Books & Music The book vs The movie

#16
My all time favorite book to movie adaptation is Cold Comfort Farm. This book is hilarious and the movie stays very true to the book. If you haven't seen this movie, I HIGHLY recommend it. The DVD is on the top of my christmas list.

My second favorite is the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice. The Keira Knightley version had to cut out too much of the story to get it to fit in the under 3 hour timeframe. The BBC version didn't have that handicap.

Sense and Sensibility with Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet was also very well done.
 
#19
I also am not a fan of watching the movies after reading the book, I always end up feeling that the book was way better. Cases in point: The Da Vinci Code and The Devil Wears Prada... the books far outweighed the movies.
 
#20
I don't think the great authors have their works surpassed. I doubt a Crime and Punishment movie could ever be as good as the book. However, there are good authors who often have their works surpassed.

I read the begininng of The Silence of the Lambs book, and it became obvious that the movie outdid it.

I tell you what can be quite good: audio books. I listened to Of Mice and Men (narrated by Gary Sinise). It was very good
 
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#21
This one is kind of personal for me. One of my favorite books from my teens is called 'Blood and Chocolate' and the movie they made was "based" off the book was just so wrong. They changed pretty much everything except the names and the book is sooo much better than what they did to it. It was so disappointing I wish they would have just called the movie something else and in no way associated it with the book since they changed practically the entire book and took out all the parts that made it so great plus changing major details that pretty much ruined the movie for me.
 
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#22
k2sealer said:
My second favorite is the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice. The Keira Knightley version had to cut out too much of the story to get it to fit in the under 3 hour timeframe. The BBC version didn't have that handicap.
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Totally agree, I hate the Keira Knightley version. Before it came out I said the same thing, there's a reason the other one (which is amazing) is 5 hours long. For good adaptations, I think The Cement Garden is perfectly done as a film, and that's one of my favorite books. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is pretty much exactly by the book and well done as well. I think I like more adaptations than I dislike, sometimes I get excited just to see if what's in my head fits with what's in other peoples. The Harry Potter movies are visually spot on I think too (in terms of looks, the buildings and characters are how I think they are with the exception that I think Voldemort should be David Bowie, he'd be perfect :P)
 
#23
I love reading Stephen King but I have absolutely hated every movie they made based on his stories---the lone exception being Shawshank. Ditto the collected works of Jacqueline Susann (Valley of the dolls, The Love machine)

It used to be that I would read first watch second but that has changed over the years.

I like the Jurassic Park movie better than the book. Same with Silence, Out of Africa, Seabiscuit, the Harry Potters and the Wizard of Oz.

GWTW was a much better (and longer) book.

Jaws is a good book and a good movie..........they just have a shark in common.
 
#24
I like to read the book first and then watch the movie because I don't like to see face
of actor/actress while I'm reading.

Wonder Boys is one of the rare examples where movie is def better than book. Book is written by Michael Chabon and its plot at some point doesn't make any sense. In movie they just skipped all unnecessary parts and decided to stick with one main story. And the cast was great too: Michael Douglas, Robert Downey Jr, Frances McDormand, Tobey McGuire, Katie Holmes.

Sense and Sensibility is an awful book IMO but Emma Thompson did a fine job with the script so I actually enjoyed the movie. On the other hand, I really dislike the last version of Pride and Prejudice with Keira. The only version on par with the book is the BBC mini series with Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy. :girlsigh:
 
#25
I also prefer to read the book AFTER I've seen the movie...it feels much less disappointing as I generally forget the movie while I'm reading. in reverse, I compare the movie to the book the entire time I'm watching.

I love the LOTR movies, but there were definitely differences from the books. I love the BBC version of pride & prejudice (my favorite book of all time); it's very accurate to the book. however, I also love the kiera knightly version. I really enjoyed the new/modern interpretation, & there were some BEAUTIFUL moments in the movie that were not in the book (this is rare for me). I loved emma thompson's sense & sensibility, but I was disappointed that she removed the entire climax of the book (when she & willoughby talk) from the screenplay. but again, there are beautiful moments in the movie. I think gwenyth paltrow's emma is also an enjoyable movie although it too differs a bit from the book.

I wasn't disappointed with any of the EM Forrester books/movies: a room with a view, where angels fear to tread, a passage to india, howard's end. I think miramax does a wonderful job of adaptation.

like nillacobain, I also LOVE zefirelli's romeo & juliet from 1968. it's a gorgeous & faithful adaptation of shakespeare's play. I enjoy all of kenneth branagh's shakespeare adaptation movies as well: much ado about nothing, henry v, othello, hamlet, love's labour's lost (I loved that he turned it into a musical & incorporated modern songs), & as you like it.

although I didn't read the book, I absolutely LOVE the movie cold comfort farm too!!!
 
#26
pl888 said:
99% of the time I always prefer the book to the movie. The few exceptions for me were "A Room with a View", "Fight Club" and the "Pride and Prejudice" BBC version.

But most of the time, movie adaptations are just awful. I could barely make it through "Atonement" and "The Time Traveller's Wife" movie versions (even though I loved the books).
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Great movie!
 
#28
babypie said:
I love Palahniuk but could NOT get through Fight Club the book at all! Maybe because the movie is so great it ruined it for me!
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I actually read Fight Club first, so I thought the movie was going to be horrible. I only ended up watching the movie because a couple of guy friends wanted to see it, and now it's one of my favorites.
 
#29
Mary Higgins Clark is one of my favorite authors. I have read every one of her books & look forward to each new one. But -- every movie made from one of her stories stinks.

"Where Are The Children?" was her first book & I love the book because it held my attention and established the characters so that you could empathize, except for the villain. The movie did stick to the original book better than succeeding movies but was over the top vilent.

The only thing of The Time Traveler's Wife movie I liked was Eric Bana. The book was so much better.

The Lovely Bones movie was horrible & I thought the book was outstanding.
 
#30
Anima Mundi said:
Overall, I do like to see the movie before reading the book, since I like to compare the differences. I find that movies often pale in comparison to the book, but there are times when I've liked the movie more than the book (Memoirs of a Geisha and Howl's Moving Castle come to mind.)
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See I do the complete opposite...cause if you see the movie second, you will most like be disappointed cause it won't live up to the expectation of the book.
 
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