Question of the Day - Monday, December 5, 2022

MoochNNoodles

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Sorry it's getting a bit late for posting! We had to run a urine sample to the vet for Mooch (all clear now! Yay!) firs thing this morning and spent some time at the library before getting our grocery order. By then I was hungry...now I'm sleepy... And here I am. :lol:

DH and the kids have been watching The Mysterious Benedict Society on Disney+. We noticed the library had the books so DD brought the first home to read. DS was looking through it there too so maybe he'll give it a go. I'm curious what she will say about the book vs the show. So many times people say the movies or shows never live up to the books. I know some of my favorite books I could never watch as a movie because the characters and events are just so set in my mind. I don't even like when the authors change the cover art. :lol:



Is there a book you LIKED the movie it was turned into? Is there a book you think would make a good movie?



I will always love the original Willie Wonka & the Chocolate Factory movie. Maybe it's because I grew up with the movie and not the other way around.

Another is both the movie and tv adaptations of Pride & Prejudice. I have tried...I just can't do Jane Austin in print. She is one of my close friend's favorite authors of all time. But I just...ugh. I tried Jane Eyre too and that was a struggle. So I think it's just the age of the writing. It felt like it droned on and on. But that one was hard to watch too so it could be the story. I generally like period piece type movies so it's disappointing to not like a book. I'd probably enjoy that Bridgerton one everyones been raving about but isn't clean since it's based on a romance novel. Theres some kind of app thats supposed to filter out content like that; but it sounds like there may not be much movie left with that one. :rolleyes2:

I would love to see Mr Pudgins turned into a movie. I was captivated by the story when my 4th grade teacher read it to us and my kids loved it when I read it to them. One day after reading some I was hearing a LOT of shouting coming from the bathroom on the other side of the house. My kids were trying to get the mirror children out. :flail: It reminds me of my stepbrothers and I turning their bedroom into the candy room from Willy Wonka using a brown sleeping bag hanging from their bunk bed as the chocolate waterfall. :lol2: Good times!
 

catloverfromwayback

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I love the 1995 P&P series and have watched it many times. I like the book but not as much, I think. I tend to prefer whichever I encounter first, which is probably the case for most people. (No way would I watch the Kiera Knightly P&P though, that bloke is NOT Mr Darcy, lol.)

The other film that occurs to me is The Princess Bride. Loved the film (at least the first couple of times I saw it). Read the book and didn’t like it much at all. Master and Commander, ditto. Tried the books and they were too densely written and complicated for me.

I read Anthony Trollope’s first two Barchester books (The Warden and Barchester Towers) after seeing The Barchester Chronicles (Alan Rickmanks first big TV role as Obadiah Slope) and while I liked the books well enough, I much preferred the series.
 

Boris Diamond

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There is a book that was very popular about 100 years ago called "The Shepherd of the Hills," by Harold Bell Wright. In 1941, it was made into a movie with John Wayne, Betty Fields, Marjorie Main, Beulah Bondi, Ward Bond and Harry Carey, Jr. The story is odd, about superstitious moonshiners in the Ozarks and a man with money (Harry Carey, Jr.) who shows up and tries to reform them and help the community in general. The scenery is beautiful. After enjoying the movie, I tried the book. I finished it, but it is not very likable. The writing style is not enjoyable. And the movie is very little like the book. :p

I like sci-fi, and there are many books that might be interesting movies. But often the stories are so complex that they would be difficult to make into a movie without major editing. "The Mote in God's Eye" by Larry Niven comes to mind.
 

neely

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I had the opposite experience - I loved the book, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, about an autistic teenage boy who tries to solve the mysterious death of a neighbor's dog. I couldn't wait to see the play when it came to the theater but unfortunately was disappointed.
 

Margot Lane

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Am very passionate about the writings of James Agee, so was surprised and moved to see that the film version of A Death in the Family (“All the Way Home”) was very sensitively portrayed.
 

Margot Lane

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There is a book that was very popular about 100 years ago called "The Shepherd of the Hills," by Harold Bell Wright. In 1941, it was made into a movie with John Wayne, Betty Fields, Marjorie Main, Beulah Bondi, Ward Bond and Harry Carey, Jr. The story is odd, about superstitious moonshiners in the Ozarks and a man with money (Harry Carey, Jr.) who shows up and tries to reform them and help the community in general. The scenery is beautiful. After enjoying the movie, I tried the book. I finished it, but it is not very likable. The writing style is not enjoyable. And the movie is very little like the book. :p

I like sci-fi, and there are many books that might be interesting movies. But often the stories are so complex that they would be difficult to make into a movie without major editing. "The Mote in God's Eye" by Larry Niven comes to mind.
i just watched a film clip for this…remind me to visit Big Bear Lake sometime! It seems to have been made into a film 2X previously, once, as a silent movie! Sci Fi wise, you could more easily do some Ray Bradbury, such as The Screaming Woman! (Maybe it has been done).
 

