I’d love to see a whole series where Merphy talks about King books compared to their adaptations

@HyDrOpYrO777

2 жыл бұрын

I agree.

@VicRibeiro777

2 жыл бұрын

Yes

you should totally do a "Book to Movie" saga where you review movie adaptations of books you like! So many options to pick from, either really good or really bad

@VicRibeiro777

2 жыл бұрын

I would watch that 😉

@fourcatsandagarden

2 жыл бұрын

she should pair up with Dom Noble (he's a youtuber that does book/movie adaptation reviews) hehe that would be such a great crossover

Correction, her mom didn’t have the Push. She had very mild, mostly unconscious, telekinetic powers.

Was not expecting to see this pop up. It feels like Christmas!

What irony! Totally unaware of this, I was playing capture the flag with a large group of young kids from my church and we just so happened to name our team Fire Starters. :D

@edanridge3023

2 жыл бұрын

Lol that’s kinda cool was this recently?

@tyriquesmith8850

2 жыл бұрын

@@edanridge3023 This was yesterday :)

@edanridge3023

2 жыл бұрын

@@tyriquesmith8850 wow that’s crazy 😆

the one with drew barrymore is so good!!!! they really captured the father daughter relationship in the book in the first movie VERY well

I'm fascinated by your thoughts on Stephen King being a hard author to adapt. I get that he writes very complex, internally-focused characters in challenging situations and the juxtaposition between the inner turmoil and the external threats are what is interesting about his work, but movies exist that do exactly that. Shutter Island comes to mind for me, but there are other (and probably better) examples. I feel like it's more a factor of modern adaptations that, when the studio adapting knows the story already has an audience, they tend to lean on sensationalizing the story to catch new viewers and not pay close enough attention to what brought the initial audience to the story in the first place. with some source material that produces movies that don't really hold true to the original, but are fine films if you don't compare too much. Maybe that method is what doesn't work with Stephen King books, though, because you just *can't* adapt a King novel without paying close attention to the effects he's creating with his characters?

19:53 .....huh. Make even less sense when, if I am remembering correctly, that John was still planning to kill her at the end all while continuing to manipulate her. So if the John from the book had found her, he would have killed her and not taken her away.

Firestarter was one of the first SK books I ever read. But you're absolutely correct... King writes people so well. And it's unfortunate we rarely get a good adaptation of his stories.

Have you seen the movie with Drew Barrymore as Charlie? I would've liked to hear your thoughts on that, but I am glad to hear your take on the book. Sounds like the new movie failed in almost every way to adapt the story.

I really don’t understand why they didn’t just start the movie after both her&father were captive… Then give us flashbacks to her early childhood and the Capture as we see her growing relationship with John… halfway through we can be told that he’s not up to snuff because of flashback…..then we get to see the interplay of him manipulating her as the father tries to get a message to her and finally at the end where she knows of johns betrayal… that just makes more sense to me not the weirdness they did 😰

I''ll differ from Merphy in one respect: there are a number of really good film adaptations of Steven King's stories, they're just not of the stories that people immediately associate with Steven King. Films like _Stand By Me,_ _Apt Pupil,_ _Secret Window,_ or _The Shawshank Redemption,_ for example, work well both as films and as adaptations; and I think it's significant that most of the really good adaptations are of stories which feature few or no supernatural elements, while attempts to capture King's overtly supernatural stories on film often go wrong. But I do think Merphy perfectly captures the reason why that is: the supernatural threats are comparatively big, spectacular, and easy to understand, and so they're what film adaptations usually focus on, but they're *not* what King's stories are *about.* The real heart of a King story is how the characters deal with their personal baggage, and the supernatural threat - vampires, werewolves, ghosts, fear monsters, whatever - is just there to push all that baggage to the surface and put the characters into a position where they have no choice but to deal with it.

@Hermioneswish

2 жыл бұрын

I agree about Standby Me it was an amazing movie. I don’t remember much about Shawshank Redemption but it was pretty good from the little I do remember. Haven’t seen the others you mentioned. Misery was an excellent adaptation too.

@Philistine47

2 жыл бұрын

@@Hermioneswish I would say _Misery_ was a good film, even a _really_ good film, but only a so-so adaptation. Yes, it puts the most important scenes and dialog from the page onto the screen in a very direct, literal way, but in my opinion it takes more than that to be a good adaptation. (Which might not make a lot of sense at first glance, I freely admit!) While Annie Wilkes is technically not a _supernatural_ threat, she is absolutely an _external_ threat forcing Paul Sheldon to deal with his baggage - in this case writer's block, and the feeling of being creativly stifled by his own success. And the movie adaptation definitely focuses on the external threat over the internal baggage that was the core of the book, but which is a lot harder to convey in a visual medium. So even though the movie and the book are identical in terms of plot and character, they still manage to be _about_ very different things.

