Vick's Flicks, Ep. 170: 'The Long Walk' and Stephen King

The Long Walk is out in theaters on Friday - Brandon offers his review of the film after he and Stoney get into a lengthy discussion on the prolific career of Stephen King and the history of his stories being adapted on the big screen. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
And now, ladies and gentlemen, the Soros Network proudly brings
to you some in depth movie discussion with our resident
film critic Brandon.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
At the evening, everyone, the vic Flicks Podcast.

Speaker 3 (00:18):
Is here, Welcome back for another episode, a special bonus
episode of the vix Flicks Podcast for the month of
September right here on Nashville Movie Dispatch. You can check

(00:42):
out all of our work at Nashville Movie Dispatched on
substack dot com. I'm the host of the show today,
the eic at Sobros Network, Big Natural Stony Keeley. You
can follow me on Twitter at Stony Keeley. Collectively at
Sobros Network, Joined as usual by the man whose name
is on the marquee. He is a board member of

(01:03):
the Music City Film Critics Association. He's a member of
the Southeastern Film Critics Association. He's our resident film critic
here at Nashville Movie Dispatch, mister big shot himself Brandon
Vick Brandon, How you doing today? My man?

Speaker 2 (01:17):
Doing mighty fine.

Speaker 3 (01:18):
It kind of feels like fault, it does.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
My family left for school today and it was cold outside.

Speaker 3 (01:25):
I don't know how early you got up yesterday morning,
but did you guys, have any fog over in your
neck of the woods. Yeah, we did, because it was
it looked like a Stephen King novel. Outside our window.
I could not see legit could not see the houses
at the bottom of our hill. Fog was so dense.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
I started changing our zip code to Maine, somewhere to Main.
I'll just go ahead and do it.

Speaker 3 (01:47):
That makes perfect sense.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yeah, yeah, I said, we live in May now I
wrote I wrote it on my phone.

Speaker 3 (01:54):
So The Long Walk is hitting theaters on Friday. You
have seen it, I know, want to talk about it
a little bit today, But yeah, I think it kind
of raised an interesting opportunity for us to kind of
peel back a little bit and say, Stephen King has
a hell of a bibliography. I mean, over like two

(02:16):
hundred short stories, sixty five novels. The Man sold over
four hundred million copies worldwide. But when you look at
some of the film TV adaptations, there's something about his
work that is just we started just kind of kicking
kicking things back and forth, and we're like, oh, yeah,
that was Stephen King. Oh yeah, that and this, and

(02:37):
I think it's a it's a I don't know, you
wouldn't call it a filmography of Stephen King adaptations, but
whatever the body of work may be, it's kind of
worth digging into. And then, especially with so many supernatural
horror elements to his stories, it's the perfect time to
do it, as the weather's cooling off outside, spooky seasons
right around the corner. Just felt like a good time

(02:59):
to discuss Stephen King and how his works have transcended
into the visual mediums of film and television.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
And I always think I was kidd around about I
don't know if people know this, but you can't just
change your zip code to Maine.

Speaker 3 (03:14):
I think people bought that one hundred percent. They know
you're a truth teller. I you never tell fibbs on
this show, correct.

Speaker 2 (03:21):
I've we have been to Maine, and I get it.
I get why he writes about it. And I went
during October, which if anybody goes up there, we stayed
in kenn and bump Port. It was it's it's how
you think it would be. I've always compared it to
the way and I know this was not so you

(03:42):
know it took place in Illinois, but it's almost like
how the original Halloween is, like the way the houses
are and they're like these little towns. And then one
of them had this old time theater where you didn't pay.
It was a free movie, but you like, you know,
you pay for popcorn and stuff, which is how they
make But I mean, I'm talking like old school theater.
And I if I had the time and they were

(04:03):
showing Stephen King's The Shining that weekend, I guess, well,
which I'm starting to think maybe they played Stephen King
shit like all month. I don't know.

Speaker 3 (04:11):
I mean you could, you could fill a month, you
could fill a calendar.

Speaker 2 (04:14):
After I put all of it together and realize where
I was and him everything, I thought, oh, that's probably
the only movies they show. But yeah, man, there is
a sense. But you know what's funny, And I feel
like I should start by saying this. I don't think
I've read really single really Stephen King movie. Who a
Stephen King book? As a matter of fact, the I

(04:34):
have a Stephen King book on my shelf that I
want to read, and but it's not any of the
ones we'll talk about. And I don't know if you've
read it, but Billy Summers.

Speaker 3 (04:45):
I haven't read Billy Summers, so I know they're adapting it.

Speaker 2 (04:48):
Okay, yeah, I think everything he writes, they just adapt.
I don't even know if it matters.

Speaker 3 (04:54):
Yeah, I think it is. Let's see here, Billy Summers
TBA based on the novel of the same name.

Speaker 2 (05:01):
Okay, yeah, I want to read that one. But I
have seen a lot of the movies that are based
off his books.

Speaker 3 (05:08):
Yeah so, And I mean the thing that is so
crazy to me, like he has a lot of novellas
that are just really digestible stories. And we'll get into
some of the names of titles that have been released
in film versions that you will hear and think. I
had no idea that was Stephen King.

Speaker 2 (05:28):
Oh there's one right now in my mind. And I
had no idea that he that that was based off
of it, because I would I just would have never known.
But well, but go ahead, please.

Speaker 3 (05:42):
But I do think that it's I do think he's
largely known for the creepy horror works.

Speaker 2 (05:49):
Oh yeah, I mean, I think he's kind of like
the master of horror when it comes to and I
think it's probably based on a lot of the early
earlier stuff. Not that I mean look this year alone,
including The Long Walk, there was Life of Chuck, which
is a different kind of Stephen King yeah material. But
then The Monkey, Yeah, it came out in February. There's

(06:09):
a review of that on National Movie Dispatch. It's also
on Hulu now, I think if you want to give
that a watch. But that's a short story. M hm,
that's a part. So it's kind of crazy how a
lot of these are coming from like the very very small,
like short stories that are kind of expanded on and
sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Speaker 3 (06:31):
I want to show you something. This is going to
make for great podcasting.

Speaker 2 (06:34):
Yeah, yeah, I'll try to explain it to everyone.

Speaker 3 (06:39):
I have an old hard hardback oh copy oh of
night Shift and it's even got like the weathered edges
on the pages. Yeah, let me see when this was released.
The sleeve came off of it. But night Shift is
a collection of his short stories. Is this the fourth
book he published, because says other books by Stephen King

(07:00):
Carrie Salem's Lot and The Shining.

Speaker 2 (07:02):
Oh, maybe there'll be more on there if it was.

Speaker 3 (07:06):
This was published in October of nineteen seventy.

Speaker 2 (07:11):
And you know, I know I remember the cover of
the movie night Shift because there's a weird demon, long
black haired, black jacket kind of thing.

Speaker 3 (07:23):
Did they This is where we're going to start tripping over,
like was it a film? Was it a TV?

Speaker 2 (07:29):
This is? This is film.

Speaker 3 (07:31):
But I don't think night Shift itself. This is a
collection of short stories. This is not a story itself.
I think you're thinking of Graveyard Shift. Is that possible?
Maybe because they made a film adaptation of Graveyard Shift,
which is in night Shift. If I'm not mistaken, Yeah,
page thirty six. All right, maybe not, but I've gotten well,

(07:53):
I've got it up right now, I can I can see.

Speaker 2 (07:57):
But well, you know there's one with Henry W. Cloren Michael.

Speaker 3 (08:01):
Yeah, yeah, I don't think that.

Speaker 2 (08:02):
Was really weird that one? Is that?

Speaker 3 (08:05):
Then?

Speaker 2 (08:05):
What am I?

Speaker 3 (08:07):
Graveyard Shift came out in nineteen ninety and it's got
the skull like the skeleton with the eyeball and the
hard hat on.

