Book to Movie Conversions . . ..

[Gurck]

Disagree about LotR, I think that modern day society's emphasis on fastfastfast-nownownow and the proliferation of ADD/ADHD (due in large part to TV, IMHO) makes the books seem like too much of an undertaking for many people (omg 2k pages *die*). I agree Jackson did a great job with thet movies, but the books are far better.

 

[thawolfman]

Originally posted by: silverpig

Originally posted by: darkswordsman17
Well, there is a book of novella's written by Stephen King. Several very good movies got their stories from them. They include Stand By Me (The Body), The Shawshank Redemption, and I forget what others and what the original novellas were called. I read a book that had like 5 of them in the one book. The stories were very good, but the movies were considerably better.

I like the LotR books and movies the same, but definitely find it easier to watch the movies than to read the books.

The book was called Different Seasons. It had 4 novellas in it.

Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption (note: no "the" in the title)
Apt Pupil (also made into a movie... never saw it though)
The Body (movie was stand by me with wesley crusher)

and some other one I'm too lazy to google for. The story wasn't very good though. It was about some woman who got into a car accident or something and gave birth as she died on the street or something. I dunno.

Both Shawshank and The Body were excellent stories made into very very good movies. Apt Pupil was an alright story.

The Breathing Method - Got the book right here~ 🙂

 

[nageov3t]

The Body / Stand By Me -- better movie than story
Shawshank Repemption -- better story than movie (the movie really plays down the fact that the guy was a murderer and that really annoyed me)
Apt Pupil -- better story than movie. the story is, IMO, the scariest thing that Stephen King has ever written. it kept me up at nights (read it during my senior year of college). the movie was just kinda meh.

 

[PowerEngineer]

The LOTR moveis better than the book? You MUST be joking!

Granted that the movies were good (far better than I had expected), they don't hold a candle to the brilliance of the books. It's very sad that so many kids growing up today will see the movies before having the enjoyment of making the journey through the books.

Originally posted by: Armitage
How about a book made into a movie made into a book?

We Can Remember It for You Wholesale (Philip K. Dick) -> Total Recall (the movie) -> Total Recall (Piers Anthony)

Never read the original PKD story, liked the movie, but the Piers Anthony book is among the worst books I've ever had the misfortune to waste several hours of my life on.

Here's another... 2001: a Space Odyssey

The Sentinel -- a short story written by Clarke in 1950

2001: a Space Oddyssey -- the screen play by Kubrick and Clarke released in April 1968

2001: a Space Oddyssey -- the book written by Clarke released in July 1968

The movie was so much better than the book because the (at the time) stunning visuals allowed Kubrick to NOT explain everything. Viewers were left with much to think about. Clarke tried to explain everything in words, reducing it to merely an encounter with advanced aliens. And he made matters worse by following that book up with a series of even poorer sequels (as he did for poor Rama as well).

 

[Mnementh]

I have to say I try to see the movies before reading the books as I find most movies very lacking if I've read the book first whereas if I do it the other way round the book adds to what I've seen on the screen.

There are obviously exceptions to this such as LOTR where I read the books before I was ten and many times since, thankfully the movies were actually very good and weren't spoiled too much for the things that had to be left out.

Mnementh

 

[CChaos]

I don't know! It seems I always read the book first and spoil the movie for myself!

 

[Armitage]

Originally posted by: loki8481
The Body / Stand By Me -- better movie than story
Shawshank Repemption -- better story than movie (the movie really plays down the fact that the guy was a murderer and that really annoyed me)

Which guy? The main character was NOT a murderer ... that was the whole point.
Maybe you mean Red, the narrarator?

Apt Pupil -- better story than movie. the story is, IMO, the scariest thing that Stephen King has ever written. it kept me up at nights (read it during my senior year of college). the movie was just kinda meh.

 

[Bowmaster]

2001: a Space Oddyssey -- the book written by Clarke released in July 1968

The movie was so much better than the book because the (at the time) stunning visuals allowed Kubrick to NOT explain everything. Viewers were left with much to think about. Clarke tried to explain everything in words, reducing it to merely an encounter with advanced aliens. And he made matters worse by following that book up with a series of even poorer sequels (as he did for poor Rama as well).

I disagree. You need to read the book to understand the outstanding visuals in the movie.