The Chronicles of Narnia: Live Action Films (2005-10)

The Chronicles of Narnia: Live Action Films

Dirs. Andrew Adamson (Films I + II) / Michael Apted (Film III)

01. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005). Aside from a few minor changes and a couple of newly written action scenes — because it's Hollywood and they just can't help themselves — the WMG + Disney version of C.S. Lewis' beloved children's novel is better than I expected it to be.

The first third is excellent, including each of the young actors. Lucy (Georgie Henley) is particularly good, in that she successfully embodies the sense of wonder that a child should feel after finding another world in the back of an old wardrobe.

Things only really begin to slide when the talking CGI animals appear. The great lion Aslan should have a splendour that eclipses all else, but his being rendered in boring CGI most of the time means that he might as well not be there at all.

The unnecessary use of such across the board is a stain on what I feel is otherwise the best filmed version of the novel, to date.

Something Wicked This Way Comes: Authorized Adaptation (2011)

SWTWC: The Authorized Adaptation (2011)

Author: Ray Bradbury | Illustrator: Ron Wimberly | Page Count: 144

'She was blind, yes, but special blind. Just as they felt that balloon sift down like an autumn rain, so she could feel their souls. Each soul, a vast warm fingerprint.'

A comic book adaptation of Ray Bradbury's novel. I reviewed it a decade ago (HERE), so I won't go over the plot again. I'll focus solely on whether or not I feel the adaptation is successful. The short answer is yes, it mostly is. It retains a lot more descriptive language than is normal for a graphic novel, but that's a good thing because that's where the magic really happens in Bradbury's prose. His worldbuilding is often more beautifully realised than his dialogue.

The narrative accentuates the differences in the two boys more than the novel did, but that was necessary so that the second half of the story could do its job properly in a shorter space of time.

The Last Temptation (1994)

The Last Temptation (1994)

Author: Neil Gaiman | Illustrator:  Michael Zulli | Page Count: 102

"I'll take away the uncertainty, Steven. I'll take away the fear. I'll take away the boredom and the pain. You want more than that?"

The result of a creative partnership between writer Neil Gaiman and rock musician extraordinaire Alice Cooper. It's not Alice's first foray into the world of comics, he's been involved before, but not in such a notable way.

It's a coming of age story, much like Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This way Comes (1962), which it reminded me of more than once. If the Showman of The Last Temptation isn't based on Bradbury's carnival leader Mr Dark, then I’ll eat my oldest hat.

The story explores the pitfalls that a frightened kid must negotiate when forced to take control of his destiny for the first time in his life. He meets a host of freaks that tempt him with promises of new experiences. The Showman reveals his Theatre of the Real, the Grandest Guignol, and offers Steven something that I'm sure many of us have wished in our lives.

Black Diamond (1983-84)

Black Diamond (1983-84)

Author: Various | Illustrators: Various | 5 Issues, approx 34 pages each

"Don't panic! I just want your outfit!"

A short-lived comicbook that presents itself as a movie tie-in, albeit one that launched before the movie it's supposed to tie-in with. So far so good, but the onscreen version never happened, so the comic is all we have to give us an idea of what the movie's story might've been like. (I've added a few promo shots of lead actress Sibyl Danning in costume at the post's end, for anyone interested.)

The basic premise is as follows: Tiana Matthews is a successful fashion model for Multmonde, a role that sees her traverse borders for fashion shoots, etc. But secretly, Tiana is also an agent for INFO COM THREE, a role that sees her traverse borders for spy antics and action shootouts, etc. Her code name in the second scenario is Black Diamond. [1]

Her greatest enemy is an international crime cartel known as QUANSA. If you're thinking that sounds kinda like James Bond and SPECTRE, then your thinking is correct. It's spy fiction with gadgets and ridiculous world-domination plans.

The Dark Tower: Book I: The Gunslinger (1982)

The Dark Tower: Book I: The Gunslinger (1982)

Author: Stephen King | Page Count: 212

'No one ever really pays for it in silver, he thought. The price of any evil – necessary or otherwise – comes due in flesh.'

Book I is our introduction to Roland Deschain, aka Roland of Gilead, the titular gunslinger and a man obsessed with reaching the Dark Tower. That goal carries him across Mid-World, the land of his birth.

Mid-World is a familiar amalgamation of our own recorded history and a romanticised version of the same. It's the type of fictional reality that fans of King's other works will feel right at home in.

King is best known for horror works, but Dark Tower is fantasy merged with the old-fashioned western. It's still populated with the kind of well-defined characters that the author is good at. Love him or loathe him, you can't deny his strengths.

