Any Movies You Won't See Because The Book Was Too Special?

[dsm]

In grammar school I loved the book To Kill a Mockingbird, years later I heard it had been made into a movie (w/Gregory Peck). To this day I refuse to watch it even though it received wonderful reviews. I won't even watch commercials for it on cable.

-dsm

[Alobar]

I still havent watched the 3rd harry potter movie, because the first two were so stupid, and the books were so good.

[JimRivett]

The Lord of The Rings!

I can't perceive a movie doing that book(s) justice, despite the fact I know some people who were involved in the making of it.

Jim

[ClaytonN]

If there was ever a book that got the royal movie treatment, it was LOTR.

To Kill a Mockingbird is a better book than the movie, though Gregory Peck was just awesome.

[Rick Nebiolo]

Good topic but can't really think of any right now.

Sort or related but now that I'm starting to read the Patrick O'Brien books (so far I've finished four of the twenty books in the series and the next two are on my Christmas list) I sort of wish I never saw "Master and Commander". The movie was very good but I would have rather created an independent vision of Aubrey and Maturin.

Of the books I've read after seeing the movie(s) was "The Godfather". The movie was much better.

~ Rick

[spamuell]

Forster's Maurice.

I'm reading Nabokov's Lolita now, but I think I will see the movie because it's a Kubrick film and he's good.

[Rick Nebiolo]

Jim,

Long time no see!

Anyway, I agree. Loved the books when I read them during a summer in the college years but the last hour of the last movie was the longest hour in my life.

~ Rick

[Uston]

Despite the fact that I've heard nothing but good things about the movie, I have no interest in seeing Requiem For A Dream. After reading the book, I'm sure the movie will be a disappointment.

[cnfuzzd]

I hated,,, absolutely hated the LOTR movies. The books are near-perfect in my opinion, and the screenplay is just terrible. Jackson took all the best parts of the movie out so that he could add in ridiculous scenes of his own creation. Cutting bombadil and giving his lines to treebeard, who is also now a sluggish oaf. Making faramir a ring-mad sycophant to his father, ugh, it goes on and on. When each film was released, i had to go with different groups of people because it was inevitable that at some point in the movie(usually about every five minutes) i would get pissed off and shout "NOT IN THE BOOK" especially at the parts that all the easily-apparent schmoes, who would never read the books, were enjoying.

Course, i still own the dvd's. Sad, sad nerd.

peace

john nickle

[SomethingClever]

Well, I'm both excited and nervous about the upcoming Hitchhiker's Guide movie.

I think they did a good job with casting, but I don't think the movie can ever be as good as the one in my head.

[Alobar]

[ QUOTE ]
The Lord of The Rings!

I can't perceive a movie doing that book(s) justice, despite the fact I know some people who were involved in the making of it.

Jim

[/ QUOTE ]

The movies are actually better than the books.

[edtost]

while the lolita movie was good in its own right, it doesn't even come close to the book. then again, making a movie to capture everything inherent in nabokov's writing would be impossible.

[tolbiny]

I was extrodinarily disapointed with the first LOTR movie, which i went to see with my dad. He had already seen it once, and his first reaction was the same as mine, his second was that if you remove the movie from your expectations of the book then it is a better than average movie, and OK to watch and enjoy. I see his point, and have seen all three and enjoyed them better because of it. Frankly though, when measured against the books in that series they are pop culture garbage.
Elija Wood as Frodo Baggins? Gee, i thought hobbits were supposed to be round, and that Frodo was in his forites when he left for the trip, not 17. And the physical transformantions that he underwent in the book were no where to be found in the movies... and don't get me started on the [censored] erotic adventures of Merry and Pippen.

[nothumb]

The Godfather was a better movie than a book?

I can see saying that 'The Godfather' as a movie ranks higher in the alltime standings of movies than it ranks in the all-time standings of books, because that's true. But it was a very good book that lost a lot of its more interesting sub-plots (obviously) in the movie. I am definitely glad I read the book and enjoyed the story much more for it.

I just finished reading "The World According to Garp" after not reading fiction for a long time, and really enjoyed it. I'm not sure if I should see the movie or not.

NT

[cnfuzzd]

you sir, are wrong wrong wrong.

peace

john nickle

[nolanfan34]

I'd say Catch 22. I love the book, and I know there's a movie, but I know they change the ended, and I don't want to bother seeing it.

Yossarian and the rest are just fine the way they are, in my head.

[maryfield48]

I have a friend who after going to a (disappointing) Michael Crichton book turned movie said he was going to stop reading books because they spoiled the movie.