Speaker 2 (08:14):
Yes, that's nineteen ninety. No, I'm thinking of something. I'll
get to it, okay, Or it's oh uh, maybe it's
night Flyer.

Speaker 3 (08:23):
Night Flyer.

Speaker 2 (08:24):
Is that a scary one?

Speaker 3 (08:25):
The night Flyer in nineteen ninety seven, that's it?

Speaker 2 (08:29):
That demon thing with the black jacket, that's what I
was thinking of.

Speaker 3 (08:32):
Yeah, that's gross. That's gross.

Speaker 2 (08:34):
All right. I knew it had night in it, and
I'm like, oh, yeah, I remember.

Speaker 3 (08:37):
That, And like, where was this published in? Was it
or was it just a novel that says a short story,
short story of the same name, see this is I knew,
like he's got so many short stories that they turned
to movies. Yeah, well, what book is that in? Maybe
I'll just look in that.

Speaker 2 (08:58):
It's like the Monkey Like I didn't realize. I just
thought maybe it was another one of his like hundreds
of books, but it was. It was in something and
I now I forgot the title of that book.

Speaker 3 (09:10):
But with the lawnmower Man. Isn't Children of the Corn
is in night Shift?

Speaker 2 (09:15):
Oh well, lawnmower Man. I remember seeing that as a kid,
where you go to Blockbuster and rent those. That's how
I saw a lot of Stephen King's stuff.

Speaker 3 (09:23):
Yeah, yeah, I read. I've read quite a few of
his short stories.

Speaker 2 (09:28):
Okay, well good, I didn't know how much. I thought
this would be really cool if nobody, neither one of
us had ever read yeah book.

Speaker 3 (09:35):
I haven't gotten That's the thing about some of his works,
Like I don't remember off the top of my head,
but it is like an ungodly amount of pages. Oh
it is.

Speaker 2 (09:47):
My sister in law has it, and it's like three
Harry Potter books combined.

Speaker 3 (09:52):
The Stephen King's novel. It is generally listed as having
one and thirty eight pages for the first edition, with
some having over one thy three hundred pages. Yeah, and
it's an epic. Yeah, And I don't know. I like
who has the time? Who has?

Speaker 2 (10:13):
It?

Speaker 3 (10:13):
Takes me a year? It would take me a year time.

Speaker 2 (10:15):
I would never finish.

Speaker 3 (10:17):
It now, thankfully, you know, I do have like Night Shift.
I do have another couple of volumes of his short stories.
I like the way I like that version of writing
where it's not like a short stories volume one, but
there's like a theme and it's titled off of that.

(10:37):
And I've got a few of those around here. I
have Joyland, one of his crime novels. I have another
one of his crime novels, and then I've got a
couple of his not horror things too. I really want
to read The Shining. And I don't know the last
time you've been to Target, But Target has released a
new line of his books in paperback form that have

(11:00):
been redesigned and the graphic design is really uh, really cool?

Speaker 1 (11:04):
Is it?

Speaker 3 (11:05):
There's a copy of The Shining that I'm like, Oh,
I really want that in my library.

Speaker 2 (11:11):
No, I haven't been to Target.

Speaker 3 (11:14):
Damn, let's go. Let's stop recording and we'll go to
Target right now.

Speaker 2 (11:18):
Well, when you stop selling movies, Yeah, that's a bump,
and it's at all. I'm not going down this path
with you today. But when when their Black Friday became
what it was, I started losing all hope. It's every
now and then I buy clothes from Target. I also
think Target is canceled now I'm not sure.

Speaker 3 (11:38):
Target does not make clothes for fat guys.

Speaker 2 (11:42):
No, well, what you really mean is is good fellow.
It's the only brand that sell and they.

Speaker 3 (11:47):
Don't mean Yeah, so I am boycotting Target for that.
I haven't. I haven't been able to buy clothes.

Speaker 2 (11:54):
What about maternity?

Speaker 3 (11:55):
I could buy me a sun dress.

Speaker 2 (12:00):
That's the only thing they have.

Speaker 3 (12:03):
Yeah, that's all they have for pregnant ones.

Speaker 2 (12:05):
No. No, we used to my wife that I think
because it's so close to the school she works at.
Even if she didn't want Target gift cards Around Christmas
time and stuff, parents get Target gift cards because we
kid that they just pass it along on the way
to work.

Speaker 3 (12:22):
Yeah, they forgotten it.

Speaker 2 (12:25):
It's teacher Appreciation Week and it's Friday. But but now
I will say, and I'm not before I get into
the long walk we dive in. I I don't know
if I should say this, but I have heard from
more than a few sources that sometimes it's a way
of And I kind of got like this with Chuck
Paul and Nook back in the day. Once you kind

(12:48):
of read one or two of his people tend to
take a break. Yeah, And I've heard that he really
likes to describe things. And one of the things that
my wife's sister was talking about when I told her
that we were doing this is and her mom, by

(13:09):
the way, is a huge like I think she's read
every Stephen King book, like she is a big one,
and so let's telling them about this.

Speaker 1 (13:16):
And.

Speaker 2 (13:18):
She's like some she's like I think at the beginning
of it, like the first three chapters is just like
little things about the town before you ever even get
to like anything with the kid, like anything. I guess
that kind of actually kicks off the story, like I
get of setting the setting. But I have heard that

(13:38):
he is really goes overboard and like they're like, yeah,
He'll spend five pages talking about that cabinet, and it's
like it's exhausting. So I'm like, uh, and.

Speaker 3 (13:48):
That's some of his more I would say Hallmark signature
works too, so which is why I kind of come
back to like if I see, oh, he's got a
new volume.

Speaker 2 (13:59):
Of short story, yeah, it's little doses.

Speaker 3 (14:02):
It's it's little doses. Yeah, that's because you still get
the same. He is very I think it's one of
the hallmarks of his work is that he is very detailed.
And it can be it can be quite wordy, but
I do think like he paints a vivid picture.

Speaker 2 (14:20):
And I guess that's the thing. Like I think, Okay, well,
I could kind of see it, like, for instance, on
it because it is about I mean there, you know
a show, a series is coming to HBO Max called
Welcome to Dairy about the town and the initial I think.

Speaker 3 (14:36):
It's gonna be those first three ch others.

Speaker 2 (14:38):
Yeah, that's it. That's all it's gonna be. And Penny
Wise is gonna be at the very end drooling in
a sewer. But but yeah, I've always heard that, so
I didn't really I didn't really know never boring, you know,
but I could see where that could be a bit exhausting.

Speaker 3 (14:57):
What what do you think it is? And I don't know,
we can't go into his his literary work, but just
as a as a storyteller, what is it about his
stories that you think make them so adaptable?

Speaker 1 (15:14):
Like?

Speaker 3 (15:14):
Why why Stephen King? Because and I'm not trying to
be like, I'm not trying to be a hater, but
because he is an awesome writer. But it does kind
of feel like, I guess the name means something to
a lot of people, and so we're just gonna we're
gonna pull from that well several times. Is it that

(15:37):
sort of branding that he has the reputation for being
such a good storyteller? Or is it you know, these
are actually good stories that translate really well to the
big screen.

Speaker 2 (15:50):
I mean, I do think there's kind of the story
element is first and foremost, and yes, it's just one
of those things where hey, let's just adapt this one
and then like I mean, for you know, as far
as business, Stephen King makes money for movies. But yeah,

(16:12):
I mean, I guess it's just the little things that
that he does within his books that end up becoming
I mean, like you said, he's already kind of painted
this picture, you know, and so then it's kind of like,
oh okay. And sometimes I think it's kind of the era,
you know, I mean, what is he probably starting the seventies. Yeah,

(16:33):
So I think a lot of it is simply kind
of about I mean, whether it's a creepy clown or
you know, the kind of like the straight up like evil,
like with Children of the Corn things like that, and
then you got like Christine, you know. But I think
it's also because he bounces around, like most of the

(16:54):
stuff where we talk about is stays in the horror genre.
But it's like, Okay, there's horror genre, like we talked
about like Children of the Corner Christine, but then there's
also the horror elements of like Carrie and Misery.

