Only One Stephen King Film

Adaptation Ever Won An Oscar

     As of today, some 85 films and television shows have been based on the written works of Stephen King, with many more in active development. King isn't just a prolific horror author and one of the most successful novelists of all time, but an entire cottage industry, serving as the driving force behind a sizable arm of the entertainment marketplace. He has been a part of Hollywood since 1976, when Brian De Palma adapted his novel Carrie to the big screen. King's star only continued to rise when such directors as Stanley Kubrick, John Carpenter, and David Cronenberg tackled the author's dark sensibilities.

     As an article in Slash Film recently noted, over the next decade, King was crowned [see what I did there] the master of horror, based on such bestsellers-turned-movies as The Shining, Christine, The Dead Zone, Creepshow, Cujo, and Firestarter. In 1986, Rob Reiner adapted the novella "The Body" into the coming-of-age drama Stand By Me, earning an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. Alas, it didn’t win, nor did the subsequent films The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, which garnered seven and four nominations, respectively.

     So what is the only King film adaptation to win an Academy Award? That would be Rob Reiner's 1990 cult classic Misery, in which Kathy Bates played deranged nurse Annie Wilkes opposite James Caan’s Paul Sheldon. Bates was nominated in the Best Actress category that year, and won out over Anjelica Huston, Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep, and Joanne Woodward.

Ridley Scott’s Black Rain Is Better

Than You [May Not] Remember

     When Ridley Scott’s thriller Black Rain hit theaters in 1989, it was met with great anticipation—and a general ho-hum from critics and moviegoers alike. Ticket sales were sluggish, and it was largely forgotten over the ensuing decades. However, as Alix Blackburn recently wrote in Digital Trends, those same decades have been exceedingly kind, and today the film has become more and more appreciated. “Telling the story of a pair of NYPD detectives who are assigned to take a Yakuza gangster back to Osaka, Black Rain is probably better than you remember it being,” he says.

     “For one thing, it was an innovative look at life in Japan,” he explains. “In the process, it gives us some perspective on what life was like there in the late 1980s, which was when many in the U.S. feared that it was becoming the new industrial capital of the world. Especially in this period of his career, Scott was one of the best directors in the world at building atmosphere. And because this movie is set in Osaka, Scott got to capture atmosphere that had largely remained untouched by Hollywood cameras.”

     “The movie’s neo-noir elements shine through beautifully, and it feels incredibly moody from the minute you see the first frame," Blackburn says. "Scott has always been an expert at balancing tone and story considerations, and he leans heavily on the former here, to great effect. Black Rain is a movie you can watch with the sound off, and you’ll still get 80% of its effect. It goes down smooth.”

How Sir Arthur Conan Doyle “Solved”

Britain’s Great Wyrley Outrages

     In 1903, the British village of Great Wyrley was the scene of a series of slashings of horses, cows, and sheep that kept the entire farming community on edge. In October of that year, a local solicitor and son of the parson, George Edalji, was tried and convicted for the eighth attack, on a pit pony, and sentenced to seven years of hard labor. Edalji’s family had been the victims of a long-running campaign of untraceable abusive letters and anonymous harassment in 1888 and 1892–’95, and additional letters, in 1903, alleged he was partially responsible for the outrages and caused the police to focus on him.

     Edalji was released in 1906 after the Chief Justice in Bahamas and others had pleaded his case. But he was not pardoned, and the police kept him under surveillance. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle of Sherlock Holmes fame was persuaded to “turn detective” to prove the man’s innocence, which he achieved after eight months of work. Edalji was exonerated by a Home Office committee of enquiry, although no compensation was awarded.

     Local myth remembers the Outrages to have been enacted by “The Wyrley Gang,” although Conan Doyle believed that they were the work of a single person, a local butcher’s boy and sometime sailor named Royden Sharp. Ironically, Conan Doyle’s suspicion was based on circumstantial evidence; in fact, “poison pen” letters in the name of the “Wyrley Gang” continued for another twenty-five years, but these were subsequently discovered to have been posted by Enoch Knowles of Wednesbury, who was arrested and convicted in 1934.