I have never let him live that remark down.

[ThaSaltCracka]

first of all the LOTR movies are very very good, if you like the books more, fine, but the movies are good.

Anyways, I am somewhat looking forward to the supposed DaVinci Code movie, although I am skeptical too, because the book was awesome.

[Alobar]

[ QUOTE ]
you sir, are wrong wrong wrong.

peace

john nickle

[/ QUOTE ]

I know I will take heat for this, but the books aren't really all that good. They are only so pumped up because they were the first of their kind. There have been many fantasy books since then that are far far superior to the LOTR novels.

[maryfield48]

[ QUOTE ]
Anyways, I am somewhat looking forward to the supposed DaVinci Code movie, although I am skeptical too, because the book was awesome.

[/ QUOTE ]

I thought it sucked.

By which I mean, I thought many of the clues/puzzles were lame, and often obvious, and if the protagonist were as smart as he was supposed to be the story should have taken one-tenth the time because he should have been able to solve them much more quickly.

[Ulysses]

Whoa. I did not even know that was an adaptation. I'll pick up the book this weekend and let you know whether or not you should watch the movie.

[tolbiny]

"There have been many fantasy books since then that are far far superior to the LOTR novels."

Such as?

What are you going to say next, that Dune isn't actually the best sci fi novel out there?

[tolbiny]

Les Miserables.

I have no desire to see a play, movie or short skit from this book. Absolutely incredible read.

[Alobar]

[ QUOTE ]
"There have been many fantasy books since then that are far far superior to the LOTR novels."

Such as?

What are you going to say next, that Dune isn't actually the best sci fi novel out there?

[/ QUOTE ]

Hell no, Dune is the [censored].

Better than LOTR? lets see, any of the Shanara books, The first 2 series that David Eddings wrote. There are others.

[Popinjay]

[ QUOTE ]
"There have been many fantasy books since then that are far far superior to the LOTR novels."

Such as?

What are you going to say next, that Dune isn't actually the best sci fi novel out there?

[/ QUOTE ]

Animorphs

[DerryABU]

I'm with you on this this Maryfield the Da Vinci code was dumb.
I mean a code that you break by reading it a mirror,give me a break thats kids stuff. /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[Blarg]

This Boy's Life, Catcher in the Rye, The Sun Also Rises, Journey to the End of the Night if they ever did it...I'm sure there are many more. I did make the mistake of going to the film of one classic book that I wish I could take back -- Catch 22.

[craig r]

the worst part is they remade Kubrick's (sp?) version. It was a decent movie..but no movie will be able to come close to that book.

craig

[Blarg]

I agree that The Godfather was a very good book. There's not much point or validity in putting it down.

Someone else mentioned Lolita. I thought the movie was a stinker.

The World According to Garp was an okay book, if a little insufferable, but nothing on the planet is as insufferable as Robin Williams. I have to really steel myself to manage going to a movie with him in it, if he's given any chance at all to ham it up and start mugging all over the place.

Oh, I came up with another title I don't think I'd want to see a movie of -- A Separate Peace, by John Knowles I think it was. Too deeply interior of a book to want to see it on screen.

[daryn]

i just wanted to interlude and say the lord of the rings sucks. book and movie. the end.

[MarkL444]

[ QUOTE ]
i just wanted to interlude and say the lord of the rings sucks. book and movie. the end.

[/ QUOTE ]

am i the only person who hasnt read those books?

[daryn]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In risposta di:</font><hr />
</font><blockquote><font class="small">In risposta di:</font><hr />
i just wanted to interlude and say the lord of the rings sucks. book and movie. the end.

[/ QUOTE ]

am i the only person who hasnt read those books?

[/ QUOTE ]


i haven't but feel confident in saying they blow ass.

[youtalkfunny]

[ QUOTE ]
Les Miserables.

[/ QUOTE ]

Go see the play. Not for the story, but for the music.

And pick up the one with Liam Neesan as Valjean. No, he's nothing special. But Uma Thurman can do no wrong in my eyes, and she's Fantine; and you'll never forget Geoffrey Rush's Javert. "I knew it. I KNEW IT!!!!"

Just be sure to turn it off after Valjean escapes with Cosette. Anything you see after that will just piss you off (especially how they changed Javert's suicide).

Yeah, I'm waaaay too into this. I wanted to name my daughter Cosette, but my French surname rhymes with Cosette, and is just a few letters off from Cosette, and I just couldn't do that to her.

