Stephen King’s “The Life of Chuck”: A Few Thoughts for Those Who Haven’t Seen the Film . . . and a Few for Those Who Have

“The Life of Chuck,” based on a Stephen King novella, is a heartfelt movie that has several things going for it even if it does not quite reach the stars.

From the reviews and various online comments, one may see that people are somewhat divided about the movie The Life of Chuck (2025), based on a 2020 novella by Stephen King. Tom Hiddleston, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan, Mark Hamill, and Mia Sara star in the movie, which was written and directed by Mike Flanagan. The film also includes narration by Nick Offerman.

The film is marketed as a feel-good movie in the vein of the heartfelt films based upon King’s other works like Stand By Me (1986) and The Shawshank Redemption (1994). Few movies can reach those heights, of course, and it is better to think of The Life of Chuck as something of its own.

The Life of Chuck is one of those movies better seen without knowing too much about it. So, below I provide a short review for those who have not seen it, followed by some thoughts for those who have seen the movie.

For Those Deciding Whether to Watch The Life of Chuck

So, should you watch The Life of Chuck? While I did not find the entirety of the film a great movie, I did appreciate its ambition in presenting the story of an ordinary man in an extraordinary way. If you are looking for something a little different with a little bit of heart, you should watch it without reading too much more about it. All you need to know is that it is a movie looking at someone’s life and doing it in a somewhat unusual (and non-chronological) way.

If you do not like movies with sentiment, then you might instead go watch an action movie. But it also may depend on your mood. Those in a certain mood or stage of life — perhaps feeling frustrated with the world — may like many others find the movie a wonderful respite with scenes that will stay with them.

There are movies that are middle-of-the road popcorn films that are entertaining to many people. But those movies do not stay with you. The Life of Chuck might be one of those movies that stays with you. So if you are willing to take a little gamble with two hours of your life in the hopes that it might pay off , go for it.

For Those Who Have Seen The Life of Chuck

The following discussion contains some spoilers if you have not seen the movie.

Act III, the first segment of the film, was truly wonderful. But that is a problem, as the rest of the movie could not live up to that section.

Act III captured the end-of-the world feeling many of us has felt since the pandemic, as presented in other movies like Don’t Look Up (2021), Leave the World Behind (2023), and Knock at the Cabin (2023). Those movies, like Act III in The Life of Chuck, wonderfully portray how many of us feel with a world turned upside down during much of the last decade. Another plus in Act III was that Chiwetel Ejiofor, always a great actor, created a character that interested me more than any of the iterations of Chuck.

And then when the movie went into Act II and introduced us to Chuck with the dance scene, it is a bit of a shock. And even though the brief section where we see the adult Chuck played by Tim Hiddleston also presents an interesting character and a nice dance sequence, we again do not seem to get to stay with the interesting character long enough before going to the next act.

One of the joys of watching the movie is finally figuring out on your own what Act III was about. As others have explained, that first part of the movie shows inside Chuck’s head as he is dying. And the movie has beautiful moments, including the dances and the connection throughout the movie of Walt Whitman’s line “I contain multitudes” from Song of Myself.

The storyline about the locked attic in Act I almost seemed like a throwaway attempt to add a Stephen King supernatural element. But the film does a good job tying together that storyline with the rest of the movie. As we have discussed elsewhere and as explained in books such as Ernest Becker’s The Denial of Death, when one lives with an awareness of their mortality, they may live with a special purpose. And we see a glimpse of that where 17-year-old Chuck looks at his future and vows to live his life because he contains multitudes. And then the movie ends, somewhat abruptly.

In conclusion, the movie suffers because the most interesting section was the first section, so the rest of the movie never matches that section. The opening is well-paced, letting us get into the story, but by the time we get to Act II and then Act I, those sections feel rushed, as if they are focused on explaining things rather than developing character or telling a story. Maybe the movie would work better in some ways if it in chronological order, starting with the young Chuck? But then the movie would not have the story (or gimmick?) that lets us make connections on our own.

