Entertainment Our Favorite Things: Movies Based on Books
Entertainment
Our Favorite Things: Movies Based on Books
- Details
- Published on Wednesday, 13 February 2013 14:15
- Written by Kevin Kizer
“Our FavoriteThings” is a new feature here at the Peorian where we poll our murder* of writers weekly about their favorite things. To kick off this new feature, we went with an easy question: What is your favorite movie that’s based on a movie, novel or short story? Check out our writers’ responses and see if your favorite(s) made the list.
Oh, and very soon, dear readers, we will be throwing these questions your way. We really do care about your opinions. You can trust us. We’re not like all those other publications. They just tell you what you want to hear then take off with another reader while you’re sitting at the bar thinking you’ve connected with someone. So stay tuned…
* our writers, like a group of crows, are considered a “murder”
Kevin Kizer
As an unabashed book nerd, I have a list a mile long including the likes of Sometimes A Great Notion and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas but I think I will go with a rather obscure film called The Last Time I Committed Suicide starring the young Thomas Jane and Adrien Brody, along with a mediocre Keanu Reeves. It’s based on a letter from Neal Cassady to Jack Kerouac written in a spontaneous prose style that altered Kerouac’s approach to writing, ultimately manifesting itself in On The Road which just came out on screen in 2012.
Timothy Wyman
This is an easy and tough question all at the same time. I easily could have gone with The Godfather, Scarface, or Goodfellas and no one could or would argue. However, I must say given how big of a fan I am of the book and its use of the language, I am voting for The Lord of the Rings. From the groundbreaking cinematography to the exceptional legion of actors to the remarkable storytelling ability that Jackson demonstrated on film make it my choice.
Matt Richmond
First of all, just want to thank Kevin for not specifying that this must be about a movie made from a book we have actually read. I mean, I read stories and everything; it’s just that they’re mostly Karate Kid fan fiction (http://www.fanfiction.net/movie/Karate-Kid/). Having said/written that, I’ve never read The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean, but the movie version, Adaptation, has to qualify as, if not the most faithful adaptation of a written work (I wouldn’t know), probably the most inspired. And least inspired. Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman’s struggles play out in parallel with the story he is adapting, creating an odd, brooding meditation on movies, writing, love, anxiety and disappointment. You know, great, sprawling, New Yorker stuff.
Paul Gordon
This is a no brainer: The Godfather. Not only was it a classic, well-written novel but the movie was one of the best ever made. It was amazing how closely they were able to follow the novel considering how long the book is. The actors in the film captured what I envisioned the characters of the novel to be in such realistic fashion. And the baptism scene will always be one of my all-time favorites.
Kate O’Hara
A favorite movie of mine is the 1998 What Dreams May Come, starring Robin Williams and Cuba Gooding Jr., and authored by Richard Matheson. A classic tale of eternal love, it is memorable to me in spite of that storyline rather than because of it. Matheson’s articulation of heaven and hell and life after death is captivating, even more so when knowing his storytelling relies on years of research and not creativity alone. Regardless of whether one would agree with the premise, I felt the movie created a beautiful and dramatic visualization of the concept.
Shaun Taylor
My favorite movie that's based on a book is Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. Kind of cheesy I know, but I love the whole historical fiction genre. I'm also a huge Tom Hanks fan AND I thought Ewan McGregor did a pretty solid job in his role as a power hungry priest. As often time is the case, I prefer the book but I also enjoyed this movie.
Christoph Traugott
Any movie based on a novel will invariably be a disappointment, either such will leave huge sections out or lightly dance over segments requiring a deep-introspective view, and yet still fail to grasp the epic-sweeping narrative, or fail to convey non-visual thought processes.The one film that comes closest is John Irving's The World According to Garp, but even it jumps through history on super fast-forward.
In Walter Kirn's Up in the Air, which tells the story of a singular ultra-traveler who visits a new city every day, such becomes a test case of the impossible-to-translate-into-a-visual-medium. The Up in the Air screenwriters sensed so much choosing to rearrange, to reshuffle the deck, while keeping the basic essence intact. Up in the Air is a very different film from the book, a retelling, yet it manages to be a good film, unto itself. It wasn't an adaption, as those never really seem to work, but sometimes, good paraphrases can become their own parallel universes, existing side by side, harming neither.
Terry Towery
As a writer, I’ve always been firmly in the “never judge a book by its movie” camp. But there’s an exception, one shining instance where the film was almost as good as the novel. In fact, some would argue the film was superior, but that’s just Hollywood nonsense talk. Yes, I’m talking about The Godfather. I was 14 years old when Francis Ford Coppola’s masterpiece was released. And like most people, I rushed out to see it. But the complex plot and the Italian words left me, shall we say, confused. Ah, but then I bought the novel by Mario Puzo and just like that, I was hooked.
Editor's Note: Since we already showed The Godfather trailer, here's the trailer to The Godfather II.