The Dark Satire The Menu Is A

Top10 Thriller On Prime Video

     Up front disclaimer: I have yet to see the 2022 film The Menu [I was still a little Covid-averse when it hit theaters], but after reading a new review it’s now shot to the top of my Prime Video must-see list. If you’re like me and have yet to see it, the dark satire-thriller follows a group of wealthy diners who travel to a remote island for an exclusive dining experience at a world-famous restaurant. The meal is made by celebrated chef Julian (Ralph Fiennes) who is known for his extraordinary culinary creations and mysterious personality.

     Among the diners are Tyler (Nicholas Hoult), a devoted foodie, and Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy), his skeptical date, who quickly senses that something is off. As the multi-course meal progresses, it becomes apparent that this is no ordinary dinner. Each course is served with increasing tension and disturbing revelations, especially surrounding the guests and the strange chef. As noted by review site Tom’s Guide, “The Menu is not your typical thriller — it simmers, deliberately slow-cooking its tension. And once that tension boils over, you’re left staring at the screen in shock. I went into this movie not knowing what to expect (didn’t even check out the trailer), and it turned out to be one of my biggest surprises of the year. Plus, it had some of the wildest twists I’ve ever seen.

     “This is the type of movie that’s way more enjoyable if you go in without knowing all the plot twists, as it really hits hard as a thriller meant to surprise you.”

Seriously? Peaky Blinders Is Now A

Song And Dance Show In The U.K.?

     Never, ever as I watched the gritty British crime series Peaky Blinders did it cross my mind, “What this show really needs is to be set to dance.” But that’s exactly what a dance troupe across the pond has done, with a new production titled “Peaky Blinders: The Redemption of Thomas Shelby.”

     That’s the word from website B247, which notes that Peaky Blinders was a British crime drama set in post-World War I Birmingham, England. It follows the rise of the Shelby family, particularly Thomas "Tommy" Shelby, as they build an empire through illegal betting, smuggling, and other criminal enterprises. The show takes its name from the gang known as the "Peaky Blinders," who were notorious for sewing razor blades into the brims of their caps. The show was an instant success with TV audiences, beloved for its gritty period setting, stylish cinematography, and a modern soundtrack that contrasted with the historical backdrop of post WW1 Birmingham.

     “For the stage version, the show opens in the smoke-filled trenches of World War One, as we watch the Shelby clan lose their humanity in the horrors of the trenches through the medium of dance,” B247 says. “Through a series of spectacular musical routines, Tommy’s life is played out before us.”

Now Available!

The Fall Of Vivaldi

On a rainy night across Europe, several seemingly unrelated

incidents unfold in quick order:

• In the City of Light, a beautiful young Parisian newscaster

named Gabrielle Lamoines is brutally murdered in her bed,

just as…

• A disgraced British billionaire takes a dive from the top floor

terrace of a luxury resort on the island of Cyprus, at the same time that…

• Reporter Carter Logan causes the death of a former lieutenant

of the Italian mafia in a narrow street in Rome, not far from…

• The Tuscan farmhouse where Alessandro Bortolotti, the head

of a hard-right neofascist movement, is plotting a deadly

attack on the G20 global summit, while…

• A notorious Russian oligarch named Georgy Sokolov plans to

auction off a kidnapped American teen named Abby Evans in

an online event streamed from his villa on the island of Ibiza.

Each of these random events has one thing in common: Retired assassin Ronin Phythian, once known as “the most dangerous man alive”...

Beyond All Doubt

[Reed Bunzel writing as Hilton Reed]

“Beyond All Doubt is an edge-of-your-seat fast-moving thrill-ride, kicked off by the reappearance of a dead man and propelling the reader along to the final bullet—and beyond.”— S.J. Rozan, best-selling author of The Mayors of New York

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“Beyond All Doubt is a taut, smart, and emotionally rich thriller. Reed has a sharp eye for character and a screenwriter's feel for action. This tale is sleek as a mink and fast as a bullet.”— T. Jefferson Parker, author of The Rescue and Desperation Reef

“Beyond All Doubt is not a 'who done it,' but a twisty, compelling 'who did what.' Cameron Kane is a sympathetic, yet unrelenting bulldog in his pursuit of the truth about his wife's death. Intriguing and intense, Beyond All Doubt is a winner!”—Matt Coyle, bestselling author of the Rick Cahill crime novels