Fahrenheit 451: The Authorized Adaptation (2009)

Fahrenheit 451: The Authorized Adaptation (2009)

Author: Ray Bradbury | Illustrator: Tim Hamilton | Page Count: 149

"Books, so the damned snobbish critics said, were dishwater. No wonder books stopped selling. The public, knowing what it wanted, let the comic books survive."

A comic book adaptation of Ray Bradbury's classic F451 story. I've reviewed the original novel already (see HERE), so I won't go over the plot again.

This particular transition from novel to comic is fully authorised by Bradbury, so you'd expect a faithful retelling. He didn't let just anyone have his works. (He once told his publisher to "go to hell" when they wanted to release F451 as an e-book. Sadly, he was forced to give in, once more proving that the book publishing world has caught up with the film world in not giving a damn about the author's intentions).

It uses Bradbury's dialogue but much of his descriptive language is lost, and it's that part of writing that he excels in, whereas his character dialogue can be simplistic and minimal.

Mötley Crüe: The Dirt: Declassified (2023)

Mötley Crüe: The Dirt: Declassified (2023)

Author: Leah Moore | Illustrators: David Cabeza (with John K Snyder III / Patricio Delpeche / Armitano / Vasilis Lolos) | Page Count: 160

 

"I don't have time for this shit!"

It's not the first time that members of Mötley Crüe have been seen in a comic book format, but, as far I know, they've not been depicted as undercover government operatives before now. That's the premise. I shit you not. And things don't get any better from there.

The story sees the band reforming, but it's a front so that they can tour specific locations and investigate why teenage music fans are turning into 'zombies'.

Something that ridiculous must be a clever allegory, right? Perhaps a satirical commentary on the music business and its treatment of fans? Maybe it is. I'm certain it was meant to be silly fun, not taken seriously, but my feeling was that it was an ineptly written mess that lacked any redeeming subtext whatsoever.

Babylon 5: To Dream in the City of Sorrows (1997)

To Dream in the City of Sorrows (1997)

Author: Kathryn M. Drennan | Page Count: 278

'Under his leadership, the Anla'shok were the most efficient and deadly fighting force the galaxy has ever seen. But Valen also recognized a danger in this. He knew that without an enemy to fight, such a group could become restless and dissatisfied...'

Excluding the novelizations of the TV Movies, City of Sorrows is the only Babylon 5 book that is one hundred percent part of the five year canon. It's fully sanctioned by creator J. Michael Straczynski and is penned by his then wife, Kathryn M. Drennan.

It's the story of what happened to Commander Jeffrey Sinclair after he left the station. It relies heavily on your knowledge of the TV series and as such is stuck between having to remain faithfully tied to it and trying to present something exciting and independently new.

The Wicker Man: Novel (1978)

The Wicker Man (1978)

Authors: Robin Hardy and Anthony Shaffer | Page Count: 285

The phrase 'never judge a book by its movie' is generally applied one way, to defend a good book from the damage done to its reputation by a bad movie, but sometimes the opposite perspective is needed. Judging by how good The Wicker Man (1973) film is, I imagined the book to be at least equal in terms of impact, given that it's written by the film's director, Robin Hardy, and uses much of the dialogue from Anthony Shaffer's excellent screenplay verbatim. I've only myself to blame for that assumption not panning out as hoped.

The protagonist is Police Sergeant Neil Howie. On the surface he's an honest, steadfast Episcopalian Christian respectful of the laws of man and God.

Beneath that he's forceful and secretly judgemental of others. It's possible to view him as a haughty zealot who's quick to strike down those who challenge his beliefs, but that's only half the story. Deeper still, hidden from the world, he's inexperienced and fearful of his own desires.

King Diamond: Abigail (2022)

King Diamond: Abigail (2022)

Author: Dan Watters | Illustrator: Damien Worm | Page Count: 120

'Perhaps it was the reduction of the world to simplistic concepts of good and evil that revolted me.'

A comic book adaptation of Danish artist King Diamond's 1987 concept album of the same name, about a couple who inherit a mansion with ghosts, wherein the influence of a stillborn child lingers, having outlived her flesh.

Sadly, there's nothing inside the covers to say how much input King actually had in its creation. Hopefully it was more than a simple nod of the head in agreement to the project being undertaken by someone else.

The credited author is Dan Watters, a British writer with various video game adaptations on his CV and the man who was chosen to helm the relaunch of DC/Vertigo's Lucifer series. All things considered, he did a fine job keeping it respectful while filling in the story's gaps.

