Author Topic: Movies & Books Into Movies (Read 552330 times)

marjifay · « **Reply #4000 on:** February 27, 2015, 12:39:36 PM »

How many of you have read a book,
then watched a movie that was based on that same book?

Were you disappointed?
Or elated that they hadn't made any significant changes?
Or even surprised to discover the movie was even better than the book?

_______________________________

Books Into Movies Now on DVD
Recent Movies Based on Books
Books in a Series by Their Authors
Movies Based on the Book

Join us in an ongoing discussion of this very popular subject right now.
Pull up a chair, take off your shoes, pour yourself a cup of coffee or hot chocolate, and join in!

Your Discussion Leader: pedln

It's still happening -- my post thanking Pedln for recommending a film was repeated five times (maybe more, but I stopped looking at more pages.) I wish I knew how to make it stop repeating messages.

Marj

marcie · « **Reply #4001 on:** February 27, 2015, 09:42:20 PM »

Marj, I only see your post once.

MaryPage · « **Reply #4002 on:** February 28, 2015, 12:55:26 PM »

Me, too.

MaryPage · « **Reply #4003 on:** March 10, 2015, 02:47:11 PM »

Chip took me to the moving pictures today! Morning matinee! (Say what?) We saw The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, and it was Great! Not second best at all. Worth the price of admission not only for the great sights and hilarious dialogue, but to see Dame Judi Dench doing Bollywood type line dancing. Well, what can I Say!

Now I expect I'll have to wait a year to get the DVD and hear the half or more I could not hear. Which is one of the myriad reasons I never go to the movies anymore, but I just could not bear to wait for this one.

pedln · « **Reply #4004 on:** March 10, 2015, 11:49:00 PM »

MaryPage, I think the DVD will be out sooner than in a year. But it looks like right now you can download it from Amazon to your iPad or tablet. Maybe to your computer. I think my son downloads to his TV and either pays rent or buys them. (He has a motherboard or some such inside his TV cabinet. Don't ask.

MaryPage · « **Reply #4005 on:** March 11, 2015, 08:46:56 PM »

I just flat out do not like watching movies on my iPad or my computer. I prefer buying the DVD directly from Barnes & Noble, where I carry a membership and get a regular 10% discount, plus free shipping always, and lots of coupons for further discounts, and my huge family shower me with gifts of Barnes & Noble gift certificates, as they know that is what I crave above all things, and so it is that I have the option to buy any movie I think I might enjoy. Which, come to think on it, is certainly not MANY of those made these days. But this one I want, and will wait for, so that I can watch it on my television from my DVD player and use my special headphones that are hooked up to my TV. Those headphones enable me to hear every word loud and clear. I cannot do that as comfortably in any other way.

For instance, I got FIVE (5) DVDs in the mail from Barnes & Noble this afternoon: BOYHOOD, MOCKINGJAY PART ONE, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, VERA SET (season) ONE and VERA SET (season) TWO. I have pre-ordered THE IMITATION GAME, and they tell me it will be shipped to me on March 27th. I have a huge library of DVDs, so always have some I have not watched as yet. I really can wait for THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL!

ginny · « **Reply #4006 on:** March 13, 2015, 05:56:36 PM »

I just saw the Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, and found it fun and delightful. The theater was full of ladies and two men "of a certain age," and we all had a super time.

I did not quite understand the ending, however, and I don't want to be told, here, because it will ruin it for others, but when it comes out on DVD I, too, am going to get it to see if I see again what I think I understood.

A lovely afternoon. I like the message, too.

Frybabe · « **Reply #4007 on:** March 20, 2015, 06:31:15 AM »

My local PBS station is showing the 1984 production of The Jewel in the Crown. Unfortunately, I fell asleep and missed it. Fortunately, I read the books and participated in the wonderful book discussion we did several years ago. I never saw the TV production, which I will probably be able to see it on Comcast's On Demand shortly.

MaryPage · « **Reply #4008 on:** March 20, 2015, 10:41:18 AM »

Well, there are two of us; don't tell! I DID see the wonderful production of The Jewel In The Crown years ago on PBS and just loved it, but the other night I had alerted my family to BE SURE and catch Diane Sawyer's 50th Anniversary celebration hour of The Sound of Music on ABC, complete with Julie Andrews and the cast, and I settled down in my easy chair to enjoy it and fell asleep before it even began and woke long after it had finished and gone. I have read rave reviews of it since, but have been unable to find a means of viewing it. Sigh! The ravages and inconveniences of Old Age!

