Book and movie review.

**Darris Chambless** · 12-06-2001, 06:50 PM

I thought I'd start a little thread to get some ideas for books and or movies to entertain myself as well as others with.

First I'll start with some books made into movies and give my opinion of how well they worked as both.

1) The Running Man: The book was excellent and I'd recommend it to any and everyone because of the mental pictures it paints for the settings and the hopelessness of the situation. The movie? I laughed. I cried. I kissed $7.50 goodbye. The movie was the worst piece of **** I've ever had the displeasure of sitting through. The acting was terrible and the only thing the book and the movie had in common were some of the names of the characters, literally. The story from the book and the story in the movie are completely different.

2)Pet Cemetary: The book will give you nightmares so be carefull if you do decide to read it. The movie? Was Kings first perfect screenplay for a book turned movie. The movie almost followed the book perfectly (just a few differences but those that had to be made for the big screen)

3) Left Behind: Good book but kind of drawn out in my opinion. Takes half the book before you can really get into the characters then it picks up and can keep your attention. A lot of character building in the beginning of the story so be prepared for it. The movie? Follows the book pretty well, but was a real snoozer up until the end. I haven't read the rest of the books in the series but will eventually. The book is better if you have any intrest in this story.

I'm intrested to see "Hearts In Atlantis" but I fear they'll screw that one up. The book is well worth reading

Well, that should get this started. See ya'll later.

Darris C.

**Johns** · 12-06-2001, 08:55 PM

Darris,

I see one or two movies per year. I haven't seen any this year, but I just finished reading Coalville, which is the book that October Sky was based on. Saw the movie last year and it really brought me back to a simpler time when a boy's most pressing concern was whether or not he'd get a chance to talk to the pretty girl in the next aisle over in school, The book was even better than the movie.

**Pete Hanlin** · 12-07-2001, 09:16 AM

Okay, I made the mistake of seeing Jurassic Park, and found the movie so horrible that I read the book to see if there really was a good story there at one time (turns out the book was pretty good).

The first "serious" book I ever read (Treasure Island, at around age 7) has never really been made into a good movie, but the best attempt was the TV one which had Charlton Heston as Long John Silver.

For Civil War buffs, the movie Gettysburg is just, well, pretty darn good (seen all four hours at least 8 times), but the book is actually better.

As for my favorite movie of all time (The Matrix), I don't even know if that is a book or not!

Concerning my favorite book (A.C. Doyle's incomparable Sherlock Holmes), the series starring Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes is by far the best representation of the characters as they always appeared in my mind.

By the way, no Tom Clancy novel has ever been made into a movie that came close to the quality of the book!

I am very intrigued to see if the Harry Potter movie approaches the quality of the book... I have sincere doubts, though everyone I know who has seen the movie has rated it "very good."

**Darris Chambless** · 12-07-2001, 11:06 AM

Hello Johns,

If you liked the book "Coalville" you will like "Hearts In Atlantis" (the book). It definitely takes you back to simpler times but with a twist.

There is a short story by Stephen King that I would love to see made into a movie if it were done propperly. "The Boogie Man" if done right as a movie would probably (imo) be the scariest movie ever made. If you get a chance and you like that kind of story I recommend reading it. As a screen play it would have to be left alone in order to get the full effect but Hollywood has a tendency to take poetic license with everything and destroy perfectly good stories ;) Maybe I'll write the screen play and submit it and see what they do.

A short story by Stephen King that Hollywood did do a fantastic job of was "The Shawshank Redemption" Except for a little bit of omission (which was necessary for TV) the movie followed the story perfectly. If you hadn't noticed I do like Stephen King :)

There was a book I read years ago that my father siad I would enjoy. It was called "Daybreak 2054." Very interesting story. Psuedo Sci-Fi with a twist of the old west kind of feel.

Speaking of westerns, Louis Lamar wrote a book called "The Sackets." A made for TV movie was made out of it and it wasn't bad, but Hollywood did do it's thing which in this case did make the story more intertaining. They also picked some pretty good actors for the rolls of the three brothers; Tom Seleck, Sam Elliot and I believe the third was Kevin Costner (of course the first two are A list actors and then ole Kevin the B list guy :) Good show though as well as a good book. If you do happen to watch it remember this line from the movie "Arkansas Toothpick. Razor sharp! I sure don't like that mustache." Sam Elliot is just entirely too cool.

