The Dark Tower: Stringer Bell as Roland Deschain?

[AncalagonTheBlack]

THE DARK TOWER "Earth, Man In Black, Knight" Trailer

 

[Martell Spy]

Well, it's here and the Dark Tower quest is finally over. I'm going tomorrow. I am going to go in blind and not read any reviews like I did with Star Wars. Here's hoping it's a hit and we get a second movie.

[Cas Stark]

I predict this movie is bad and does poorly.

[Fez]

42 minutes ago, Martell Spy said:

Well, it's here and the Dark Tower quest is finally over. I'm going tomorrow. I am going to go in blind and not read any reviews like I did with Star Wars. Here's hoping it's a hit and we get a second movie.

Lucky for you there are no reviews yet.

Which, generally, is not a good sign. Although there have been at least a couple exceptions (though maybe only in video games, not movies). Personally, I'm getting ready for disappointment.

[Argonath Diver]

I had very high hopes, though the Akiva Goldsman part had me very skeptical. The first trailer was so, so terrible that I convinced myself it'd be a total flop, and I'd probably skip it. I haven't changed my mind. It's getting shellacked by critics, and I haven't seen a TV spot yet that made me interested. 

Then again, I really feel like even if they absolutely nailed the first couple books, it wouldn't have been well-received, and bombed anyway.

[Ramsay B.]

6 hours ago, Fez said:

Lucky for you there are no reviews yet.

Which, generally, is not a good sign. Although there have been at least a couple exceptions (though maybe only in video games, not movies). Personally, I'm getting ready for disappointment.

18% on RT after 17 reviews. I'm gonna see this on friday no matter what, but it's most likely gonna be the trainwreck many of us feared.

[Channel4s-JonSnow]

The reviews I've read so far have laid it out as deeply mediocre and forgettable. Seems like the trailers were very accurate.

[red snow]

3 hours ago, Ramsay B. said:

18% on RT after 17 reviews. I'm gonna see this on friday no matter what, but it's most likely gonna be the trainwreck many of us feared.

that's hard to ignore.

1 hour ago, Channel4s-JonSnow said:

The reviews I've read so far have laid it out as deeply mediocre and forgettable. Seems like the trailers were very accurate.

I didn't think the trailers were bad but maybe it's just me wanting it to be good because of the books.

Sounds a bit like a video game adaptation where it's b-movie fare and enjoyment depends a lot on connection to the game. That and a film that tries to keep fans of the books and newcomers happy and fails in both aspects.

Hopefully they'll still do the TV show about young Roland where they'll hopefully realise TV is the best format. They might need a change in writers and producers though.To be honest there is little about the books that couldn't be done on TV these days. And they could fully explore all the ins and outs of the concept.

[sperry]

It kind of boggles my mind how they can make a big budget movie terrible in this day and age. So many resources available, they should have multiple people working on scripts and just choose the best one of the bunch at the end.  A thousand monkeys on a thousand typewriters and all that.

[Channel4s-JonSnow]

46 minutes ago, sperry said:

It kind of boggles my mind how they can make a big budget movie terrible in this day and age. So many resources available, they should have multiple people working on scripts and just choose the best one of the bunch at the end.  A thousand monkeys on a thousand typewriters and all that.

The issue is that almost all big budget movies are terrible these days. It boggles my mind that they can barely make one that is half decent. 

I read somewhere that the emergence of the Chinese and foreign market which is starting to overshadow the domestic market has meant that it doesn't pay to create a coherent, well thought out and well written script any more, what matters is to simply get as much flashy stuff up on screen, with big stars and a recognisable brand. 

Since the death of DVDs the big blockbuster movie has been struggling to make its money back in the ways it used to, and so now it all becomes about tie in deals, merchandising etc. One individual movie won't get you very far, you need to be making series of movies. So thats why you get endless movies which serve no purpose but to push the next film in the sequence on you. 

As for Dark Tower, I read somewhere that there was a tussle between two production companies over how the movie turned out. So with 2 competing ideas it was never going to work. I've always seen it as a terrible idea to bring the story to screen, the books are not actually very good in themselves and most screen adaptations of King tend to expose that. 