Frybabe · « **Reply #4009 on:** March 20, 2015, 11:09:09 AM »

That plus the fact that my cats seem to think I must be up by 5AM.

pedln · « **Reply #4010 on:** March 20, 2015, 05:57:10 PM »

MaryPage and Frybabe, I love The Jewel in the Crown, and saw it years and years ago on PBS. But since then I could never watch it from Netflix because it did not have captions or subtitles. But around this past Thanksgiving time a new remastered edition was put out and it has subtitles, so I bought it from PBS. I think they had some kind of special because I also got Death Comes to Pemberly at the same time. Anyway, Jewel has five DVDs. I just finished Disc 3, can't believe how much I have forgotten about it, and am enjoying it immensely.

Today I received The Theory of Everything from Netflix. Just about fainted because as soon as it was available I put it at the top of my queue and there was no "very long wait" as there usually is when a new popular DVD is released. So tomorrow night our little dinner and film group will watch it.

pedln · « **Reply #4011 on:** March 22, 2015, 12:03:30 PM »

I saw "Theory" last night. Excellent. 5 Netflix stars. And Eddie Redmayne certainly deserves his best actor award. When I got home last night I immediately went toi Google to get more info about Hawking, mainly a timeline. I"m of two minds as to looking him up before the film. There might be a few spoilers.

MaryPage · « **Reply #4012 on:** March 28, 2015, 10:08:15 PM »

I watched an hour of The Jewel In The Crown tonight, quite by accident. Turned out I had already seen the show I intended to watch on PBS, and so I decided to turn to a different PBS channel, instead, and rewatch something I had not seen for years. Pedln, I, too, had forgotten so very much, and so it was great. But the GREATEST thing was to see again all of those simply fantabulous actors and actresses that have now each become FAMOUS and were not yet so back then. What fun! I shall now try to catch more episodes, and if it had not been for you, I would not have bothered. Thank you!

marjifay · « **Reply #4013 on:** March 30, 2015, 04:09:13 PM »

I recently found a TV website I like -- Me TV (think is stands for Memorable Entertainment TV -- they show old 1960s series like The Rockford Files, Gunsmoke, Bonanza and my favorite, The Rifleman, (love the relationship he has with his young son) Was sorry to learn that the star, Chuck Connors. died at age 71 of lung cancer and pneumonia. (So many stars back then died of lung cancer before they knew how dangerous smoking was.)The only old show I don't care for is the Donna Reed Show -- pretty boring. Anyway, it's a good channel if you like some of those old shows.

Marj

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #4014 on:** April 02, 2015, 10:50:19 AM »

My local PBS station has been airing "Cancer-The Emperor of All Maladies".
Three nights. Talk about educational! It was wonderful. I chose not to read the book, as I realized it would be full of technical/scientific information, which is not always easy to get through in book form. It was narrated by our dear departed Edward Herrmann. Do watch this if it comes to your PBS.

marcie · « **Reply #4015 on:** April 03, 2015, 12:33:57 PM »

Thanks for the recommendation, Tomereader. I missed the program. I'll check to see if it is available "on demand" with my cable TV.

marcie · « **Reply #4016 on:** April 03, 2015, 12:34:21 PM »

Wolf Hall, a six-hour miniseries adapted from Hilary Mantel’s best-selling Booker Prize-winning novels: Wolf Hall and its sequel, Bring Up the Bodies, airs on Sundays, April 5 to May 10, 2015 at 10pm. Wolf Hall stars Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winner Damian Lewis (Homeland) and Tony Award-winner Mark Rylance (Twelfth Night) and shines a spotlight on Thomas Cromwell's involvement in King Henry VIII's marriage to and divorce from Anne Boleyn.

Join our PBS Masterpiece 2015 discussion to talk about these and other favorite PBS programs.

pedln · « **Reply #4017 on:** April 04, 2015, 03:25:23 PM »

Tomereader, when I saw Time Magazine's reference to The Emperor of Maladies yesterday I knew I'd seen that title somewhere -- your description of it here. Time had 10 questions for Katie Couric, the first ones being about cancer and her involvement with the documentary. She lost both her husband and sister to cancer, then founded the non-profit Stand Up to Cancer.

Quote

"Laura Ziskin, one of my co-founders died of breast cancer. She'd read an advance copy of The Emperor of Maladies and immediately said, "We have to turn this into a documentary."

Hopefully PBS will show it again.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #4018 on:** April 04, 2015, 04:53:38 PM »

Tomereadér - i like your O'Rouke quote. Do you think only people our age would think it significant enough to laugh at it?

Jean

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #4019 on:** April 04, 2015, 05:19:20 PM »

Oh, mabelj, I think almost anyone could laugh at that P. J. O'Rourke quote.
Probably Yuppies would think it hysterical!

marjifay · « **Reply #4020 on:** April 09, 2015, 09:13:33 AM »

I'm watching Breaking Bad from netflix. Excellent! I'm a little late getting to it, but finding it excellent! Next I want to watch Better Call Saul, the prequel to Breaking Bad by the same director.