Perfect Blue: Awaken from a Dream (2018)

Perfect Blue: Awaken from a Dream (2018)

Author: Yoshikazu Takeuchi | Translator: Nathan A. Collins | Page Count: 196

'The screen glowed in monochrome static, the snow-like pattern punctuated by pulsing flashes in the signal, each flash accompanied by an abrasive noise like a cicada's call.'

The blurb on the back cover describes it as a 'sequel' to Yoshikazu Takeuchi's Perfect Blue: Complete Metamorphosis (2018), but it isn't that at all. And unlike CM, it's not a novel, but rather three separate short stories, similarly set in the pop-idol world.

I didn't enjoy the previous novel, but I'd foolishly bought Awaken from a Dream before reading the other, so I read it too, but with much lower expectations than I had for CM. I won't go into detail about each one because it would require giving the collection more time than I feel it warrants.

Takeuchi's basic template for a story is as follows:

Let It Snow (2008)

Let It Snow (2008)

Authors: Maureen Johnson / John Green / Lauren Myracle  |  Page Count: 368

'It's such a disaster, whenever, in the course of human relationships, someone begins to chisel away at the wall of separation...'

A collection of three novellas, one from each of the authors mentioned above, with a different take on the theme of 'holiday romance'. The holiday, which you've likely already guessed, is Christmas. The individual stories are linked by location and certain events overlap more than once, so it's more like a novel with changing authors as opposed to a traditional anthology.

Appropriately, snow blanketed the ground on the three days that I'd set aside to read the book. My windows were closed tight and the curtains purposefully drawn to lessen the chill, but I knew it was there and I'd been caught in it a few times whilst out walking.

It may sound ridiculous, but I believe that being cold helped me better appreciate the situations that the characters found themselves in. I'd hoped for some emotional warmth from the text to counteract the chilly settings, and in all three cases it was delivered; although the levels at which it was apparent did vary from one to the next.

Let the Right One In (2004)

Let the Right One In (2004)

Author: John Ajvide Lindqvist | Translator: Ebba Segerberg | Page Count: 519

'They could give a number of reasons for why they had to torment him; he was too fat, too ugly, too disgusting. But the real problem was simply that he existed, and every reminder of his existence was a crime.'

Swedish author Lindqvist has been described as 'the new Stephen King' in the press. It quickly lets you know that you're getting a well-written horror novel, but it isn't just a lazy journo way of getting an idea across: he really does write like King. His character development, his plotting and his reliance on the reader to fully invest in the magic realism of the world are uncannily similar.

He also has almost identical failings as King: the awkward wording at the end that ruins an otherwise perfect paragraph (but to be fair, some of that may be in part due to the translation?), the over-indulgence, the pop culture references that date the work, etc.

The Bible: Miniseries (2013)

The Bible: Miniseries (2013)

Dirs. Crispin Reece (Eps 01, 02, 05, 06) / Tony Mitchell (Eps 03, 04, 10) / Christopher Spencer (Eps 07, 08, 09)  | 10 episodes, approx 45 mins each.

A ten-episode miniseries based on The Bible. A disclaimer at the beginning of each one states that 'it endeavours to stay true to the spirit of the book.' That's another way of saying that the series makers haven't always remained faithful to the accepted scriptures.

Personally, and without trying to offend anyone, I don't have a problem with things being that way because I perceive the work as a TV show that's taking dramatic licence with a text that itself took dramatic licence with historic events; the precedent for deviation was already set. If, on the other hand, you're deeply religious and take every word as it's written in The Bible as a literal truth, then you may have issues with both the series and my personal appreciation of it.

Perfect Blue: Complete Metamorphosis (2018)

Perfect Blue: Complete Metamorphosis (2018)

Author: Yoshikazu Takeuchi | Translator: Nathan A. Collins | Page Count: 216

'I'm coming to meet you. I promise I'll come to you soon. I'll come to you, and I'll save you.'

Kirigoe Mima is a Japanese pop-idol. Three years in the business makes her a veteran, but her popularity, and therefore her career, is at something of an impasse. With so many hopeful idols (i.e. potential rivals) on the way up, Mima explores new avenues.

Her manager believes that moving away from her innocent image is the answer. He suggests that Mima explore paths that are more daring and seductive.

But not all members of the dedicated fan base that the pop-idol phenomenon attracts are accepting of their idols' life choices. For a small number of them, sometimes 'dedication' can cross a line and become 'obsession'. One fan in particular believes Mima ought to stay the same forever. He makes it his duty to ensure that she does just that; and if she refuses his selfless help, then it follows that it's his duty to punish her for her wicked betrayal, too.

