The best film adaptation of a Stephen King horror novel since the 1980s,
The Shining, is not classics like
Misery, Cujo, Pet Sematary, 1408, Christine, Firestarter, Thinner, or even
IT (who seemingly everyone not named me seemed to love). Instead, it is the 2007 Frank Darabont’s (
The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile)
The Mist, a creepy dark tale that haunts your mind as much after its viewing as it does during it. King’s adaptations are either hit or miss, and all of the ones mentioned above (except for
IT) are ones I enjoyed and would watch on multiple occasions. But there is both a plot and a suspense factor with
The Mist that is like nothing I’ve seen before. I will also say that
The Mist is the best Stephen King book I’ve ever read (granted, I’ve only read five or six), and it is one of the best adaptations of a film made from a book that I’ve read before (again, granted there had not been many of those). Recently, I started watching the Netflix show based on the book/movie. While not nearly as good as the book or the movie, Netflix did the show right. I don’t know if there was a need for the show, but I’m glad that they did it right since they went that route. Everything about
The Mist is fantastic. I wish I could say the same about a movie like
The Fog, one of the worst horror films I’ve ever seen. But I digress.
Continue reading The Mist (2007) →
There are so many takeaways from Taylor Sheridan’s Wind River that I don’t even know which one to bring out first. Though flawed, this is the best movie of 2017 through the first eight months of the year. It is an epic masterpiece that might be missed by the typical moviegoer who is so overwhelmed with the commercialization of movies like Wonder Woman, Spider-Man: Homecoming, and War of the Planet of the Apes that they might not even know it existed, let alone a movie that it might be interested in seeing. In a 2017 Hollywood that has seen a massive uptake in remakes, reboots, sequels, and prequels, it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to find originality in a story and then, if you do, for that originality to come out in a way that encourages you to see it again and, hopefully, has a lasting impact on your life. That is what Sheridan, an incredibly gifted screenwriter, has done in his first film behind the camera. The memorable 
I’m a huge fan of small-town dramas (not the ones that are dispersed with quirky, sarcastic, or black humor, but the really heavy dramas), so when the unheard movie Snow Angels fell into my lap, it felt too good to be true. This movie made less than $500,000 at the box office despite some mostly positive acclaim from the critics (67% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes). It stars a couple of A-list celebrities, Kate Beckinsale (Underworld, Brokedown Palace) and Sam Rockwell (Moon, The Way Way Back), and some unknown actors and actresses who gave some dynamite performances. While the moving will depress you, it is a wonderfully crafted movie that fans of these small-town dramas would most likely enjoy. Fans of Rockwell should most certainly see this movie as this is one of the finest performances of his career.