Steph said I should talk about books and movies, and I think that’s a great idea, so here we go. This is slightly inspired by our viewing of the solid, and feel-good movie, Away We Go, we saw last night. Not based on a book per se, but it was co-written by Dave Eggers and we figured it was only a matter of time until many of his original books are going to be movie-tized. Not to mention his involvement in the Spike Jonze adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are Below, I’m hoping to talk about some of anticipated, favorite and not-so-favorite adaptations.
Anticipated (maybe more like…anxiously anticipated)
Bjorn recommended a book by Cormac McCarthy called The Road. I’m about three quarters of the way through and it’s outstanding. However, when I read this I knew they were coming out a movie and I have prepared myself for the worse. The trailer is…interesting. It’s obviously more sensationalized than the subtle book, but it has my interest peaked. The cast looks solid, but I just hope they do the source material justice (always the worry with adaptations). However, people seemed more than pleased with No Country for Old Men, so hopefully this novel will get equal treatment on screen.
Next is one we’ve chatted about a few times on here and that is Where the Wild Things Are. Most of us grew up with this book and seeing it come to big screen brings excitement/shudders. Spike Jonze is handling the directing and Dave Eggers did the screenplay with Jonze. The Art of the Trailer is in full effect with the trailer they put out and it builds anticipation for the movie no doubt. The book was amazing. A kid’s book, yes, but it was entertaining and instilled a sense of adventure and imagination we all need. Anticipating, but cautious.
My Favorites
Picking a favorite book to movie adaptation is tough. I have a couple in mind though, and obviously a few more that I haven’t listed here.
Catch 22 is definitely a top-5 book for me. I read it in high school and again in college and plan on reading for a third time very soon. Heller parodies war perfectly and Yossarian might be one of my all-time favorite book characters. The movie, while slightly divergent from the source material, is equally entertaining. Alan Arkin plays Yossarian perfectly and portrays the hilarious and ridiculous conscientious objector so well. Watch this clip that is the classic discourse showing off the Catch (it’s the best there is).
Next up, we have another favorite book of mine, but much more modern. A Scanner Darkly is a great sci-fi book about drugs, government control and paranoia. Classic Phillip K. Dick stuff, really. The movie was done by Richard Linklater and it was done with Rotoscoping technology. This made Keanu’s immovable face work and the other supporting cast members (Downey Jr., Woody Harrelson, and Winona Ryder) added a lot, much like the supporting characters in the book. The story told was very similar and just as captivating. Worth a look if you like Phillip K. Dick, sci-fi, or good story telling.
The Bad
I’m not going to add all of them, because there are far too many to count to be honest. It pains me to even think about some of these actually. Here’s my list of notable terribleness:
Timeline (Michael Crichton)
Lord of the Flies (William Golding)
Watchmen (Alan Moore)
Doctor Doolittle (Hugh Lofting)
The Time Machine (H.G. Wells)
Like I said, there are too many to write down, but that’s a start of the bad ones. The art of transitioning a book to the silver screen is hard: there’s already a fan base, and it’s often hard to please them and just put the book on the screen…it just doesn’t work like that it seems. I respect those who do it well and do not envy those who do not.
At any rate, what are you looking forward to, glad you’ve seen, or hope to never see again?
Big Fish was a movie that, while divergent from the book, managed to capture the same feelings and grandiose.
I haven't read Coraline, but greatly enjoyed that movie.
The Count of Monte Cristo was a great movie, but I haven't read the book and heard that the ending is different.
James Bond movies fit into both of these categories...
Dune is one that will never be made right, but I'm very afraid they will keep trying.