Speaker 3 (17:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (17:10):
Like there's just this different aspect to where he's not
he's not really repeating himself, especially I mean, I would
say with the movies anyway, from early on, he's not.
He's kind of diving into different stuff, and like we'll
talk about there's some stuff where it's i mean, it's
not a scary one at all, but yeah, and I

(17:33):
think I think it just kind of resonated with people
then and then because of having like you opened up
Night Shift and it said carry the Shining and Salem's Lot,
Well okay, well then yeah, then then obviously he's built
on that from uh, from there, So now you've got

(17:54):
a lot of clout where you know, he is kind
of this master of horror. And I mean, I think
he turns out a book. I don't know. It seems
like he has a new one every other month, which
is crazy. So if that's real, but it certainly feels
like it.

Speaker 3 (18:07):
It's it's crazy talent. I mean, I'm trying to write
a novel and have been for a year and I
have nine pages and it's like I can't. I've always
thought that I had pretty good flow as a writer,
but then when you sit down to actually put a
story into book form, it's it's kind of crazy to
think of how prolific he is as an author. But

(18:28):
I think I think you touched on it. I think
that early run of his was just so popular that
it did kind of give him some clout. And then
the name does mean something, which I think is is
it kind of makes for a combination of things, right, Like,
for one, you've got a marketable name that people know
what to expect when they see that it's attached to

(18:49):
a project like The Long Walk, which I had no
idea was a Stephen King story.

Speaker 2 (18:54):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 3 (18:55):
And then but then you see the name adapted from
Stephen King and you're like, oh okay, like let's let's go.
It means something. But then it is also the material itself. Man,
it's just very vivid, I would say, like haunting imagery,
stuff that you can read and just say, that's gonna
look fucking terrifying if we put it on a on

(19:17):
a big screen in a theater full of people tapping
into This is one of the big things that I
think his work connects with people on is that he
uses like supernatural elements and horror to kind of tap
into real fears that people have. You know, you think
about like the scary clown thing, which I don't know,

(19:39):
like I've read some people think that, you know, it
wasn't until it that people were afraid of clowns, But
so which came first, the chicken or the egg? But
I think there is something inherently creepy about clowns. And
this is just one example that he kind of taps into.

Speaker 2 (19:54):
So I think it's been there. Yeah, I think he
just he he has a platform that made the rest
of the world be like, oh yeah, I told you
I wasn't the only one who thought that shit was weird.

Speaker 3 (20:07):
Yeah, the keg is there. Stephen King just taps it.

Speaker 2 (20:10):
Yeah. I also will say and I and I mean
I don't I don't blame them for it. But if
you notice, if it's a horror movie, I mean, how
many people, how many authors does their name bring attention
where you say where it's like it's either on the poster, yeah,
like straight up on the poster. Sometimes there's no there's
nothing else on the poster.

Speaker 3 (20:31):
Man, that's crazy to think about of author, you.

Speaker 2 (20:34):
Know what I mean of like author's stuff where they'll say,
oh you know what that was. I mean, I don't
even think you get stuff like let's just say like
a I mean, well, she's not a good example. But
like James Patterson, like you, if some stuff's from him
or some stuff's from Cormick maccarth, you don't get you
that's not the first thing you're gonna see.

Speaker 3 (20:54):
I know this is crazy, But my brain immediately goes
to like it ends with us and all the the
Coho craze. But even then, I don't think that they
put Colleen Hoover's name on the poster or anything like that.
So well, yeah, I mean I don't.

Speaker 2 (21:10):
I really don't, say, like from the best selling series
by so and so, like when Twilight came out, Like
but that's but that's not.

Speaker 3 (21:20):
That's not the same. It's not a body of work
you were talking, like sixty five films or something like
that that have his name on it. Man, that's a
really interesting question because I mean you think of like
stuff that like anyone, but you I guess, well, I
guess it's not an adaptation. It's an inspiration of a
shakespeare play. But like you don't even see Shakespeare's name

(21:42):
on shit, no hemmingway, Like there are a lot of
movies based on his stuff, but you never really see
it in.

Speaker 2 (21:50):
The It's not marketing. I mean, it's not in part
of the marketing. But I feel like at the same time,
they don't put his name on there for like Life
of Chuck. Yeah, for instance, that's just the newest on
Tom Hillston. So they know they know this how how

(22:10):
this works. And I'm assuming he does too, which I
don't know if he really cares once he's got his money,
because now he'll promote and be like, oh, you know
this is scary and you know this, and you know
that's neither here nor there, because I don't think his
all of his stuff is that. But yeah, you know,
even the and I won't specifically the titles till we
get into it. But even some of these movies that

(22:30):
I enjoy, I forget that Stephen King actually wrote them. Yeah,
I just know them because of who was in them
or some stuff I just you know, remember because like
oh yeah, that that was like nominated for like five
Oscars and stuff like that.

Speaker 3 (22:47):
So let's dig into it, okay, because this is a
this is a vast filmography. There are ten films that
he actually had a hand in producing.

Speaker 2 (23:01):
Now, should I talk about The Long Walk or you
want to wait till the end?

Speaker 3 (23:06):
I thought we were going to wait till the end.

Speaker 2 (23:07):
Let's wat till the end. It sounds great.

Speaker 3 (23:08):
Yeah, where he either was an actor in the film
Pops Up or he actually like wrote the script for it,
so I didn't realize it. Creepshow is based on a
couple of his short Stung.

Speaker 2 (23:25):
Yeah. I didn't either. That made sense, But that was
like early early King, so I thought maybe that's why.

Speaker 3 (23:32):
That was nineteen eighty two eighty five You had Kat's Eye,
which he wrote, which is based on a couple of
his short story Silver Bullet in nineteen eighty five, written
by Stephen King. Gary Busey was in that, right, how
about Legend based on his novella Cycle of the Werewolf,
which I haven't read. Silver Bullet's about I'm gonna have to.

(23:53):
I might look on that. I might look for that
on thrift books later, once we get off the show.
Note nineteen ninety six Maximum Overdrive starring Emilio Estevez, based
on the short story Trucks. King was also the director
of that.

Speaker 2 (24:08):
Oh I know, I didn't. I did not think he
ever directed his own stuff. He I don't remember that
movie either. He was might explain it.

Speaker 3 (24:19):
Creep Show two was based on his short story The
raft Pet Cemetery. Yes, nineteen eighty nine. He wrote that,
and he was an actor in that. He played the
minister yep.

Speaker 2 (24:31):
Let me just say I do remember young, younger Stephen
King in that one.

Speaker 3 (24:35):
Thinner was actually his his novel, but it was published
under a pseudonym Richard Bachmann.

Speaker 2 (24:41):
Yes, which so was The Long Walk.

Speaker 3 (24:46):
I did not know that. I did not know that
twenty Fourteen's a Good Marriage based on his novel twenty
sixteen's cell which has our buddy John Cusack in it. Yep, Samuel,
I wonder Stephen mcash saw that one.

Speaker 2 (25:00):
Yip and Samuel L.

Speaker 3 (25:01):
Jackson's in that one, and then he was an actor
in it chapter two as the shopkeeper. Oh yeah, So
those are just the ten films that he was he
was involved in that he like actually in his other
film adaptations. Let's start with nineteen seventy six and we'll
work up to nineteen ninety. Here this slate again, like

(25:23):
you look at it and it's just a banger. Nineteen
seventy six, you had Carrie, directed by Brian de Palma.
Nineteen eighty you had The Shining Stanley Kubrick. Nineteen eighty
three was Kujo the Dead Zone directed by David Cronenberg.
Christine directed by John Carpenter. Eighty four, you had Children

(25:45):
of the Corn. You had Firestarter. Eighty six, you had
stand by Me Rob Reiner based on the novella The
Body Had No Idea. That was a Stephen King novella.
Eighty seven, you had the original Running Man is an
Arnold movie.

