Joseph_Falcone's picture
Joseph_Falcone from Maple, Ontario, Canada. is reading The Elemantary Particles by Michel Houellebecq October 5, 2011 - 12:21pm

It's pretty self-explanatory, what's your favourtie film adaptations?

Perfume by Patrick Suskind.

Shutter Island and Gone Baby Gone by Dennis Lehane.

 

Charles's picture
Charles from Portland is reading Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones October 5, 2011 - 12:23pm

the road -- im sorry it was beautiful. the only flaw is that the man dies too close to being wounded by the arrow, and theater goers seemed to think this is why he died. say what you want about the flashbacks and whatever. but dont say it wasnt a great translation

.'s picture
. October 5, 2011 - 12:30pm

Trainspotting. Fight Club. American Psycho.

Brandon's picture
Brandon from KCMO is reading Made to Break October 5, 2011 - 12:34pm

Requiem for a Dream

CJ Roberts's picture
CJ Roberts from Salem, MA is reading goodreads.com/cjroberts_dmm October 5, 2011 - 1:22pm

Does Watchmen count?

Something Wicked This Way Comes...

Bladerunner

The Maltese Falcon

I also love Hitchhiker's Guide no matter how daft that makes me.
 

Brandon's picture
Brandon from KCMO is reading Made to Break October 5, 2011 - 1:22pm

Watchmen definitely counts.

Joseph_Falcone's picture
Joseph_Falcone from Maple, Ontario, Canada. is reading The Elemantary Particles by Michel Houellebecq October 5, 2011 - 2:00pm

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, directed by Stanley Kubrick. 

A Most Dangerous Method by John Kerr, directed by David Cronenberg. 

.'s picture
. October 5, 2011 - 2:04pm

Oh I forgot, Naked Lunch.

lyndonriggall's picture
lyndonriggall from Tasmania is reading Going Bovine by Libba Bray October 5, 2011 - 3:05pm

For me Where The Wild Things Are and Stardust take the books in directions I had never considered.  They treat their audience (particularly the first film) as people who have read the book, and want to remain faithful to its strengths while still surprising us.  Great films.

Also Adaptation. Which is the same but even more so.

Liana's picture
Liana from Romania and Texas is reading Naked Lunch October 5, 2011 - 4:13pm

For me, a movie that was better than the book was Empire of the Sun.
Also, can't go wrong with The Shining.

As far as pure entertainment goes, Harry Potter better be a good adaptation because I won't be bothered to read the books!

Nick Wilczynski's picture
Nick Wilczynski from Greensboro, NC is reading A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin October 5, 2011 - 5:34pm

Fear and Loathing is my favorite, and it has always seemed to me the gold standard in respecting the original work.

The problem with film versions of Alan Moore's comics is that they always cut or screw up what seems to me the single most important part, allow me to explain.

In V for Vendetta, say, that's a fine movie, I like the way the Portman is still bangin even bald and in many ways it is very true to the original. But the one scene that I remember them really cutting was when Finch goes to the camp and drops Acid. Which is fine, leave the Lysergic out of it if you are afraid of a little LSD, but in that scene it describes V's escape from the prison, and the line there about "Who has imprisoned me here? Who holds the key? Except for.... me..." after which V blows his way out of the camp and begins plotting his path of destruction, that line always seemed to me to convey the spiritual essence of the work, that seemed like it was the point of the whole damned thing and so why cut THAT PART out?

With Watchmen, again, Watchmen is a good movie and for the most part it is a shot for shot adaption (yes, it updates certain things, it might have been more fun to see a giant squid monster dropped on Manhattan, whatever, the way they did it works).

Except that it puts Dr. Manhattan off planet at the end and instead of this epic, tense scene where Ozy has been physically beaten despite having accomplished his goals and he asks Dr. Manhattan "In the end, though, this is for the best, right?" and Manhattan is like, "the end of what?"

In the movie, well, let me be honest, I think that the Silk Spectre character, I think the actress who plays her is terrible, every time she opened her mouth her delivery was one of "reading lines" not like she was actually the character and it kicked the crap out of my 4th wall the entire time I watched the movie and I was getting frustrated with her, and then at the end they take the BEST LINE IN THE GODDAMN SCRIPT and have her deliver it with a "I bet Jon would say..."

And also, any of Moore's comics that were made into movies involve the rights being more or less stolen from Moore. At least Fear and Loathing had Hunter's blessing.

william.c.cathey's picture
william.c.cathey from Georgia is reading What Is The What October 5, 2011 - 8:24pm

(1925) Phantom of the Opera -- silent film

or, V for Vendetta

Meachman's picture
Meachman from Indianapolis is reading Amusing Ourselves to Death October 5, 2011 - 9:28pm

It's not film, but Walking Dead, which I think may be cooler since it's still an ongoing comic series and a TV series.

Nomination for worst adaptation--Wanted. I think the main character's name and the Title are the only things that stayed even remotely similar.

aliensoul77's picture
aliensoul77 from a cold distant star is reading the writing on the wall. October 5, 2011 - 9:35pm

Perfume is absolutely insane.  I love that movie.

Requiem for a Dream is probably the most depressing drug movie ever made lol

American Psycho for sure. 

I agree the Shining movie was awesome.  What's hilarious is that Stephen King thought it was terrible and preferred his lame-ass mini-series with Steven Weber as the Dad.  Sometimes I think King has bad taste, whenever he is in control of a film, he makes it soooo cheesy.  Example:  Sleepwalkers.

