Movies & Books Into Movies

[ginny]

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?

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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.
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Your Discussion Leader: pedln

[ginny]

 That's a much more positive way of looking at it!  hahaha I'll vote for that.

 Honestly, sometimes one feels totally out of touch.  I'm not thinking all the vulgarity was needed, I wonder why those who made it did.

[MaryPage]

I have never in my life thought I was such a terrible prude, but these days I feel assaulted, as though I am the target of a constant barrage of all that is rude and crude and over the top juvenile.
Am I all alone in this world in shuddering at the language being used?  At the yelling and screaming at other human beings that is considered amusing?
And the advertising, over and over and over, about taking medications to ensure you can have sex? 
I keep wondering what the grade school children are absorbing about general behavior and about focusing everything on sex!  What will their generation be like?
Yes, I shudder, and feel total gratitude that I won't be forced to find out!

[marjifay]

I agree with you, MaryPage, about some of the junk that is thrown out on television.

I really hate those ads for medications for Viagra et al.  Especially the one that says if your erection lasts longer than 4 hours, see a doctor.  Yuk!

However, I've gotten almost kind of desensitized to language that used to be verboten, as it is used so much now in films and novels.  Especially when a book of fiction is set in an area where that language is common.  But I really dislike it when a film or book overuses that kind of language, i.e. uses the 4-letter word gratuitously.  (Altho I guess you would say any use is unnecessary?)  Ah, for the old films when the worst word you heard occasionally was "damn."  Frankly, my dear, .....

Marj

[marjifay]

Just returned from watching THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL in the theater.  Wonderful!  Funny!  Best film I've seen all year.   A visual treat.  I recommend everyone should see it now while it is still in theaters on the big screen!

Marj

[mrssherlock]

I'm right in there with you.  Gross!  And the Red Carpet gowns!  Did you see Rhianna's Swarovsky covered skin?  And I thought Cher was shocking.

[MaryPage]

Did you all fall in love with the movie FARGO back in 1996 or so?  I know I did.  The Coen Brothers did it, and it starred Frances McDormand, who won an academy award for best actress, and William H. Macy.

Well, the Brothers Coen have done it again.  I did not think they could, so I have been hesitant to say so, but I have now watched 8 episodes of their new FARGO on FX TV, and I tell you, it is a hoot and a half, and then some.  It is a 10 episode miniseries.  Billy Bob Thornton is bound to win all kinds of awards for his acting, and a new star is born in Allison Tolman.  Tom Hanks's son Colin Hanks plays a major role, as well.  All of the acting is superb.  It is a very, very violent film, but you do not actually see a lot of the violence;  only enough to know what is going on.  Oh dear, I do not KNOW when I have laughed so hard.  Catch it, if you can, and give it a whirl.  And please forgive me if it is not your thing.  I think they call it crime noir.

[marjifay]

Thanks, MaryPage.  I added the first disc of the Fargo TV series to my Netflix queue, altho they don't know how soon it will be available.

I have loved most of the Coen Bros. films, especially the Hudsucker Proxy, Miller's Crossing, A Serious Man, and Fargo.

Marj

[MaryPage]

I have never seen ANY of those, other than FARGO.

This Fargo is about the same place some 20 years later, with different people.  It has precisely the same sense of humor, however.  And, of course, scenery.  I have tried and tried to analyse why it tickles me so, when the bottom line concerns a great deal of violence, which I hate.  I suppose it is all in the timing, plus the utterly absurd juxtaposition of humor with horror.  You will see what I mean, and I can only hope you enjoy the series as much as I have done.

[mrssherlock]

Add Raising Arizona and The Big Lebowski.  I gave up on the Fargo series too soon.  Four episodes are scheduled here for June so I'm playing catch-up.

[Dana]

Just watched a rather good movie, "Kongekabale"....Danish political thriller.  No violence, political shenanigans but nobody even thinks of killing anybody to get their way, such a refreshing change.  and the reporters actually have some morals and aren't afraid to discuss them.

Just saw that amazon has the very latest Wallander (Swedish) based on his last book.  I'm thinking of quitting netflix and just using amazon.  It seems every time someone recommends a movie, or I read about one I would like to see netflix doesn't have it, and amazon does. I think they have dumbed down their offerings. 

[marcie]

I don't subscribe to Netflix so can't check their listings. Does anyone know if they have the film or TV version of Lucky Jim? The book, by Kingsley Amis, has been nominated by marjifay in the Suggestion Box. It seems the book would be very interesting and a lot of fun. Thanks, marj!!  

I'd love to see the film with Ian Carmichael (Lord Peter Wimsey in the PBS Mystery series) as well as read the book.

[ginny]

It doesn't look like Netflix has Lucky Jim with Ian Carmichael, is it a 1957 movie? That may be why.

Amazon has a used  one for 8.99 or something like that.

[marcie]

Thanks, Ginny, for checking. That's the one.

[PatH]

MaryPage, I liked the movie Fargo very much.  It's pretty gory too, so it might be a good test of whether one would like the series.  Another Coen brothers movie I liked a lot is O Brother, Where Art thou?  It's a loose retelling of the Odyssey, set in the South in the 1930s, with the main characters escaped convicts.  It's funny, with good music (and George Clooney, if that's a plus for you).