Speaker 2 (26:01):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (26:02):
And that gets us to nineteen ninety. So that first
slate of seventy six and then the eighties. What stands
out to you?

Speaker 2 (26:11):
Carrie? I think Carrie is one of his finest adaptations.
And obviously I think that was really sort of everybody
like Sissy Spasic. I mean, it's a class I mean,
it's it's a it's a horror classic.

Speaker 3 (26:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (26:29):
I do remember watching Kujo, and I feel like, and
again a lot of these, I it was when an
old buddy of mine, we would basically go and we
would rent scary movies, and I feel like that's where
Kujo came in. Yeah, Christine came in, and some of
them might be cheesy now, but back then they were scary. Yeah,

(26:50):
they were like you know, but I mean I was
also like ten eleven as well. So stand by Me
is just one of those that I mean, I just
everybody knows what that is. I don't think people realize
Stephen King actually wrote that, because again it's not in
what we imagine him being in but over time, I

(27:13):
think we've kind of sort of gotten used to it
because of some other films that that they did that
had nothing to do with the horror genre. But Ku
Joe and then what was the so We Children of the.

Speaker 3 (27:27):
Corn, Children of the Corn, The Dead Zone, David Cronenberg film, Firestarter,
the original right with Drew Barrymore, and then The Running Man.

Speaker 2 (27:36):
I'd like The Running Man, even though like I have
not seen it in I mean at least probably fifteen
twenty years. And I'm very excited about Edgar Wright's one
That's Got and Josh cooland Coleman Domingo that looks fun,
but it was just I like, I enjoyed that one.
I think it's one of Arnold's best ones and he's

(27:58):
not like this the typical stuff that you know, and
it's also it's a great it was a solid action
or Children of the Corn. I gotta tell you, don't
I don't care. I don't think I've seen them all,
but I've seen most, and I specifically have watched the
original maybe three or four years ago because my in

(28:21):
laws liked it. And I'm gonna tell you it's one
of the most boring movies. I've ever watched in my life.
And the kid that is like the main like devil guy.
He I can't. I can't, like I couldn't look at
him and take anything seriously.

Speaker 3 (28:39):
Well, if you want to read the short story, it's in.

Speaker 2 (28:41):
And I hope it's better, but I'm gonna tell you
they they've done some sequels, they've redone it, and it's
all it's it's it has not gotten better at all.

Speaker 3 (28:52):
So then we go to nineteen ninety the UH comedy
horror anthology film Tales from the Dark, the movie based
on the short story The Cat from Hell.

Speaker 2 (29:04):
Oh, I don't know if I don't know if I've
seen that one. Yeah, I remember seeing stuff about the
Dead Zone, but it wasn't the movie. It was like
the USA Network sci fi show that had said Anthony
Michael Hall. I don't know, but anyway, I and I
think the Dead Zone was that walking.

Speaker 3 (29:26):
The Dead Zone. Let's see a film stars Christopher Walkin.

Speaker 2 (29:30):
OK.

Speaker 3 (29:30):
Yeah, all right, so there you go.

Speaker 2 (29:32):
No, I hadn't seen I hadn't seen that one.

Speaker 3 (29:35):
Then you had a Graveyard Shift based on the short
story of the same name.

Speaker 2 (29:39):
That's the one with that demon thing.

Speaker 3 (29:41):
No, that was Night Flyer.

Speaker 2 (29:42):
Oh damn it.

Speaker 3 (29:43):
Okay, Graveyard Shift is like a it's a skull. Oh yeah, miners,
Yeah got it. Then you had Misery in nineteen ninety
directed by Rob Reiner. The Dark Half in nineteen ninety
three was George A. Romero. I mean, like some talented filmmakers,
I see why he taken on.

Speaker 2 (30:01):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (30:02):
Ninety three was also Needful Things, which I there was
that one at all horror film, but I had not
ed Harris is in it. I love. Yeah, maybe we
need to put put that on the spooky season calendar
for next year.

Speaker 2 (30:18):
No, I know, I certainly haven't seen that one.

Speaker 3 (30:20):
Nineteen ninety four, The Shawshank Redemption, Hell yeah, based on
the novella Rita Hayworth and the Shaw and Shawshank Redemption.
That was one I did not I didn't see that
one coming. Ninety five you had The Mangler and Dolores Claiborne,
which Kathy Bates again, Jennifer, Jason Lee, Christopher Plummer in
that very well. That was a Taylor Hackford film, who

(30:44):
went John to direct ray. Yeah. The night Flyer, which
we discussed earlier. Yeah, nineteen ninety eight was apt pupil Oh.

Speaker 2 (30:55):
Yeah, that was one of what's his name's last movies
that passed away, the Kid and McKellen's in it.

Speaker 3 (31:02):
But then brad Renfroel that's it. Yeah, yeah, and then
he wrapped out. He wrapped up the nineties with The
Green Mile in nineteen ninety nine, which another surprise you
went on, think that's Stephen King.

Speaker 2 (31:16):
What are the standouts, you ask, They are probably two
of the best films that of the nineties is The
Green Mile and Shaw Shank Redemption. Yeah, I'm I'm a
big fan of Misery. I actually just rewatched that, I
think maybe just a few years ago. For actually I
think my wife picked it out while we're watching. But
it's great that whole Like, first of all, that scenario

(31:40):
I'm sure King has had some type of connection too,
of someone being obsessed or they want you to write
this next book and the fact like I could so
see someone saying like I'm going to end this character
and people freaking out and it happens to day just
in a different way. But the setting and James Cohn
is great. But Cathy Baits, I love, She's tremendous in it.

Speaker 3 (32:04):
Really. What's your favorite Kathy Baits movie?

Speaker 2 (32:07):
Oh, Misery's up there for sure.

Speaker 3 (32:10):
Yeah, I feel like that's one of the ones that
she comes to mind where people think about her.

Speaker 2 (32:14):
I always loved her and about Schmidt.

Speaker 3 (32:16):
That's what I was gonna go with her and Jack
going back and forth.

Speaker 2 (32:20):
It's funny too, and I think, I mean, she's also
done some like you know, it is Bobby Bouchet's mom
and stuff like that, and the water boying things. But
but yeah, I mean, Misery is that's probably If that
ain't the top, it's really close.

Speaker 3 (32:37):
Two thousand and one, you get Hearts in Atlantis, which
is based on it's.

Speaker 2 (32:41):
The one that I had. I totally forgot so even
wrote anything like that.

Speaker 3 (32:47):
That's based on the novella Low Men and Yellow Coats,
which is actually a tie in to the larger Dark
Tower series. So that was that was kind of surprising.
Two thousand and three, you had Dream Catcher. In two
thousand and four, you had Secret Window and Riding the Bullet.
Two thousand and seven, you had fourteen oh eight No

(33:08):
Smoking and the Mist. Two thousand and nine you had
Dolan's Cadillac, Wes Bentley, Christian Slater. How about that. Yeah,
it feels like we're kind of cooling off here in
the two thousand's after that run in the eighties and nineties.

Speaker 2 (33:26):
Yeah, and I just now I'm a big fan of
The Mist, and I think one of the things it's
so well done, but it's also one that people talk
about the ending, at least the movie.

Speaker 3 (33:40):
That is the third time that Frank Darabant did a
Stephen King adaptation.

Speaker 2 (33:46):
I think he did Green Mile.

Speaker 3 (33:47):
And did Shawshank Redemption the Green Mile, and then he
came back for The Miss.

