Silk. Love in the Time of Cholera.
they are both love stories. and they are both books i LOVE. and they were both made into movies. and they were both sent to me this week by the wonderful folks at Alliance Films. with the husband at hockey, i will be crawling into bed tonight to watch them both.
To watch Michael Pitt and Keira Knightley bring the lovely words of Alessandro Baricco to life on the big screen. To watch the simple silkworm smuggler travel to Japan and meet a woman he could never have.
To watch Javier Bardem and Giovanna Mezzegiorno bring this love story to life. To watch him wait almost a lifetime to get her to fall in love with him.
tonight, while i’m watching these movies…i have copies to give away to all of you. once again, i will require audience participation. i want you to tell me your favorite movie that was adapted from a book. Most people say that movies don’t really do justice to the book versions. but sometimes, they get it right. so, i want to know your favorites. i will randomly pick two of you to win the two-movie prize pack.
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is my top fave. And they did a great job of sticking to the book as much as possible.
Second is The Lord of the Rings Trilogy.
Others:
The Color Purple
Memoirs of a Geisha
Pride & Prejudice (both versions)
The Prince of Tides! Not my favourite movie, not my favourite book, but the best adaptation of book into movie.
No question, it has to be Brokeback Mountain.
I love the Harry Potter movies\books and The Notebook. My most favorite!!!!
Mine isn’t a movie, it’s a television show – yeah, yeah, that probably makes my entry null and void for the contest… Blood Ties. Which is based on a series of books by Tanya Huff, the Blood Books (or Victory Nelson series). I know it’s not a movie, but the show is filmed and based in Canada, and instead of playing willy nilly they were SCARILY accurate with everything – right down to the place names and street signs.
“Emma” and “Pride & Prejudice” (both the Colin Firth & the Keira Knightly versions). I would be embarrassed to say how many times I’ve read the books and seen the movies.
The Harry Potter movies have been as good as you could get for staying with the books also.
Chocolat. Johnny Depp and Juliett Binoche equals delicious. Great book and great movie.
ooh I haven’t read either of those!! I must get organised!
my fave books to movies would have to be:
The Notebook – amazingly well done!
Atonement
Pride & Prejudice
Angela’s Ashes
& of course the Harry Potter’s.
The Kite Runner one of the best movies from a book ever!
Gotta go with Memoirs of Geisha. But the Princess Bride is amazing too, obvs.
You are so right that generally movies don’t do a book justice. But. But my favourite adaptation has to be Stardust. The book was good. The movie was better. How often can you say that?
With that said, the worst adaptations I have been subjected to (not that you asked) are Watership Down (creepiest. movie. ever.) and Clan of the Cavebear. Both awesome books that I have read more than once, but the movies are poke your eyes out awful.
the notebook!
Indian in the Cupboard…perfect family adventure!
Shawshank Redemption
The Bridges of Madison County
Primal Fear
** Not my fave but surprised no one mentioned Lord of the Rings
The Namesake
and
High Fidelity
loved the books and the movies, even when they weren’t the same.
To Kill A Mockingbird – Favoritwe book and great movie
Hmm. House of Sand and Fog came to mind first.
well i have 2 choices for this one like water for chocolate love love love!!!!!! and of course wuthering heights i would be embarrassed to say how many times i have read both these books and how many times i have watched the movies ….
I think Gone With the Wind is my top pick. Sure, it’s really long, and they cut out quite a bit, but the movie is just sumptuous.
How Green was my Valley is also a good rendition, brilliant cinematography in black & white.
Sense and Sensibility!
To Kill A Mockingbird.
Generally, I think they mess them up when the go from Book to Movie, but they got that one right.
uh, I already posted I thought.
Shawshank Redemption. Good read, excellent movie.
Hands Down – Shawshank Redemption. Excellent book, excellent movie. Suprisingly from Steven King.
The Last of the Mohicans! Daniel Day Lewis made me swoon and the scenery was to die for! Although The Notebook was very, very good. 🙂
To Kill a Mockingbird. Love both. Love. And Gregory Peck rocks that movie.
I have to say The Notebook. I actually think I like the movie better than the book. I want to see Love in the Time of Cholera!!! Love love love the book!
I was just having this conversation with Spouse last night!
The Princess Bride.
This is my favorite book and the movie is equally wonderful. A rare thing for Hollywood. Kudos to Rob Reiner and the author William Goldman. He wrote the screen play as well.
Now…I can not believe someone else has the same swoon obsession as me when it comes to Colin Firth….
some good movie/books there! i think one of the best ones done was The Shawshank Redemption. my husband originally ridiculed my choice in the movie store but after watching it he could hardly stop talking about it let alone recommending it to everyone!
i’ll have to put kudos in to the outsiders as well…good call!
“The Outsiders” was one of the best. What a lineup! Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, and Diane Lane to name a few. Classic 80’s movie. Plus we watched it at school in the 7th grade since we had read the book!
hah! I’m getting together with 3 other girlfriends Tues night to watch The Notebook. 2 of us have seen it (me included) but the other 2 have not. eek… sniff sniff all night loooooong.
I loved the DaVinci Code BOOK which is why I won’t go see the movie. I usually don’t stop myself from movies that are books, but for some reason I do with this one. Am I right in doing so?
P & P — yes, that WAS a good movie.
Sorry Ali – it appears I’ve done a post within a comment. lol.
The Notebook. I cannot watch that movie, no matter WHAT I’m doing, and not.bawl. Not just a tear…I.BAWL.
The original version (with Jack Nicholson) of The Shining…
wow. Totally different, huh. LOL.
jane eyre, for sure. the 1944 version with orson welles and joan fontaine. i think they chose the right things to get rid of – because you can’t have everything from the book in the movie, or it would be eight hours long! – that kept the story fundamentally the same. amazing!
that said, i have to agree with anna that colin firth as mr. darcy is just plain awesome. 🙂
I really enjoyed both Malkovich and Sinise in Of Mice And Men. I thought they brought the Steinbeck characters to life well. (And the actor who played Candy… Ray Walston… was awesome.) Trivia for you: Slim was played by (dun dun dun) John Terry. Better known to you as Dr. Christian Sheppard on Lost.
It has to be Pride and Prejudice (the BBC version), for so many reasons but most of all COLIN FIRTH! I am swooning just thinking about him.