zkonedog
Adapting a Stephen King novel to the screen has proved to be a dicey proposition for writers/directors in the past. Either the film is a huge hit (like "Shawshank Redemption" or "Green Mile"), or it turns into a B-movie that doesn't nearly live up to the billing. In the case of "Bag of Bones", director Mick Garris does a remarkable job of translating the page to the screen.For a basic plot summary, "Bag of Bones" sees writer Mike Noonan (Pierce Brosnan) struggling with severe writers block after the death of his wife Jo (Annabeth Gish). To try and break out of his funk, Mike heads to his summer retreat home on Dark Score lake, where Jo had frequented often. While there, Mike meets Mattie Devore (Melissa George) and her daughter Kyra (Caitlin Carmichael), who draw him into a haunting (literally!) mystery surrounding town baron Max Devore (William Schallert) & the unexplained death of 1930s jazz songstress Sara Tidwell (Anika Noni Rose).What makes "Bag of Bones" really work is the fact that it doesn't stray too much from the original King subject matter. It had been awhile since I read the novel, so I can't nit-pick all that much, but the film seemed to do a good job of sticking to the script, so to speak, and not deviate from King's wonderfully compelling (and spooky) tale.The acting, for the most part, is also quite fine. Brosnan is very capable as the lead, while only a couple of the key auxiliary roles are sub-par. Special credit needs to be given to little Ms. Carmichael, who really gives the show its emotional kick throughout.About the only thing this film doesn't translate well from the book are the "villain" characters (you'll know who they are after you watch). In the book, I seem to remember much more character development about them, which was excised from this adaptation likely due to time. It shows a bit in the end, when the overall story gets a bit one-sided, but this is a relative nit to pick.Overall, "Bag of Bones" is a solid show that should satisfy readers of the King novel (or anyone else who happens to stumble upon it). It may not be an all-time classic, but as far as King- related film projects go, it is up near the top.
Robert Bowling
This is a garbage adaptation of an excellent book. In fact, I thought about throwing the book at my TV set as I watched it. Instead, I chose to vent my frustration in a review. Casting Pierce Brosnan as Mike Noonan was a big mistake. I felt no connection between him and the character in the book. His acting seemed forced and disingenuous. Sara laughs looks like a building built inside a studio surrounded by artificial foliage and set lighting. That pretty much sums the whole thing up, a big fake. Sara isn't laughing in this movie. Instead, she is crying at this dismal rendering of a good book. Whoever put this crap together should apologize to Mr.King and promise never to do it again.
Jackson Booth-Millard
I missed the opportunity to see this TV made film the first time, I was determined to watch it the next time, because I was told it was worth watching, I like the former James Bond 007 actor, and it was based on a Stephen King work, so lots of it sounded interesting. Basically Mike Noonan (Pierce Brosnan) is a best selling author, but he and his wife Jo (Annabeth Gish) are unable to conceive children, due to his low sperm count, but tragedy strikes when while he is at a book signing she leaves and gets killed by a bus, he goes outside and she dies in his arms. He is overcome with grief, and he always said to Jo that he could not write without her, so he develops writer's block, and he starts having nightmares of his wife and their Dark Score Lake, Maine summer home, so advised by his gay brother Sid (Matt Frewer) he goes to the house. Once there Mike saves the life of six year old Kyra (Caitlin Carmichael), he meets her young widowed mother Mattie Devore (Melissa George), and in doing this he gains an enemy in her estranged father-in-law Max Devore (William Schallert), he has been gain custody of Kyra after she shot his son dead, his son was trying to drown her daughter. While this is happening Mike finally starts writing again, using a photograph of Jo for inspiration, but he cannot help but notice the strange things going on in the house, the continuing nightmares and visions, he is sure the spirit of his wife is with him, but also the ghost of a 1930's singer called Sara Tidwell (Dreamgirls' Anika Noni Rose), who has been playing her records to get his attention. Max says he will drop the custody case if Mike no longer interferes, to which he agrees, and later the old man has his assistant help him commit suicide, and at the funeral he reluctantly attends for Mattie he meets elderly Edgar White (Leslie Carlson), who knew his grandfather, but also he knew Max in their younger years. He confesses to Mike that in the 1930's he, Mike's grandfather and a few other young men assisted Max in brutally raping Sara Tidwell, and her daughter Keisha was drowned, and it was moments before her death that she cursed the men and their descendants that they would all go mad in the future and drown their own daughters, and after dying they buried her body in the woods. Mike tells the story to Mattie, and she comes up with the theory that Jo may have been pregnant, she investigated the Dark Score curse and believed that with the bloodline connection there is a possibility he too would turn crazy and drown a daughter they may have had, and then suddenly Mattie is shot through the face and dies in his arms, her dying words were for him to care for Kyra. He gets the young girl in the car to get away, chased by Mattie's killers, only escaping when a storm causes a sign to fall on their car, back at the lake home he consoles the child putting her to bed, but then Max's spirit appears and tell him to fulfil the curse and drown her, Mattie's spirit also appears to thwart him. Finding clues left by Jo in his office Mike is directed to unearth the bodies of Sara and Keisha, douse them with lye and end the curse, he identifies the graves under in the tree shaped like a woman, the haunted tree (Sara) tries to stop him, but the opposite spirit (Jo) distracts her, so Mike is able to finish dissolving the bones, Sara's spirit is settled and the tree goes back to normal, and he says his final goodbye to Jo. Returning to the house he finds Kyra in the bathtub, and Max's assistant is there to attack and attempt to kill them, he manages to kill her, and Mattie's spirit appears to tell her daughter she is safe with Mike who will take care of her, and the next morning he announces he will adopt Kyra and raise her like his own child. Also starring David Sheftell as Young Max Devore, Gary Levert as Deputy George Footman and Jason Priestley as Marty. Brosnan does pretty well as the struggling writing straining after the death of his wife and trying to find a way to move forward while combatting demons - inner and demonic, for a television made production the story is actually surprisingly engaging, with the plots of a dark curse and spirits twinned with custody battles and human traumas it all adds up to an entertaining horror thriller drama. Very good!
Neil Welch
Writer Mike Noonan, trying to overcome writer's block following the accidental death of his wife, falls in with some oddnesses on going to the old family lake house.I read Bag Of Bones on publication (the first novel after Stephen King's near-fatal accident, it was touted untruthfully as his final novel - this turned out to be inspired press in tieing the predicament of the main character to the personal circumstances of the author. I thoroughly enjoyed it: time constraints have prevented me from re-reading, so much of the detail of the novel has slipped from my memory. This miniseries therefore arrives fairly fresh and I shan't be comparing it to the book.It's OK. There is nothing exceptionally good about it, nor anything exceptionally bad - it is simply a generic ghost story, mildly horrific, but with most of the scares coming from sudden shock moments. I can't warn viewers away from it: neither can I recommend it.Director Mick Garris has had a lot of stabs at directing Stephen King stories - at least 7 by my count - and at best they have been adequate. Would that he could take a leaf out of Frank Darabont's book, with a success rate of 3 out of 3 so far.
