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name one (or more) movie that you felt was as good as the book

yes, LOTR!

I saw a Harry Potter movie before reading the books, which I shouldn''t have done because then I ended up imagining all the characters exactly how they look in the movies. even the movies were good, they missed out quite a lot of the books (especially the later books).

even though I have not yet seen PRINCESS BRIDE, I think gwendolyn is most likely correct, as that was a really awesome movie!

one of the recent worst has been THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON. even though the story is interesting, it is really short so they had to improvise a lot in the movie. I also do not like the movies of Dan Brown''s books. there is just way too much in the books to condense into a 2 hour movie.
 
"Twiling" by Emilie Rice
 
Date: 9/12/2009 5:47:02 AM
Author: gwendolyn
''The Princess Bride'' was equally good as a movie and a book as well, I think.
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DITTO! Love both the movie and the book.
 
IMO, "The Devil wears Prada" and "Angels & Demons" were both as good as the books
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I really enjoy seeing a movie of a book I love.

I''ve read the entire Patrick O''Brien series about Captain Aubrey''s British Royal Navy career and adventures. Master and Commander captured the heart of this series, although several tales combined - the movie got the spirit of it, and Russell Crowe became Jack Aubrey.

Also read the entire C.S Forester''s Horatio Hornblower series... the TV series captured this very, very well.

Gone with the Wind was also a great movie version of the book.

Black Hawk Down was great to watch, while reading the book which filled in details, and helped to understand the fast moving action.

HBO''s Generation Kill - book and movie a great combination. Again, book filled in details and explained what was going on.

Although True Blood series strayed from Sookie Stackhouse series,it was great fun, and I loved both - the actors caught all the mannerism of characters described in book which was a great treat.
 
Two more great books made into awesome movies

Sabastian Junger, the Perfect Storm.... great movie, even greater book.


Anita Shreve''s The Weight of Water.... great book and well done movie- sailing in the Isle of Shoals, jumps back and forth in time- very statisfying movie for a lover of the book.
 
I thought the third Harry Potter movie (Prisoner of Azkaban) was as good as the book, maybe even better.

I also thought the A&E version of ''Pride & Prejudice'' was as good as the book which I absolutely love. I have a few quibbles about the casting of Jane and Mr. Wickham, but thought the miniseries did capture the spirit of the book quite well and even improved on it in places. The movie version with Keira Knightley isn''t even in the same league. It drove me crazy.
 
I can''t think of any movie I liked better than the book. They usually come up short IMO.
 
Ok most of you will disagree with me here. I love the book The Count of Monte Cristo, one of my all-time faves, however I also loved the movie that came out with Jim Caveziel as the Count in 2002. Yes, it is only very loosely based on the book but it is simple, well done and a good story (and had the ending I kind of secretly wanted out of the book - I always hated Mercedes for going into a nunnery!)
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If they had done the movie true to the book, it would have been too densely packed with occurences and characters to even track one plot, let alone the 10 or so ongoing throughout the book. I think it was a great adaptation.
 
The only one I can think of is ''Snow Falling on Cedars'' by David Guterson. The movie was directed by Scott Hicks and was one of the most visually/aurally stunning movies I can remember seeing.
 
I just started reading Harry Potter for the first time, and now I''m really bummed I didn''t read them as they came out. Anyway . . .

I thought the Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was an awesome book and an awesome movie.

I thought the movie The Time Traveler''s Wife was much better than the book, as Eric Bana most certainly was not in the book.
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Seriously though, I wasn''t impressed with the book but the movie was great.
 
I agree with the Harry Potter''s. But I have a vent- how AWFUL was My Sister''s Keeper, the movie? Ridiculous. I tend to like Lifetime Movies based on books. I also thought that How to Deal was good (based on two books, That Summer and maybe Someone Like You?)
 
John Grisham''s, A Time to Kill. I loved this book, and the movie even more. I remember DH arguing with me that he didn''t want to watch the movie because of it being based on a book lol. I got my way, he watched it and loved it, still to this day I think it is on his must see list.

I also convinced DH to watch Stepehn King''s, The Green Mile, when it came out on DVD. It actually got him picking the books up to read (I had bought them as a series) after seeing the movie.
 
Date: 9/3/2009 11:31:44 AM
Author: princesss
None. And actually, the biggest cinematic disappointment of my life was The Time Traveler''s Wife.
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I''m never, ever going to go see a movie based on a book I know by heart again. Ever.
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This is funny because I really didn''t care for this book. I felt like it rambled all over the place. I didn''t get the hype. However, I actually liked the movie. Probably the ONLY movie I''ve ever liked better than the book.
 
This reminded me of you guys.
 
No Country for Old Men.
 
Date: 9/23/2009 12:04:55 PM
Author: vc10um
I loved ''To Kill A Mockingbird''...both the movie and the book. (Read it in school and then they showed us the movie...I thought both were timeless.)
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I agree about "To Kill a Mockingbird" as well. I think the casting was great, and the storyline of the movie was true to the book. In fact the book and the movie are my favorites in their respective categories.
 
I think for me the short answer is also none.. but Harry Potter is done well I have to admit :)
 
Pricescope ate my long one so here is the short of it
Princess bride was a better movie than book
Pride and prejudice (1995 version) was as good as any version could be. Same for Young Visiters.
The Scarlett Pimpernell for 1982 was as good as the book
Anything adapted by Andrew Davies or directed by David Yates are good takes on books. If there is a book where you really liked the screenplay, Davies probably did it

The worst were the 2005 pride and prejudice and any take on hitchhiker''s guide. I could not sit through any of them.

