Phantoms - The Movie

I've tried three times to watch this movie.  I have not been able to finish it.  From the very start, the story is changed so much from the book that I cannot believe the author (Dean Koontz) had anything to do with it.  Unfortunately he's credited with writing the screenplay.

The main character, Jenny, has a younger sister.  Lisa is a very young, very scared 14 year old in the book.  In the movie, she looks like a very grown up and sexually active 17 year old.  That changes a good bit of the plot right there.

To make matters worse, Frank Autry (one of the best secondary characters in the book) is just not in the movie at all.  Add that to the fact that they chose Ben Affleck to play the sheriff and all expectations go down the drain.  I love Ben Affleck, but he is NOT the right actor for the character portrayed in the book.  Instead of coming across as a very haunted and strong person, he comes across as a really obnoxious action hero.  I'll be nice and give this a half of a star since some of what I watched was scary.

Disclosure - The Movie

I found a rental copy of Disclosure on Amazon for $3.  It's based on Disclosure by Michael Crichton.  It stars Michael Douglas as Tom Sanders and Demi Moore as Meredith Johnson.  Plus, it had the wonderful Donald Sutherland as their boss, Bob Gavin.

It follows much the same story line and is a good movie.  However, since it is just over two hours long, I expected a bit more.  I felt like they left out a quite a lot of Tom's search for the truth and the clues he followed.  This movie would have been even better than it was if they'd stuck a little more closely to the original story.

It still had all the drama and thrills (and most of the cliches).  The technology was more interesting in the film version, although some of it was still outdated.  I'll give this one 7 out of 10 stars.

Big Driver - The Movie

I purchased the movie Big Driver on Itunes for $3.99.  You can also get it on Amazon for the same price.  This was originally a Lifetime movie and the price led me to believe I was about to be disappointed.

It stars Maria Bello as Tess.  It also has Olympia Dukakis and Joan Jett.  The new-to-me Will Harris starred as the bad guy.

Let me tell you, this movie is worth every penny of $4 and then some.  It wasn't exactly the same as the original story by Stephen King (from Full Dark, No Stars) but it was close enough.  In fact, it scared me even more in some places than the story did....and that's saying something.

No, it's not the very best movie based on a Stephen King story ever.  The Stand or Shawshank Redemption are better, but this one had me on the edge of my seat for the full 1.5 hours and I only hope I don't have nightmares tonight!!  I give this a full ten stars.

A Good Marriage - The Movie

I found the movie A Good Marriage on Netflix.  It stars Joan Allen and Anthony LaPaglia.  It's based on the story A Good Marriage from Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King.  It's not exactly the same as the book version, but it has all the same horrible believability as the written work.  I thought the book version was better, but the movie is worth watching.

I give it 4.5 stars.  If they'd stuck closer to the original story, I think they'd have been better off.

The Martian - The Movie

The movie The Martian, based on the book The Martian by Andy Weir, is thrilling, humorous and so darn good.  At just under 2 1/2 hours, they stuck pretty well to the original story.  There were a couple scenes missing and some of my favorite quotes left out, but the story was fundamentally the same.  Except, they did add a little bit about what happened to the main characters after the main story was done.  That was a nice touch and tied things up nicely.

It had me on the edge of my seat, and then disgusted, and then laughing until I cried, usually all within just a few minutes.  That, indeed, was just like the book.

Matt Damon was incredibly good, as were many of the other actors.  I was surprised how many faces I recognized.  It was a great job at a movie made from a book and I'm so glad I bought it instead of rented it.  Ten stars.

The Pact - The Movie

Well, I just watched the Lifetime movie 'The Pact', which is supposedly based on the novel by Jodi Picoult.  It was not anywhere near the same story.

SPOILERS AHEAD!



Well, the characters were the same and Emily died, but other than that, I didn't recognize it.


The glaring differences:

1.  In the book, Emily's mother burned her diary, forcing Chris to face trial.  In the movie, she gave it to Chris' mother, proving his innocence.

2.  I never saw Chris in jail in the movie.  In the novel, the jail scenes are important and tell a whole story themselves.

3.  The restaurant restroom abuse of Emily never happened in the movie.  Her reason for suicide was simply that her family was dysfunctional and she was tired of the falseness and lies.  And she thought her mother couldn't handle her getting pregnant.

All in all, a poor example of a movie based on a book.  The film of My Sister's Keeper was changed from the book, but was still a good movie.  I liked the movies made from Plain Truth and Salem Falls, both of which were more true to the original text.  This one, I give no stars.

Millennium - The Movie

I just watched 'Millennium', the movie based on the book by the same title by John Varley.  The credits say that Mr. Varley also wrote the screenplay.  It starred Cheryl Ladd as Louise and Kris Kristofferson as Bill.  It was not a particularly good movie.  I tried to make allowances since it was filmed in 1989 and therefore wouldn't look as realistic as the current films.  It really doesn't matter.  This movie was really cheesy and actually missed quite a few important parts of the book.

It's a shame.  I enjoyed the book thoroughly.  The movie is really not worth the time.  Zero stars.

My Sister's Keeper - The Movie

I just got done watching the movie "My Sister's Keeper", based on Jodi Picoult's novel of the same title.  It was good but ended completely differently than the book.  In fact, a number of the important parts of the book were missing.  Sofia Vassilieva did an incredible job as the terminally ill Kate Fitzgerald.  I've never been a huge fan of Camaron Diaz, but she did play her role as the mother determined to save her child perfectly.  The only actor who came across as one-dimensional was Alec Baldwin...which is really no big shock to me.

It was certainly worth a watch, but do not think it will be exactly the same as the book -- it isn't.  Do, however, make sure you have tissues.  I give this one 7 stars.