Weekly Discussion: Best Book-to-Film Adaptations

What is the best film adapted from a book/novel? Why is it the best?

 

Even though I think they jacked up the ending fight (pretty much anything from the point where after Harry comes back to life/leaves Kings Crossing), Deathly Hollows pt 1 and 2 add so many cool things not in the books to make it an epic.

 

this is a tough one for me because a lot of times I haven't read the book, for instance I can say American Psycho is a good movie but I can't compare it to the source material to see oh they did Ellis justice or not or whatever

Wild is the last time I can remember reading the book, which I purposefully did around when the movie came out, and thinking the movie did a goof job

 

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, both the Swedish and American versions, were pretty fantastic. I think Salander is a difficult character to translate to film but both of those movies (and actresses) really did a great job at capturing her complexity

I also love how they adapted Coraline, even though the movie is vastly different from the book

 

Paul Thomas Anderson did a great job of making Inherent Vice just as weird and confusing as the book.

 

The Shawshank Redemption gets my vote here. It captures the spirit of the story and characters while adding even richer detail to the world. And most importantly it's just a great film.

 

The Maltese Falcon has always been my gold standard on this topic. Trimmed the fat while keeping every essential storyline and the tone. And what they had to tone down for censorship purposes (one character's homosexuality, in particular) they still imply in a way that's actually even more artful than the book.

 

To Kill a Mockingbird

Period.

/thread

 

This actually lands on my list of adaptations that were better than the source material, although it may have an unfair advantage since it was only a short story without as much time to flesh out the characters. Brooks for life.

The LOTR trilogy also beats the books in my opinion. I loved reading them in college, but seeing that world come to life in such a faithful, vibrant and loving manner was something else. The night my wife went into labor, Fellowship was playing on TV, and I couldn't think of a better movie to watch at that time.

Fight Club elevated the source material too, but I'm biased because I think a little Fincher makes everything better.

 

Stanley Kubrick, Paul Thomas Anderson, and No Country for Old Men.

 

Open up the thread so you can get the name of the title right. My 8th graders used to call it that and I'd always tell them it's not a murder manual.

 

Although the Shining is one of my favorite movies its a bad adaptation. Shawshank and Green Mile were both excellent adaptations.

Honestly I'd probably go with the Harry Potter series. I feel like they really captured everything I could have wanted from the books. Basically what I look to when I think of a perfect adaptation.

 

Except the sixth book. That one was not good.

 

I liked it

 

Definitely NCFOM.

 

The Harry Potter movies are bad adaptations.

Fight Club is a good adaptation

 

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. In fact, I think I prefer the film.

 

Didn't know that was a book. I agree.
Oh yeah, End of the Tour. Jason Segel is brilliant.

 

Persepolis.

 

Fear and loathing in Las Vegas is almost word for word with the book. Terry Gilliam did a great job at capturing thompsons tone.

 

OH MY GOSH. I can't believe I did that! I was just trying to make a quick joke, I wasn't even thinking about it.

Thank you for pointing out my shameful mistake.

 

Also legitimately perfect.

 

One of my favorite films of last year! I'd list The Social Network as well, although that's only barely a book adaptation.

 

Yeah, the End of the Tour was one of my favorites of last year as well.

 

The Godfather is a masterpiece while the book it came from is a thin, misogynistic pulp work. The Lord of the Rings trilogy is an incredibly impressive adaptation that perfectly drew from the source story and world to create a visual interpretation that was strongly it's own thing. To Kill a Mockingbird, as mentioned, is up there. Apocalypse Now's interpretation of Heart of Darkness is not only a masterpiece, but one that, by changing the setting and political focus of the original novel, eliminates a lot of the nasty racism that was there. Recently, Carol was outstanding, though I haven't finished the Price of Salt.