Back to the topic: I'm reading "The Old Man and the Sea" right now (my local library doesn't have many audiobooks on CD, so I take what I can get). Still early yet, but it's awesome so far, and as much as I love Spencer Tracy, there's just NO WAY that film could possibly do justice to this book.

[Blarg]

He won the Nobel or the Pulitzer for that one, if I recall correctly. I think the Nobel.

[NLSoldier]

[ QUOTE ]

i just wanted to interlude and say the lord of the rings sucks. book and movie. the end.


[/ QUOTE ]

Damn, you took the words right out of my mouth!

I am proud to say that I fell asleep IN THE THEATER during the 3rd LOTR movie.

[NLSoldier]

[ QUOTE ]
Animorphs


[/ QUOTE ]

Dude, are those the books that I think they are....cause holy crap, wow.

[Rushmore]

[ QUOTE ]
By which I mean, I thought many of the clues/puzzles were lame, and often obvious, and if the protagonist were as smart as he was supposed to be the story should have taken one-tenth the time because he should have been able to solve them much more quickly.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thank you, Mary.

Most notable is the very first "clue:"

O, Draconian devil, Oh, lame saint!

Uuuuh, why would anyone spell the worh "Oh" two different ways?

It HAS to be an anagram of some sort.

Maybe I can get a job as a cryptographer, because this sure was obvious to me.

[Rushmore]

If they ever make a movie out of the PDR ( Physician's Desk Reference), I will not go to see it.

It has brought me too much joy over the years.

I'm sure the screenwriters would leave out some of my favorite chapters, like Seconal, Darvon, and Perodan, and this would just ruin it for me.

But for movies that HAVE been made out of books, I'd have to say I wish I'd never seen Barfly, as it was a travesty.

I'll tell you, The Bonfire of The Vanities sucked really hard, too. I really enjoyed the book.

Conversely, I'd say they did a pretty nice job with Nobody's Fool, by Richard Russo. I thought it would disappoint, and then it was really good.

I will probably not go to see an adaptation of Martin Amis' London Fields, which I hear they are working on. They can't possibly get it on screen properly.

[West]

I also thought the LOTR movies were horrible.

[thirddan]

I wish i hadn't seen "Queen of the Damned", what an awful movie /images/graemlins/frown.gif...The book was soooo good (Anne Rice's best IMO)...


ps. you should see Mockingbird, its quite good...

[Blarg]

[ QUOTE ]
I wish I'd never seen Barfly, as it was a travesty.

[/ QUOTE ]

It may have been a travesty of the book, I wouldn't know. But, it was a very good movie.

Your bit about PDR was funny. I think Richard Simmons could star in all the chapters.

I think my favorite example of a ridiculous transition to the screen was The Grapes of Wrath. Not the movie version with Henry Fonda. The T.V. version with Buddy Ebsen -- The Beverly Hillbillies.

[Rushmore]

[ QUOTE ]
It may have been a travesty of the book, I wouldn't know. But, it was a very good movie.

[/ QUOTE ]

See? It's all relative if you've read the book first. The movie was not what Bukowski intended (although publicly, he said it was "OK"), nor was it anything like what I had here in my skeleton head. I have no idea what Mickey Roarke was doing.

[ QUOTE ]
I think my favorite example of a ridiculous transition to the screen was The Grapes of Wrath. Not the movie version with Henry Fonda. The T.V. version with Buddy Ebsen -- The Beverly Hillbillies.

[/ QUOTE ]

I love the John Ford movie, but I must say it's one of the biggest pieces of propaganda since Riefenstahl.

I must have missed the Buddy Ebsen teleplay.

I think I'll survive.

[Niwa]

At first Fight Club but after I saw it.. WOW!

[jar]

[ QUOTE ]
am i the only person who hasnt read those books?

[/ QUOTE ]
I've tried a few times. There are just so many words. Tolkein goes on for pages and pages and pages and nothing happens. I couldn't make it through, and I find Sklansky's writing lively and entertaining.

[vetman81]

[ QUOTE ]
I have a friend who after going to a (disappointing) Michael Crichton book turned movie said he was going to stop reading books because they spoiled the movie.


[/ QUOTE ]

/images/graemlins/smile.gif That's pretty funny.

Any sci-fi book by Michael Crichton is going to be WAY better than the movie. He just puts way too much detail in there to make a good movie out of it, eg Jurassic Park, Sphere. I havent read or seen the movie of Timeline, so I cant say about it, but if they ever make a movie of of Prey (thats the last one I read), I'm not going to see it.