Books Or Movies Based On Them

[KyCatFan]

I got this idea from the Maximum Overdrive thread. My choice would be watch the movie. Just because I hate reading and would rather spend 2 hours watching a movie then a number of days reading the book. Plus the movie appeals to more of your senses. You can see, hear, and feel (from the sound) what is going on. My imagination just doesn't work as effectively when staring at words on a page.

 

[WildcatFan1982]

The only time I've enjoyed the movie more than the book was "Silver Linings Playbook"

 

[It'saDoneDeal]

What a great topic! I really enjoyed the Maximum Overdrive thread and this has the potential to be so much better.

I really enjoy reading books. My mother says that books are my life, lol. I probably read books I'd say about 4-5 hours every day. I just lose myself in the mystery, the moments. I love Edward Rice Burroughs and those Tarzan books. That wild man just swinging through them trees all day talking to apes and whatnots, I just love it. I just picture myself in the jungle living that life and just dream. And yet here I sit behind some fancy Macbook with my PJs on! Oh well! Anyhoo, gotta go guys, great topics.

 

[kyaddict]

Big Stephen King reader. The Green Mile was very, very close to his novel. Shawshank is the only movie that I thought was better than the book. Actually, Shawshank was a novella in his book Different Seasons. It was just a few hundred pages long. The rest of the movies based on his books are horrible in comparison.

 

[wildcatsboston1984]

Is time a factor? If yes, then the choice is obviously movie

 

[rabidcatfan]

The rest of the movies based on his books are horrible in comparison.

Sorry, but I have to disagree with this quote. I'm a big King fan as well, but I feel that many movie versions have done the novel/novellas justice and in a couple of cases are better than the source material:

- Stanley Kubrick's 'The Shining' is a far more interesting and engaging story than the novel in my opinion.
- Brian De Palma's 'Carrie' is superior than Kings novel in most ways.
- Tobe Hoopers made-for-TV version of 'Salems Lot' was actually a pretty effective horror film and was fairly well done in my opinion.
- David Cronenberg's 'The Dead Zone' is one of Cronenberg's best films.
- Rob Reiner's 'Stand By Me', and 'Misery' were as good as the source material and at times better in my opinion.
- John Carpenters 'Christine' took out the Roland LeBay haunting his own car angle and made the car an evil entity from birth instead which I kinda liked more.
- Frank Darabont's 'The Shawshank Redemption', 'The Green Mile', and 'The Mist' were very respectful to the source material and were done very well in my opinion. Shawshank is ranked number one on IMDB's top 250 films of all-time list.

Movies that were also pretty good/decent that were based on King novels/novellas were 'Cujo', 'Firestarter', 'Children of the Corn', 'The Running Man', 'Apt Pupil', 'Silver Bullet', 'Dolores Claiborne', '1408', 'Salems Lot' (television mini-series).

Of course, there have also been bad adaptions- 'Graveyard Shift', 'Needful Things', Pet Semetary', 'The Stand', 'The Tommyknockers', 'The Langoliers', 'IT', 'Dreamcatcher', 'Thinner', 'The Dark Half', 'Secret WIndow', 'The Mangler', 'Hearts in Atlantis', 'Bag of Bones', all other 'Carrie' films.

All-in-all however, I feel that King's novels have been fairly well represented on film. He definitely has to be the most adapted author of all time.

 

[treyforuk]

I read all the Lee Child series. Tom Cruise, the midget, could not pull off Jack Reacher.

 

[Perrin75]

By and large I prefer the book to the movie. And more and more I find myself actually enjoying the audiobook the most of them all. The audio version of "The Martian" and "World War Z" are incredible. There are the occasional exception. For example "Forrest Gump" the book is just horrible. It's hard to believe that film was even linked to the book in any way.

One thing I am hoping that we do see is more TV shows based around books. In the 70's and 80's the mini-series became a big thing and we saw excellent productions based on books like Roots and Shogun. With the success of shows like "Game of Thrones". "House of Cards" and "Orange is the New Black" I think we will start seeing more of these books being made into long-form series. "American Gods" and "Man in the High Castle" are currently into development as series. I can't wait to see how they are done.

 

[UpstateNYCat]

Both Jaws and The Exorcist, the movies were better than the books.

 

[domino79]

I prefer the book. Celebrity actors and actresses come with their own mannerism and personalities that narrow the characters. Give me an engrossing book with original characters that jump off the page. I really look for books to make a comeback after this internet fad dies down.

 

[-LEK-]

I read all the Lee Child series. Tom Cruise, the midget, could not pull off Jack Reacher.

Has there ever been a character he did pull of well, besides being a german soldier who spoke american english. that was awesome. and the drunk american samuri.

 

[dgtatu01]

I am interested to see how The Martian plays out. To me the ongoing dialogue he has with himself is fascinating in the book, it looks like the movie is going to try to play that out in a video diary format.