Books made into Movies

[random3434]

I love to read, as I'm sure most of us on here do. When I read a book, I have the characters looks and voices in my mind as I read.


When I hear they are making a movie about a book I love, I often wonder if they will do it justice. A lot of times, the answer is a BIG FAT NO!


But sometimes.......they DO get it just right.





One was "Silence of the Lambs" by Thomas Harris. I read that book a few times before the movie came out, and loved the movie as much as the book. Jonathan Demme got EVERYTHING right in that movie, because he stayed true to the book.


A big NO was "Pay it Forward" by Catherine Ryan Hyde. It was a great book with a great message, but the movie was Hollywood Schlock.


What book did you love, that Hollywood got "right" and one that you loved that Hollywood got "wrong?"

 

[Xenophon]

The Caine Mutiny.

The movie was a tour de force for Bogart & company and was faithful to the source material.

Dune.

Hollywood has tried this several times and never captures herbert's fascinating world of 10,000 years from now.

 

[dilloduck]

Slaughterhouse 5
I never thought they could pull it off but they did to perfection !

 

[Zoom-boing]

The Shawshank Redemption and Stand By Me, both by Stephen King. Loved both of these movies. Shawshank is one of those movies that I've seen a million times but if I catch it on tv, I get sucked in over and over again.

Having said that, every other SK book or story made into a movie has been crap, imo. I agree with you EZ, they usually botch it and I always tell people to read the book.

 

[random3434]

The Shawshank Redemption and Stand By Me, both by Stephen King. Loved both of these movies. Shawshank is one of those movies that I've seen a million times but if I catch it on tv, I get sucked in over and over again.

Having said that, every other SK book or story made into a movie has been crap, imo. I agree with you EZ, they usually botch it and I always tell people to read the book.

Yeah, I LOVED LOVED LOVED "The Stand" and had read it about 4 times when I heard they were doing a t.v. mini series. I watched the entire thing, but it didn't float my boat.

Amen to Shawshank and Stand by Me.


They are making a movie based on "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy. If you haven't read the book I highly recommend it. I'm curious how the movie will turn out.

 

[xotoxi]

Silence of the Lambs was AWESOME! I think that I read the book, but I'm not really sure.

I liked the movie Remains of the Day, but I didn't like the book.

I loved the book DaVinci Code, and thus, I plan to never see the movie because I doubt that they reached the standard set by the book.

 

[xotoxi]

The Shawshank Redemption and Stand By Me, both by Stephen King. Loved both of these movies. Shawshank is one of those movies that I've seen a million times but if I catch it on tv, I get sucked in over and over again.

Having said that, every other SK book or story made into a movie has been crap, imo. I agree with you EZ, they usually botch it and I always tell people to read the book.

Yeah, I LOVED LOVED LOVED "The Stand" and had read it about 4 times when I heard they were doing a t.v. mini series. I watched the entire thing, but it didn't float my boat.

Amen to Shawshank and Stand by Me.


They are making a movie based on "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy. If you haven't read the book I highly recommend it. I'm curious how the movie will turn out.

I can't read Stephen King. He is too words and verbose for me. I need my books to be simple and straightforward.

However, when I was 2, Stephen King lived in my town and I went to a babysitter with his daughter.

 

[jillian]

zoom is right...shawshank redemption and stand by me both a big yes!!!

sophies choice was ruined for me.

 

[random3434]

Silence of the Lambs was AWESOME! I think that I read the book, but I'm not really sure.

I liked the movie Remains of the Day, but I didn't like the book.

I loved the book DaVinci Code, and thus, I plan to never see the movie because I doubt that they reached the standard set by the book.

The thing about "Silence of the Lambs" is that Thomas Harris Sold Out to Hollywood after the success of the movie. He wrote 2 more books, pieces of crap imo, the next more horrible than the last. He thought gruesome would sell, but he didn't stay true to the characters. That's why Jodie Foster wouldn't be in Hannibal, and Julianna Moore replaced her character Clarice.

 

[random3434]

zoom is right...shawshank redemption and stand by me both a big yes!!!

sophies choice was ruined for me.

Ah, Sophies Choice. What a great, great book. Yeah, the movie, meh....

