Bag of Bones

2011 "Beware the lake."
5.7| 2h37m| PG| en
Details

Bestselling novelist Mike Noonan, unable to cope after his wife's sudden death, returns to the couple's lakeside retreat in Maine, where he becomes involved in a custody battle between a young widow and her child's enormously wealthy grandfather. Mike inexplicably receives mysterious ghostly visitations, escalating nightmares and the realization that his late wife still has something to tell him.

AD
AD

Watch Free for 30 Days

All Prime Video Movies and TV Shows. Cancel anytime. Watch Now

Trailers & Clips

Reviews

Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.
Doomtomylo a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.
Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.
Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
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.
SnoopyStyle Bestselling novelist Mike Noonan (Pierce Brosnan)'s wife Jo (Annabeth Gish) gets run over in the street. He finds a pregnancy test on her and assumes that she cheated on him since he's infertile. Marty (Jason Priestley) is his literary agent. He is haunted by nightmares of a girl at his summer home on Dark Score Lake, Maine. He goes to stay at the cabin in the wood which had been renovated by his wife. He saves Kyra Devore from getting run over and befriends her mother Mattie (Melissa George). Mattie is in a custody battle with her wealthy father-in-law Max Devore after she killed her husband as he tried to drown Kyra. Mike has visions of a 1930s jazz singer Sara Tidwell.Many Stephen King stories have been translated onto the screen. This is not the worst but definitely not that good. This could be a good ghost story but it needs to be compressed. Pierce Brosnan is required to fill a lot of space by himself. It does a lot of creepy but nothing actually scary.
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.
leonblackwood Review: I found this mini series to be pretty boring and I lost interest after the first part. It doesn't really piece together until the last 15 minutes and then it all seems a bit rushed. Pierce Brosnan puts in a good performance but its just the slow pace of the whole thing that made my mind switch off. All the way through the series he is in and out of the dream world, which I found pretty annoying. There isn't much of a cast so you just end up watching Brosnan going around trying to piece his dreams together. For a 2 part series that is nearly 2 hours long, it really needed to get going after the first part. Disappointing!Round-Up: Since Pierce Brosnan has stopped being Bond, he only seems to do movies that he finds challenging and I'm sure that this role looked good on paper, but I just couldn't get into it. I'm not the biggest Stephen King fan so I wasn't expecting that much. Because of the rushed ending, I did get a bit confused with what was going on, so I can't really comment on the series as a whole. I think that it would have made a better movie than a series because there was a lot of unnecessary material which could have easily been cut.Budget: $15million Worldwide Gross: N/AI recommend this movie to people who like there paranormal dramas based around a town with a dark history. 2/10