Obviously there is a great list of book-movies. I can't review all of them. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry.
sweinstein
I finished re-reading the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's (Capote) and then rewatched the film the next day. I've never read a book and watched the movie that close together. Now I'm having mixed feelings about it. The film is pretty true to the book; in fact, a LOT of the dialogue is verbatim how Truman wrote it. A few glaring differences piss me off, though: the ridiculous Mickey Rooney-as-Asian character has I think zero lines of dialogue in the book so there was really no point in pissing off an entire demographic. The ending: without ruining anything, the book ends very differently and I think much, much better. Aside from the altered ending, it's an overall pretty true-to-form adaptation. If you haven't read it, you should--it's short enough you can read in a day or two and it's very, very well-written.
also: "Away We Go" was great.
sweinstein
oh, and "To Kill a Mockingbird" is a pretty fantastic adaptation, I'd say.
hmmm....worst adaptations: Twilight (I think...I'm still out to lunch on it), and The Other Boleyn Girl (or whatever that movie was that came out with Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johannson). And probably the DaVinci Code.
best: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
I like Bram Stoker's Dracula (the movie) better than the book. Same with The Prestige.
And Pride and Prejudice (the 6-hour mini-series), and 300 and Fight Club movies made me want to read the books...though I still haven't.
Oh I forgot, I really liked Gettysburg (which was from the book "The Killer Angels")
nrojb
the first few seconds of "the road" trailer piss me off something righteous. It makes it seem like every The Day After 2012maggedon move ever made. The movie seems to give a much larger role to the mom/wife character who is only in the book for a page or two. We can only hope...
Monday Thoughts: Movies and Books
Steph said I should talk about books and movies, and I think that’s a great idea, so here we go. This is slightly inspired by our viewing of the solid, and feel-good movie, Away We Go, we saw last night. Not based on a book per se, but it was co-written by Dave Eggers and we figured it was only a matter of time until many of his original books are going to be movie-tized. Not to mention his involvement in the Spike Jonze adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are Below, I’m hoping to talk about some of anticipated, favorite and not-so-favorite adaptations.
Anticipated (maybe more like…anxiously anticipated)
Bjorn recommended a book by Cormac McCarthy called The Road. I’m about three quarters of the way through and it’s outstanding. However, when I read this I knew they were coming out a movie and I have prepared myself for the worse. The trailer is…interesting. It’s obviously more sensationalized than the subtle book, but it has my interest peaked. The cast looks solid, but I just hope they do the source material justice (always the worry with adaptations). However, people seemed more than pleased with No Country for Old Men, so hopefully this novel will get equal treatment on screen.
Next is one we’ve chatted about a few times on here and that is Where the Wild Things Are. Most of us grew up with this book and seeing it come to big screen brings excitement/shudders. Spike Jonze is handling the directing and Dave Eggers did the screenplay with Jonze. The Art of the Trailer is in full effect with the trailer they put out and it builds anticipation for the movie no doubt. The book was amazing. A kid’s book, yes, but it was entertaining and instilled a sense of adventure and imagination we all need. Anticipating, but cautious.
My Favorites
Picking a favorite book to movie adaptation is tough. I have a couple in mind though, and obviously a few more that I haven’t listed here.
Catch 22 is definitely a top-5 book for me. I read it in high school and again in college and plan on reading for a third time very soon. Heller parodies war perfectly and Yossarian might be one of my all-time favorite book characters. The movie, while slightly divergent from the source material, is equally entertaining. Alan Arkin plays Yossarian perfectly and portrays the hilarious and ridiculous conscientious objector so well. Watch this clip that is the classic discourse showing off the Catch (it’s the best there is).
Next up, we have another favorite book of mine, but much more modern. A Scanner Darkly is a great sci-fi book about drugs, government control and paranoia. Classic Phillip K. Dick stuff, really. The movie was done by Richard Linklater and it was done with Rotoscoping technology. This made Keanu’s immovable face work and the other supporting cast members (Downey Jr., Woody Harrelson, and Winona Ryder) added a lot, much like the supporting characters in the book. The story told was very similar and just as captivating. Worth a look if you like Phillip K. Dick, sci-fi, or good story telling.
The Bad
I’m not going to add all of them, because there are far too many to count to be honest. It pains me to even think about some of these actually. Here’s my list of notable terribleness:
Like I said, there are too many to write down, but that’s a start of the bad ones. The art of transitioning a book to the silver screen is hard: there’s already a fan base, and it’s often hard to please them and just put the book on the screen…it just doesn’t work like that it seems. I respect those who do it well and do not envy those who do not.
At any rate, what are you looking forward to, glad you’ve seen, or hope to never see again?