[Cas Stark]

35 minutes ago, Channel4s-JonSnow said:

The issue is that almost all big budget movies are terrible these days. It boggles my mind that they can barely make one that is half decent. 

I read somewhere that the emergence of the Chinese and foreign market which is starting to overshadow the domestic market has meant that it doesn't pay to create a coherent, well thought out and well written script any more, what matters is to simply get as much flashy stuff up on screen, with big stars and a recognisable brand. 

Since the death of DVDs the big blockbuster movie has been struggling to make its money back in the ways it used to, and so now it all becomes about tie in deals, merchandising etc. One individual movie won't get you very far, you need to be making series of movies. So thats why you get endless movies which serve no purpose but to push the next film in the sequence on you. 

As for Dark Tower, I read somewhere that there was a tussle between two production companies over how the movie turned out. So with 2 competing ideas it was never going to work. I've always seen it as a terrible idea to bring the story to screen, the books are not actually very good in themselves and most screen adaptations of King tend to expose that. 

Why would foreign markets not care about plot or well written scripts?  We, in the U.S., watch foreign films and I think can generally tell when the script is good and the plot coherent.  I think it's just a crazy mindset that has taken over Hollywood...similar to what happened in the 50s when they started making a string of terrible 'epics' in order to compete with TV.  

I just read that the Dark Tower supposedly had really awful preview reactions and then allegations that the studio did or wanted to have another director in to recut it.  That sounds bad.  With few exceptions, when these kinds of rumors are out there the end product will be awful. And, I think King liked it, so that itself almost guarantees it will suck. LOL.

[Fez]

26 minutes ago, Cas Stark said:

Why would foreign markets not care about plot or well written scripts?  We, in the U.S., watch foreign films and I think can generally tell when the script is good and the plot coherent.  I think it's just a crazy mindset that has taken over Hollywood...similar to what happened in the 50s when they started making a string of terrible 'epics' in order to compete with TV.  

I just read that the Dark Tower supposedly had really awful preview reactions and then allegations that the studio did or wanted to have another director in to recut it.  That sounds bad.  With few exceptions, when these kinds of rumors are out there the end product will be awful. And, I think King liked it, so that itself almost guarantees it will suck. LOL.

Most Americans don't watch most foreign films though, and the ones that do break through are usually because of something other than the writing (like the visuals in crouching tiger, hidden dragon). Hollywood blockbusters are so expensive  though that they can't be niche movies overseas, they need to appeal to the masses. And that rules out most movies that rely on writing; for instance, it's been proven endlessly that most comedies fail overseas, they rely too much on US cultural moments and habits that don't translate we'll.

I think you could make a blockbuster with smart writing that solves this problem, but it's probably more effort than it's worth in most cases. Nolan's movies don't do any better overseas than the garbage blockbusters.

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

 I like the title of the Fark thread regarding this movie. The Dark Tower movie has forgotten the face of its father.

[Crazydog7]

Tragic.  This doesn't bode well for the other King adaptations that are in the pipeline. 

[Cas Stark]

You might have thought that a sci fi western with two archtypes...gunslinger and man in black in a dystopian future with middle ages overtones should be almost can't miss.  How do you fuck that up?  Oh well.  I'll see it some day but not this weekend or in theatres.

[AncalagonTheBlack]

Well after the mostly bad reviews of the movie,my hope for a good tv adaptation has gone down the drain..they just announced TWD's Glen Mazzara as show runner.

[Martini Sigil]

3 hours ago, Manhole Eunuchsbane said:

 I like the title of the Fark thread regarding this movie. The Dark Tower movie has forgotten the face of its father.

Ha!.... that rules....

I'm more excited for this than I thought I'd be.... but even moreso for the TV show...

[Martell Spy]

Well, I didn't want to admit it, but it's definitely a misfire of some sort. I actually liked it. However, I had several problems with it and more problems with it the more I thought about it. Almost no material from the Gunslinger was my biggest problem with it, likely. Idris Elba was the best thing about it, but they foolishly decided to under use him.

Still hoping for a sequel though. It could happen in this age where Divergent gets a sequel and maybe they'll get it right this time. I will not be happy if we don't get to ever see Blaine or Eddie Dean on the screen. It looks like the TV plans are somewhat locked in, so we may be safe there.