Green Mile and Stand By Me (from his novella The Body) were wonderful adaptations, btw.

Hi, Merphy! I love your channel and content. Please keep them coming! As for Firestarter, if you want to see a good adaptation, do yourself a favor and check out the original movie with Drew Barrymore. Very well done and, from the sounds of it, far more faithful to the book. (I have read the book.) In fact, I'd say it's the best Stephen King adaptation I've seen. You know, factoring in being both faithful to the source material and a great movie on its own. I think you'll be far happier with Charlie, Andy and Rainbird's representations in that version. And just an FYI, telekinesis is the ability to move physical objects with the power of one's mind. Andy's ability, which he has coined 'the push', is officially called 'mental domination' in the book (and original movie) and falls under category of telepathy (mental communication and mind control) rather than telekinesis. Oh, and the ending you describe in the new version? Yeah, made blood come out of my eyes. At least I get to empathize with their version of Andy, right?

Hey Merphy I’ve been watching your videos for years and your awesome 😊

The book was one of the first King books I read as a kid. I should reread it, because I remember really enjoying it. I agree with you that King writes humans, and especially children, phenomenally well

@frankie3010

2 жыл бұрын

Both of you are so wrong it isn't even funny,

I appreciate your insight into why it is hard to adapt Stephen King books in movies. A few successful adaptations were The Green Mile, Misery, and Dr Sleep. While Shawshank Redemption and Stand by me are even better than the books IMHO. The first Firestarter film is better than the latest but still not an amazing movie. Most of the movie adaptations try to make it more intense or exciting and SK books build in tension throughout but the finale is often that the creature/villain is not as powerful as they seem to be. This doesn’t translate well, so directors start adding other elements and lose the introspective story. Many early adaptations get the horror right but miss that tension.

That movie was so incredibly uninteresting, and the ending was beyond stupid. Why on earth would she not kill that guy who killed her mother, especially after she killed so many other people who did nothing compared what he did, let alone HOLD HIS HAND AND WALK AWAY WITH HIM?

I'll stick my neck out and say that it's one of the best thrillers I've ever read. And Rainbird is one of the creepiest villains in modern literature. Early King was fantastic.

I was ready to watch Merph pop off. I was not disappointed. Hell yeah

Oh you have to go watch Firestarter OG 🙂. The original movie was so good. I tried watch the trailer for the remake was so bad I couldn’t even finish it.

i can't tell you how much I enjoyed this video!!! it was so fun!! thanks for posting

I Have to thank you for reflooding the memories of the book. I do agree with you with King's writing being dated but I do love it making you feel the feel of era a moment frozen in time with warts and all. I love your review keep it up.

I’ve seen other reviews on the movie (no plan to watch it myself) and I really liked seeing the perspective of someone who could compare it to the reading experience! This was cool, I would love to see more of you comparing books to their adaptations

I was so looking forward to this one!! Firestarter was my first Stephen King book that I read when I was about 11 and it was probably one of the first books I read that wasn't for kids or YA (YA wasn't much of a thing at the time) so it holds a special place in my heart. I'm so glad to hear your thoughts!

I LOVED THIS VIDEO!!!

i love this review! Would love more of Book vs Film reviews!

Although I haven’t seen the vid yet, I just finished the let’s discuss the big guy vid and had to tell you that many Chinese/Japonese/Korean light novels do have this big guy as a main character the most hardcore big guy I’ve seen would be Chu Feng(main from Martial God Asura), although he is merciless against enemies, and the strangest big guy would be Mo Fan(main from Versatile Mage) that is at the same time a shameless and fun. Hope everyone a great day.

Steven King works great in miniseries. He would also work great for the sort of 6-10 episode TV series that are currently being put out by streaming services. So why not?

@laiaal.3324

2 жыл бұрын

I don't know about that, one of the only books I've read by him is Under the Dome. I liked it and found out it has a series, so went to watch it. The first episode established all the main characters and they all had totally different personalities than the ones in the book, it was so different that I never continued. So they can also screw up series 😅

@timogul

2 жыл бұрын

@@laiaal.3324 Well, Under the Dome was particularly bad. It's not that it's *impossible* to screw up a King TV series, it's just a lot *easier* to make it a 6-8 hour or longer show, than to make a 2 hour movie.

