Thursday Movie Picks - Book Adaptations

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This week's theme from Wandering Through The Shelves is book adaptations. I'm back on the correct list this week, hopefully. This is another reoccurring theme so I decided that this week I'm going to talk about book adaptions that came out this year that I didn't care for.


1) Where The Crawdads Sing - Everyone and them mom was raving about this book at one point, and I never read it. After watching the movie, I can see where this might have been a compelling mystery to read, but I don't think the film did a very good job of laying the groundwork for the big reveal. 


2) Luckiest Girl Alive - This book I did read and strongly disliked. The author really wants to be Gillian Flynn and she just can't hack it. This is one of those rare cases where the movie works better, but I still didn't love it. 


3) My Policeman - I reviewed this yesterday, an I already forgot what I wrote. This movie is incredibly forgettable. 

Comments

  1. BirgitNovember 17, 2022 at 2:04 PM

    Yikes ...sounds like 3 yawns. I probably will not see these.

    ReplyDelete
  2. thevoid99November 17, 2022 at 2:58 PM

    I haven't seen any of these films and I don't have any interest in seeing any of them. In fact, why do they insist on making adaptations of books that were recommended by Oprah and Reese Witherspoon that weren't any good to begin with?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamNovember 18, 2022 at 4:42 PM

      I have no idea. Some things just work so much better in book form (like Girl on a Train) the movie medium ain't it.

      Delete
  3. joel65913November 18, 2022 at 8:16 AM

    I haven't seen the first two though I've heard of the first book. I was just contemplating watching My Policeman the other day but the reviews were so lukewarm it put me off. Looks like that was the right decision.

    I lean more towards adaptations of classic literature and these three are some of the best of those works. The 1935 version of Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities with Ronald Colman ideal in the lead. One of my favorite books is Baroness Orczy's The Scarlet Pimpernel which has had two excellent adaptations. My favorite is the 1982 take with Jane Seymour and Anthony Andrews but that was made for TV so I'd pick the 1934 English version with Leslie Howard and Merle Oberon. One of the intriguing aspects of the book vs. movie versions is that the book is told from the major female character's perspective but by necessity the film is from the Pimpernel's. Normally that would bother me but cinematically it makes sense. My last would be the 2002 version of The Count of Monte Cristo with Jim Caviezel, Guy Pearce and a near baby Henry Cavill. There are many versions of the novel and several decent ones but this one is the most action packed and lavish.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamNovember 18, 2022 at 4:41 PM

      I haven't seen any of those! I never had to read tale of Two Cities in school. I know a lot of people did.

      Delete
  4. Wandering Through The ShelvesNovember 19, 2022 at 8:52 AM

    The only one I’ve seen and read is The Luckiest Girl Alive, I remember it being super popular when it came out but I didn’t love it too though I can understand why it got a lot of attention. Mila Kunis well…her accent still sometimes sound like Jackie in The 70s Show, which is not how the younger version of the character played by another actress sound like.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamNovember 22, 2022 at 8:28 AM

      That's a good point. I did appreciate that the two were different though. That was my main problem with the book. Older Ani sounded exactly like teenage Ani and realistically enough traumatic stuff happened to her where she should change slightly, but it was just like reading an angry teenager girl's diary. I wonder if she was mindful of that criticism because I assume it's one a lot of people would have.

      Delete
  5. ThePunkTheoryDecember 23, 2022 at 2:24 AM

    I was considering checking out Luckiest Girl Alive but I had my issues with this type of stories before, sooo I might give it a pass 😅

    ReplyDelete

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