"Has there EVER been a movie that was better than the book?" Sat Jan-23-10 02:17 PM by vee-lover
or at least just as good as the book...
I can't recall ever seeing or hearing someone say that the film version was better than book. Maaaaaaaybe the Color Purple....but so often the cinematic version of a story falls way short.
One of the most egregious missteps that instantly comes to mind for me is the film, "Beloved."
6. "i'd say fight club was equal, but the ending of the book was better" In response to Reply # 1 Sat Jan-23-10 06:03 PM by thoughtprocess
and god father was pretty equal, but i prefer the book, it goes into detail with each character, something a movie really can't do. also, there was no godfather 2 in book form.
11. "i dont really remember that" In response to Reply # 7
can you refresh my memory? cause i remember reading the book thinking it had to be related to both 1 and 2 and then i came away thinking it was based on part 1 but just 3 times as long
76. "I'll cosign that Luca Brasi was completely short-sold in the film" In response to Reply # 13
Dude wasn't a blithering idiot/mindless muscle. He was a motherfucking bad-ass. I also think the should have done a better job with Al Neri, who was just as much of a force of nature as Brasi.
15. "Meh, I guess if the science is boring to you" In response to Reply # 8 Sat Jan-23-10 09:32 PM by ImPerfectNick
x
Everybody's got opinions on the way you're living but see they can't fill your shoes... Life is made of half-illusions... forty percent confusion, whatever's left I'm using... to keep myself from losing, yeah.
33. "i wouldn't make it with a clockwork orange" In response to Reply # 9 Sun Jan-24-10 02:52 AM by thoughtprocess
and i love the movie, it's one of my favorites, but the story isn't complete without the last chapter. actually it's a no-win, i think the movie would be more of a complete story with the book's ending, but possibly less interesting.
30. "idk if it would have translated as well to film" In response to Reply # 10
as i said earlier in the post, i think the only noticeable advantage the book has is the ending. other than that it's pretty equal. you have a lot of disadvantages when you're translating a book to film, but they did a damn good job.
75. "does the book explain that thing Manhattan carves in his forehead?" In response to Reply # 73
I know someone explained Rorschach's mask when the movie first came out but I already forgot it. I've been watching certain scenes a lot on HBO lately & it's tempting me to get the graphic novel.
77. "It represents a hydrogen atom" In response to Reply # 75
In th ecomic, the government originally tries to give him a helmet with that radioactive atom symbol on it. He says it's bullshit (in a Dr. Manhattan sort of way) and not the real representation of an atom anyway. Then he carves the hydrogen atom symbol into his own forehead.
89. "which ironically isn't the real representation of an atom either" In response to Reply # 77
>In th ecomic, the government originally tries to give him a >helmet with that radioactive atom symbol on it. He says it's >bullshit (in a Dr. Manhattan sort of way) and not the real >representation of an atom anyway. Then he carves the hydrogen >atom symbol into his own forehead.
87. "rorschach's mask (wikipedia can do a better job than me):" In response to Reply # 75
"After finishing school, Kovacs took a job as a garment worker in a dress shop; it was here he acquired the fabric that he later wore as Rorschach. The fabric, a new material created by Dr. Manhattan, contains heat-sensitive liquids between layers of latex to create black-on-white shifting color. Kovacs recovered the material from a rejected dress that had been a special order by a young woman with an Italian name. Two years later, Kitty Genovese was murdered, and when Kovacs read about the unresponsiveness of her neighbors, he became disgusted not only with crime but the underlying selfishness inherent in all people. Inspired by Genovese's fate (he later told his prison psychiatrist "Woman who ordered dress. Kitty Genovese. I'm sure that was the woman's name."), he fashioned a mask from the dress's fabric and began fighting crime as the vigilante Rorschach."
91. "the Kitty Genovese murder was actually a real case in NYC " In response to Reply # 87
>name. Two years later, Kitty Genovese was murdered, and >when Kovacs read about the unresponsiveness of her neighbors, >he became disgusted not only with crime but the underlying >selfishness inherent in all people. Inspired by Genovese's >fate (he later told his prison psychiatrist "Woman who ordered >dress. Kitty Genovese. I'm sure that was the woman's >name."), he fashioned a mask from the dress's fabric and >began fighting crime as the vigilante Rorschach."
although the account of her neighbors' reaction has been disputed, that's what it became famous for.
