Best book to movie conversion

^ that's a trick question, babe...you can't make good wine from bad grapes

what about:

Lord of the Flies
The Talented Mr. Ripley
Angel Heart

Dreamcatcher < hey, it was just as bad as the book..so that means it's a good adaptatioin, right??

let me see...

The Shawshank redemption
Fight Club
Goodfellas
Trainspotting
A Scanner Darkly

That`s a good list, I should say...

Shouts...

well the Lord of The Rings' series was made very well i thought. they only had to cut few scenes from the actual movie.

and I, Robot was good. maybe a lil different from the book, but good none-the-less.

[QUOTE=TastesLikeChicken;944063]^ that's a trick question, babe...you can't make good wine from bad grapes

what about:

Lord of the Flies
The Talented Mr. Ripley
Angel Heart

Dreamcatcher < hey, it was just as bad as the book..so that means it's a good adaptatioin, right??[/QUOTE]
you crawl out of whatever afgani cave you've been hiding in to talk shit on john irving?? have you even read one of his books?

anyway, i just heard [I]Revolutionary Road[/I] will be a conversion starring leo decaprio and kate winslet. should be good!

The Shining
Scanner Darkly
Breakfast of Champions
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
and, OF COURSE
Maximum Overdrive

I have to agree with A Scanner Darkly and Blade Runner.

Also, The Acid House and Trainspotting (Irvine Welsh) are pretty damn good adaptations.

[QUOTE]Sin City (I know, it's a series of graphic novels, but I couldn't leave it out)[/QUOTE]

YES! I think that's my all time favorite comic book-to-film adaptation. Most all other attempts are quite sorry...with few exceptions.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Trainspotting
Fight Club
A clockwork orange
Shawshank Redemption
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (bladerunner)
A Scanner Darkly

If we're including graphic novels (which we should, there are some really great ones out there) then I would definately have to say 300! I highly recommend both the graphic novel and the movie

[QUOTE=MechanicalHound;949845]If we're including graphic novels (which we should, there are some really great ones out there) then I would definately have to say 300! I highly recommend both the graphic novel and the movie[/QUOTE]

I appreciate your name referance to Farenheit 451.

I didn't like how A Scanner Darkly was rotoscoped. I would have prefered to see the film itself, but I guess it was a good adaption, if not wholly faithful. I really think they should have left the little blue flower being the substance D origin to the end, also Hank shouldn't have been revealed as Donna, only hinted at. When I was going through my Philip K. Dick phase, this was one of my favourite bits, wondering if she was him or not, and coming up with the conclusion myself. I loved having the freedom to do it. I think they played it right slowing down the chameleon suit things, though.

Sin City was great too, though I've only read The Hard Goodbye. Actually, I was intending to get the next one soon. Tomorrow, maybe.

The Count Of Monte Cristo (the newest one)

very well made movie actors that fit the roles perfectly and it hardly deviates from the book.

For me the only good adaptations outside of fight club have been

Rules of Attraction
High Fidelity
Requiem for a dream
A Clockwork Orange

nobody has mentioned The Virgin Suicides!? the entire mood of the book was captured so perfectly in the movie, it really felt like you were watching the book.
Empire Of The Sun, with Christian Bale when he was like 12 years old. Actually the movie might be a bit better, but i say that because i saw the movie about a dozen times before i read the book. It's actually based very closely on the authors (JG Ballard) experiences as a child.
i haven't seen Carrie, but no, she was not "retarded" in the book, not exactly intelligent, just too strange for her own good.
Stephen King is re-writing the Dark Tower series, not completely though; now that he's done he's going back and re-doing some things (to help with all the foreshadowing, since certain things didn't turn out like he had intended and some newer stuff came up that he hadn't had the psychic forethought to foreshadow years earlier), but it's not really a total rewrite. He also re-released The Stand the original way it had been written, with almost four hundred pages that had been cut from the original release.
Shawshank Redemption is better than the short story, imo. The Body is not, that short story was one of his best works ever, again imo.
i need to read City Of God. that movie blew me away, i had not expected it to be so damn good. The documentary on the DVD was also incredible. crazy shit going on in the world.
i also like Fight Club the movie better than the book.