I don't think it was an absolute dud because there was a certain level of competence to it and the actors were great, at least the main ones. I think some dark tower fans will like it as I did, but it will also piss off a good chunk of the fan base at the lack of the Gunslinger elements. I'll leave it there for now, as people may be about to watch the movie.

 

[Sci-2]

It was about what I'd expect from a sanitized PG-13 version. Probably worth a rental or Netflix viewing but seeing it in Dolby was a decent experience.

Really a little more effort on the special effects (Jake on the field of roses), along with some flashbacks to the last time around would've raised the bar in my mind.

6/10.

[red snow]

On 03/08/2017 at 4:46 PM, Fez said:

 

I think you could make a blockbuster with smart writing that solves this problem, but it's probably more effort than it's worth in most cases. Nolan's movies don't do any better overseas than the garbage blockbusters.

I wonder in the case of dubbing/subtitles whether some films get better adaptations for foreign markets?

I'm not sure foreign markets are any different from the US though. There are a lot more people worldwide than there are in North America so it could easily be that exactly the same demographic watch these films as in the USA.

On 03/08/2017 at 7:06 PM, AncalagonTheBlack said:

Well after the mostly bad reviews of the movie,my hope for a good tv adaptation has gone down the drain..they just announced TWD's Glen Mazzara as show runner.

Well I guess it will be long and drawn out. A whole season for the flashback material in "Gunslinger" and 2 seasons for "the wizard and the glass". I guess there's the stuff from the comics too. The show could go all the way to the "fall of gilead". I can't remember how old Roland was when he lost everything/one but it'd be nice if they could use the same actor for the whole show. Which given Walking Dead style pacing would easily allow for a young actor to grow up.

Still, given his involvement with TWD it at least increases the chance of the show being made.

18 hours ago, Martell Spy said:

Well, I didn't want to admit it, but it's definitely a misfire of some sort. I actually liked it. However, I had several problems with it and more problems with it the more I thought about it. Almost no material from the Gunslinger was my biggest problem with it, likely. Idris Elba was the best thing about it, but they foolishly decided to under use him.

I don't think it was an absolute dud because there was a certain level of competence to it and the actors were great, at least the main ones. I think some dark tower fans will like it as I did, but it will also piss off a good chunk of the fan base at the lack of the Gunslinger elements. I'll leave it there for now, as people may be about to watch the movie.

 

I'm glad to hear a review from someone here. It's not out in the UK until the 18th August so I'll hopefully have a better feel for it by then.

I can sort of see the trap they have fallen into, wanting to give the audience a taste for the wider franchise but in doing so forget to make a good film (Amazing Spiderman 2 and pretty much every non-Marvel shared universe franchise). The odd thing is that I think adapting the gunslinger in and of itself could have worked fine for a movie. Have some extra action scenes and have McCog do a bit more and they'd be fine.

On 03/08/2017 at 6:44 PM, Cas Stark said:

You might have thought that a sci fi western with two archtypes...gunslinger and man in black in a dystopian future with middle ages overtones should be almost can't miss.  How do you fuck that up?  Oh well.  I'll see it some day but not this weekend or in theatres.

Exactly and with two really high calbre actors in the lead roles it feels like a concept you'd have to work on making fail.

Maybe "red dead redemption" needs to adapt the books into a game? I'd be all over that.

On 03/08/2017 at 6:23 PM, Crazydog7 said:

Tragic.  This doesn't bode well for the other King adaptations that are in the pipeline. 

Other than the source material the other films have different creative teams so Dark Tower misfiring doesn't necessarily mean "It" will fail. It seems "the stand" is in limbo. They have a script and director but it seems no-one is willing to put the cash out to make it the way the director wants. Apparently Josh Boone is a massive King fan and said he's not making it unless he has a $85-100 million budget. They apparently offered him $35 before he decided to pass and direct Fox's "new mutants" instead.

That's a bit frustrating but at the same time I'm more confident that when/if the film is made it'll be good as it seems it's only getting made under the correct conditions. Hopefully "new mutants" will be a hit (because I'd like a good x-men movie too) and then producers will be more keen to throw some money at the project with a "hot" director.