@laiaal.3324

2 жыл бұрын

@@timogul yes, that is very true

Great review.

I love this video and your amazing channel please stay safe and enjoy your reading 📖 prayers and thoughts for you and your family love your family friend John xxxx yes I am first

I read Firestarter earlier this year and liked it a lot. I especially loved the last page, which provided a great kick.

I had heard the movie 'completely missed the point of the book,' so I skipped it. I had no idea how badly it missed the point.

great video, as always

I like the George C Scott adaptation.

The book was very good, but I had no intention to watch the new film. Partly because it looked meh, sure, but also because it felt unnecessary, Also, it being set in modern day robs the backstory of verisimilitude, as programs like MK Ultra did exist in the late '60s-early '70s. Nitpick: Andy's "push" is telepathic, not telekinetic. TK is physically manipulating things mentally. Charlie's abilities are pyrotic (creating flame) and pyrokinetic (manipulating flame).

Now, this is interesting.

surprised by "most King adaptations don't pan out well", as someone who hasn't read much King but has seen a looot of King adaptations, there are loads that are great, and a handful of classics! Carrie, Misery, The Shining, Green Mile, Stand By Me, Shawshank, just for maybe the most acclaimed ones...

I read the book a long time ago, probably before you were born. I liked the book. Not his best work but quick and easy read. I wasn't sure about the movie. You have convinced me.

“There were some scenes that were unnecessary … but it was a really good book”. That’s a succinct summary of the good Stephen King books

This is why I say books are better than the movie 🎥

@anupamdev279

2 жыл бұрын

Ever watched the gone girl.

@YourBlackLocal

2 жыл бұрын

I mean… depends.

@johnsaxongitno4life588

2 жыл бұрын

@@anupamdev279 read the book not the movie

@johnsaxongitno4life588

2 жыл бұрын

@@YourBlackLocal what do you mean

The best version of the movie was definitely the 80s version with Drew Barrymore. I was a kid when I watched that way back then.

I haven’t watched the new movie. I’m reading SK in pub order and just got up to the 90’s and his character of John Rainbird was so interesting and fascinating and twisted that, so far, he is my favorite villain. Yes, even more so than the Dark Man. So when I heard they gave him powers in this new movie I was like, Pass.

@my_19th_personality

2 жыл бұрын

John Rainbird is one of the most underrated king villains for sure

damn, now i'm tempted to read the book

I love the video

You should do this more often. Watch Sharp objects and watch the HBO series starting Amy Adams

@ravenpotter4004

2 жыл бұрын

ooh yes. sharp objects is one of the few instances that the show was WAY better than the book imo.

A Lost in Adaptation from Merphy? That's unusual, but not unwelcome

8:40 The shrink in the book best describes it like potty training a child, making a big deal about how icky smelly the poopy is... Breaking her of the _habit_ of fire starting without intent, was like not messing in your big girl pants more or less.

Lmao the last part of ur spoilers part, that sounds ridiculous! XD

I have read the book but never seen this movie , great review though.. love your one piece content ❤️ hey have you ever read the dark tower books?

I'm not a big reader of fiction or a big movie watcher. I've read 'The Stand' and 'Salem's Lot' and seen 'The Stand' and 'Carrie', so my experience with both mediums is limited to 'The Stand'. Not much to go on, but I to agree with your generalizations about King adaptations. I always appreciate your presentation style and have learned much about how to analyze media and make my thoughts interesting to others. Thanks!

So, the Stephen King books that I've read, I haven't seen adaptations of, and the movies I've seen have not been books I've read (yet.) However, one thing I've noticed with the movies is that you can FEEL that there's stuff left out. They'll touch on things, but it's almost like you can see the gaping holes where the things in the book that tie things up so nicely and intricately weave in and out around one another are left out of the movie. And that's unfortunate.

This was never a ‘must see’ movie for me, but I’m honestly still baffled how (nearly) every new King adaptation manages to screw up so badly 🤔

@ericcartman7361

2 жыл бұрын

Exactly. I’m worried about the upcoming Salem’s Lot remake

@TundraBlue11

2 жыл бұрын

@@ericcartman7361 Noooo! Not ‘Salem’s Lot 😱 I forgot that was on the remake list. Bugger 😮‍💨

@ericcartman7361

2 жыл бұрын

@@TundraBlue11 They’re making it a 3hr movie when it should’ve been a miniseries.