Requiem for a Dream and The Godfather are both, in my opinion better than the books. Requiem especially, it is so much more effective with the montages and the music is brilliant. American Psycho is also an amazing movie, but I read the book afterwards and there were some great scenes that should have been put in, however disgusting.
Trainspotting, A Clockwork Orange and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas were all genius in film and novel.

I agree with The Shining and A Clockwork Orange
I also agree that Christian Bale did a really good job as Bateman, however,
like A Clockwork Orange, I thought the books were much more creepy and intense
than the movies. You'd think that it would be easier to give someone a physical reaction,
make them feel disturbed etc. with a movie than with a book.
..or it just shows how brilliantly written these books are.

I don't know if this counts since it is a play - The Libertine
the play is by Stephen Jeffreys...great dialogues

[QUOTE=TastesLikeChicken;944063]^ that's a trick question, babe...you can't make good wine from bad grapes

what about:

Lord of the Flies
The Talented Mr. Ripley
Angel Heart

Dreamcatcher < hey, it was just as bad as the book..so that means it's a good adaptatioin, right??[/QUOTE]

Dreamcatcher is the biggest piece of shit I have ever seen. It is seriously the poorest excuse for a movie ever to be released..well, I just thought I'd put that out there. A Clockwork Orange, Trainspotting and Requiem for a Dream are all brilliant.

Off the top of my head, my favourites are:
[I]Alice Through the Looking Glass
A Clockwork Orange
Heart of Darkness
Trainspotting
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
To Kill a Mockingbird
Disco Bloodbath
Fight Club
Requiem for a Dream[/I]
And yes, [I]The Virgin Suicides[/I]

Runners up:
[I]Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
The Acid House
A Series of Unfortunate Events
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas[/I] (only because I haven't read it yet).

Also, my favourite comic book adaptations so far (off the top of my head):
[I]V for Vendetta
X-Men[/I] (just the first one)
[I]From Hell[/I]

Chuck in the onion

Q: What in your opinion, is the best book-to-film adaptation? —the jace

CP: Easy question. Rosemary's Baby. Roman Polanski did a great job of adapting Levin's novel.

:) :) :) :) :) :) :)

[QUOTE=TastesLikeChicken]^ that's a trick question, babe...you can't make good wine from bad grapes

what about:

Lord of the Flies
The Talented Mr. Ripley
Angel Heart

Dreamcatcher < hey, it was just as bad as the book..so that means it's a good adaptatioin, right??[/QUOTE]

-WTF- Havent seen you about in years.

as for this thread, this could prove difficult to narrow down, as most movies derive from books, either short story, novel, comic, graphic novel, and havent read near enough of them to assess even a crude list governing all of them collectively. i havent even read The Talented Mr Ripley--though ive been meaning to for years.

bladerunner was breathtaking
apocalypse now really got into your head

my favorite adaption, of the movies ive seen, is 25th Hour, written by David Benioff and the movie directed by Spike Lee, the lead character played by Edward Norton.

-kabol

..

Silence of the Lambs
Clockwork Orange

Well I'm going to say the same thing as everyone else with Fight Club and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Oh and American Psycho. Clockwork Orange.

However, I did get something out of this thread because I didn't know that there was a The World According to Garp movie, so I rented it the other night. It wasn't that great but oh well. It got the general idea of the story, but not the parts that made me love the book.

I can't wait for Stardust and The Golden Compass. Those both look amazing.

[QUOTE=Wilhelmina Wilde;979610]I agree with The Shining and A Clockwork Orange
I also agree that Christian Bale did a really good job as Bateman, however,
like A Clockwork Orange, I thought the books were much more creepy and intense
than the movies. You'd think that it would be easier to give someone a physical reaction,
make them feel disturbed etc. with a movie than with a book.
..or it just shows how brilliantly written these books are.