 

[jillian]

zoom is right...shawshank redemption and stand by me both a big yes!!!

sophies choice was ruined for me.

Ah, Sophies Choice. What a great, great book. Yeah, the movie, meh....

Exactly! Also, In my head, I knew EXACTLY what Sophie looked like... and it wasn't Merrill Streep... no matter how briliant an actress she is.

 

[manu1959]

a clockwork orange .... 2001 .....

 

[random3434]

a clockwork orange .... 2001 .....

With, or against?

 

[manu1959]

a clockwork orange .... 2001 .....

With, or against?

i loved both books and both movies....

 

[Dr Grump]

Thomas Wolfe - great example of good books and good/bad movie

Bonfire of the Vanities - great book, terrible movie
The Right Stuff - great book, great movie

 

[Jon]

A big NO was "Pay it Forward" by Catherine Ryan Hyde. It was a great book with a great message, but the movie was Hollywood Schlock.

I agree, but the ending still gets to me.

The Shawshank Redemption and Stand By Me, both by Stephen King. Loved both of these movies. Shawshank is one of those movies that I've seen a million times but if I catch it on tv, I get sucked in over and over again.

Having said that, every other SK book or story made into a movie has been crap, imo. I agree with you EZ, they usually botch it and I always tell people to read the book.

Oh God, Shawshank is such perfection. Stand by Me is another of my favorites, very high marks from me. The Green Mile was also incredibly well done thanks to Michael Clarke Duncan, Sam Rockwell, and Michael Jeter. Tom Hanks ruins anything he touches, but his awfulness wasn't enough to overshadow those three. Speaking of Tom Hanks, the movie version of The Da Vinci Code was awful. I blame Ron Howard, he's such an awful director. I would say casting Tom Hanks was his first mistake, but the rest of the cast was spot on. They were perfect for their parts. But the film still fell flat on its face in spite of them, mostly because Hanks is ATROCIOUS as Robert Langdon.

I have to disagree on the rest of SK's stuff. Storm of the Century is one of my favorite movies to date.

I can't mention book to film without citing Lord of the Rings. The dedication Peter Jackson and his crew put into the film delivered as authentic a Middle Earth as one could have asked for. My ONLY complaint about these films is that Gandalf was downplayed way too much. He only casts like...one spell in the whole goddamn movie, and even his battle with one of the Nazgul was lackluster. Everything else was just amazing.

And, Bridge to Terabithia was an awful adaptation. I wanted to throw my soda and candy at the screen watching that trite piece of shit.

 

[KittenKoder]

I was more into the fantasy books, but they have done will with a few of those:

Narnia series and Bridge to Terabithia

Horror (not the drama ones) which they have tried they always fail ... epically.

 

[Luissa]

The Shawshank Redemption and Stand By Me, both by Stephen King. Loved both of these movies. Shawshank is one of those movies that I've seen a million times but if I catch it on tv, I get sucked in over and over again.

Having said that, every other SK book or story made into a movie has been crap, imo. I agree with you EZ, they usually botch it and I always tell people to read the book.

both good movies! I liked the new Lion the witch and the wardrobe, I loved the books when I was little and watched the BBC version about ten times.
I like the Virgin Suicides and The Shining also.

 

[Abelian Sea]

What book did you love, that Hollywood got "right" and one that you loved that Hollywood got "wrong?"

To Kill a Mockingbird was done right. Twelve Angry Men, too (at least the first film).

The Lord of the Rings trilogy was also done right, capturing both the good and bad aspects of the books.

One was "Silence of the Lambs" by Thomas Harris. I read that book a few times before the movie came out, and loved the movie as much as the book. Jonathan Demme got EVERYTHING right in that movie, because he stayed true to the book.

I agree, but then when I read the book I got the distinct impression that the author was envisioning it as a movie already. Sometimes its resemblence to a screenplay was unmissible.

 

[Amanda]

Fight Club was pretty true to the book and I love both.

I used to read a lot more than I do now, but it started to make my head hurt. That's why I got glasses, but it didn't really help. I miss being able to sit for hours with a book.

I agree with those that don't like SK, his books annoy me. You can tell when he's become bored with the story because he ends it 2 pages later.