@TundraBlue11

2 жыл бұрын

@@ericcartman7361 They never learn, do they? 😮‍💨

@ericcartman7361

2 жыл бұрын

@@TundraBlue11 That’s true sadly. I mean look at what they did to The Stand. I did like who played Franny and I hope that actress gets another Stephen King adaptation.

Merphy’s stepping into Dominic Noble’s territory I see

I haven’t read the book yet, but I saw the original movie with Drew Barrymore and it sounded closer to the book than this reboot. Sad that it strayed too far from the book, but given the crap coming out of Hollywood these days it’s not surprising.

its funny how everyone rags King for bad endings but Hollywood screws them up far worse

@frankie3010

2 жыл бұрын

It is impossible to write worse then Cocaine King. Stephanie Meyer is on the other level.

@SuperJdiez

2 жыл бұрын

@@frankie3010 🤣🤣🤣🤣 to each their own

I remember watching the old female of this, but it's pretty vague. Do you think you'll watch the old one?

I remember that this book made it’s round in our class in 1986 and we all read it! I haven’t read it since then but I still have a vivid memory of it - especially of Charlie‘s time in captivity! Hearing that they changed this in the movie is one more reason not to watch it. The other is, that I didn’t like the trailer at all - especially when Andy says „You‘re a superhero, Charlie!“ - Nope, not the right direction!

You should watch the original movie. It is much more faithful than what this sounds like.

Commenting for the reach!

I've read the book. Have not seen the movie. I'd want to skip the movie for the sole reason that they had Charlie kill a cat instead of destroy a teddy bear. I'm a massive cat lover. But that weird, nonsensical ending makes me even less interested in the movie. Spoiler warning for the book if you haven't read it: While on the run from the government agency that gave Charlie's parents their powers, Charlie and her dad hitchhike with an old farm couple and stay at their house for a while. The couple accidentally finds out about their situation and they bond. Charlie and Andy end up getting captured after they have left this couple's house. It's after that that they spend time in captivity and Charlie is manipulated by John Rainbird as Murphy explained. After Andy dies and Charlie eventually escapes, she makes her way back to that couple who had helped them, and then goes public with her story. So much of a better ending to the book. But from Merphy's summarization of the movie, it sounds like the couple didn't even make an appearance in the movie. In the book, Charlie basically rode off into the sunset with them, not Rainbird.

As far as king telekinetic novels, I much preferred the institute, but there were many parts of firestarter I really enjoyed

Have you seen the 1984 film? I’ve not seen it since I was a kid but if I remember right, it doesn’t have a lot of these things you didn’t like in the new movie. I have not seen this remake yet but I probably won’t. But, because it has been so long since I’ve seen the ‘84 film I don’t remember if there if there are other issues with that adaption though.

@wakuseimoe

2 жыл бұрын

The 1984 film had a whole lot more heart to it and felt a lot less sadistic. At least that's my opinion about it.

Personally, I'd rather have his eyes bleed than suffer from headaches. That's the only positive take I have on the film.

It would be interesting as an addendum to this video if you were to watch the 80s adaptation of Firestarter and compare the two adaptations.

Drew Barrymore was so FIRE in that movie =P

I love your channel i support you everyday good luck and keeping going i like this is thing Contents And i help them impressed

I'm amazed to hear that a lot of the movie was boring and uninteresting. The trailers made it seem like it was a constant action thriller, which originally made me have 0 interest in actually watching it, since that's not what the story was in my memory. At the very least I'm glad that the trailers gave me an impression of being very different from the book so I didn't have to sit through an hour and a half to feel an even greater disappointment instead.

Not sure if you have read/watched Geralds Game but I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on that 😊

If you think King writes great characters, just wait until you read Under the Dome (I hope you do at some point!)

I wonder if the movie adaptation wanted to portray the idea that Charlie’s mind was fractured so much by killing her father, that she ended up telling herself that she’s too bad, broken, and dangerous to have any right to trust herself, and that her only way to survive would be to surrender herself to the closest person willing to stay with her, despite knowing what she is capable of, because their sole intention in doing so would be to manipulate her, which in her mind, probably not as a conscious thought, would have to be enough for her, in a Stockholm Syndrome sort of way. A trauma bond, in other words.

I've yet to read the book, but I saw the original movie with tiny little Drew Barrymore. Definitely better than the new by a Longshot.

Is Merphy's discord server is active now?? I can't find link in description. If it's active please share link

The movieadaptation with Drew Barrymore from 1984 is more loyal interesting and better

Hope you were listening to the song by Prodigy

Now I don't know that I want to see it. I remember reading the book, then seeing the first movie. This adaptation doesn't sound like one I would enjoy as much.