Speaker 2 (33:52):
Yeah, so he really got some good yeah Stephen King shit.
But yeah, I mean it is it is kind of
cooling off. I thought fourteen o eight was a disappointment.
And what was the other one with Wes Bentley and
Christian Slater.

Speaker 3 (34:09):
I've no idea what that even is Dolan's Cadillac. Yeah,
not familiar with that Canadian crime film. Maybe it wasn't
even it.

Speaker 2 (34:16):
May even been in theaters, Yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 3 (34:20):
In the twenty ten's we start kind of revisiting. This
is where we see a couple of the remakes come in.
Carrie has Remade in twenty thirteen, and then you had
Mercy in twenty fourteen and twenty seventeen. You had it
the reboot Gerald's Game, which was directed by Mike Flanagan

(34:40):
nineteen twenty two, and in it the Dark Tower, which
I think is was The Dark Tower originally meant to
be like a franchise, because that is you look at like,
it's eight novels, that's like five thousand pages worth of

(35:00):
words you tried to get into a single movie.

Speaker 2 (35:03):
No, it was supposed to be a franchise, and if
I'm not mistaken, I don't know if this was before
or after, but then it was talk about a limited
series of doing something and like almost kind of like
the way Last of Us is doing now, where you know,
maybe each season was a piece of the overall series
of the whole books. But dude, that one was such

(35:25):
a disaster. I mean, it's not a good movie.

Speaker 3 (35:28):
Sixteen percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

Speaker 2 (35:30):
I think people of the books were pissed, and then
people that just wanted to see Idris Elbin, Matthew McConaughey,
they were pissed, so and that wasn't touched. I think
because of the way TV is now, that Dark Tower
is going to be revisited, but there's no doubt in
my mind that it will not be Amding.

Speaker 3 (35:50):
I haven't read any of the Dark Tower novels. I mean, truthfully,
I'm kind of intimidated by it because it is an undertaking,
but people do seem to I don't know much about
it other than it's a story that also kind of
ties in that there are a lot of references to
a lot of his other stories and that it's kind

(36:11):
of sort of the backbone of this Stephen King universe,
and there's a lot of stuff in it, and that
kind of makes me want to go through it and
kind of read because I mean, I like, real.

Speaker 2 (36:21):
People love it, but it has to be a beast
to be able to put that on screen. And I
guess give it justice, but but I mean you have
to think and we're only talking about films, but I
mean The Outsider, The Stand It with Tim Curry was
a TV series.

Speaker 3 (36:36):
It was not a movie, I know, and I think
a lot of people forget that.

Speaker 2 (36:40):
And so was Salem's Lot. So when they say, hey,
did you miss it it, No, it just was not
done because Salem's Lot, I think is one of the
last ones before we got to this year. Yeah, but anyway,
it was and it actually crazy just went to HBO
Max Yeah, but still but yeah, I could see the
Dark Tower being revisited. But it's gonna take It's gonna

(37:01):
take somebody that probably did like Last of Us or
maybe even a Mike Flanagan to really kind of revamp that.
But I think TV can handle it now.

Speaker 3 (37:11):
Twenty nineteen was a big year. You had the reboot
pet Cemetery it chapter two in the Tall Grass, which.

Speaker 2 (37:18):
I think was that's Netflix two.

Speaker 3 (37:21):
Yeah. I just saw something that actually just blew my mind.
I did not realize until this very moment that Joe
Hill was Stephen King's son. Have you ever read any
of Joe Hill's stuff? Yeah? He did heart shaped box horns.
Oh yeah, he did the nose Faratu thing I did

(37:42):
not really damn. And It's funny because I pick up
Joe Hill books and I'm like, oh, Stephen King wrote
something nice about this book too, it must be good.
Now it makes sense now it makes sense bad. Yeah.
In the Tall Grass based on the novella of the
same name. What brought his name up is that he
co author Third with his son, Joe Hill. And that's
what threw my mind into a pretzels reading with his

(38:04):
son Joe Hill.

Speaker 2 (38:05):
Let me tell you things picked up as far as
Stephen King's stuff.

Speaker 3 (38:08):
Being made to me doctor see Oh.

Speaker 2 (38:10):
Yeah, sorry, And that was Mike flann again as well. Yeah,
which if people don't know, that's the sequel to The
Shining had you and McGregor in and had what's his
name from E T do Jack's part?

Speaker 3 (38:22):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (38:23):
Oh it's Henry Thomas. He's in all of his series
on Netflix too, okay, but he was the little boy
in ET like the main boy.

Speaker 3 (38:32):
Well, I'm looking at the cast Henry Thomas. It should
be Henry Henry Thomas, right.

Speaker 2 (38:40):
He played the dad I think in the Hill House one.

Speaker 3 (38:46):
Henry Thomas as the bartender. Yes, an apparition who calls
himself Lloyd but resembles Dan's late father Jack Torrens.

Speaker 2 (38:54):
Yes and so. And you know what for somebody that's
a huge Jack Nicholson fan. He didn't ruin it. I
almost appreciate the way Flannagan did that in his way.
Then try to do some like AI thing. But a
lot of those titles, they I don't hardly any of
them were that great. The remake of Carrie was okay,

(39:17):
had Chloe Morettz and Julia Moore with Julia Moore's great
in It's not bad, but I mean again, you're talking
about remaking a.

Speaker 3 (39:25):
I mean a Horno classic, one of his real fastball.

Speaker 2 (39:28):
Yeah, so that pet Cemetery was awful. I did not
like that one at all. Some don't even like the original,
but I remember being kind of creeped out by the original.
And I always remember that the little Boy's shoe in
the road.

Speaker 3 (39:41):
Oh yeah, iconic scene, but in.

Speaker 2 (39:44):
The Tall Grass I did not like. Now I will
say nineteen twenty two.

Speaker 3 (39:49):
Yeah, that one was pretty good.

Speaker 2 (39:51):
Gerald's Game is one of the best I really like,
and all of these were, like I guess they were
in business with Stephen King. Netflix was at the time.
That one was really good.

Speaker 3 (40:01):
I never saw that one.

Speaker 2 (40:02):
Yeah, I highly recommend that one. That's one of the
top ones.

Speaker 3 (40:06):
Twenty twenty you had the Children of the Corn reboot.
Twenty twenty two, you had Firestarter, another reboot, Mister Harrigan's Phone,
which was a Netflix a Netflix thing. Twenty twenty three
you had The Boogeyman.

Speaker 2 (40:24):
Oh yeah, I forgot he did that.

Speaker 3 (40:26):
Last year was the Life of Chuck from Mike Flanagan
and the Salem's Lot direct to Max.

Speaker 2 (40:33):
I think, well, Life of Chuck was at a film
festival I got released this year in March, I think,
But yeah, but Salem's Lot, I didn't think that one
was too bad. But I have not watched the four
hour whatever series either.

Speaker 3 (40:45):
So twenty twenty five also had Osgood Perkins direct The Monkey,
based on the short story of the same name, and
that gets us to The Long Walk with the Running Man,
still set to come out this year, and Billy Summers
with a TBA designation right.

Speaker 2 (41:02):
Now, and again, Welcome to Darry. I really want to
see that, and that's on HBO, Max.

Speaker 3 (41:06):
I mean, that's just that's just the the film adaptations,
right and it, by the.

Speaker 2 (41:13):
Way, I forgot we did it chapter one. It's great. Yeah,
it's one of the absolute best Stephen King adaptations.

Speaker 3 (41:23):
I did not realize The Tommy Knockers was a series. Oh,
I thought that was a movie.

Speaker 2 (41:29):
I thought that was a movie too.

Speaker 3 (41:30):
Yeah, but it just goes to that point, like and
then yeah, there's a series about television film for Carrie.
There's a mini series for The Dead Zone. Salem's Lot
is on here like five times. There's another Children of
the Corn made for TV movie.