Marj

pedln · « **Reply #4021 on:** April 12, 2015, 11:31:06 PM »

Marjifay, I'm going to be later than you. I bought Season 1 a year or so ago because Amazon had it on the bargain rack, and I have yet to start it. Does Netflix have all the seasons yet? My daughter and my granddaughter were watching it about a year ago, waiting for the final episode which had been taped and they were so afraid someone would spill the beans and tell them about the ending.

I'm waiting on Netflix for the next season of Last Tango in Halifax and The Americans. Now that it's finished I may start in on Mad Men.

Has anyone seen the new Helen Mirren film, Woman in Gold, that's recently been released? It's apparently biographical and based in part on a book published in 2012 -- slightly different title. The focus is on a painting by Austrian artist Gustav Glimt, stolen during WWII and not returned to its proper owners. What little I've seen about it sounds good. These biographical films that have recently come out have been excellent.

pedln · « **Reply #4022 on:** April 16, 2015, 11:24:02 AM »

What's everyone watching these days?

Netflix has sent Big Eyes, the recent film about Margaret Keane, the artist who painted the pictures of children with big eyes so my movie dinner group will get together this weekend. Keane's ex-husband sold the pictures under his name and when she later took him to court the judge wanted to see him paint right then and there in the courtroom. I hope that scene is in the film.

marjifay · « **Reply #4023 on:** April 17, 2015, 10:00:13 AM »

MaryPage, what is "Vera Set"? All I could find at Internet Movie Data Base listing was an actress named Vera Setta.

Someone wrote about a PBS program regarding Cancer. I don't think I'd like to watch a program on that subject, having had breast cancer. Sounds depressing.

Marj

marjifay · « **Reply #4024 on:** April 17, 2015, 10:30:33 AM »

I liked the first episodes of Mad Men, but the later episodes have gotten pretty boring, and I've stopped watching them. I really don't care for that leading man (can't remember his name).

Marj

MaryPage · « **Reply #4025 on:** April 17, 2015, 10:57:20 AM »

I watched Mad Men for about half of the first season, and then just could not handle the chauvinism any more and quit and never went back to it. I did come to admire the acting skills shown by the then so very young Elizabeth Moss, and later she took my breath away in Top Of The Lake. Wow!
VERA is a BBC series of murder mysteries. The books are by Ann Cleeves, who is an outstanding author of several different series, my very favorite being the SHETLAND series, which has also been made into excellent films by the BBC. But her VERA series, set in the north of England, are excellent as well and all. Brenda Blethyn, twice an Oscar nominee, plays Vera Stanhope, the DCI of the local murder team. It is into its 5th season now! Very popular. You probably saw Blethyn in Saving Grace, an outstanding comedy the Brits put out some years back.

I buy the books from Thriftbooks used and Barnes & Noble new. I buy the DVDs of the seasons of the series from Barnes & Noble. I prefer to own them, as I hate streaming and do not wish to watch anything on my computer or tablet. I am much more comfortable watching at my leisure and according to my own timing on my large television from my lovely easy chair. And I can watch them as many times as I choose and loan them out to my family members.

http://www.anncleeves.com/vera/

https://www.goodreads.com/series/54150-vera-stanhope

maryz · « **Reply #4026 on:** April 17, 2015, 11:04:35 AM »

MaryPage - We LOVED Saving Grace. Thanks for reminding me. I'll have to find it somewhere to watch again.

MaryPage · « **Reply #4027 on:** April 17, 2015, 12:37:20 PM »

Yes, you can laugh yourself into a conniption fit watching Saving Grace. And now those actors we had never met before are BIG STARS! And a lot older, as are we!

maryz · « **Reply #4028 on:** April 17, 2015, 12:49:01 PM »

Our library didn't have a copy, so I just bought myself a DVD for $5.++ (plus S&H) from Amazon.

MaryPage · « **Reply #4029 on:** April 17, 2015, 03:33:55 PM »

It was made clear back in 2000, and Good Grief, that is already 15 years ago! A lot of it was filmed in Port Isaac in Cornwall, which is where Doc Martin is filmed now. And I believe it is true that this film was the actual debut of Martin Clunes playing Doc Martin! It won a lot of awards all over the world. Enjoy!

marjifay · « **Reply #4030 on:** April 27, 2015, 09:49:35 PM »

Has anyone read Nathaniel Philbrick's IN THE HEART OF THE SEA; THE TRAGEDY OF THE WHALESHIP ESSEX? I see that Ron Howard has a movie made from it coming out in 2016. I also see that Philbrick has written many interesting nonfiction books none of which I've read yet.