23. "Shawshank Redemptation" In response to Reply # 0
It's probably one of the best adaptations b/c of how much it turned a throw away Stephen King short story into such a strong film. The characters in the book I find are a lot weaker than the film one, which is usually the opposite.
and I'm a big fan of Brett Easton Ellis, but that book was far too long and didn't need all that extra shit. Plus, I liked how the film at least sort of made it into a story, whereas the book is basically a bunch of random diary entries.
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12 play and 12 planets are enlighten for all the Aliens to Party and free those on the Sex Planet-maxxx
49. "You misunderstand" In response to Reply # 45 Sun Jan-24-10 11:17 PM by Marauder21
I'm a huge fan of the book, and it is great as a character study. I did enjoy it, though I could not even look at brie for years after reading it. But it did not need another 200 pages. Cmon.
But it could never have worked as a movie without some major changes, as there is in fact no story in the book. I liked the story the film told.
They both work out very well in their particular mediums. I think the movie gets a bad rap among fans of the book for changing things, when if it hadn't you would have a four hour film shot from a single POV about reciting fashion designers and brutal murders. It wouldn't have worked as a film, even though it does work as a book.
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12 play and 12 planets are enlighten for all the Aliens to Party and free those on the Sex Planet-maxxx
Like I said, I also like the movie as its own entity. But when you're such a big fan of the book, it's hard not to be annoyed by some of the things they left out or changed.
46. "some of my gripes w/ the movie:" In response to Reply # 27
-Paul Owen dies in the first TWENTY MINUTES. Seems rushed.
-There are so many short scenes in the movie that were taken from the book, but don't mean anything in the movie. Also, they're completely pointless in the movie because you don't get Bateman's inner thoughts at the time. For example: The facial scene.
-There's no Patty Winters Show!!!!!! Wtf, that's the LIFELINE of the book!
-HATE when Jean comes across Bateman's violent doodles at the end of the movie. Nobody is supposed to "realize" that he's a total creep.
103. "It's a good adaptation" In response to Reply # 101
Certain aspects of the way the book was brought to life injected extra dynamics and energy. The great black cloud forming on the horizon when Moss was hunting at the beginning. The staring into the television of Chigurh and Bell when sitting on Moss' couch before the "he's seen everything I've seen" line.
Not to mention the actors all added their own interpretations of the characters. Bardem's Chigurh takes the words, but gives them a life far beyond the text.
Chigurh's end story was removed, because it wasn't necessary to tell the story.
At the end of the day, your argument is that the movie can't be better because it was a perfect adaptation. By your logic, how can the movie ever be better then? Seems like even if the movie is perfect it can't be better by your standards.
>Autobiography of Joe Pistone = Donnie brasco (except the >ending, they butchered that)
The movie was boring as shit compared to the book. There were serious story miscues, which is understandable to a point, but I HATE that they didn't use the real events of Lefty winning that marathon sit-down against the psychopath Tony Mirra ((the one guy who KNEW Donnie was a fed, lol)). If anyone at all had liked Tony Mirra even a little bit, and listened to what he was saying, both Joe Pistone and Lefty would have been fish food and we'd probably refer to Donnie Brasco as WHY the FBI can't bring the mob down.
I read the book (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?) after I saw the movie and was expecting some badass noir detective shit, boy was I disappointed. I've since grown to appreciate the book as its own thing, but damn did Ridley Scott art direct the fuck out of that movie.
118. "not at all. It's been a while, but basically [SPOILERS JUST IN CASE]" In response to Reply # 112
the book follows the son more than the father, and traces through the rise of the IWW and socialist party in the U.S. in the 30s and 40s. What you'll recognize as "Daniel Plainview" takes up I'd say a quarter of the book; and he certainly doesn't brain Eli with a bowling pin.
108. "That I did not know" In response to Reply # 98
But on further research it turns out he did write the novel first, so technically the film did come after (even if not to the public). Also, the film is better than the book, ipso facto, its relevant to the thread.
52. "still a good book, and you're right -- but one point:" In response to Reply # 48
the biggest alteration of the film from the book was Henry Hill's time in prison. In the book, it's a major section just like all the others in his story, where he breaks down how much money he was waking, how he was hooking drugs up with a girl outside, and how he was still milking the system to shorten his sentence with good time.
in the movie he just kinda showed up and got shuttled off to a VIP section with other gangsters.
it makes fine sense in the film, for time reasons and all that, but I do have to say, part of the "point" of the book is that Henry Hill was working the system from bottom to top, but in the movie, it doesn't really showing the hustling STILL in the prison, and the point of a career hustler is muddied a little.
