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Stephen King's Desperation 5/23 on ABC

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Stephen King's Desperation 5/23 on ABC

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Old 05-23-06 | 11:32 PM
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From: Ferment
It's probably easier to watch than 10.5 the Apocalypse, but I couldn't stand the book.
Old 05-24-06 | 12:11 AM
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I liked it but my damn receiver shut down at the 127 minute mark. So i guess i'm waiting for the dvd as well. Maybe we'll get the complete uncut "mini series".
Old 05-24-06 | 01:46 AM
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I thought it was rather mediocre. Started great though. Ron Perlman was terrific in the first half as an evil policeman terrorizing motorists.
Spoiler:
Unfortunately, his character isn't in the second half and the movie suffers without his menacing presence.
The first half was also pretty good for establishing atmosphere and ratcheting up the suspense. Like some other horror, things became less interesting once the nature of the threat was made clearer. And it got worse when an incredibly annoying kid started getting lots of airtime -- the whole bit with "god's plan" just felt really corny. And the final "confrontation" just seemed laughable to me.

It wasn't in HD, which sucked. It didn't seem particular gory to me -- mostly just seeing already dead bodies and lots of scenes in darkness/shadow. I'm glad it wasn't longer -- many of these King mini-series just seem too drawn out as they are.
Old 05-24-06 | 07:17 AM
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I read the book but it has been a while. I guess I'm the only one that really enjoyed this? Thankfully they didn't try to make a miniseries of "The Regulators" - "Desperation" was the better work .
Old 05-24-06 | 09:19 AM
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The second half of this movie was boring and horrible.
Old 05-24-06 | 09:41 AM
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I still can't believe this was not broadcast in HD.
Old 05-24-06 | 10:03 AM
  #32  
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I recorded this last night, but didn't watch yet. No HD and based on the reviews: it pretty much means it's a delete when I get home.
Old 05-24-06 | 12:55 PM
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Originally Posted by brainee
I thought it was rather mediocre. Started great though. Ron Perlman was terrific in the first half as an evil policeman terrorizing motorists.
Spoiler:
Unfortunately, his character isn't in the second half and the movie suffers without his menacing presence.
The first half was also pretty good for establishing atmosphere and ratcheting up the suspense. Like some other horror, things became less interesting once the nature of the threat was made clearer. And it got worse when an incredibly annoying kid started getting lots of airtime -- the whole bit with "god's plan" just felt really corny. And the final "confrontation" just seemed laughable to me.

It wasn't in HD, which sucked. It didn't seem particular gory to me -- mostly just seeing already dead bodies and lots of scenes in darkness/shadow. I'm glad it wasn't longer -- many of these King mini-series just seem too drawn out as they are.
I agree, Brainee. Like most of these King adaptations for TV, the first half setup is great, the second half payoff is lame.

But Pearlman did kick ass in his part - definitely the highlight of the show. I could see where there were obvious bits cut for time. The second half seemed very rushed after the deliberately paced set up, and a few plot holes were pretty glaring. Presumably, the full cut will re-surface on DVD later.

I still enjoyed it - the ABC King miniseries are kind of a late TV season tradition for me. You have to wonder if they are losing theire luster to ABC though. They seem to be cutting them back in both frequency and length lately.
Old 05-24-06 | 02:21 PM
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I thought this was alright but it failed in a lot of ways.

They didn't spend enough time on Collie Entragian. He didn't look half as bad as described in the book. There seemed to be very little tension, it was hard to get a sense of urgency and the fear of just what the hell was happening in this town and what is going to happen.

I didn't like the kid who portrayed David or at least the way he acted. The kid just lost his whole family not to mention all the horrible shit that's going down but he hardly seems to show any emotion. Marinville was badly cast, Tom Skerrit;s an okay actor but he's way too old, Sam Elliot or Nick Nolte would have been better choices. Also Annabeth Gish is a bad actress.

I was disappointed when Steve Ames and Cynthia Smith went into a convenience store instead of one of the houses. That scene in the book is pretty cool, reminded me a lot of The Stand.

The voice for the spirit in the cave was ridiculous.

Another big disappointment is that the IOU/treehouse thing was changed and replaced with a yearbook.
Old 05-24-06 | 04:15 PM
  #35  
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Damn I was just going to watch this had it on my dvr, but no HD no sale! I even watched that darn Bird Flu movie since it was in HD.
Old 06-05-06 | 12:23 PM
  #36  
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From: ND
Originally Posted by OwlAtHome
The voice for the spirit in the cave was ridiculous.
It reminded me of the "voice from God" scene at the end of Real Genius.

Anyway, I just finished this and have to agree with brainee's points. I thought it was a bit more polished (as in more like a real movie and not a tv-movie) than the usual Mick Garris - King adaptions. But it definitely suffered from the problem of good buildup but nowhere interesting to go with it, leading to a disappointing reveal. I had the same problem with It and (especially) Dreamcatcher. I think the problem is that Pennywise the Clown and Collie the Cop are much creepier than
Spoiler:
a big spider and a talking hole in the ground
, so when these films change gears it's bound to be a letdown.
Old 06-05-06 | 02:21 PM
  #37  
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i liked it

i read desperation awhile back.. but i could have swore that for one reason or another, i hadnt ever finished it

i kept watching the movie, and remembering everything from the book up until the very end.. so I guess I did read the whole book :lol

I also read regulators and didnt like it as much.. but with the right cast and special effects, it could be pretty freaky.
Old 06-05-06 | 02:37 PM
  #38  
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From: The Village Green
I watched this and didn't care for it at all (and was so looking forward to it). I blame Mick Garris (not the material) though. Very sloppy job on his part, IMO.

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