Marj

pedln · « **Reply #4031 on:** April 28, 2015, 11:15:29 AM »

I've been chasing down some of the actors you have been talking about. Had never heard the name Brenda Blethyn before, but did see Saving Grace a few years back and gave it four stars. Will have to see it again.

MaryPage, I'm happy to see that Netflix has the Vera shows and I've just added the first disc to my queue. Brenda B looks familiar. Is she the same actor who played Hettie Wainright, a middle-aged detective with a very young sidekick, on the PBS Mystery series some years back? Anyway, I"m looking forward to the series now that I'm about finished seeing the good stuff from the Academy Awards.

I watched Big Eyes a week ago and, not liking the art work, found that I liked the film much more than I thought I would. Four stars.

Watched Unbroken over the weekend. A lot of violence and upsetting scenes, but it was a terrific movie and I gave it five Netflix stars.

Paddington is coming this week, and I'm holding it until my 8 year old granddaughter comes for MOther's Day.

Marjifay, I haven't read any PHilbrook books, but gave one of his books to my son, a former Navy man, for his birthday a few years back.

MaryPage · « **Reply #4032 on:** April 29, 2015, 10:02:49 AM »

Pedln, I felt just exactly the same as you, I always strongly disliked the Big Eyes when they were so popular; they really, really turned me off big time.

But daughter Becky was urged to go to see the film by a friend and fellow teacher, which she did, and she was entranced by the story itself and urged me to go. I bought the DVD instead, and have it in my queue to watch.

NO! NO! NO! Brenda Blethyn was not Hetty Wainwright! She was GRACE in "Saving Grace!" You would have adored her, if you loved that movie, as everyone I have ever known who saw it did. She is an outstanding actress, and her VERA is quite wonderful.

By the way, Vera is from the series of books by Ann Cleeves. I am currently reading WHITE NIGHTS, from Cleeves' Shetland Island series of books, which have also been made into films. She is one of my favorite writers, as she truly has an exquisite ability to get right into the heads of her characters and express on paper the oh so real thinking and impulses of human beings.

MaryPage · « **Reply #4033 on:** April 29, 2015, 10:08:10 AM »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brenda_Blethyn

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000950/

ginny · « **Reply #4034 on:** April 30, 2015, 06:45:13 PM »

Hetty Wainthropp in Hetty Wainthropp Investigates was played by the great Patricia Routledge, who also was known as Hyacinth Bouquet in Keeping Up Appearances.

MaryPage · « **Reply #4035 on:** May 04, 2015, 02:55:03 PM »

HBO has made and aired J.K. Rowling's THE CASUAL VACANCY in 3 episodes. I watched about 2 minutes of it while engrossed in something else, but it can be had on On Demand if you get HBO, so I intend to sit down this evening and watch it all.

ginny · « **Reply #4036 on:** May 04, 2015, 03:56:45 PM »

I liked it. I had heard so many bad things about the book I didn't almost watch it but Michael Gambon!

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #4037 on:** May 04, 2015, 10:14:13 PM »

it was a little bit too raunchy for my liking, but I DVR'd and then watched all three episodes.

MaryPage · « **Reply #4038 on:** May 05, 2015, 10:01:57 AM »

Well, I did it! Watched all three episodes making up the miniseries of The Casual Vacancy. I am glad I elected not to purchase or read the book. Not my kind of thing at all, at all.

But in its favor, there is this. OUTSTANDING acting! Wow, they really packed a powerful cast into this small package. I have always loved Michael Gambon, and rather hated seeing him play the villain of the piece. One of my top favorites for a long time now has been Keeley Hawes, and she sure took the prize yet again! Also a pleasure was the setting and the photography. And each character was not only well played, but well portrayed; you really come to know who they are.

The story is a downer, and should come with a label to that effect.

pedln · « **Reply #4039 on:** May 05, 2015, 11:54:21 AM »

That makes for a tough decision, MaryPage. Good settings and photography are important to me, but I don't know about a downer story. The DVD won't be out until August, so guess I'll decide then. Like you and Ginny, I haven't wanted to read the book. (Her pseudonym book -- Cuckoo's Calling -- is on my Kindle, unread so far.

Right now I'm sitting with DVDs for Wild (my daughter didn't like her at all) and Paddington and waiting for Vera. My 8-year-old granddaughter is coming this weekend, so Paddington is for her if she wants. And for me, too. I loved the trailer.

Thanks to those here who suggested Vera. It sounds good and I don't think I would have found it on my own.

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Author Topic: Movies & Books Into Movies (Read 552330 times)