh, and casting William H. Macy as both Sam and Clyde is brilliant! It makes the effect perfect!  

Episode 4:
The End of the Whole Mess
 

In
The End of the Whole Mess
we meet up with filmmaker Howie Fornoy (played by Ron Livingstone) who, with one hour left to live, will tell us about his brother Bobby (played by Henry Thomas) and how he found a way to wipe out all hate, violence and war on Earth. Unfortunately, he didn’t stop to think about the side effects… 

The episode is done so it’s like Howie speaks to us through his camera, combined with flashbacks as he tells the story. This is a very effective way to tell the story. It’s also the way King told the story on paper.  

Both Livingston and Thomas do a very good job in this episode and it’s very true to King’s story.  

Lilja’s final words about
Nightmares & Dreamscapes
,
Episodes 3 & 4
 

I’m going to say as I said last week: don’t miss this week’s episodes. Like last week, they are very good! After seeing half of the series I must say that it’s now obvious to me (I hope the ratings prove me right) that TNT has a hit on their hands! 

**** 

Nightmares & Dreamscapes, Episodes 5 & 6
 

Posted: July 26, 2006  

The third week of
Nightmares & Dreamscapes
is here. Today’s episodes are, like last week’s, pretty different. And unfortunately, the second episode for this week,
The Fifth Quarter
, is the weakest episode so far…  

Episode 5:
The Road Virus Heads North
 

The Road Virus Heads North
is the story which has changed the most from the written one. Everything (almost) from the story is there, but they have also added some, the biggest thing being that Kinnell’s ex-wife now gets a much bigger part in the story. I don’t mind, but it really doesn’t add much to the story either. Its purpose though (I guess) is to make the episode a bit longer so that it will fill the entire hour it’s scheduled for. And it works. 

Another thing is that they have added a reason as to why Kinnell might imagine what happens…if it’s not really happening, that is… 

First, I had some reservations about Tom Berenger playing Richard Kinnell. I thought he might be a little too old (compared to how I imagined Kinnell when I read the story), but he pulls it off very well. He is very good in the role of a tormented author. 

Aunt Trudy is also very nicely portrayed by Marsha Mason, and the painting that is the center of the whole story is very cool! I personally wouldn’t mind having it hanging over my bed…  

Episode 6:
The Fifth Quarter
 

The Fifth Quarter
is a pretty unusual story for King, and it was originally published under the name John Swithen. It tells the story of Willie (Jeremy Sisto), who after being released from prison finds out from his dying friend that the friend has been involved in a robbery which resulted in one million dollars. The only problem is that the map to where the money is hidden is divided into four parts and distributed to all four people who participated in the robbery. Willie sets out to get the other parts of the map and also to get revenge on the people who killed his friend. 

The reason this one is the weakest so far is probably because it’s pretty slow, which is probably a result of the fact that
The Fifth Quarter
is a story that is very hard to bring from the pages in a book to the TV screen.