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Your favorite book to film adapatation?


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Old 27-12-2016, 18:08
muggins14
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Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz. I thought the recent film adaptation was very good, not least due to the performance by the terrific (late) Anton Yelchin as Odd Thomas himself.
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Old 27-12-2016, 18:12
LakieLady
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Might not count, as it's only a short story, but the film Don't Look Now is an amazing adaptation.
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Old 27-12-2016, 18:15
Ancient IDTV
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Lord of The Rings for me. I'm sure will call me out on this but I found the films far better than the books.
Despite stating that I think Fellowship is a good adaptation, I don't think the films are better than the books. Too much was left out, hardly any of the history of Middle Earth is mentioned, and some chapters were adapted very poorly imo (eg The Paths of the Dead, and the subsequent use of the undead army, the encounter with The Mouth of Sauron, the size of the Mumakil! etc. etc.). I also thought some of the characters were poorly adapted (eg Denethor, Faramir, Eowyn later on, Sauron himslef!).
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Old 27-12-2016, 18:22
shaddler
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The Road was essentially prose-less, that was the whole point of it. I agree though, they did a great job.

Lord of The Rings for me. I'm sure will call me out on this but I found the films far better than the books.
It's not possible for a fiction novel to contain no prose, otherwise it would be poetry or some other format. But I know what you mean - it's very pared down and direct. Fun fact: there are no semicolons in it. Actually I think there are none in all his books.
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Old 27-12-2016, 23:48
Keyser_Soze1
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Nosferatu (from Dracula) - simply due to the towering performance of Max Schreck as a walking predatory penis with teeth.
2001 (novel was tied in with the film but still)
The Godfather.
Jaws.
One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest.
Bladerunner.
Candyman.
The Shawshank Redemption.
The Green Mile.
The Mist.
Trainspotting.
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy.
The Silence of the Lambs'
Hannibal.
Red Dragon (both versions}.
Låt den rätte komma in.
The Road.

Just a few off the top of my head.
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Old 28-12-2016, 00:01
Ænima
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Probably LOTR. Book is boring as hell, but film was really awesome.

Sorry Christopher Tolkien
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Old 28-12-2016, 00:32
Sifter22
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The Hustler. Loved the book and film.
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Old 28-12-2016, 00:53
barbeler
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The Road. The wonderful prose of the book was never going to be able to be translated properly to film, but I think they did a great job nonetheless. No Country for Old Men, another of McCarthy's books, was also extremely well done. Possibly even better than The Road, come to think of it.
I agree with those and I'm still waiting for Blood Meridien, the supposedly unfilmable book which even had a trailer made for it.

Trainspotting was excellent, but I also thought the film of Patrick Suskind's Perfume was pretty good.

The big one for me is The Wasp Factory, which is another one that must me extremely difficult to translate into film. It's one of those that could turn out to be either the film of the year or excrutiatingly bad. I did hear that somebody had bought the film rights, but casting could be a bit of a headache.
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Old 28-12-2016, 01:01
Welsh-lad
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Can it be book to TV adaptation?

If so the 1995 BBC Pride and Prejudice was a monumental triumph.
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Old 28-12-2016, 01:03
planets
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Can it be book to TV adaptation?

If so the 1995 BBC Pride and Prejudice was a monumental triumph.
it was a good year i've just watched the 1995 BBC Persuasion, it's beautifully done.
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Old 28-12-2016, 01:09
Rhumbatugger
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Interesting thread.

One of my absolute favourite films is 'The Jungle Book'.

And yet I've read all the 'Mowgli Stories' and they are brutal and haunting and horribly real.

The two don't really even relate and yet both, oddly parallel for me, are brilliant.
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Old 28-12-2016, 01:21
mimik1uk
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I read Silence of the Lambs a year or two before I saw the film - I had forgotten that I had read it until I was about half-way through the film to be honest

It was a better film than book in my opinion.
i'd agree with that

one of the few times i have found a film much better than the book

always thought harris was someone who had great ideas and developed great characters but just wasn't a very good writer if that makes sense
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Old 28-12-2016, 01:29
WhatJoeThinks
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LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring is really well done imo, but I think the two sequels are a bit messed up. The Hobbit films are just awful imo.
I've watched a number of documentary shorts (DVD extras or whatever) about the making of The Hobbit films, and it was a far cry from LOTR production behind the scenes. To say it was shambolic at times is no exaggeration. Not having read the book I can't really comment on the veracity of the film adaptation, but it wouldn't surprise me if it was poor considering that they were "laying down the tracks directly in front of the train" (in their own words).

As they've been showing them on TV again recently I've been watching them very closely this time. You can see the odd glaring flaw now and again, which is a shame.
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Old 28-12-2016, 01:33
Rhumbatugger
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Got to agree with 'Jaws' which I read before the film was made, not that geat, to be honest, a lot of irrelevant and stupid stuff.

