Monday, July 9, 2012

Books into movies -- which ones work?

The other night, I finally got around to watching ONE FOR THE MONEY. Heigl's "NJ accent" almost ruined the whole thing for me, but once I got past that, I thought it was a decent adaptation. Not the best I've seen, but one that was true to the tone and story of the book it was based on.

This got me to thinking about other movies based on books I've enjoyed. The first five that came to mind were:

The Harry Potter films
IT (the mini-series with Tim Curry as Pennywise)
A Time to Kill (It's not my fave of Grisham's books, but I think it's the best adaptation)
Bridget Jones' Diary
Gone Baby, Gone


IT Pictures, Images and Photos">

My least favorite book to movie adaptation is WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE.
I HATE the movie, love the book.

Tell me KILLER FRIENDS: Which books turned into movies do you love? Which do you hate?

6 comments:

Clarice Wynter said...

Romancing the Stone was one of my favorites - the sequel book was good, but the second movie - not so much.

Em-Musing said...

Bridges of Madison County.

B.E. Sanderson said...

I've never read IT, but the mini-series seemed pretty good. I really liked King's The Stand (both the book and the mini-series) best though. Although, Carrie wasn't a bad adaptation.

Other books to movies I enjoyed were the HP movies (naturally), To Kill a Mockingbird (Gregory Peck... :sigh:), The Firm, Patriot Games, Jurassic Park. With those last three, I think I enjoyed the films because I saw them before I read the books. If I'd read the book first, I would've been irritated with the movies.

JB Lynn said...

Clarice -- I've never read those books

Em -- A great adaptation, you're right!

B.E. -- IT is my FAVORITE Stephen King novel. Worth reading, imho. I'd read all the books before I saw your list of movies so I imagine my thinking was colored by that.

Jennifer Hillier said...

Cool topic! Lemme think...

I totally agree with you about A Time to Kill, and I'd also add The Firm to that.

I thought Interview with a Vampire was a great adaptation to Rice's novel.

Agree with Em about Bridges, which I thought was a way better movie than it was a book.

And the Shawshank Redemption went above and beyond Stephen King's short story.

What I hated? Michael Chricton's Timeline was a terrible movie. And Pet Sematary, one of my fave books ever - bad movie.

I was neutral on Harry Potter and the Hunger Games.

JB Lynn said...

Jennifer Hillier -- I'd agree with you on Interview With a Vampire....I actually liked the movie better and I'm not even a fan of Cruise or Pitt.

And you're SO right about Pet Sematary....SUCH a disappointment