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Topic Closed"the book is better than the movie"...
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Points: 15784 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 20 2007 at 18:11
They may be apples and oranges but you can certainly compare them and decide which you prefer. Nothing wrong with saying you find the book better.
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Points: 37575 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 20 2007 at 18:27
If you are talking about faithful translations of the printed word onto the screen then I think it is subjective - either the director shares your imagined images of the characters and events or he doesn't. I am willing to accept that they will have to change somethings and leave bits out to fit even the shortest novel into a 2 hour film (many of the great films were based upon short stories and novella's), but I tend to emit the "The Book Was Better" line if they change too much.
 
Case in point - War of the Worlds. Angry


Edited by darqdean - September 20 2007 at 18:28
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Points: 346 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 20 2007 at 18:56
sometimes the case is that the book is bad written and boring  but movie  is better and interesting, for example someones acting can be so good that cast aside how much story is badly shaped. what I am trying to say this two can collaborate and refill
one another’s weak spaces and that is what fascinate me the most!


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Points: 1264 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 20 2007 at 22:12
I simply cannot watch a movie having read the respective book before.... Dead
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Points: 618 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 20 2007 at 22:48
Running with Scissors. Even though the movie was great, it didnt match up with the awesomenesstisity of the book
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Points: 3830 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 21 2007 at 02:44
Movies based on novels are almost universally appalling in comparison to the source material.  To say otherwise reveals either a lack of imagination or a lack of ability to grasp the written word, it's as simple as that.  Adding images where there were once none can only create entropy.  Can you name a movie based on an album that stands above the album? 

Now, movies based on short stories have a better chance of success, if only because instead of compressing and truncating, they're expanding and interpreting.

I generally cannot -finish- a movie based on a novel if I've previous read the novel.  It feels like a horrible dub-job on a foreign film, the characters are always all wrong in my eyes.  Is it because the characters -are- all wrong?  Well, in today's Hollywood, probably LOL  But in the past, it was because what I got out of the book was much different than what the director did.  Hell, I loathed the screen adaption of The Shining, and it's universally applauded.

With that said...  if any of you like the modern "I, Robot" film with Will Smith over the original book, you deserve to be put out of your sad, sad misery.  I mean it.
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Points: 21162 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 21 2007 at 03:27
^ maybe a little more open-mindedness would do you good? I mean, you don't have to like movies about books, but to say that they're objectively bad just because they don't match *your* perception of the book ...

BTW: How is interpreting and expanding adding any less entropia than interpreting and summarizing?Wink
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Points: 20240 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 21 2007 at 08:55
Originally posted by sircosick sircosick wrote:

I simply cannot watch a movie having read the respective book before.... Dead
 
I'm the opposite!! I will probably never read the book if I saw the film before, no matter how different it is
 
I remember reading this trashy novel called "Cocaine and blue eyes", than (would you believe it) OJ "return to jail" Simpson did a film of this book. It was an exact copy of the book almost down to the last word >> stunk as bad as the book!!
 
Although I refuse to see TLOR movies, I'm glad I read the books. But there is no way I would've done it the other way: movies first and books next.
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Points: 3830 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 21 2007 at 13:42
Originally posted by MikeEnRegalia MikeEnRegalia wrote:

^ maybe a little more open-mindedness would do you good? I mean, you don't have to like movies about books, but to say that they're objectively bad just because they don't match *your* perception of the book ...

BTW: How is interpreting and expanding adding any less entropia than interpreting and summarizing?Wink


I didn't say they were objectively bad because they didn't match -my- perception of the book...

...all one has to do is watch I, Robot, and wonder when Asimov's novel spent most of its pages describing product placement and making mass culture references.


Edited by Man Overboard - September 21 2007 at 13:43
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Points: 1594 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 27 2007 at 11:37
Books are better than films for the same reason radio is better than TV: the pictures are better. Wink
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Points: 1494 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 28 2007 at 00:27
Originally posted by andu andu wrote:

We should also look for those great movies who are not based on famous books, of course it's difficult to surpass a great novel. Many of great films, however, are based on books that are not really that good - that's a good start for thinking of some examples. How many people would say "Heart of Darkness" (the book) is better that "Apocalypse Now" (the movie)?
Hey, I love Heart of Darkness! I haven't seen Apocolypse Now, but Heart of Darkness is a damn good novella.
Originally posted by Man Overboard Man Overboard wrote:


I didn't say they were objectively bad because they didn't match -my- perception of the book...

...all one has to do is watch I, Robot, and wonder when Asimov's novel spent most of its pages describing product placement and making mass culture references.
Using I, Robot as an example of why book movies suck isn't even fair. It's not even about the book! They just got the rights to the title, somehow.


Edited by Ghandi 2 - September 28 2007 at 00:29
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Points: 37575 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 01 2007 at 21:28
I am hoping that Stardust is at least as good as the book. I've waited a long time to see a Neil Gaiman book translated to the big screen and don't want to be too disaponted. (The Dimmu Bogir track in the trailer is probably enough to keep me happy until it's released in the UK Approve)
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Points: 3491 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 02 2007 at 13:48
Never seen a movie that was beter then the book. I hues it dpends if you read the book first and watch the movie after or the movie first and then read the book meby, i always read the book before i see the movie, and the movies are mostly good but never as good as the book was always to much left out.
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