Where have you been?

I kept hearing that the 2nd half was butchered, and the movie wound up terrible, so I avoided it this weekend. I'm glad I finally got a good breakdown on what was so different. I love the book, read it several times since I was a kid, and I love the original 1984 movie - even though it's not a great movie it's still very enjoyable AND pretty loyal to the book. I recommend seeing that adaptation if you can. Andy and Charlie's relationship was an inspiration to a father-daughter relationship in my book, without me even realising it :P Shame the new movie basically pisses all over that.

I was hoping this would be good, but based on the reviews I've seen so far I'm not gonna go see it in cinemas, and I don't have Peacock. Might pick it up just because if ever I find a Blu-Ray for real cheap, but I'm in no hurry. It's kinda surprising to me that so many Stephen King books gets favorable reviews, but so few of the adaptations do.

@JamesEatWorld7758

2 жыл бұрын

It’s probably cheaper to pay 5 dollars for a month of peacock.

I'm sorry you actually saw a movie and this was the result

If you could do a vid like this for Dreamcatcher and the other Stephen King Adapations. I think you did for Pet cemetery not sure. But personally the Under the Dome Series I think may have been one of the most successful adaptations by virtue of being a TV series they could spend more time building to stuff. But it was Dream Catcher that I liked least... They ruined Dudums character and altered the existence of an antagonist by screwing up "Mr. Grey".

I don't read books or watch movies, but I'll watch to be a homie, I suppose.

Btw your ending says “Pateons” instead of “Patrons” 😂 great vid!

I have read the book and I am not interested in the movie. One of the things I’ve heard is that they made Irv into an insufferable jerk in the movie, and I remember him as being super sweet to Charlie in the book (although it has been nearly a decade since I’ve read it), sweet enough that she returns to them at the end anyways. And I also heard they mishandled the fire fight scene on the farm, which is the best single scene in the book, or at least the most memorable. Seems like a missed opportunity. And to make it boring on top of all of that…hard pass.

Fire starters are also known aa pyrokinetics

The only person who should adapt Stephen King to film is Frank Darabont

@ericcartman7361

2 жыл бұрын

Agreed

The movie trailer made me want to read the book, but maybe I’ll skip the movie. Most people I know who have watched it (even if they haven’t read the book) have been disappointed.

@Captain_Chaz86

2 жыл бұрын

Yikes! People were disappointed with the 90s adaptation as well.

Watch Shawshank redemption

They must've been drunk when they wrote the ending. Hollywood tends to change things alot unfortunately but at least the book was good

Yeah, saw the movie yesterday and wasn't impressed. The ending was crap... would have loved to see the girl go back to that farmer like in the movie with Drew, would have loved more chasing and escaping... this movie just jumped from 0 to 100 in a few minutes. If interested, check out the movie Freaks from 2018, much better movie with people that have paranormal powers that are persecuted/chased/killed... much better made.

Sooooo, this is the new movie, not the original I guess?

Why would she do all this research and not involve the original movie in the discussion. The complaints she has with the movie are more like the book in the original

Eo

Never read the book but I remember the 80s movie wasn't up to much. Did have a young Drew Barrymore in the lead though.

I'm not sure what's meant by 'the human condition'., despite hearing the term so often. It's the most vague and meaningless epithet for all time in my view. As for SK - he's a great story-teller, but if one goes by his sentence-to-sentence constructions, well..... there are a lot of bad sentences. I wish for him more as a friend who would have, as many of his characters do, told me a story (before bedtime/around a camp-fire/at a party) x

I'll disagree with you that this was an adaptation. They weren't loyal to the book at all. It was a "based on" at best, which is a different thing than an adaptation. Okay, I'll also add that the ending was a rather heavy-handed revelation that they're hoping to start a franchise off of it.

All I can say that the movie Firestarter was terrible while the book was good. It's the typical case Hollywood take a book from a popular author and simply ruin it.

Algorithm

The original is a more faithful adaptation, but I found it boring and actually like the new movie better even though it was so different from the book. Out of all three, I prefer the book though.

@WhytheBookWins

2 жыл бұрын

And I agree, I love King because his character development is amazing!

@ericcartman7361

2 жыл бұрын

Maybe 10 years later they’ll do a proper adaptation.

Wow this new movie sounds like utter crap, I mean I assumed it would be anyway. The original movie is a thousand times better.