Directed by Andy Muschietti (2017)
by Sandy DeVito

If there's a lingering, vague sense of disappointment regarding this film lurking somewhere in my soul, it's due to the fact that the first half of Muschietti's vision (yes, this is part one of two, dealing with the first time the Losers confront Pennywise while they're still kids, Part 2 will deal with what happens to them as adults) for one of King's most notorious novels comes so fucking close to being perfect, yet that five-star experience slipped through my fingers in small, dissonant moments during the third act. They're so negligible compared to the astounding, terrifying, grotesquely gorgeous and deeply genuine experience this film was for me that I almost wanted to pretend like they weren't there, and review this film as if I'd imagined them. Alas, I am a realist and an obnoxiously honest soul. There are some issues. The good news is, they're small, and the rest is so fucking good, that the final product is something of a miracle.

Directed by Nikolaj Arcel (2017)
by Sandy DeVito

It's hard for me to judge this film without taking into account how huge it is that Idris Elba is Roland Deschain in a film adaptation of Stephen King's Dark Tower books. Like, for all the bad shit that has gone down lately in our world, this weird universe of bold-faced falsehoods we now find ourselves in, and for all the flaws this film has (that is, a pretty significant amount), the reality that Idris Elba is playing Roland, a character King originally based on Clint Eastwood's character in the Man With No Name trilogy - the whitest of white-ass dudes - is endlessly thrilling and wonderful to me. It's truly a dream come true to see that role transformed by an actor of color. Elba is an artist of rare talent and charisma, and Roland is made better and truer in his hands while remaining honest to the spirit of the character. What mattered to me when I sat down in the theater was that Idris would be given the space to make Roland his own. When the end credits rolled, I felt relief that I had the opportunity to see a black man in that role in my lifetime. Roland is the heart and soul of the Dark Tower universe, and Idris has done him justice here - Elba's Roland of Eld is a commanding and immediate hero of old, brimming with weary kindness, righteous anger, and royal majesty. I felt I would follow him literally anywhere on Keystone Earth, or anywhere on any world, utterly confident he could kick anyone's ass and live another day.