Thursday, July 12, 2007

Celluloid




Booking Through Thursday

1. In your opinion, what is the best translation of a book to a movie?
2. The worst?
3. Had you read the book before seeing the movie, and did that make a difference? (Personally, all other things being equal, I usually prefer whichever I was introduced to first.)

And, by all means, expand this to as long a list as you like. I’m notoriously awful myself at narrowing down to one favorite ANYTHING. So, feel free to list as many “good” or “bad” movie-from-books as you like. (Heaven knows that’s what I’ll be doing….)


Everyone who know me, know I'm addicted to books and movies (or TV shows). Two things I mostly love to do in my free time. But when two things are clashed or put together, you either end up with the good or the bad inspection(high hope) of your favorite movies or books. I have had experience of both. You read a book, name it your favorite, hear it will be put into movies, and then get disappointed. Or you watch a movie think it favorite, read the book and you realized there either a missing scenes or it was add on from the movies. It just was not the way the stories go. Lot of time I just wish that authors have the right to tell which part should be added, put in or delete. I get so disappointed when movies does not play out the way it was in the books.

Nora Roberts for instance. Four of Nora's books were made into mini movies television from Lifetimes. Montana Sky, Angels Fall, Blue Smoke Carolina Moon. Only Sanctuary was made long time ago. And OMG they killed that book. The movie did no justice to the book. It was awful imo. Out of all the movies made, I like Carolina Moon the best. Because I thought most of the scenes were all there. And it almost follow the book. Very intriguing and and it grab you. Although I thought Blue Smoke and Montana Sky were good. But I still was disappointed.

I have read the first 3 books of Harry Potter and only seen all 4 movies. I'm waiting to see movie # 5. The books have everything there. More detailed, more characters and so on. But the movies cut off some of the scenes that should have been there imo. Or some part that didn't need to be there. And some of the movies didn't follow the book, exactly but slightly close imo

Gone With the Wind was the classic book I read back then. And when I realized there a movie I was excited. I think that the movie show and capture great pictures production in film. It show the present of Southern and the war imo. And characters -- you either want to hate or love them. The first book was good too. But the sequel, not so good. Again imo

Anne of the Green Gable I seen both movie and books, and love it both way. I thought the movie show the characters really well and the pictures were the right "feel" of the book IMO

JDRobb, Stephanie Plum, Troubleshooter 16, The Outlander and Ghostwalker are some of the series I love that might be put into movies. But for the sake of *MY* insanity, I hope they don't. Because I hate to see good books made into movies and get disappointed.

There are some favorite movies that I have seen but haven't read the books. Example would be Little Women, To Kill a Mockingbird, Eragon, Lord of the Rings, The Secret Garden...etc Not sure when I get to reading it, but I hope it doesn't kill my favorite movies ;)

I'm sure there lot more lists, but my brain is just not function LOL...Which explain why I'm drinking coffee as I write *grin*. I'm sure it will come to me, once I read others BTT bloggers. In conclusion, I tend to think that reader should read the books first before seeing it at the movies. It help to explain lot of things that missing on screen.

What about you? Any opinion on best and worse of movies/books?

Don’t forget to leave a link to your actual response (so people don’t have to go searching for it) in the comments—or if you prefer, leave your answers in the comments themselves!

12 comments:

Marianne Arkins said...

Definitely see "To Kill A Mockingbird"... seriously one of the best book-to-movie efforts ever done.

I agree with pretty much everything you said!

Thanks for visiting.

Stephanie said...

Yep...To Kill a Mockingbird is probably one of the best adaptations ever!! Gregory Peck was phenomenal!

Mei said...

Both Little Women and TKAM are great movies. I was afraid that Little Women would be wildly different from the book, but it stayed true, even to the (imo) horrible ending.

Anonymous said...

I agree with everyone that TKAM is a great movie. The book is a bit more detailed, but since it's short one not that much is missing.

Melody said...

Hi Julia, I know how you feel about NR's books, and that it sucks when the movies did no justice to the books versions. It happens most of the times. That's why I prefer to read the books, but still go for the movies because I want to see all the actions (although some parts are missing).

Happy BTT!

Alice said...

Aye Julia! I agree with you. One should ideally, read the book first before seeing it at the movies. Definitely explains lots of missing parts on screen. ;)

PS: Now hot on my to-do list: Watch TKAM.

Kathleen said...

Hubby just came back from seeing HP 5 and he said if he hadn't read the book, he would have been very confused.

My answers: http://smsbookreviews.blogspot.com/2007/07/booking-through-thursday_12.html

Ceri Hebert said...

Oh, I forgot about the Nora Roberts movies a few months ago. Not impressive, but I liked the last one the best.

If you haven't read the Watchers its a definite must read. It was the first Dean Koontz book I read and my favorite. Just don't see the movie (it was made in the 80's so maybe its not even around anymore-if I were DK I'd burn them all).

I loved Anne of Green Gables too.

Kelly said...

Pride and prejudice mini series and cold mountain

Kristie (J) said...

The worst book to movie for me was Morning Glory by Lavryle Spencer. I was excited beyond belief when I saw it was being made into a movie and bitterly disappointed when I saw it.

The best is a tie
Tim by Colleen McCullough starring Mel Gibson. This was made a very long time ago in Australia before Mel made it Hollwood and it followed the book faithfully. The other is The Outsider by Penelope Williamson. This was an awesome movie with Tim Daly and Niaomi Watts

Kristie (J) said...

Dang! That would be a three-way tie. Forgot about Lord of the Rings (how could I DO that????) It's an fabulous book to movie.

Julia said...

Hi everyone! Thanks so much for stopping by. So sorry I didn't comments my thanks to you, sooner here. My internet was down...

I hope to be back and post a thanks comments and get my blog moving again. In the mean time, have fun and nice day everyone!

Julia