book-based movies that deliver - and ones that don't


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eHA_Admin_Lori is offline eHA_Admin_Lori — Advice Official Moderator Post #1  January 25,2010, 2:37pm
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So many times a movie based on a book is.....blech!

Which ones WEREN'T? Which book-based movies are must-sees, in your opinion?

And which ones, eh, if you liked the book you can probably go without the seeing the movie?

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I just saw and really liked The Time Traveler's Wife.

I also saw The Lovely Bones. I loved the book but I don't really recommend the movie.
 
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Well_Spoken_Man1 is offline Well_Spoken_Man1 Post #2  January 25,2010, 8:50pm
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This is always a touchy one, because so many people that are 'bookies' always come out passionately against the films that have been adapted into a screenplay, simply as a matter of principle. I'm usually one of them, but there are a couple of exceptions to the rule for me....

1. If a movie deviates from the book, I can be happy knowing what really happened, while those 'movie people' never will.

2. If the film deviates slightly, but captures the feelings and character of a book that remind me of the experience I had reading it.

I own ever twenty books about Tolkein's middle earth, and know the history that takes place 3,000 years before the film does, and to be honest, I like the films... I know... there's a lot of LOTR purists out there who don't, but all in all...a good adaptation, and I didn't want it to be over...I would've sat through three more hours.

I read the Hitchhiker's Guide series by Douglas Adams, and it was pound for pound one of the strangest things I've ever read, so strange in fact I'd have bet my next fifty paychecks that there would never be a film about them. Again, I was pleasantly surprised by the film, and kind of hope they risk a sequel.

Lastly, I read the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind, which has recently been adapted to a television series called the Legend of the Seeker....(excuse me while I vommit) I've never come across an author that would allow this....this.... I haven't the words. Awful...ohhh... it's so awful.
I did throw his books against the wall several times, because Goodkind is such a glutton for torture, that I felt taken advantage of....and yet I picked the book back up like Bastion from the never ending story, and continued the pain. I believe Goodkind allowed this abomination of a TV series to torture me further.
 
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evesarmor is offline evesarmor Post #3  January 27,2010, 8:43pm
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The only book I can remember reading where the movie was better than book was the Virgin Suicides.
 
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meri75 is offline meri75 Post #4  January 30,2010, 9:14pm
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Actually, The Fellowship of the Ring made me go out and get The Hobbit and the LOTR trilogy. I read the lot before The Two Towers was released at the flicks. I had read The Hobbit in high school and had tried, but not finished, The Fellowship of the Ring.
 
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newbie40something is offline newbie40something Post #5  January 30,2010, 9:37pm
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The Silence of the Lambs. I forget where I got the book, but it was at least a year before the movie came out. I remember reading the book and was horrified by what I was reading. Then the movie came out and then the whole ordeal with Jeffrey Dahmer. Just horrifying! I usually didn't read books like that, but I think someone gave it to me.
 
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Well_Spoken_Man1 is offline Well_Spoken_Man1 Post #6  February 5,2010, 3:21pm
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meri75 wrote :
Actually, The Fellowship of the Ring made me go out and get The Hobbit and the LOTR trilogy. I read the lot before The Two Towers was released at the flicks. I had read The Hobbit in high school and had tried, but not finished, The Fellowship of the Ring.
So what did you think about the book vs. movie comparison? I was disappointed about Tom Bombadil, the scouring of the shire, and Prince Imrahil of Dol Amroth Not being inluded in the films, among other things, but all in all, I thought it was a great job in capturing the emotion of the struggle, the hopelessness, the connection between the races, the rallies, and the great victories. Can't wait for the Hobbit, they're on set in NZ right now.
 
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alchemist10 is offline alchemist10 Post #7  April 20,2010, 12:50pm
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For those of you who love the classics I would recommend the 1957 version of "The Brother's Karamazov". Not usually a big fan of movies into books but they did a wonderful job of addressing the ethical and social problems that are brought up in the book. I don't think any fan can expect them to get into The Grand Inquisitor story too much but that is what the book is for. All in all a great version of one of my favorite books. And Brenner as Dmitry.. absolutely brilliant!
 
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szgorzelski is offline szgorzelski Post #8  April 22,2010, 9:19pm
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Most of the best movies were based on books. Some that quickly come to mind - Fight Club, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, Catch-22, Clockwork Orange, Dances With Wolves, Field of Dreams, Get Shorty, Jaws, Legends of the Fall, The Outsiders, A River Runs Through It, Roots, and on and on and on.
 
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yelowbird is offline yelowbird Post #9  August 19,2010, 12:52pm
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szgorzelski wrote :
Most of the best movies were based on books. Some that quickly come to mind - Fight Club, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, Catch-22, Clockwork Orange, Dances With Wolves, Field of Dreams, Get Shorty, Jaws, Legends of the Fall, The Outsiders, A River Runs Through It, Roots, and on and on and on.
Legends of the Fall, A Clockwork Orange, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and Fight Club were great.
They stuck to the plot and rarely made any crappy revisions for the scripts.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas has to be one of the BEST book to film ever.
Chuck Palahniuk(author of Fight Club) books get slaughtered most of the time. I do not suggest wasting an hour and a half on Choke, it's way more worth it to sit and read the book. It is hilarious.
 
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EndangeredOcelot is offline EndangeredOcelot Post #10  August 25,2010, 7:07pm
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My cousin recommended reading Mitch Albom's The Five People You Meet In Heaven but I never got around to it. I found the DVD on a great sale & bought it. What a great movie! It really causes one to think about how she lives her life. Now I will surely get that book for my library, my cousin says (of course) the book is even better than the movie.

Bridges Over Madison County - loved the book & the movie followed fairly closely. The innocent love scenes were timeless.

2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke is a must read. It explains everything, especially for the scifi fans that didn't like it. Now the movie makes sense. And if you liked that, there's 2010: Oddyssey Two, and two more! 2061: Oddyssey Three & 3001: The Final Oddyssey! Scifi fans read this series. You will be wishing that some producer will pick up the last 2 books & make them into a movie!

Ocelot
 
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