Doctor Sleep (2013)

Doctor Sleep (2013)

Author: Stephen King  |  Page Count: 485

"When you couldn’t sleep, when you were afraid to look around because of what you might see, time elongated and grew sharp teeth."

A very belated sequel to King's The Shining (1977) novel. While many of the author's current fans probably weren't born when the first book came out, it's assumed that anyone reading Doctor Sleep will have read the previous book, and I'll be proceeding under the same assumption, so there will be at least one major SPOILER for The Shining hereafter.

For anyone that actually wanted a sequel, thirty-six years is a long time to wait. A similar amount of time has passed for the book's main protagonist, Danny Torrance. Despite his experience as a boy, Danny has taken on some of the more vile traits of his father, including his self-destructive alcoholism.

But for much of the novel Danny is a hospice worker in a small town in New Hampshire, attending to the terminally ill. It's a role in which his peculiar ability, his 'shining', can play a productive part.

The Shining (1977)

The Shining (1977)

Author: Stephen King |  Page Count: 512

'A shaft of light coming from another room, the bathroom, harsh white light and a word flickering on and off in the medicine cabinet mirror like a red eye, REDRUM, REDRUM, REDRUM— '

The Overlook Hotel, aptly named in more ways than one, has an attic filled with memories and a basement filled with recorded history, printed and imprinted, patiently waiting to be rediscovered.

Sandwiched between the two catalysts are the guest rooms, impersonal spaces haunted by deeds more permanent than the people that temporarily occupied them. They say every hotel has its ghosts, but the Overlook's are more active than most other places.

As struggling writer Jack Torrance receives the details of his winter assignment at the Overlook, the reader gets a detailed rundown of the building, albeit from a biased perspective. It's an efficient device that also gives us our first insight into Jack's thought process. He's a quick-tempered, ex-alcoholic who's seriously lacking in paternal skills.

The Martian Chronicles (1950)

The Martian Chronicles (1950)

Author: Ray Bradbury | Page Count: 305 [1]

'The rockets came like locusts, swarming and settling in blooms of rosy smoke. And from the rockets ran men with hammers in their hands to beat the strange world into a shape that was familiar to the eye...'

TMP is Bradbury's account of mankind's attempts at colonising and taming the mysterious red planet. Like some of his other books, it's a 'fix-up novel', a collection of individual short stories that were penned over a number of years and later collected together with a newly written bridge narrative, a kind of literary glue.

He revised a few of the shorts and added intercalary chapters to help it better fit a novel's structure, but some discordance remains - none of which, it must be said, is enough to belittle the concept, in general.

Bradbury's Mars isn't the dusty, desolate, and craggy landscape that we've come to accept as the norm in modern sci-fi stories. It's ornate, delicate, an organic but equally stylistic extension of the planet's mystery and its peoples' imagination, which manifests as the kind of harmony that seems to exist perpetually out of mankind's reach.

Shakespeare Stories + More Shakespeare Stories (2014)

Shakespeare Stories (2014)

Author: Andrew Matthews | Illustrator: Tony Ross | Page Count: 256

"Come to me, Powers of Darkness! Fill me with cruelty, so I may teach my husband how to be ruthless!"

A convenient collection of four of Andrew Matthews' retold Shakespeare works gathered together into one B-format sized volume. As far as I know there were sixteen plays similarity retold, available singly or in an attractive slipcase format; if so, then this first volume of '4 Books in One' is a generous quarter of the total number. The plays included in the collection are:

●  Macbeth
●  Romeo and Juliet
●  Twelfth Night
●  Anthony and Cleopatra

In each case, they're in a form that a younger audience will more easily understand and be able to engage with.

Fahrenheit 451 (1953)

Fahrenheit 451 (1953)

Author: Ray Bradbury | Page Count: 227

"And when he died, I suddenly realised I wasn't crying for him at all, but for the things he did. I cried because he would never do them again..."

Ray Bradbury's masterpiece tells of an unspecified future time when the written word is considered anathema, books are burned for their heretic meanings and too much knowledge is strictly forbidden.

If one man is smarter than another, it makes the other man feel shame and inadequacy. The state doesn't want that. They want everyone to be happy, and to achieve that they must make everyone the same. They want no one to question the equilibrium or to protest against the unfairness of the world that they've help create.

Television is the dominant information medium, a permanent fixture in almost every home, delivering sound and fury but saying nothing and somehow meaning even less. Life for the populace slithers along under a coloured blanket; the colour is grey and occasionally the colour of flame, but only if you try to think for yourself, if you risk going against the established order.