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Films of Books

40 replies

Bucketsofdynomite · 14/01/2007 19:41

What films of books have you liked/actively disliked?
Are there any you can't believe they bothered to make into a film? (This weekend I was astonished to see there was a film of The Shipping News, hated that book!)
I just read they've finished filming Notes on a Scandal with Cate Blanchett and Judi Dench. Quite excited about that.

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clerkKent · 15/01/2007 14:00

I find that if I enjoyed the book, the film can never match up to it. If I see the film first, the book is often a disappointment. And if the book was crap, the film can still be good.

I had to take DS to see Eragon recently. DD and I enjoyed it, but DS was terribly upset that it didn't follow the book.

batters · 15/01/2007 10:27

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Marina · 15/01/2007 09:58

Oh, and Blade Runner - wonderful rendition of Philip K Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Agree about middlebrow fiction being transformed choosy - IMO The Balkan and Levant Trilogies were much better on the box than being read, ditto Brideshead Revisited.
Also agree that the Morse books are dreadully badly written - and that The Handmaid's Tale was a real turkey from a book that could have been dramatised really effectively. Look at what Alfonso Cuaron has done for Children of Men...

caffeinequeen · 15/01/2007 09:52

cod, IMO, you would love devil wears prada, keen as you are on teh style threads. The clothes are fabulous and the girl who plays the senior assistant is BRILLIANT.

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Bucketsofdynomite · 15/01/2007 09:46

ooh yes High Fidelity was excellent (Joan's in that too and she's the baddie in a Muppet Xmas film.) I became hooked on Jack Black from High Fidelity.

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choosyfloosy · 14/01/2007 23:09

DWP really good film, not as extreme as book but more believable and contains The Meryl.

Trying to imagine car crash effect of having Joan cusack and Meryl Streep in same film. No.

100PerCentCod · 14/01/2007 23:02

the devil wears prada any good

TheArmadillo · 14/01/2007 23:01

a handmaid's tale was poosibly the worst film of a book I have ever seen (ok its old but only saw it recently).

Was also hugely disapointed by Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

Really like the LEmony Snickett film and the later HPs have been good.

I liked the LOTR films as never managed to get through the books as they were so boring.

100PerCentCod · 14/01/2007 22:58

its great
is the devil wears prada any good
am readign it atm

Pruni · 14/01/2007 22:57

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calmontheoutside · 14/01/2007 22:25

Yes she was. By the way have they appeared in other films together?

bakedpotato · 14/01/2007 22:19

(joan also marvellous in generally marvellous School of Rock)

calmontheoutside · 14/01/2007 22:14

Yes, but back to John. Grosse Pointe Blank is a favourite. Sorry to harp on and leave the thread a little. I watch far too many films (hundreds) but also have read hundreds of books (feel better about me please). Yes, John then.

choosyfloosy · 14/01/2007 22:09

Joan Cusack - Working Girl. 'Live and learn - always check the milligrams'

Grosse Pointe Blank.

Nine Months [barf - worst film ever made but doesn't change my opinion of her]

that Kevin Kline thing about the guy outed by a former student on Oscar Night

must be loads of others, surely?

Really dreadful CV actually. But who cares? She's AMAZING. Wish she would do Beatrice in a filmed Much Ado. In Forties gear. Can't think who could do Benedick opposite her.

Pruni · 14/01/2007 22:06

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calmontheoutside · 14/01/2007 22:04

I love him more than Aragorn.

suedonim · 14/01/2007 22:04

I don't really watch all that many films of books but don't you think nowadays film makers have run out of ideas so they're plundering any and every book they can?

calmontheoutside · 14/01/2007 22:03

Yes, High Fidelity, that's it. I've really enjoyed most Hornby books. Is How To Be Good being turned into a film?

choosyfloosy · 14/01/2007 22:03

snap pruni. [cusack addicts anonymous meeting starts now, and that very much includes his sister joan]

Pruni · 14/01/2007 21:59

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calmontheoutside · 14/01/2007 21:58

I LOVED the Tolkien trilogy three times over during the years AND I also loved the films. And I SOOOO loved Aragorn. Gandolf was superb, as were all the fellowship characters. I need to watch it again...
I also loved all the Austen books into films.
Have never watched Memoirs of a Geisha, but so much enjoyed the book and have only heard negative comparisons.
About A Boy I enjoyed as much as the book. And any one with John Cusack surely is as good as the book.
There is a MrsJohnCusack on the MN already. That's very upsetting.

expatinscotland · 14/01/2007 21:53

The Shawshank Redemption.

I have a feeling/hope that the film 'The Last King of Scotland' is better than the book. Which I found crap.

Pruni · 14/01/2007 21:51

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Pruni · 14/01/2007 21:50

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choosyfloosy · 14/01/2007 21:38

the one that killed me was 'fever pitch' - the book was great, why did nick hornby ruin his own book by doing the screenplay as the world's drippiest and least exciting romcom? also i'm afraid if his opinion of women was expressed by his creation of the main female character, no wonder he got divorced (I know it was more complicated that that, btw)

tv can do wonderful things for middlebrow fiction. 'jewel in the crown' was a lot better than the raj quartet, and 'inspector morse' made a real silk purse out of the horrific sow's ear that is colin dexter's plodding whodunnits