There's some more for the mix.

Darris C.

**Johns** · 12-07-2001, 10:43 PM

Darris,

High Plains Drifter was one of those movies that they matched the characters exactly how you would picture them. I liked it so much that I did a book report on it in 8th grade (1975) , and the nuns called my mom into the office and asked why I was reading books about cowboys "procreating in haylofts". When they found out it was from the school library, they called for an audit of all donated materials.

**Night Train** · 12-08-2001, 07:01 AM

One of my first books was a western called "Hondo" which I really liked. I have never seen the movie with John Wayne, but I understand it was made in 3-D (For some strange reason) and it was a rare flop for the Duke.

I have read all the Grishom books and seen those that were made into movies. The books are ten times better.

I think we all have our own preconceptions that are non-negotiable when it comes to movies from books. We even have preconceptions when movies are made with characters we are familiar with are re-created. Take The star trek film in which Captain Kirk finally dies. Here we have the "John Wayne" of space and how does he die? He falls off a cliff???????????? Give me a break.

**Maria** · 12-09-2001, 07:43 AM

OK, my opinion on Stephen King books turned into films:

The Shining, Misery, The Green Mile are all good films. Carrie was also good. It (It the film, not referring to the previous sentence) is good except at the end, when you see the monster, but I suppose that's just special effects limitations.

The Stand is a fine example of a great book turned into a rubbish film, as is Salem's Lot. Cujo was bad. Pet Sematary was bad.

I haven't seen The Shawshank Redemption or The Running Man.

The non-Kubrick version of The Shining is awful, and shouldn't be allowed.

I believe there are plans to turn The Talisman into a film, which could work with a big enough budget and a good director.

There are probably more, but I can't think of them right now.

so · 12-09-2001, 10:21 AM

One Flew Over the Cookoo's Nest was done well as a movie, but of course cannot compete with the book.

Dune was one of the best books ever written. It should be a criminal offense to so completely destroy it on the screen. I think anyone who actually thought that was a good movie would be too simple to "get" the book. Someone finally remade it into "Frank Herbert's" Dune, but that too failed. Some stories are simply too intricate to communicate in the visual media.

Hannibal is the most recent book to video conversion that I have witnessed. I found both to be entertaining. The movie ending, however, totally changed the entire meaning of the book. Very strange...maybe they couldn't figure out how to make the relationships comprehensible on screen.

**Johns** · 12-10-2001, 09:29 AM

Maria,

Shawshank Redemption is a "must see". I gave it 2 screwdrivers up !

**Cindy K** · 12-10-2001, 11:28 AM

I'm just reading the Talisman now ! This could make for an awesome flick if it's done properly!

I read 'The Perfect Storm' when it was first published and then waited with baited breath for the movie. Disappointing to say the least but of course it would have been much better had I not read the book! Just saw on Knowledge Network or Discovery, one of those stations, a show interviewing the actual people involved in the real-life drama of this and it was fabulous! Interesting, the actual people were far closer to my mental pictures of how they were portrayed in the book than anyone who starred in the movie.

**Darris Chambless** · 12-10-2001, 05:59 PM

Hi gang,

And welcome to another round of The Book Club. I thought of a book that wouldn't make a good movie in the least but is very intresting to read if you like to have your thinking turned upside down. The book is "Our Holographic Universe" Although I'm not sure I believe too much of what they have to say in the book it sure makes you think about what the human mind could be capable of and the possibilities of our world in a whole other deminsion.

Maria, this would be a book for you to read being Atheist and all. It has no basis in Theology whatsoever, only Science and theoretical brain processes. It will warp your world ;)

Anyway, that's another book for the minds of those reading in OptiLand.

Darris C.

**Shwing** · 12-11-2001, 03:29 PM

Heynow. One of the best books that was made into one of the worst movies is "Battlefield Earth" by Hubbard. The tome is great reading, quite riveting. DO NOT rent the movie under any circumstances. Yes, THAT bad.

On the flip side is "A Perfect Storm". Junger didn't do a great job in my opinion. The movie on the other hand, was excellent, but that is probably due to the fact that it is the type of story meant for the screen. When I served in the Navy, we went through a couple of storms with a sea state of 8 or 9 (bad) and you can trust me when I say that the movie rocks! (get it? the boat, back and forth... rocks...)