Nominations
The bulk of this post has been taken from the comments section of Wayner's Movie Musings (link can be found in the blog links section).
I know I have discussed with many of you the vast superiority of books as compared to movies. Without delving too deeply into the differences between books and movies and how they aren't comparable blah blah blah, (considering the traffic I don't think I want to put in that kind of effort) I do want to compile a list of movies that MAY be as good as the books from whenst they sprung.
Candidates for movies as good as/maybe better than the book and remember they are just candidates:
Shawshank Redemption (Originally a novella by Stephen King called Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption)
The Green Mile (Originally 6 different novellas by King compiled into one anthology)
The Shining
Basically anything by Stephen King
Jurassic Park (Although I would strongly disagree I know some people who believe this to be true.)
The Godfather
Lord of the Rings (Obviously the books are amazing but some would argue too long and meandering)
Bridget Jones' Diary (Haven't read the book - any opinions here?)
The Silence of the Lambs
Fight Club
A Clockwork Orange
No Country for Old Men (Another I would disagree with but the movie is very good)
Blade Runner (Book was Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep)
Princess Bride (Although the book was hilarious)
Please use the comments section to nominate other selections and to agree with/bash selections appearing above.
I know I have discussed with many of you the vast superiority of books as compared to movies. Without delving too deeply into the differences between books and movies and how they aren't comparable blah blah blah, (considering the traffic I don't think I want to put in that kind of effort) I do want to compile a list of movies that MAY be as good as the books from whenst they sprung.
Candidates for movies as good as/maybe better than the book and remember they are just candidates:
Shawshank Redemption (Originally a novella by Stephen King called Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption)
The Green Mile (Originally 6 different novellas by King compiled into one anthology)
The Shining
Basically anything by Stephen King
Jurassic Park (Although I would strongly disagree I know some people who believe this to be true.)
The Godfather
Lord of the Rings (Obviously the books are amazing but some would argue too long and meandering)
Bridget Jones' Diary (Haven't read the book - any opinions here?)
The Silence of the Lambs
Fight Club
A Clockwork Orange
No Country for Old Men (Another I would disagree with but the movie is very good)
Blade Runner (Book was Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep)
Princess Bride (Although the book was hilarious)
Please use the comments section to nominate other selections and to agree with/bash selections appearing above.
posted by TheGraveWolf at 10:18 PM
6 Comments:
I don't read many books, but here's my take:
- The Godfather movie is way better than the book
- I can't imagine The Silence of the Lambs in print is better than the movie. If it is, I need to read that.
-Bridget Jones' Diary was a book? Wtb?
- NCFOM is very awesome in both book and movie form. Cormac McCarthy's writing style is so sick though, I give the edge to the book. If somehow Javier Bardem could "act" in the book, we'd have a masterpiece.
unfortunately i can't comment on a lot of these since I haven't read many of the books. It's also hard to judge sometimes when you've seen the movie first then read the book later.
I definitely agree though that Shawshank is better than the book. I think novellas are perfect for turning into movies b/c they don't have to leave anything out. Plus the character of Red, played by Morgan Freeman, was changed much for the better in the movie imo. That's the big difference maker for me.
Bridget Jones I think is good as a movie b/c a lot of the physical humor is better. It cuts out some of the good stuff, but adds a lot of good stuff in too.
This comment has been removed by the author.
I think LOTR might be the biggest improvement from book to movie. Honestly I thought those books were wildly overrated and really just revered because of when they were written rather than how they were written. I think you'd agree there is much better fantasy out there. But there are not better fantasy movies.
LA Confidential is up there. The book is great and I love the terse, brutal writing style. But the movie captures all that.
We Were Soldiers Once. The book is actually not that great. A little too much "Srg. SoandSo was on the suchandsuch line doing Thisandthat." Better in movie form.
I don't read, sorry :(
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