Books made into films, they don't always work..

Philly_Q

mikeyrob73 said:

Ladies and gentlemen I give you 

Stephen King -The Dark Tower 

they could not have got the film more wrong, utterly terrible bag of shite. Books are tremendous 

I haven't seen it, yet, but it must suffer from trying to compress elements of several books into a single film - although I expect they were hoping it would be the first of a series.

Stephen King should be well-suited to film adaptations, he writes rattling good yarns with a lot of popular-culture references, the only problem is he's too verbose!  Quite a few of his books have been made into well above average films, though.  Maybe some of the others should be revisited for TV.

Alvin

Logan's Run , great movie , even the cheesy tv series was daft but watchable but the book ? 
     In the movie the age of carousel was 30 in the book it was 21 so where did all the "adults"come from ?  They were all having shagging parties and filming each other , Logan was hanging a girl out of a window by her feet to record one group shagging  . All very strange , especially when you realise all of the "adults" shagging were between about 9 - 13 , could have been lower ! (i am not reading it again to check , once was enough ).  It was like reading a book written by paedophile authors . 
 Then when they escaped and they ran into trouble it was as though they had only walked a  few steps , they get out of there walk a few more steps they are in the middle of a civil war re-enactment .
  It must be the most incoherent book i have ever read and there is now a rumour (yes again) they are going to do another movie based on the book .  Bad idea .
    After reading i was surprised they made such a great movie out of it . The original book should have been pulped .

JezWynd

Paddington. Books were excellent (though it's been years since I read them, I remember them very fondly). The films, while updating the action, are very true to the spirit of Paddington, though I visualise him as having a slightly shaggier coat (perhaps it would have added to render time and made film more costly?).

Master and Commander. Brilliant telling of the books. Crowe is Aubrey and Bettany is a very true Maturin. The action and general feel of the ship are very true. It's a great pity they didn't make any more of the books into films, they'd hit upon a perfect formula. I'd have loved to have seen Clarissa Oakes and Desolation Island on screen.

Apocalpse Now, while it impressed me enormously on early viewings, now seems overblown and a series of cheap thrills. An accurate retelling of Heart of Darkness is well overdue.

Veganic

ICBM said:

Veganic said:

I think they are both great but if I recall correctly they both lack a traditional "story". The book is hilarious. The film I find really dark. Not seen/ read for a while though. 

Nor me, but they left a big impression on me. Both are very dark - unsurprising given the inspiration. The book does manage to be funny in a way that you can't help laughing at even though you know it's really the product of terrifying experiences, the film doesn't quite. It's actually amazing that it filmed as well as it did really - I read the book first and thought a film of it wouldn't work, but it did.

Off topic alert.
Have you read any other J.H?

I read Something Happened and it was an eye-opener at the time. This was years ago.  From memory it could be both strangely topical and hideously dated at the same time right now.

ICBM

Alvin said:

Logan's Run , great movie , even the cheesy tv series was daft but watchable but the book ? 
     In the movie the age of carousel was 30 in the book it was 21 so where did all the "adults"come from ?  They were all having shagging parties and filming each other , Logan was hanging a girl out of a window by her feet to record one group shagging  . All very strange , especially when you realise all of the "adults" shagging were between about 9 - 13 , could have been lower ! (i am not reading it again to check , once was enough ).  It was like reading a book written by paedophile authors . 
 Then when they escaped and they ran into trouble it was as though they had only walked a  few steps , they get out of there walk a few more steps they are in the middle of a civil war re-enactment .
  It must be the most incoherent book i have ever read and there is now a rumour (yes again) they are going to do another movie based on the book .  Bad idea .
    After reading i was surprised they made such a great movie out of it . The original book should have been pulped .

That's always my prime example of a film which is *much* better than the book. It seems the filmmakers took a look at the book title, the characters and the general concept, and then said "this is crap, let's write a totally different story instead". And for once when they do that sort of thing, were absolutely right.

Veganic said:

Off topic alert.

Have you read any other J.H?

I read Something Happened and it was an eye-opener at the time. This was years ago.  From memory it could be both strangely topical and hideously dated at the same time right now.

I tried - both Something Happened and Picture This. I couldn't get on with either of them. I went to a talk by him when Picture This had just come out - I bought a copy and got it signed - and he only seemed interested in talking about Catch-22...