I don't know if this counts since it is a play - The Libertine
the play is by Stephen Jeffreys...great dialogues[/QUOTE]
Stageplays usually don't translate well to film - this inspires to me to see "The Libertine."

And books from page to film?

- Trainspotting
- Rosemary's Baby
- A Clockwork Orange
- Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia
- American Psycho (though the film omitted parts of the book, it captured the tone perfectly)
- The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe
- Thank You For Smoking
- Fight Club
- Sin City

"Sin City" opened the possibility of graphic novels without flawed heroes becoming films. Still waiting to see if someone will try to bring the graphic novel "Transmetropolitan" to the screen (at one point Robin WIlliams supposedly talked about it). Or "Preacher."

Would also like to see Lois Lowry's "The Giver" as a movie.

300--visually i thought they did a great job. some of the scenes in the movie looked just like the pages in the book

[QUOTE=monkeywright;926832]The obvious choices are Battlefield: Earth and The Hours.

Oh...wait, best?
Hmm. Not necessarily faithful, but I'd go with Shawshank Redemption or Green Mile...[/QUOTE]

I'm excited to see what Darabont can do with Fahrenheit 451. I think the Mist is doomed to fail (crappy concept to begin with, sorry Mr. King.)

I'm fighting for relevance here; every movie that came to mind at first has already been said.

So... going for ones left unmentioned:

I love Truffaut's Fahrenheit 451.
1984.
maybe Catch 22. I can never decide if I actually like the film. The book, though, is golden.

But yea, I'm in agreement with most posters here: anything Kubrick touched, Requiem for a Dream, Trainspotting, Fight Club, etc.

[QUOTE=Kristopher Young;993933]
I love Truffaut's Fahrenheit 451.
[/QUOTE]

Really? I always start with this on my "worst movies ever" lists. I thought it was godawful, especially since it dealt with maybe 30% of the book, and seemed like it wanted to simplify itself into a love-ish story. Although maybe I'm wrong; I fell asleep halfway through and was thoroughly glad. Since I never stop movies I start watching, this was the easiest way out that cheesefest.

I've never read the book: The Orchid Thief
but Kaufman's screenplay, Adaptation was astounding.

i've heard susan orlean wasn't completely thrilled by it.

[QUOTE=PocketFives;993940]Really? I always start with this on my "worst movies ever" lists. I thought it was godawful, especially since it dealt with maybe 30% of the book, and seemed like it wanted to simplify itself into a love-ish story. Although maybe I'm wrong; I fell asleep halfway through and was thoroughly glad. Since I never stop movies I start watching, this was the easiest way out that cheesefest.[/QUOTE]

It's been awhile since I've seen it -- but for me a film doesn't really need to be an exact adaptation. I watched it more as a Truffaut film (did you enjoy The 400 Blows?) and had been warned it wasn't particularly faithful. But F451 has an incredible style to it that I appreciate.

I'm never sure how faithful a film should be to its source material. On one hand, I always hope a film stays true to a favorite book before I see it. But at the same time, when I dig deeper, I realize many of my favorites actually haven't. Fight Club, for example, re-ordered some events and changed the ending. Kubrick gave A Clockwork Orange a visual face lift and the American ending (no last chapter). King practically disowned Kubrick's The Shining. Others, such as Requiem for a Dream, stay quite true to their source.

Oh -- and speaking of Kubrick, I don't think anyone's mentioned 2001 yet.

[QUOTE=d.palmetto;993943]I've never read the book: The Orchid Thief
but Kaufman's screenplay, Adaptation was astounding.[/QUOTE]
ooo good one!!! this is one of my favorite movies ever, but i always forget it's a "book to movie conversion" because it's so far removed from the actual book. but i totally agree, astounding.

Mystic River is a great book turned into a great movie.

The same goes for The Godfather.