Speaker 2 (41:52):
Mm hmm. But then I think, did he write all
of those Children in the Corn? Or is it because
he came up with Children of the Corn, he will
always be credited. But other people have just taken that
and then made their own and made it shittier.

Speaker 3 (42:08):
And yeah, I'm.

Speaker 2 (42:09):
Curious, but it doesn't matter. None of them are good
as far as I As far.

Speaker 3 (42:12):
As I know, I guess Mike Flanagan is doing the
series a carry series for Amazon Prime.

Speaker 2 (42:19):
God must be good to be Stephen King, Never out
of Never.

Speaker 3 (42:23):
Do you know what his Do you know what his
net worth is? According to Google as of mid twenty
twenty five.

Speaker 2 (42:30):
Oh okay, well that's pretty recent. I mean, between the
books and the movies, it's gotta be. Is it over
three hundred million?

Speaker 3 (42:42):
Yes?

Speaker 2 (42:43):
Is it over five hundred million?

Speaker 3 (42:45):
Is right at five hundred million? And he gets to
go live in Maine and just call that peaceful place home.

Speaker 2 (42:51):
Yeah, and start trouble on Twitter must be starting.

Speaker 3 (42:54):
He is a He is a Twitter a Twitter rascal.

Speaker 2 (42:59):
Yes he is.

Speaker 3 (43:00):
So that's man. He is I mean something.

Speaker 2 (43:03):
But yeah, listen to those times. I mean you just
talk about like Carrie and It and and by the
way all of his work is it has affected every
possible generation. Rather you like that Carrie or this Carrie,
or you didn't know shit about Tim Curry's penny Wise,

(43:24):
but you got to see Bill Scars Scars like it's
crazy to me on young or old. I would imagine
everybody knows who Stephen King is, even if you don't,
like there might be people who absolutely knew he wrote
The Green Mile and Hearts in Atlantas. Yeah, but there's

(43:45):
there is something for everybody. And I mean I would
probably say his most popular. I feel like at least
like if when you say his name, I feel like
it's probably either Carrie, the Shining or it.

Speaker 3 (44:01):
Those were the three that I was going to say,
justin are just like if.

Speaker 2 (44:06):
I said his name, that's who, Like, oh yeah.

Speaker 3 (44:09):
If we're doing a Mount Rushmore, I think I might
put pet Cemetery there.

Speaker 2 (44:15):
The original Well, I just mean, oh you mean for him, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
I would say I because I.

Speaker 3 (44:23):
Mean, like the Dark Tower is big, but I feel
like that's one that is for the diehards. But as
far as like the casual person you just walk up
to on the street and be like, name of Stephen
King book or naming Stephen King.

Speaker 2 (44:36):
Let's put it this way. I think one of those
at least probably introduced you to Stephen King, even if
that's not your favorite. You knew he wrote that.

Speaker 3 (44:46):
Yeah, So do you have a film adaptation Mount Rushmore
of Stephen King?

Speaker 1 (44:52):
I do?

Speaker 2 (44:52):
But can I share something really quick? I talked about
this for I'm bringing back up. So my my sister
in law has read quite a bit of Stephen King. Now,
she has not seen a lot of the movies, so
I'm like, well, what what would be your favorites? Hers was,
and I don't think this would be really surprising. Was Carrie,

(45:14):
the Shining, the Mist and Misery?

Speaker 3 (45:16):
Oh yeah right? Yeah.

Speaker 2 (45:18):
So then I asked my mother in law, who has
read all of the books, and what's funny is? And
I was gonna say it then, but I thought i'd
wait her all time favorite. What is Silver Bullet really?
And she says that it's based off the cycle of
the Werewolf, which is what I I Yep. She said
it wasn't a very big book at all, but she

(45:40):
thought that the like all of the stories combined were
super creepy. She thought from as far as from book
to movie that Christine was really good. Okay, she said
the original pet Cemetery was super creepy, and that she
thought the book was pretty scary, and then she said,

(46:02):
of course, the most well known is The Shining. It's
a good movie as well as a good book. And then,
to my surprise, even though I remember this movie because
that witch would say Thinner and it's not a very
good movie. But my mother in law says it was
a great movie based off a story that he also

(46:22):
went by Richard Bachman, and so she gave a shout
out to Thinner. For me, mine's a little different. I
would go with Green Mile, I would go with Shawl Shank, Redemption.
I would go with just off the movies. I would
probably go with Carrie and the Mist with stand By

(46:47):
Me being very close.

Speaker 3 (46:49):
Stand by Me would be up there.

Speaker 2 (46:51):
Yeah, and Misery and I'm about to talk about the
Long Walk should be somewhere in their presence.

Speaker 3 (47:04):
We'll get in We'll get to that in just a sec.
Get into it, go for.

Speaker 2 (47:08):
It, We'll get into it. I'm like, I will, don't
you worry, I will.

Speaker 3 (47:12):
What better time than now? Do you have any parting
thoughts on Stephen King? Before you ship about the Long Walk?

Speaker 2 (47:17):
What again, how many people? First of all the fact
that you could just write those books, but the fact
that how much of a legacy is it that you
have the page and you have the screen. And a
lot of these have been well accepted, they've been very successful,
they've been award winners like he I mean, obviously they're

(47:40):
not all hits, but there is something to his stories,
to the voice, to the like you said, to the
to the picture he's painting, and I mean the cast
and filmmakers that have been able to do it. And
then you have someone like Osgoode Perkins, who thinks writes

(48:00):
a movie every day. Yeah, there's a new generation that's
gonna take it. Same thing with oh Man carry Something.
I'm gonna butcher his last name, but he did it
chapter like those people are able. No, I'm sorry. Andy
and The Flash director Andy Machette Mushietti.

Speaker 3 (48:20):
Yeah, I don't know he did butcher that.

Speaker 2 (48:22):
So there is and I think all these will go
through another run and another thirty years where someone thinks,
in twenty thirty five we need a new misery.

Speaker 3 (48:35):
Cycle of the Werewolf is apparently hard to find because that.

Speaker 2 (48:39):
She has it. It is.

Speaker 3 (48:41):
It was on thrift books for twelve bucks, but you
got to pay shipping for that. If you have Amazon Prime.
There is one bookseller that has four copies left. I
just bought one of fourteen bucks. But it's apparently like
there were some on thrift books that were like first edition,
and the first edition cover goes pretty hard.

Speaker 2 (49:02):
I like that you're doing shopping.

Speaker 3 (49:04):
Seventy nine for a first edition, so I will pass.

Speaker 2 (49:09):
It, which, then again, I guess in the big scheme
of things, people probably think, oh, I mean, that's less
than eighty bucks, and.

Speaker 3 (49:15):
Now my wife's going to be mad that there's another
book on the way. Yeah, got a fine room for it.

Speaker 2 (49:21):
That's right. Well, you can yell at her about her shoes.

Speaker 3 (49:23):
That's true, and the socks, that's right. Well, all right,
the long walk, I'm sorry the long walk.

Speaker 2 (49:27):
So what I just mentioned, I think this is top
tier Stephen King. The adaptation is intense. It's unnerving and frightening,
but there is surprisingly plenty of tenderness and humor, which
is essential given how emotionally grueling this can be. And

(49:50):
it's it's less than two hours, but it is, it's
it's a bit difficult just because of the subject matter. Again,
I highly recommend it.

Speaker 3 (50:02):
But it looks pretty pretty brutal.