I eventually sold the signed copy of Picture This on Ebay, but it didn't fetch much.

LooseMoose

I am DEEPLY worried about the forthcoming ‘Ready Player One’ movie.

mikeyrob73

Philly_Q said:

mikeyrob73 said:

Ladies and gentlemen I give you 

Stephen King -The Dark Tower 

they could not have got the film more wrong, utterly terrible bag of shite. Books are tremendous 

I haven't seen it, yet, but it must suffer from trying to compress elements of several books into a single film - although I expect they were hoping it would be the first of a series.

Stephen King should be well-suited to film adaptations, he writes rattling good yarns with a lot of popular-culture references, the only problem is he's too verbose!  Quite a few of his books have been made into well above average films, though.  Maybe some of the others should be revisited for TV.

Please don’t waste your time with the film if you have read the books.
They have cast Edris Elba as Roland WTAF? 
The film has taken elements of the books and tried to make a story from those elements. No Eddie, no Susanah NO OY!!!! 

No oy no party 

Stavros

Girl on the Train is a great read, but the film was rubbish, not even set in the same country!

DiscoStu

Yes Man. Inspirational book, shocking film.
A Clockwork Orange on the other hand, great book AND film.

fandango

Neill said:

The most disappointing film I can think of based on a well known book is "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy".  The film is truly awful and a real missed opportunity.

 

Not from where I'm sitting. Remember though that the original radio series was an amateur shambles, but as the series was extended and new series' commissioned, it went on to become a classic that we know and love today.

The thing is, the Martin Freeman film/movie/big screen adaptation only scratches the whole HHGG universe. I've read the (five) books, and listened to the whole radio series including the final episodes, and there's so much material, such that someone could extend the franchise by at least two more films (depending on length).

fandango

My gripe is with the adaptation of Robert Ludlum's 'Jason Bourne' series. I've got the books, and other than the first film's intro where he gets pulled out of the water, the story tracks a rather different path. Having said that, I think they're great films.

Neill

fandango said:

Neill said:

The most disappointing film I can think of based on a well known book is "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy".  The film is truly awful and a real missed opportunity.

 

Not from where I'm sitting. Remember though that the original radio series was an amateur shambles, but as the series was extended and new series' commissioned, it went on to become a classic that we know and love today.

The thing is, the Martin Freeman film/movie/big screen adaptation only scratches the whole HHGG universe. I've read the (five) books, and listened to the whole radio series including the final episodes, and there's so much material, such that someone could extend the franchise by at least two more films (depending on length).

That was my point.  The film was so poor that it effectively kiboshed any possibility of it becoming a franchise.  It was badly received all round and I doubt anyone will touch it now.  

 What did you think of the TV series?  To me that captured the "vibe", for want of a better expression, that the film lacked.  Douglas Adams presumably had a lot more direct influence on the TV production.

CHRISB50

The Kevin Spacey film 21, based on the book Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich. 

It’s a great book but a really shite film. 

LuttiS

1984.

VimFuego

the only book that has be made into a film where I can't draw a clear winner either way is The Road, The book works because is allows the imagination to run free, the film works because it portrays that sense of hopeless nothing so well.

BigBearKris

"Godfather": Mario Puzo vs Francis Ford Coppola. Both absolutely fantastic art pieces. I go back to reading/watching those every few years. 

fob

Ender's Game

A classic sci-fi book but the film wasn't able to capture half of what was going on.

Neill

VimFuego said:

the only book that has be made into a film where I can't draw a clear winner either way is The Road, The book works because is allows the imagination to run free, the film works because it portrays that sense of hopeless nothing so well.

Yes, and funnily enough I feel the same way about "No Country for Old Men", I like the film and the book, but for different reasons.  The book gives you more to think about, but the film works because it gives you less to think about.  (And there are some outstanding performances in the film.)  

McCarthy's writing is just a genius at work,   

Clarky

Neill said:

The most disappointing film I can think of based on a well known book is "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy".  The film is truly awful and a real missed opportunity.

 

have to agree...
the radio series was awesome.. the book was excellent too..
the TV series and movie were utter sh1te..

Clarky

Dune

loved the books... the movie was pants