7 Word Weekend Movie Review: The Roommate, Books, and James Cameron sucks (still)

New Movie Releases Reviewed in 7 Words Each

The Other Woman (limited) - Natalie Portman... Ever heard of market saturation?

Sanctum - Apparently there are none Cameron people involved.

The Roommate - Somehow seems like we've been here before.

Waiting for Forever (limited) - That's a little too long to wait.

I've made no attempt to hide my hatred of James Cameron. As a person I think he comes across as an ass. As a filmmaker, while creating some entertaining fair, I've always felt he was largely overrated. He loves to throw out writing and style in favor of whatever latest technology has presented itself. That said, I love these kinds of movies, and too be fair, Cameron is in his best role here as producer. It's written and directed by others. Not that you'd know it from the commercials mind you. Other than acknowledging it's based on a true story, it's all been about Cameron. It's supposed to be a lot of fun so I will watch it on video. I just can't bring myself to support any of his theatrical endeavors. 

The Roommate... You've probably already seen this movie in a dozen incarnations. Course the audience targeted for this film is not going to care about originality. It's a cheap overused idea, kind of like Billy Zane who, speak of the devil, happens to be in the film. For those who never read it or have forgotten, he's still the lowest scoring actor I've run a By The Numbers on. I'm not saying that means anything, just thought I'd throw that out there.

More Stephen King news this week. It was announced that they're planning on making a theatrical release of The Stand. I'll be the first to admit that the miniseries was cheesy and not great (I won't admit that I actually owned it on VHS at one point... oh, crap) but this strikes me as a worse idea. Arguably his most loved standalone book (not my personal favorite, but it is good) is roughly what, 1200 pages? How are you going to cut that down to a 2 or 3 hour movie? Just not good. They're also remaking Pet Cemetery, but I always hated that book, so I could care less how they crap that up.

This also has given me thought over other authors who have had poor adaptations of their work and those who haven't even had their material touched. I'm still waiting for a good adaptation of a Donald E. Westlake novel. When your best interpretation of Dortmunder is an old Robert Redford film that was more boring than staring at a bucket of dirt, something's wrong. And for years I've thought Robert L. Asprin's MYTH series would make a fantastic TV show. 

So, my question to you all is what book(s) would you like to see done up as either a movie or television? Any that you think were improperly handled?

Oh and before I forget again (I've meant to post about it for a couple weeks now), Reputation@Stake has been posting chapters from his book for anyone interested in reading. It's been delightful so far, what with the murder and the mysteries. He's put up several chapters so far and the prologue (that was a link, hint hint). So if you're looking for a good read, head on over.

Have a great weekend everyone!