Speaker 2 (50:05):
I mean it's completely visceral grim it's ultra violent and
relentless basically from the first gun shot to the last
gun shot. In case you don't know what it's about,
this is per IMDb. A group of teenage boys complete
compete in an annual contest they known as the Long Walk,

(50:27):
where they must maintain a certain walking speed, which I
believe they have to do around three miles per hour
and if they don't, they're as good as dead. And
it has Cooper Hoffman, David Johnson who a lot of

(50:51):
people probably recently got introduced to him for Alien Romulus.
There's Garrett Wearing. There's a tut not. I hope I
said that right. Charlie Plumber is in this, Ben Waying,
he was in one of the new He's in that
new Karate Kid movie. Mark Hamill's in it as as

(51:14):
the major. He really plays it up. Judy Greer plays
Cooper Hoffman's mother, Jeanie Garrity. She's only in it for
maybe I don't know, eight minutes, but she's great. And
ifanbody knows who Judy Greer is you know, it doesn't
matter how much time she's on screen. She's fabulous and everything.
And then Roman Griffin Davis is in it. And that's

(51:38):
Jojo Rabbit. Oh, he's in it.

Speaker 3 (51:41):
Jojo rabbits in this.

Speaker 2 (51:42):
So they have I mean, it's a hell of an ensemble.
But we were talking about with the novel he wrote
it and this was his This was Stephen King's first
novel and it was in he did it when he
was It was his first and was when he was

(52:02):
nineteen damn. But it wasn't published until nineteen seventy nine,
and it was under Richard Bachmann. Yeah, and I think
in I think there's a lot of and I obviously
I think this is on this is intentional, but there's

(52:23):
a lot with the book from what I have when
I did a little bit of research, and it's definitely
in the film themes of kind of the the limitations
of the human spirit, the critique of kind of a
totalitarian regime, and sort of what the Long Walk.

Speaker 3 (52:44):
Is used for.

Speaker 2 (52:47):
In many ways, it's about the human endurance. I mean,
just certainly physically and very mentally considering what all is
going on as you're trying to keep up this certain
speed or you're good as you're as good as dead.
There's also there's and it's it's well, it's more, it's

(53:11):
more than just hinted at. But there is an interesting
element to sort of the the gross side of kind
of the sensationalism in society, the spectator, like people know
what it is and considering the graphicness of it all,

(53:34):
but the fact that like you have people like in
the movie, they're like kind of sitting on the side
of the road just kind of seeing like, oh, maybe
we'll get to see some you know, there's seeing where
kids see a violent act happen and you know they're
trying to say, like go run away because but then
you think, well, what does this do like every year?

(53:54):
And the mindset of people and that it's almost like
I mean to me, I just think like it's almost
like when people just went to the coliseum to watch
people just die, just like people cheer, Like it's like
we it's like when we go to watch football. So
there's something about and there's and I think, honestly, what
really kind of took me by surprise? I have here

(54:17):
kind of it's the complicated aspect of like friendship and
in this one it's all guys, but it's also that's
where the tenderness comes from, is sort of these friendships,
relationships that are formed and the whole time and again
there's there's like there's banter and there's you know, they're

(54:38):
taking cracks at each other while like only one lives,
only one kid lives. That's the point of Yes. Francis
Lawrence is the director, and uh, he's the perfect guy
for this because he knows a thing or two about
dystopian uh stories, because he's direct did the Hunger Games,

(55:01):
he directed Catching Fire, the mocking Jay Ones, which ended
up being a two parter, and the last one, which
is the Ballad of Songbirds Dann snakes. Yeah, and so
he does a I think, I think it does a
fantastic job exploring, uh, these powerful things we were talking about.
And and it's mentioned in the in the movie of

(55:23):
really trying like within this hour and forty something in
a movie is trying to find the light in the
darkness there. I mean, So I was telling someone when
we as soon as we got out, because I actually
got to see this a couple of weeks ago. This
is Don't get me wrong. This is a horrifying film,

(55:44):
but not in the sense of like Graveyard Shift in
Pet and Pet Cemetery. Yeah, it's scary because it there
is a real truth to it and sort of kind
of just the wayanity is and can be. But I

(56:06):
wrote down, like, through the absolute horror of this last
of this Long Walk, there's always this glimmer of hope
for humanity that refuses to die. And it's within these
characters and within, like I said, this camaraderie, this brotherhood
that is forming under such I mean fucking awful circumstances.

(56:32):
I read a thing. So this is still on Entertainment Weekly,
where it says Stephen King criticizes almost pornographic violence and
superhero movies, and he's talking about how you never see
any blood. In the article, it says Stephen King is
not one for holding back when it comes to brutality,
a trait he believes more superhero movies should adopt. It,
says the prolific author compared the way violence is depicted

(56:52):
in superhero movies such as some in the MCU or
DC to what he wanted for the film adaptation of
his book The Long Wall. He's quoted saying, if you
look at these superhero movies, you'll see some supervillains who
are destroying whole city blocks, but you never see any blood.
Uh And he said, and man, that's wrong. It's almost
like pornographic. Now, I will say in the article that

(57:13):
goes on to basically talk about you know, there's a
rating of PG thirteen. Don't forget kids. Disney owns Marvel.
So but he said, he added of the way, he added,
of the way violence is presented the Long Walk, He's
QUOTEA said. I said, if you're not going to show it,
don't bother. And so they made a pretty brutal movie.

(57:35):
And yes they did, oh boy, he said. But King
was very clear about the one condition he had for
the adaptation of his novel. Viewers must see the teenagers
being shot. He insisted that they do not turn away
from it. And that is crystal clear from the very

(57:55):
first kid that gets it.

Speaker 1 (57:57):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (57:58):
And speaking of the cat, so, one of the film
stars I told his name is tut nyot Nayat. He
had previously told Entertainment Weekly that filming the movie was
not an easy feat physically or mentally, which I totally
get that. He's quote is saying we're walking, We're actually walking.
It's something that I don't think has ever been done.
It's just constantly on the move, so mentally just getting

(58:20):
into that headspace and just staying locked in and treating
every scene as if it's new because we're doing it
so many times. He says, we filmed one scene a day.
That's how they shot it. The there was talking about
like they made a pretty brutal movie. Let me tell
you there are part there are parts that I mean,

(58:43):
there's no other to way to explain it than to
say it's disgusting, and it is. You've kind yeah, I
think you've said. It's a brief like maybe one second
where a kid twists his ankle and how why and
he's walking on that ankle and they show it later
and it like I I can I can handle like

(59:04):
saw and stuff. I just don't really, but show me
something that like could happen, like you could do that,
and what if you had to walk somewhere to get
like help. So there's a part where that's dealing with
skip like scraping across the concrete and the I mean
give it up for the sound design because it sounded awful.

(59:26):
And there's also which in case you're wondering, people are
walking with their pants down, shitting on the road as
h as they continue because it's life or death. And
I actually think that's a quote in the movie, gotta
do what you gotta do. So I talked about the cast.
It's an excellent ensemble. Everybody really does a great does

(59:48):
a great job. Obviously Hoffman and Johnson are they are
the heart and soul of it from the moment that
they introduce you and introduce them to each other, and
just that friendship that is formed and how it's formed
and the conversations they have when it's just them two
is it. It brings out a lot of emotion that

(01:00:14):
I don't think you would expect by just something that
says written by Stephen King, and even the previews that
give you because this isn't just some action horror movie
of kids died like there, there's there is a point
to it, There is purpose to it, and Hoffman and
Johnson bring all of that to the characters to the film.