The film is a MASTERPIECE.

And 'Silence of the Lambs'. I read the Thomas Harris books again before the movies. The movies are better.

I actually LOVED the novel 'Interview with a Vampire' though, I felt like a secret afficionado of the author, felt similarly about Terry Pratchett whose work was a secret, mad pleasure for a long time.

I don't believe they'd EVER better his books though, in film.
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Old 28-12-2016, 02:01
Bagshot85
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The Green Mile was an excellent film. One of the very few book to film adaptions that stayed true to it's core. Enjoyed the Lord Of The Rings films too.
I'm not a fan of the Harry Potter movies. I think they went for big names rather than actors true to the books. Also, the only talented actor out of the kids was Rupert Gint. The rest were terrible actors. Loved the books...dislike the films.
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Old 28-12-2016, 03:14
droogiefret
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I just re-watched the original Swedish Girl with the Dragon Tattoo tonight - the trilogy is very good.

I found out yesterday that there is an adaptation of 'We have always lived in the Castle' due out next year - so I'm excited about that.
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Old 28-12-2016, 04:18
annette kurten
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the cat in the hat and the alice in wonderland with martin short as the mad hatter.

strictly speaking it`s not a book but the stanford prison film is gripping.
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Old 28-12-2016, 09:49
MTUK1
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I really liked Shutter Island (book) as well as the movie, I thought it was a good equal right there. I also thought The Great Gatsby in 2013 was a very good take on the book (including everything within the novel).

What's yours?
Are you American?
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Old 28-12-2016, 11:58
Horace Wimp
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this should be moved to the movies board.

that's why we have categories, otherwise it's chaos, anarchy, is that what you want , the rise of facism ?
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Old 28-12-2016, 12:03
Wee Tinkers
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Room
Midwich Cuckoos (first film)
Postcards from the Edge
Charlie & the Chocolate Factory (liked both films but preferred first)

Enjoyed many of Charles Dickens' adaptions - particularly A Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist & Great Expectations - but there have been so many over the years, some better than others, that I can't say off the top of my head what ones in particular I preferred.

I didn't love the movie but I appreciated the casting in Stephen King's Needful Things.
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Old 28-12-2016, 12:17
ags_rule
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It's not possible for a fiction novel to contain no prose, otherwise it would be poetry or some other format. But I know what you mean - it's very pared down and direct. Fun fact: there are no semicolons in it. Actually I think there are none in all his books.
There's no quotation marks either in The Road from what I can remember

I was being facetious when I said it was proseless but you got the idea anyway - very little in the way of description or imagery. It works though - one of my favourite books.

Despite stating that I think Fellowship is a good adaptation, I don't think the films are better than the books. Too much was left out, hardly any of the history of Middle Earth is mentioned, and some chapters were adapted very poorly imo (eg The Paths of the Dead, and the subsequent use of the undead army, the encounter with The Mouth of Sauron, the size of the Mumakil! etc. etc.). I also thought some of the characters were poorly adapted (eg Denethor, Faramir, Eowyn later on, Sauron himslef!).
There's undoubtedly elements that the books do better than the films - as often with fantasy genre, exposition and history is one of the first things to get cut. I just watched Goblet of Fire last night which glossed over Priori Incantem in about five seconds, despite it being key to why Harry was able to escape from Voldemort!

However, on the whole, I find the LOTR films stronger. They cut a lot of unnecessary and largely pointless scenes (namely singing), which The Hobbit films were worse of for actually including (namely singing)
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Old 28-12-2016, 12:33
muggins14
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this should be moved to the movies board.

that's why we have categories, otherwise it's chaos, anarchy, is that what you want , the rise of facism ?
It'll be anarchy I tell you, anarchy!

To be fair to the OP, if it's replies to a thread you want, an ongoing conversation, more immediacy, then the movies board isn't the place as people post very sporadically there unfortunately (myself included).
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Old 28-12-2016, 13:06
bri160356
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this should be moved to the movies board.

that's why we have categories, otherwise it's chaos, anarchy, is that what you want , the rise of facism ?
...oh yes, most definitely.
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Old 28-12-2016, 13:44
PoppySeed
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The Shawshank Redemption was/is excellent. I think even Stephen King has said so.

The Omen - although that's more based on the movie opposed to the movie based on the book.

Agree with Interview with the Vampire - that remains one of my favourite movies of all time.
I much preferred the film of Interview than the book, which is a rare occurrence for me. I'm not a Tom Cruise fan but I thought he was fantastic as Lestat yet I've read people saying they thought he was awful???
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Old 28-12-2016, 13:51
RebelScum
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In what way? Personally I think Blade Runner is a good PKD themed film that stands on its own, but arguably a (deliberately) poor adaptation of the original novel.
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