All of that said, I love ambitious movies, and I was glad I watched Life of Chuck. Yes, the heartfelt story was not as life-changing as some recent movies like About Time (2013), a movie that more successfully questioned how we live our lives. But I did find enough in The Life of Chuck that I felt compelled to rewatch the movie again the next day.

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Kasey Chambers With Ex-Husband Shane Nicholson: “The Divorce Song”

Kasey Chambers and her ex-husband Shane Nicholson recounts the bond that can develop between exes in “the Divorce Song.”

In 2024, the great Australian singer-songwriter Kasey Chambers released her first album in six years, Backbone. On one of the tracks from that album, she is joined by her ex-husband Shane Nicholson on “The Divorce Song.”

Understandably, songs about divorce are usually sad songs. For example, one of the greatest divorce songs is Tammy Wynette’s recording of “D-I-V-O-R-C-E.” That song, written by Bobby Braddock and Curly Putman, recounts a mother talking about her impending divorce but spelling out key words so her four-year-old son does not understand what is happening.

By contrast, Kasey Chambers’ “The Divorce Song” takes a humorous and touching look at two ex-spouses. The song captures the unique friendship that can eventually develop from two people apart who once were married.

Chambers and Nicholson previously released the album Rattlin’ Bones in 2008 and the album Wreck and Ruin in 2012. I loved those albums, so I was sad to hear the two singers had parted ways and that we might not hear any future collaborations.

But sometimes the end is not the end. And now we have Chambers’s and Nicholson’s sweet voices touching us once again with a little bit of humor

It’s a long road to get to the gold;
We made it through paper and wood;
We couldn’t survive as the marrying kind,
But we do divorce pretty good.

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“There’s No End to Grief, That’s How We Know There’s No End to Love”: The Story of U2’s “One Tree Hill”

U2’s Bono wrote the song “One Tree Hill” about grief and loss, inspired by losing his friend Greg Carroll.

In 1984, U2 had just arrived in Auckland, New Zealand from a long 24-hour flight for The Unforgettable Fire Tour. It was late, but Bono was restless and could not sleep due to jet lag. And so he went out into the city that night, meeting some locals, including a man named Greg Carroll, who had been hired as a stage hand by U2’s production manager. Carroll and the others took Bono up a volcano called One Tree Hill (Maungakiekie), which is spiritually significant to Māori people.

After the Auckland show, U2’s manager recognized that Carroll was very helpful at the show and ended up hiring him for the rest of the tour. Over time, Carroll became good friends with Bono and his wife.

Then in July 1986, Carroll was doing a favor for Bono by taking his motorcycle home when he was killed in an accident. The band was devastated by the loss of their friend, with some of them later noting the accident gave many of the young men their first real experience with death.

At the time of Carroll’s death, U2 was working on the songs that would become part of The Joshua Tree album. Later, Bono noted that Carroll’s death ” brought gravitas to the recording of The Joshua Tree. We had to fill the hole in our heart with something very, very large indeed, we loved him so much.”

One Tree Hill

Bono wrote the lyrics for the song “One Tree Hill,” which would eventually appear on side two of The Joshua Tree, about grieving the loss of his friend Carroll. He started writing the song after returning from Carroll’s funeral in New Zealand. The song references Bono’s first experience with Carroll on the volcano called One Tree Hill.

The band developed the music while jamming with Brian Eno. The lyrics reflect the grief one feels over a loss. In the song, Bono sings:

I’ll see you again,
When the stars
Fall from the sky;
And the moon
Has turned red,
Over One Tree Hill.
We run like a river
Runs to the sea;
We run like a river
To the sea.
And when it’s raining,
Raining hard;
That’s when the rain will
Break my heart.