(01:00:38):
So and again it's and it a lot of it
does a lot of it should be credited to Sensational
screenplay by J. T. Malner, who did a movie called
Strange Darling, which was a big hit a couple of
years ago. It's one of those where the less you knew,
the better, and it was a cool movie. And it

(01:00:59):
is true, I recommend it. I wouldn't look it up,
I would just watch it. But but I think, what again,
I think, what's so just honestly surprising about The Long
Walk was just how even Francis Lawrence is able to
still seek out the beauty in this case of brotherhood

(01:01:23):
among the brutality that I mean is always at their heel, right,
And I know, I actually after I after I watched it,
I a couple of days later, I look and I
do know that the ending of the book is not
the ending of the movie. Oh okay, but I will

(01:01:44):
but I will say to me, I think the ending
is a powerful one because they're uh, Johnson and and
and Hoffman's characters are talking earlier and it comes full
circle the end, and it's a I've found it pretty
powerful and it's a whole It just centers around kind

(01:02:08):
of a love versus vengeance kind of attitude and what
drives your life. But also I think attached to that
that it is inescapable. Is just the damage that's done
by such tremendous despair as they walk. And I mean,

(01:02:30):
I want to think that it's over like three hundred
something miles. It's like how far it goes it's usually
day or something. But yeah, and so but again, Long
Walk comes out Friday. Highly recommend it. It's so well done.

Speaker 1 (01:02:47):
It was I was.

Speaker 2 (01:02:49):
I was so impressed with how they were able to
get so much out of what appears to be such
a simple and what could be perceived as boring move.
It is not. It's far from it. Uh. The Long
Walk gets a vix Flix rating of four out of five.
It's one of the best of the year. So, uh,

(01:03:09):
go see it. And if that's the if, I don't
think there's any more Stephen King adaptations this year. They're
ending the year on a high note. This is, like
I said, I'm not saying Shaw's Shank Green Miles stand
by me carry stuff, but I'd say you can put

(01:03:29):
that right under those and I I think it'll fit comfortably, very.

Speaker 3 (01:03:33):
Well well said. So there we have it. Man, over
over an hour, and we didn't even bullshit that much.
At the beginning of this episode, I was going to.

Speaker 2 (01:03:43):
Talk about the Bills and Ravens game. I was gonna
be awesome it once.

Speaker 3 (01:03:46):
Do you want to talk about the Titans and I
may know how awesome that was.

Speaker 2 (01:03:50):
Well, I don't get I didn't get Fox, so I
only watched CBS, so I had so I watched Aaron Rodgers.
That was and we watched the Packers win because my
my I think extended family.

Speaker 3 (01:04:07):
I think they're going to be pretty good this year.

Speaker 2 (01:04:09):
Yeah. Well, I hate when I see Dan Campbell because
I always tell my father in law, who born in Wisconsin,
I think even has like a share like you know
how the fans. Yeah, And I say, well, this is
how I see it, and this and and I want
to back this up. This was after I saw Hard
Knocks when the Detroit Lions. I told him, I said, listen,

(01:04:29):
I respect everything they've done, but I think everybody knows
at this stage it's Dan Campbell, them, Vince Lombardi in
that order.

Speaker 3 (01:04:38):
Oh how did that go over?

Speaker 2 (01:04:40):
He sent me an email about something that happened in
the off season that someone wrote about Dan Campbell and
it was not It was basically saying like he's not
like they were naming other coaches that were better, like
they're better than him or something. And honestly I did

(01:05:00):
read it. I can't remember what was and I just responded,
hater's gonna hate. I can't.

Speaker 3 (01:05:05):
That's that's that's gotten too.

Speaker 2 (01:05:07):
But yeah, but but oh my god, I listen. I
know that this isn't a sports podcast. And I think
moviegoers and especially film film critics, like, if there's two
things we hate, we hate football and we hate the sun.
But I tell you what, I had my by the
time the Bills and Ravens are in that fourth quarter,

(01:05:27):
my face was painted blue and red. It was I
had a Josh Allen jersey in the mail coming to me.
I could that was such and like that reminds me
of why football exists, is because and they were talking
about how like some people had already left, and I'm like,
Ultimore were smoking in the fourth there was like forty

(01:05:50):
to twenty six or something. But anyway, Also, the Buffalo
Bills were just on hard knocks. I really just follow
whoever's on hard knocks except for Diz Cowboys didn't give
a shit about that. But the Jets, I'm like, hey,
you know what, Aaron Rodgers is a nice guy. I
think they should try and do something this year. Dan
Campbell's the best. He's the best coach I've ever seen.
Josh Allen great, I am superstar. That is true.

Speaker 3 (01:06:13):
I think we'll see Baltimore in Buffalo again, and I
think the next time we see it it'll be for
a berth in the super Bowl. And those are the
two best teams in the car.

Speaker 2 (01:06:22):
I really want. And if anybody watches Hard Knocks, when
they show you those the history of the Bills, yeah,
they talk about the nineties, I'm like, just like, just
give them, just give them a super Bowl, Just give
them one.

Speaker 3 (01:06:36):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:06:36):
Well, I'm glad I got to talk about it because
that I have. That game was like, holy shit, what
a way to kick off Sunday night football. Then like
they were like, oh, but tune in for next week.
It's like Vikings is someone I'm like, no.

Speaker 3 (01:06:48):
No, that's gonna be hard to talk. I'm out forty
one to forty what a oh?

Speaker 2 (01:06:53):
I mean that's and the kicker he was like he
didn't even know everyone's names. With Prader, yeah, he didn't
even know everyone's game. And then they hoisted them like
Rudy your favorite football movie. They hoisted them like.

Speaker 3 (01:07:04):
Rudy, which came out Monday on Nashville Movie Dispatch, Our
movie rewind on on Rudy. We're just the football talking podcast.

Speaker 2 (01:07:15):
No, I don't know, I don't, we don't, I don't
care about all. I have to look at the score
for the Titans, and then I saw you guys talking
about it and about basically like really the coaches, and
I just thought, oh boy, what a fun season.

Speaker 1 (01:07:28):
It was.

Speaker 3 (01:07:30):
The worst possible way you can lose a game.

Speaker 2 (01:07:32):
Where it's like I've seen, I've seen clips.

Speaker 3 (01:07:35):
You're outmatched from a personnel standpoint. The Broncos are head
and shoulders above you in terms of talent, not a
team that you really had any business beating. And then
you go out there. Your defense plays well enough, your
special teams plays well enough, even your offense I think
played well enough to win that game, and it's it's

(01:07:55):
it's the coaching staff that just fumbles the game away.
And just you talk about like every game coming down
to a handful of plays and all of those plays
going towards the Broncos, and it's a game that a
team that won three games last year comes into this

(01:08:16):
season with some positive momentum, they should have won that
and they didn't because of decisions made by their coaching staff.

Speaker 2 (01:08:23):
It's like, how do you fix that?

Speaker 3 (01:08:25):
How do you sell that to the players. It's like,
these people are supposed to put you in positions to succeed,
and it's it's not pretty. And I haven't listened to
a whole lot of sports talk this week so far,
but it is pretty. The fan base is pretty unified,
and they're calling for Brian Callahan's head. And I saw

(01:08:46):
it kind of wild.

Speaker 2 (01:08:47):
I saw a thing that said, who thinks Brian Callahan
will be the coach by the tenth week? Yeah, I'm like,
so it went well, Yeah, so people probably stopped listening,
But oh I'm glad I was able to at least
because I most of the time I can't really talk football.
I can only tell you certain people. But when Derek

(01:09:08):
Henry fumbled, I thought.

Speaker 3 (01:09:09):
Take that, Yeah that's what king. Never mind your one
hundred and sixty touchdown, you get it? Yeah yeah, oh man,
well that's going to do it. For the Vick Flicks podcast,
He's Brandon. I'm stony rate review, Subscribe, hit up Nashvillemovie
Dispatch dot substack dot com for all of our work.

(01:09:30):
We're only a couple of months away from the twenty
twenty five iteration of the Nashville Movie Dispatch Movie Annual
hitting shelves, and by shelves, I mean Amazon.

Speaker 2 (01:09:39):
Right next to Stephens.

Speaker 3 (01:09:41):
But you can prep for its release by picking up
our twenty twenty four Movie Annual. So just search Minor
Brandon's name on Amazon. The book will pop up. Subscribe
on substack Nashville Movie Dispatch until next time. For Brandon,
I'm stony, and you stay classy moviegoers.