Bekanator's picture
Bekanator from Kamloops, British Columbia is reading Ugly Girls by Lindsay Hunter October 5, 2011 - 9:59pm

Yes, Fight Club.

Little Children was also very well done.  And Speak, probably the only movie where Kristin Stewert doesn't get annoying because she doesn't get the chance to talk enough, and thus can't stutter madly.

Joseph_Falcone's picture
Joseph_Falcone from Maple, Ontario, Canada. is reading The Elemantary Particles by Michel Houellebecq October 5, 2011 - 10:42pm

Little Children was indeed very well done. Obviously American Psycho should be on this list. 

@Meachman. The Walking Dead has become one of my favourite shows on T.V. Not a movie but who cares. With all the shit adaptations that get made, we will need to include T.V. 

Philly V's picture
Philly V from Bradford is reading The Crow Road October 6, 2011 - 3:10am

I have to say A Clockwork Orange. I know it's quite different from the book, but I believe it still gets the point across and it's filmed very well. I get the same sense of wanting to be on Alex's side, despite him being a complete dick, in both the book and the film.

Watchmen? Seriously? I can't believe anyone involved in the film even read Watchmen. They drained the characters of all substance, they give them ridiculous "super powers" (I mean, Rorschach doesn't need his grappling hook, he just jumps up a buillding, Ozymandias isn't the weak-but-clever one, he's an absolute powerhouse, clearly - the fight scenes are way over the top) and they totally screwed up the ending making it completely nonsensical.
Hollywood must hate Alan Moore, they pretty much butchered everything he's ever written by avoiding the entire point Moore was trying to convey.

Dave McCary's picture
Dave McCary from Santa Barbara, CA is reading A Dance of Dragons (A Song of Ice and Fire series) October 6, 2011 - 8:10am

I thought Let The Right One In was pretty well done. Of course, I mean to reference the Swedish version. The American one wasn't bad, but was not nearly as good.

The book was bloody fantastic.

 

Achillez's picture
Achillez from Long Island, New York is reading The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway October 6, 2011 - 2:56pm

Fight Club. I have a feeling Moneyball is better than the book (haven't seen it yet), but that's nonfiction so it doesn't really count.

Klassy's picture
Klassy from San Francisco is reading Reamde by Neal Stephenson, and Supergods by Grant Morrison October 6, 2011 - 3:02pm

I really love the soft, quiet world of Never Let Me Go adapted on film.

 

I also love:

Picnic at Hanging Rock 

The Company of Wolves 

Rashomon (adaptation of In A Grove)

Jan Svakmajer's version of Alice in Wonderland called Neko z Alenky or also known as Alice

Death in Venice

The Prestige

Room With A View

Nick Wilczynski's picture
Nick Wilczynski from Greensboro, NC is reading A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin October 6, 2011 - 3:28pm

The Prestige was a book?

Brandon's picture
Brandon from KCMO is reading Made to Break October 6, 2011 - 4:49pm

Yeah, Prestige was a book.  I bought it after I watched the movie.  The movie was better.

heder.schmit's picture
heder.schmit from Canada is reading The Girl Who Played With Fire October 6, 2011 - 6:09pm

Wow. there are soo many! 

- Requiem for  dream  

- Fight Club 

- The Notebook ( as a girl I am obliged to mention this one!) 

- Lord of the RINGS!!!!!! ( hopefuly the hobbit will be just as awesome an adaptation!) 

- V for Vendetta 

- Scott Pilgrim vs. the world 

 

Uhhh I know there are A LOT more but can't think of them right now!

 

postpomo's picture
postpomo from Canada is reading words words words October 6, 2011 - 6:53pm

There are some books I love too much to see the film (Perfume for example).

I agree with many of those listed above, Trainspotting & Fight Club

also the Silence of the Lambs - which I think is the closest thing to a faithful adaptation as I've ever seen.

plus Jaws (despite the big rubber shark) and Sin City

 

Craig Clevenger's picture
Craig Clevenger from Joshua Tree, CA October 12, 2011 - 11:34pm

After Dark, My Sweet. Jim Foley's adaptation of the Jim Thompson novel. All-time favorite.

Brandon's picture
Brandon from KCMO is reading Made to Break October 13, 2011 - 6:02am

Battle Royale

It's got that chick that played Gogo in Kill Bill.

EDIT: Oh, and how about those Christopher Nolan adaptations of Batman.  Not bad, eh?

PattiM's picture
PattiM from Traverse City, MI is reading The Contortionist's Handbook October 13, 2011 - 7:48am

The Shawshank Redemption

My Girl

 

jyh's picture
jyh from VA is reading whatever he feels like October 13, 2011 - 8:31am

Clue

PROleary's picture
PROleary from central NJ is reading anything and everything October 13, 2011 - 8:38am

My vote is for Stardust.

Hey Joseph_Falcone, you got to see A Dangerous Method! I'm jealous. I always look forward to new Cronenberg.

Joseph_Falcone's picture
Joseph_Falcone from Maple, Ontario, Canada. is reading The Elemantary Particles by Michel Houellebecq October 13, 2011 - 5:00pm

Yes PROleary. I saw it at the Toronto International Film Festival. 

EricWojo's picture
EricWojo from Livonia, Michigan is reading The Brothers Karamazov October 13, 2011 - 6:09pm

The Call of Cthulhu done by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society.

postpomo's picture
postpomo from Canada is reading words words words October 13, 2011 - 7:51pm

@EricWojo: if that's the same one I saw, that was an impressive low budget adaptation for sure. the making of was probably even more terrifying, considering how unsound some of the set pieces were.