50. "Requiem for a Dream. No question." In response to Reply # 0
As powerful as the book was, the movie was ***THAT*** much more emotional. There's only one scene in the book that I wish was in the movie, but other than that the translation was absolutely stellar.
100. "I forget exactly; it's been some years since I read the book." In response to Reply # 62
I believe it was between the doctor and Sarah Goldfarb, or the doctor and his nurse, with some crazy reveal about her condition. It was the only passage that literally stunned me from the book, but part of that could be because it was omitted from the movie.
The tiebreaker for me between the book and the movie was actually the score; from the dreamy drugged-out sequences to the dramatic and jarring violins when everything was spiraling out of control, the score really put the movie on that NEXT LEVEL shit haha. Kronos Quartet really killed it with that one.
And while I understand the literary license behind the whole "fucked up punctuation" thing in the book, at times it made actually reading it technically difficult, pulling me from really immersing myself from the story.
115. "Hmm, don't remember that, but it's been a few years since I read it" In response to Reply # 100
And I agree with you on the punctuation. I love Hubert Selby but that shit takes too long to get used to. The first time I read Last Exit to Brooklyn you should've seen my face.
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12 play and 12 planets are enlighten for all the Aliens to Party and free those on the Sex Planet-maxxx
54. "I still think V for Vendetta is a good example" In response to Reply # 0
because it edited out some of the more embarrassing, lost in the past type stuff, generalized the message, and then told the story in a more mainstream friendly fashion.
but I guess some people really think the book is something special, whereas I would disagree with that.
59. "i need to rewatch the movie, but i disagree" In response to Reply # 54
>because it edited out some of the more embarrassing, lost in >the past type stuff, generalized the message, and then told >the story in a more mainstream friendly fashion. > >but I guess some people really think the book is something >special, whereas I would disagree with that.
they dumbed it down a lot, and made it WAY too much of a "bush sucks" movie, which is accurate, but boring and lazy. i mean they did everything BUT name the characters after members on bush's cabinet. the only real advantage was the art of the book was kinda weak.
64. "RE: Has there EVER been a movie that was better than the book?" In response to Reply # 0
The phrase, "A picture is worth a thousand worths", depends largely on the imagination of the reader. Meaning, given a thousand words, the picture you would paint in your mind could be much different from mine.
For example, in a screenplay, a character would enter the room. In a novel, depending on how it is written, the writer could give insight on what going through the mind of the characters in the scene. You can't get that in a screenplay unless a running narrative is employed. (That's why some think Fight Club the screenplay was as good as the book.)
Also, there's almost no way a 90-120 minute movie could contain the details of an average 300-page novel. It would be too long (at least eight-hours). That's why epic mini-series where developed to attempt to handle this depth. But in my opinion, mini-series still many times fall short.
The only exception I can think of where this could be the case is where screenplays that were "inspired by" rather than "based on" novels, where the screenwriter borrowed the general idea and then used more poetic license to tell a better story or manufacture a happier, more audience-friendly ending.
a) Watch how most of the people who respond never even read that boring, arcane, long, bullshit. Like most things, nerds just want to fly in and hate Will Smith, just because that's what they're supposed to do
b) Nope! (c) GOAT.
Movie more accessible and still communicated the fundamentals of the Robot laws in a clear, appropriate and entertaining way. Cry, sissies.
82. "State of Grace" In response to Reply # 0 Mon Jan-25-10 05:14 PM by 40thStreetBlack
I'd say it's more inspired by the book The Westies rather than directly based off it, but alot of the stuff in the movie is taken straight out of the book + 2 of the main characters are based off the 2 major characters in the book.
book had some interesting stuff in it but the narrative was kinda blah. movie was terrific though.
99. "man I really wanted to like it, but the writing style just bugged me" In response to Reply # 97
it was still an interesting read though. and State of Grace took a bunch of stuff straight from the book, like the chopped-off hands in the freezer to put fake prints on guns, the meeting with the Italians in Brooklyn with a crew of Westies waiting nearby ready to go in blasting if they didn't get a phone call by a certain time to verify dude was still alive, etc.
but yeah State of Grace was alot better than the book IMO.
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