Thursday Movie Picks - Book Adaptations
This week's theme from Wandering Through The Shelves is another reoccurring one - book adaptations! I thought about going with a theme within a theme, but I decided to instead chose movies that have just been on my mind lately. Here's what I came up with.
1) Misery - My 11 year old caught part of the ending of this on TV a while back and has been begging me to watch it ever since. I keep telling him no. He even tried to discreetly choose it on the seat back entertainment on our last flight. Poor kid, I'll give in eventually. I actually haven't read the book to go along with this, but I would like to. I hope to knock that out this winter.
2) The Lovely Bones - This was on TV the other day and it just reminded me how much Peter Jackson fumbled the bag with this. He had such a great cast, but I'll say it over and over - this needed a female director.
3) American Psycho - This gets the third spot because it remains my #1 "Movie was better than the book" film.
Misery isn’t really my type of film, but Kathy Bates is tremendous in it. I went through a Stephen King phase after reading and loving The Stand, but it didn’t last too long. Salem’s Lot deeply unsettled me, and I still love The Stand, but his books quickly became repetitive and I moved on before getting to Misery.
ReplyDeleteI listened to The Lovely Bones on audio and while it was profoundly sad and unnerving it was also beautifully written. I’ve studiously avoided the film despite the cast because all I’ve ever heard was what a disappointing adaptation it is.
Both the book and film of American Psycho never interested me. I know people praise them but the subject matter is just too dark for me.
You inspired my choices this time with your pick of Lovely Bones. Usually, I prefer the book to the film but in these three instances it was the other way around. With that said I did like all three novels I just thought the films were able to either correct or strengthen some shortcoming of the book.
Gone With the Wind (1939)-The book is fascinating and sprawling which applies to the film as well but with the elimination of some superfluous characters the film sharpens Scarlett’s story making her even more compelling.
Three Days of the Condor (1975)-The adapted novel is titled Six Days of the Condor, a great compulsively readable book (I consumed it in a day) but the film’s kaleidoscoping of the action into the shorter time span tightens the tension cinematically. That is aided enormously with the casting of an ideal Robert Redford as the pursued man.
Marathon Man (1976)-The film directed by John Schlesinger and starring Dustin Hoffman and Laurence Olivier is a wonderfully tense thriller of cross and double crosses swirling around an innocent victim with a satisfying resolution which the book just cannot quite match.
I've only seen Gone With the Wind from your picks, which I hated. I don't think I could ever get through the book version. The last two are ones I would like to eventually see.
DeleteThe mid-70's were such a strong period in American film rife with all sorts of fascinating, varied films. Both Hoffman and Redford were red hot and in their primes during that era, coming together at almost this precise time for "All the President's Men" which I know you loved. Condor was Redford's film leading into ATPM and Marathon Man was Dusty's follow-up to it.
DeleteA couple of others of theirs from that interval worth tracking down.
Robert Redford:
The Way We Were (1973)-A bittersweet romance costarring Barbra Streisand. An enormous hit at the box office, the musical charts and the Oscars especially for Babs. The theme song was one of her biggest successes holding the #1 spot on the Billboard chart for 8 weeks and winning the Best Song Oscar. She was likewise nominated for Best Actress, and in my opinion should have won-this is her career best performance and the film made a mint.
The Sting (1973)-His second pairing with Paul Newman, a great jaunty ride that won Best Picture that year as well as a boatload of other prizes.
The Candidate (1972)-A political black comedy/drama. This one's screenplay won the Oscar.
The Hot Rock (1972)-A heist movie that didn't do terribly well upon release but whose reputation has grown over the years.
One to avoid-The Great Gatsby (1974)-It's better than the awful DiCaprio version and beautiful to look at but flat as a pancake.
Dustin Hoffman:
Lenny (1974)-A gritty biopic of Lenny Bruce directed by Bob Fosse with great performances by Hoffman and Valerie Perrine as his stripper wife Honey, both Oscar nominated. It's brilliant but grim.
Papillon (1973)-Set in a penal colony in French Guyana with Steve McQueen as the title character and an almost unrecognizable Dusty as a fellow inmate. This was remade (underwhelmingly) a few years ago but stick with the original.
Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)-He picked up his first Oscar for this, as did the film, director, Meryl Streep and fittingly for this week the adapted screenplay!
One to avoid-Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? (1971)-The key word here is "terrible"!
I've seen Kramer vs Kramer! I had that on a Blind Spot a few years ago. I saw the remake of Papillion which I didn't care for, but I have heard the original was better. I only watched it because it was an airplane movie I hadn't seen yet.
DeleteMisery is a fun film and.... HEY PAUL!!!! TRY GETTING A RESERVATION AT DORSIA NOW, YOU FUCKING STUPID BASTARD! YOU, FUCKING BASTARD!
ReplyDeleteI love that fucking film. The Lovely Bones... an absolutely missed opportunity of a film that could've been great and instead. Peter Jackson turned it into shit. Lynne Ramsay was supposed to direct it at the time the book was in manuscript form but then the book got hot. Steven Spielberg got the rights and gave it to Peter Jackson to helm it. BOO!!!
I've noticed your Twitter scroll is... dead? Fuck you Elon Musk you stupid asshole.
I would kill to see Lynne Ramsay's Lovely Bones with that cast. I hope someone remakes it, honestly. Even though Saoirse was the perfect Susie.
DeleteI will not wat h the last o eeve though I love Christian Bale. I saw parts of it and it just turned me off. I a tally like The Lovely Bones. I thought it was done so well but I know I'm in the minority. I finally saw Misery a few years ago and it was tense!it is quite good and will watch it again.
ReplyDeleteIt's a very good movie but I 100% understand that it's not going to be for everyone. I don't think The Lovely Bones is a bad movie, I just think compared to how meaty the book was, a female touch would've been better.
DeleteI posted here too. I thought Misery was great but so unnerving and I can't see it when she whacks his foot..ouch!
ReplyDeleteI must be the only one who like The Lovely Bones. I'm not sure why everyone hates it. I hVe to watch it again but I thought Stanley Tucci was great and freaky on his role.
I love Christian Bale but I could not watch this movie. I felt like it was glorifying his serial killer character and made it "fun" when he kills that one guy. I turned it off.
Tucci was so good at being a creepy pedo that it took me a while to not find him creepy in everything lol
DeleteI think I’ve seen Misery. I heard what happens to the author was worse in the book.
ReplyDeleteI’ve read The Lovely Bones and had very much looked forward to the adaptation then and was disappointed…too much CGI as well I think. Did you know Ryan Gosling was first casted to play the father and he had gained the weight to I think appear older, but was eventually replaced by Wahlberg. Gosling was too young I thought especially since Rachel Weisz was playing his wife.
I did know that! I think even Jackson thought he was a bit too young for that at the time. I think he was only 27?
DeleteThe American Psycho movie was so much better than the book. I've read more than one Bret Easton Ellis book and I think his stuff might just not be for me.
ReplyDeleteYES it was.
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