One verse of the song refers to Chilean political activist and folk singer Víctor Jara, who was tortured and killed during the 1973 Chilean coup d’état. “Jara sang his song,/A weapon/ In the hands of one;/Though his blood still cries/
From the ground.” U2’s bass player Adam Clayton has explained that with the reference to Jara, “One Tree Hill” forms a trilogy of songs with “Bullet the Blue Sky” and “Mothers of the Disappeared” that illustrate Bono’s anger at the involvement of the United States in the Chilean coup.

During The Joshua Tree Tour in 1987, the band did not initially perform the song because Bono did not think he could sing it due to his grief over Carroll’s death. But eventually the band played the song periodically, and they had even recorded a performance for the Rattle and Hum documentary, although the performance was not used in that film.

In the 2017 performance of “One Tree Hill” in Cleveland below, Bono gives a powerful performance following an introduction about the song’s meaning to the band. He talks about Carroll and explains how everyone faces similar losses.

He leads into the song by stating, “There’s no end to grief, that’s how we know there’s no end to love.”

And that is the Story Behind the Song “One Tree Hill.”

Leave your two cents in the comments. Photo via Youtube.

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“Under a Big Sky”: Digesting Songs on Springsteen’s “Tracks II: The Lost Albums”

One of the highlights on Bruce Springsteen’s “Tracks II: The Lost Albums” is the heartbreaking country ballad “Under a Big Sky.”

For many Bruce Springsteen fans, the release of Tracks II: The Lost Albums is a bit overwhelming. For someone who is used to taking time for new Springsteen albums with repeated plays while reading lyrics, the release of seven “albums” from different time periods all at once requires a more varied approach. So in that vein, instead of reviewing the whole set or even tackling the release one album at at time (done very nicely by N.J. Arts.Net and also with short early reviews of each album –and album covers — by Pete Chianca of Blogness on the Edge of Town), I’m right now focusing on single songs like “Under a Big Sky” here.

Below is “Under a Big Sky,” which appears on the “country” album, Somewhere North of Nashville. Springsteen recorded “Under a Big Sky” during the summer of 1995 when he was working on country songs during separate sessions at the same time he was creating The Ghost of Tom Joad. While he has explained that these alternative sessions were an avenue for an escape from the darker songs that ended up on The Ghost of Tom Joad, the song “Under a Big Sky” is pretty sad.

The singer in “Under a Big Sky” has left his home for reasons he does not fully explain, noting he cannot return (“I don’t know why”). But later in the song he recalls being asked why he left and thinking, “But I had it set in my head / Believed every word the newspaper said.” And so he ended up somewhere out West, maybe following a newspaper ad for work. He apparently works on a cattle ranch, riding the line and catching strays while missing the woman he left behind.

“Under a Big Sky” may be the most country song on the “country” lost album, which also features some more energetic songs, including three with “man” in their titles (“Delivery Man,” Repo Man,” “Detail Man”). So “Under a Big Sky” stands out for me on the Tracks II set, capturing a sound similar to Springsteen’s “Wreck on the Highway” from The River.

I also found some thematic similarities to my favorite track on Springsteen’s 2019 album Western Stars, “Chasin’ Wild Horses.” In fact, the narrator in both songs might even be the same character, filling in more details of the narrator’s biography. Both narrators are doing hard work out West, missing a love left behind like a cowboy in an old Western movie. Heartbreaking but beautiful. Check it out.

What are some of your favorite tracks on the Tracks II: Lost Albums release? Leave your two cents in the comments.

Tracks II Box Set from Amazon

Aretha Franklin and Tom Jones Medley (Duet of the Day)

On Tom Jones’s show in 1970, he joined Aretha Franklin on her song “See Saw.”

In the 1970s we had some TV shows hosted by cool singers like Tom Jones. As we’ve mentioned before, having Jones host a TV show led to some great duets.

In the clip below from 1970, Aretha Franklin starts at the piano singing Jone’s hit “It’s Not Unusual,” as Jones looks on with admiration, And then the two bust out into Franklin’s song “See Saw.” Check it out.

Leaver your two cents in the comments.