Picking Apart the Movie

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Whenever I see a movie that was a book first (and I read the book) I totally pick apart the movie. Recently, I watched "The Time Traveler's Wife", and my parents thought it was really good, but they HADN'T READ THE BOOK! I sat through the whole movie comparing it to the book. In my opinion, the book was ten times better. There was so much more depth, and the movie just seemed rushed, leaving way too many things out.

I have felt like this with many other movies that were books first too. I can't stop comparing! But I'm not always one the books' side. I thought the movies "P.S I Love You", and "The Notebook" were better than the books, but it's usually rare for me to think that.

Do you find yourself sighing and shaking your head through a movie that was a really good book?

I'm at the point where I just have extremely low expectations of any film that's an adaptation of another medium. That way, if it's good I'm pleasantly surprised. The only time I let myself have higher expectations is if there have been a lot of good reviews and I respect the ability of everyone involved.

I think that this might belong in the film or the book section.

Nonetheless, I have learned over time to view movies based off of books in their own separate context. The problem with cinema is that, regardless of the length of the source material, some things will be cut out due to commercial reasons and reasons involving the length of the movie.

I only get pissed off when movies based off books COMPLETELY forget the source material. Or when a "book" such as The Da Vinci Code (which really was just made to be a movie) gets made and lowers everyone's collective intelligence.

Whatever you do, don't get started reading this.

I tend to avoid movies that were based off of books, because I will compare them. I don't know how people like both, as there's usually something crucial missing or otherwise screwed up. I'm too fussy, I guess.

The only book series that I thought was made into a relatively good movie series was The Lord of the Rings, but even then, there were definite issues in the last movie (adding in a subplot that wasn't there to begin with, taking out a huge section at the end).

I was disappointed in the movie version of Interview With The Vampire, because I thought that the book was much more in-depth. The movie felt rushed. However, I thought all of the actors did a good job. I wish Lestat had gotten more screen time.

i hate seeing films when ive enjoyed the book first, theyre never as good as they were in my head

I have learned to never watch a movie of which I have first read the novel. It disappoints every time. I'm not much of a novel reader, but, I vow to only read books after I watch a good movie which is based on a novel.

I learned not to get my hopes up after Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, though recently Red Cliffs and Alice in Wonderland were a pleasant surprise - movies can never be as in depth as books but can still be good as long as the director doesn't decide that they're just going to randomly change a scene for no good reason.

I'm looking forward to Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, because Edgar Wright is the perfect, perfect director for it. Scott Pilgrim has many similarities with Spaced, and Edgar Wright is a fantastic director by any standards, with his own unique style.

Whether book, stage play, or previous movie version, the original is always better, to me. No movie I've ever seen based on a book I've read, was good. If I have a mental outline of the storyline, and mental images of what the characters look like, it is a complete distraction disaster for me to see someone else' (the movie producer's) mental image of the book.

Bending the content of the thread, but keeping literally on topic, I pick apart all movies and TV shows for background flaws. I can't stand it when there's a 1958 model TV set in a 1954 period film, or when I see a high-altitude trail from a plane, streaked across the sky in a western movie that's supposed to be in 1850. And when they put a color picture on a black & white TV, or when the are showing a close-up of someone sitting at the wheel of a car, and they're turning the steering wheel back & forth like they're trying to wiggle it off the shaft. And I hate digitally-created special effects which defy the laws of physics. That burns by brain out and blows my attention fuse right away.

Charles

I have never seen a movie adaption that was as good as the book.

I nominate Jurassic Park. But then, when I first read Jurassic Park (before the film came out) it looked like a film script anyway.

Also The Longest Day. The book is good but dry.

And The Eagle Has Landed. The book is itself a rip-off of the earlier film Went the Day Well; the film of TEHL is better than both.

And Casino Royale (the real one, not that awful so-called "comedy.")

It's not a given that films are worse than the preceding books, just the expectation.

I'm sorry, I thought you mean "picking apart" as in looking for hidden symbolism, themes, etc.