I have high hopes for the pride and prejudice and zombies movie. I think Natalie Portman could make a really good Lizzy Bennett, ninja.
 
Date: 9/12/2009 5:47:02 AM
Author: gwendolyn
''The Princess Bride'' was equally good as a movie and a book as well, I think.
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Yes I totally agree.
 
Re: name one (or more) movie that you felt was as good as th

Whats really weird is I think the further along the Harry Potter movies get the more they deviate from the books. The last Harry Potter was awful compared to the book. It was still a good movie don't get me wrong but the book was barely present in that movie.

Lord of the Rings did a very good job.

The Perfect Storm focused too much on the skipper of the Andrea Gail. The book told everybody's story not just the Andrea Gail's.

My favorite adaptation was the Hunt for the Red October by Tom Clancy. It is one of the few movies that I like better than the book. The movie was so precise. The artistic liberty they took with it actually made the story more believable.
 
Re:

oddoneout said:
Date: 9/12/2009 5:47:02 AM
Author: gwendolyn
''The Princess Bride'' was equally good as a movie and a book as well, I think.
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Yes I totally agree.
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Me too!

I have to disagree with most of you guys though - I hate the Harry Potter movies. But I think I've almost always preferred having my own visualization of what things in books look like (like Hogwarts) and usually I'm disappointed by the movie portrayal (because no matter how big the movie budget is, my imagination budget is unlimited ;)).

I do like True Blood though, and one of the reasons I really like it is that it HAS strayed from the books, so I'm less inclined to put it side by side with what I think the books should be like on the screen.
 
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ksinger said:
The best adaptation, and by far the most impressive for the sheer size and what was attempted, were the Lord of The Rings movies.  I''ve read the books so many times I hardly need to pick them up.  I''m such an egghead in this regard, I know the APPENDICES as well as the story, and have read all the supporting books.  That said, I had a few beefs with some of the artistic and casting choices, and was disappointed at some of things that were omitted, but still, a staggeringly good product.  And the music was just glorious.
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Ditto. Although much was left out (Tolkein liked to add SOOOOO much detail and tended to ramble at times...) the movies were really true to the books and were done superbly! :appl:
 
Re: name one (or more) movie that you felt was as good as th

I have to agree with the prisoner of Azkaban comment. The scene when he flies on the hippogryph gives me goosebumps. Even the music from the scene on its own gives me goosebumps.

I don't know if I mentioned it before, but Memoirs of a geisha to me was an amazing movie and book

I thought Little Women as a movie was better than the book

Black Beauty to me was a fantastic real life movie. I still cry.
 
Re:

Haven said:
I thought the movie The Time Traveler''s Wife was much better than the book, as Eric Bana most certainly was not in the book.
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Seriously though, I wasn''t impressed with the book but the movie was great.
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I read the book and vowed I would not see the movie. Not because it would be a let down after reading a wonderful book, however! I felt the way you did about the book. I mean, I don't know if I felt the same way you did, but I didn't like it. (The book left me depressed.) Why did you and Cind11 have to like the movie? Now I may second guess myself!

Deb/AGBF
:read:
 
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trillionaire said:
good movies...

the color purple
the joy luck club
the dead poet''s society
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Your posting is a good reminder for me, trillionaire. I never saw the movie, "The Joy Luck Club", but I really loved the book, so maybe I should rent it! Thank you for mentioning it! Maybe my daughter would even want to watch it with me.

PS-I did see the other two movies you mentioned and I couldn't agree with you more!!!

Deb/AGBF
:read:
 
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packrat said:
What about To Kill a Mockingbird ... Anyone ever seen those movies and read the book?
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Other people have commented on the book To Kill A Mockingbird and the movie made of it throughout this thread. I think the movie was excellent, but that, as in so many other cases, it is just impossible for the movie to be as good as the book! I think that the vehicle of the book simply has the capacity to bring us more of what the author has to say. If the author is great and writes a great book, a movie will not compare to it. A movie can have its own good qualities: sound, color, etcetera. The discussion above has mentioned, "Lord of the Rings" and I think it has been singled out in part because, among movies, it makes the best use of what a movie can do that a book cannot: capture physical beauty visually.

Deb/AGBF
:read:
 
Re: name one (or more) movie that you felt was as good as th

There are a lot of posts in this thread that I more or less agree on, but one random movie/book came to mind.

I really like the movie American Psycho - despite it's violence, I think it's a good movie and well done. I hate hate hate the book. I think it's poorly written and violent for the sake of being violent (it's about 10x more violent than the movie). That's the only situation I can think of where I really like the movie better than the book.
 
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gwendolyn said:
''The Princess Bride'' was equally good as a movie and a book as well, I think.
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I think the book was written after the movie with TPB. I could be wrong though.

I actually liked The Color Purple movie more than the book. I think that's the only time that's ever happened.

And for a good adaptation: I thought The Mist was pretty well done, and I liked the ending more.
 
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rainwood said:
I also thought the A&E version of ''Pride & Prejudice'' was as good as the book which I absolutely love. I have a few quibbles about the casting of Jane and Mr. Wickham, but thought the miniseries did capture the spirit of the book quite well and even improved on it in places. The movie version with Keira Knightley isn''t even in the same league. It drove me crazy.
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I totally agree. The A&E version of Pride and Prejudice was wonderful.

I also loved The Godfather I and II- almost if not as good as the book.
 
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