Properly Awry

Desperation, the latest adaptation of Stephen King’s work, aired earlier this week. I had high hopes, my husband did not. King had previously hailed this tele-movie as the best adaptation of his work to date. This proved to be very untrue. Maybe scene-wise and character-wise the adaptation was good and true to the original text, but King needs to learn that network television cannot capture the essence of his work. Network television, what with its commercials, limited budget, bad special effects, bad child actors, nameless directors, and sensors cannot compete with a true theatre movie, or even with HBO. The creepiness just does not come across in the right way, there is no tension, or if some has slowly built up it is then interrupted by a commercial break for iTunes and maxi-pads. I would prefer to leave it all in my imagination than have half-assed adaptations fail and give King and his work a bad name.
For some good movies try:
Stand By Me, The Green Mile, Dolores Claiborne (though not at all true to the novel), The Shining (original, though again not true to the book), Apt Pupil.