MonaLyssa33

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I loved the movie Big Fish before I ever read the book, so when I read the book, I realized that this was the rare instance where the movie was definitely better than the book. I think a book that would be a good movie is The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. He's one of my favorite authors, so if done well, a movie could be awesome.
 

iPappy

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Oh, I LOVE the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory! I saw the re-make with Johnny Depp, and it was very good but the original holds such a special place in my heart. (I was really surprised to learn that the man who played Grandpa Joe in the original movie was the same man who did the voice of Amos Slade, the mean hunter in the Fox and the hound, a Disney movie I grew up obsessed with.) We used to imitate/make fun of Veruca Salt as kids because she was SO bratty! And, that Gene Wilder meme will always be burned into my brain! :lol: I'm gonna have to watch that movie soon. :)
I barely got through Jurassic Park the novel (I was kind of young when I first attempted to read it) but the original movie is legendary for so many reasons. Carrie (the original with Piper Laurie and Sissy Spacek) is an excellent movie that manages to stick pretty close to the novel and does a very good job with both Carrie and Margaret White's characters. I did not see the remakes.
And another Stephen King one....1408. A short story that took me less than an hour to read. The short story was good. The movie was VERY good IMO. The book was weird, but the movie is really weird because you never know what's real or what the main character is hallucinating.
 

Willowy

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I barely got through Jurassic Park the novel (I was kind of young when I first attempted to read it)
I love the book. But I'm into nerdy dinosaur discussions and it's more technical than the movie. But the movie is definitely iconic.

I'd like to see the Mrs Pollifax series properly made into a miniseries. They made a movie in 1999, and Angela Lansbury was perfect, but they tried to cram like 5 storylines into one movie and that just didn't work.

I'd also like to see the The Cat Who. . . series made into a miniseries.

Oh and I'd like to see The Chestry Oak as a movie. I think they could win some awards if they did it right.
 

Neko-chan's mama

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I was very happy with the Netflix series The Sandman. I've been wanting those graphic novels made into a series for years. Usually Stephan King books don't translate well in to screen, but I liked The Green Mile. I'd love to see another Vertigo property, Fables be made in to a series.
 

misty8723

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No movie can ever be as good as the book, in my opinion, but I think they did a good job with the Harry Potter books. Game of Thrones is one they shouldn't have made into a movie (series) because the books aren't finished (and never will be). I watched the first season and it was pretty good because it stuck closely to the book. But I'm not sure I even made it halfway through season two, and never finished the series.

Another question: If you see a movie first and later read the book it was adapted from, which version do you prefer?
 

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I really enjoy Outlander, both the books and the series on Starz. In the beginning, they followed the books fairly closely, but Diana Gabaldon has an incredible amount of detail in her books and it's getting difficult, I think, to continue to follow the books. And they took some liberty with a character or two. But overall, I really enjoy the series.
 
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MoochNNoodles

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I love the 1995 P&P series and have watched it many times. I like the book but not as much, I think. I tend to prefer whichever I encounter first, which is probably the case for most people. (No way would I watch the Kiera Knightly P&P though, that bloke is NOT Mr Darcy, lol.)

The other film that occurs to me is The Princess Bride. Loved the film (at least the first couple of times I saw it). Read the book and didn’t like it much at all. Master and Commander, ditto. Tried the books and they were too densely written and complicated for me.

I read Anthony Trollope’s first two Barchester books (The Warden and Barchester Towers) after seeing The Barchester Chronicles (Alan Rickmanks first big TV role as Obadiah Slope) and while I liked the books well enough, I much preferred the series.
I like both versions; but in both versions Mr Darcy gets on my nerves and I don't see why they like each other. I mean it's the character; I just think he's annoying in general. :lol: I do think Colin Firth is a better Mr Darcy though. Have you ever seen the spinoff Death Comes to Pemberly? I enjoyed that and they are all a bit more likeable except her stupid sister. :lol:
Oh, I LOVE the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory! I saw the re-make with Johnny Depp, and it was very good but the original holds such a special place in my heart.
I'm not a big Johnny Depp fan so I really disliked that version. I didn't like the Eddie Murphy version of Dr Doolittle either. I think it's just the comedic style that ruins them for me. The originals are untouchable.
I love the book. But I'm into nerdy dinosaur discussions and it's more technical than the movie. But the movie is definitely iconic.
I wonder if I'd like the book more than the movies. I don't like things gory or scary so maybe the book would be better to me. The movies I saw weren't too bad but I don't love them like some people do. I think when reading you just filter things differently while a movie leaves concrete pictures in your mind.
Another question: If you see a movie first and later read the book it was adapted from, which version do you prefer?
I have used movies to help get through books that I didn't love. It helped to know what was coming in a general sense. But books will probably always win for me even if they come second. Sometimes things make more sense when you go with the book because they can only fit so many details in a movie. But then again; sometimes the acting helps clarify a character too.
lord of the rings is the only movie that matched the books fairly close
I think that's one of the few that I can understand the cult following of even though I don't love it. Narnia too I guess. I believe The Hobbit is the novel for DDs literature course in a year or two. I've been making myself read her required reading just so I'm on the same page when I grade it. (It's taught via video.)
 
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