In the literature category (sort of):
What is the best movie based on a piece of literature ever made?
Things to consider: The quality of the movie. The quality of the book the movie is based on. How faithful the movie is to the book. Literature in the traditional sense only. No Graphic novel or comic book movies for this one.
Yesterday's winner: Martina (with a nod to Marlina, who I don't know, but who is automatically awesome in my book because she too came up with the right answer)
As much as I love Jeremy Irons, I'm gonna go with Rickman. He has way better lines AND he gets to wear really nice suits. Plus, I think his voice is about an octave lower than Irons, which automatically gives him villain bonus points.
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8 comments:
The original Jurassic Park
Based on the book by Michael Crichton and directed by Steven Spielberg, it obviously has all the credit it needs right there. Add the leaping advances made by ILM for visual effects, and JP is clearly the best film ever made from a book.
I'm going to make a kind of bizarre call here (as I usually seem to do) but my vote is for great expectations. Not everyone can write a book about 20 some-odd years of unrequited love and effectively communicate the longing and depth of those feelings. I feel both the book and the movie did that well. Underrated movie for sure, as Gwenyth Paltrow is smoking in that "you're never going to get me....or are you" way and Ethan Hawke works as a guy who doesn't get laid a lot.
Return of the King. Every detail of that movie is faithful to the book in every way right down to a lot of the dialogue. Even the 37 epilogues are in the book, just as they are in the movie. I don't know that anyone can dispute the quality of any of these movies, and if you think they suck you probably shouldn't be allowed to watch movies anymore.
"The Godfather" was recently pushed up to #2 on the AFI's Top 100 List, and Mario Puzo's novel is equally brilliant. While Puzo's novel includes a little more history (covered in Godfather: Part II and later in The Godfather Trilogy re-edit)it's an excellent story. The plot is realistic and immitates life (i.e. Johnny Fontaine as Frank Sinatra, with the movie in question being "From Here to Eternity" ). It's realistic enough to make anyone wonder how Puzo got some of the information he used to so perfectly draft this story. The movie speaks for itself.
Honorable Mention: Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella...the source for "Field of Dreams."
(and Matty, this isn't a knock, but I'm fuckin' tired of hearing people talk about Lord of the Rings. I watched the trilogy...they were good, but I'm not gonna get a boner over them. They aren't movies that if I saw them on TV, I wouldn't stop what I was doing to watch them. Yet somehow, that happens everytime Godfather or Field of Dreams is on. Of course, that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.)
Baz Luhrman's Romeo + Juliet.
He took one of the most famous stories of all time and made it into a completely original work. The art direction, the updated story line, the modern characters, the cinematography, the music; while all seemingly different and unique, never truly stray from the heart of the original. Plus, where else do you get to see Mercution in drag singing "Young Hearts Run Free"? yeah, that's what I thought.
(also have to give a nod to Alfonso Cuaròn's Great Expectations. He got the crazy perfected with Miss Dinsmore (Miss Havisham) and the sexual chemistry between ethan hawk and gwyneth paltrow is just so damn hot).
High Fidelity, but that is only because you convinced me.
Mostly, I tend to hate comparing movies to the books they were based on. For example, I love Fever Pitch because of the Sox connection, but it goes so far off from Hornby's book. The other thing I hate about movies based on books is that I can't read the book the same way anymore. I lose my mental image of the characters and replace them with the actors. These movies kill the reader's ability to interpret a story in their own way, which brings me back to High Fidelity. John Cusack is the fucking man. He IS Rob.
Duh. The one Ray is gonna write and I'll adapt into a screenplay and Arestia will make starring Kaylan. Duh.
I was trying to figure out an articulate or skillful ways to make this point. But then I remembered my judge, and I could give the worst answer ever and still be picked the winner. The answer is Apocalypse Now and the reason can be found 56 seconds into this youtube clip:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=RHDjbsydWI4
Now, Ray, I could come up with a host of other reasons--principally Dennis Hopper, but also the fact that this movie took up 2 weeks of English class in high school-- but it doesn't matter. The bearded english nerd in you can't vote against Conrad and I don't know a self-respecting Italian that would vote against Brando.
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