[rosemarykaye]

Dana - we found exactly the same with Netflix, so we cancelled it after the free trial.  It didn't have anything we wanted to see, and it didn't work with our main TV as apparently there was some issue between Netflix and Panasonic - another thing they don't tell you when you sign up.  Luckily there was a month free and for once I remembered to cancel it before the time was up, ditto Amazon Prime.  Like you I am beginning to think it's cheaper just to buy what you want from Amazon - it certainly makes you think twice about whether you are actually going to watch the thing.

Rosemary

[marjifay]

Last Sunday I saw a stage play of Les Miserables (the musical version).  The music was great but I had a very difficult time understanding the words.  I have now put on my Netflix queue the 1935 film version with Fredric March and Chas. Laughton, and will perhaps read the novel --Yiks! 1200+ pages!).  Has anyone seen the 2012 musical version on film?

Marj

[Tomereader1]

Marilyne, your hubby would probably prefer "Words & Pictures".  It is more of an adult theme movie. The main   characters are teachers, the setting is a private school.  A lovely, understated performance by Juliette Binoche as an artist dealing with the brutal effects of rheumatoid arthritis and how it affects her being able to paint. (Her art is very large, modern and won't appeal to everyone's appreciation)  Binoche painted many of these herself.  Clive Owen gives a bravura performance as a writer-turned-teacher, battling alcoholism, but his love for language and its usage is thrilling, especially for those of us who love "words" and how they are used by writers/authors.  The way the students react to the "Words vs Pictures War" between these teachers is uplifting.
I would give this movie five stars!

[mrssherlock]

marjifay:l  Les Mis (2012) with Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe was on tv here just yesterday.  I was disappointed with HJ, all the energy and down right sexiness of his Curly (Oklahoma London 1999) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0216048/?ref_=fn_al_tt_4 was flattened, Valjean is not a happy camper is he?  In 7th grade Social Studies we read Hugo's Les Miserables.  Might be an interesting discussion there somewhere.

[marjifay]

Wow, Jackie, I'm impressed.  We never read anything that difficult in the 7th grade.  I had never heard of Hugh Jackman.  And I don't usually like to watch a movie redone after a great original, but Oklahoma 1999 gets such a good rating at IMDB, I added it to my Netflix queue.  Thanks.

Marj

[pedln]

Marjifay, I'm so glad to hear you like The Grand Budapest Hotel.  My son and DIL saw it and said they didn't like it.  I'm looking forward to seeing it when the DVD comes out.

Words and Pictures must be quite new.  Netflix has one review.  Amazon doesn't show it except for a 3 minute trailer.  It looks like it would be good.

[Tomereader1]

Words and Pictures is very new.  Just released last week.  Still showing at the "premier" movie houses.  I've heard such great things about Budapest Hotel.  Guess some folks like stuff other folks don't. 

[pedln]

I definitely want to see Words and Pictures, as it ties in with Robin Oliviera's I Always Loved You , which SeniorLearn is reading right now. JoanP just posted an Oliviera link there and here are her (Oliviera) comments on that subject.

I believe that paint is as facile and powerful a medium as words. The Impressionists revealed their own politics and views on contemporary society just as Zola's essays and novels did; their themes mirrored one another. Zola's realist novels L'Assommoir and Nana commented on modern life in the same way the Impressionists' paintings did. No one can look at Degas's In a Café and not understand his politics, nor can one look at any of Pissarro's peasants-at-work paintings and not recognize his socialist leanings. Painters and writers alike were commenting on modern life with equal force.

From Robin Oliviera's Book Group Guide

[mrssherlock]

Marjifay:  I was eager to see Hugh Jackman emcee the Tony awards.  He's good, a great dancer, bright, personable, but he is NOT Curly.  When one of the musical numbers was One Day More I realized that it was Curly I was expecting and Valjean was a disappointment.  So I must revise my review.  It doesn't matter much who plays Javert and Valjean, the story and especially the music are so powerful that the casting becomes minor.  Les Mis is Superlative!!!

[marjifay]

Pedln, if you can possibly see The Grand Budapest Hotel in a theater, do so.  It would probably be okay on DVD, but not nearly as good as on a big screen.

As to Netflix, I've got over 200 films on my queue, so I have not had much trouble finding films I want.  The only ones I often have trouble finding on Netflix are the very early films of the 1930s and 1940s.  Luckily we've got a wonderful DVD rental store in North Hollywood (Eddie Brandt's Saturday Matinee, 5008 Vineland Ave.) that has EVERYTHING.  You often see stars from TV series, etc. in there looking for films, some looking for films which they can use to copy a speech accent, etc.  The owners are experts on films.  No unknowledgeable salespeople there.

[marcie]

Wow, you're lucky marjifay. That DVD rental store sounds terrific.

[rosemarykaye]

Yesterday Madeleine and I went to see the film 'Belle' - it is excellent.  It's the true story of a mixed race child fathered by a Captain in the British navy in the 18th century.  Her mother dies so he brings her to England and gives her to his family to look after - they are aristocratic and live at Kenwood House in Hampstead.  After initial reservations they agree, and bring her up with her cousin, whose father is off gallivanting with his mistress somewhere.  The couple are played by the wonderful Emily Watson and Tom Wilkinson - his character is the most senior judge in England at the time.

They bring Belle up very well, but she is not allowed to appear at dinner parties, etc because of her colour.   At the same time, the judge has to adjudicate on a case about a slave boat, the Zong - the crew threw all of the slaves overboard and the company is claiming on its insurance as they say they had to do this owing to insufficient water (apparently at that time it was OK in maritime law to jettison cargo for this reason, and slaves were classified as 'cargo').  However, documents show that the ship in fact passed 8 ports where it could have taken on fresh water, but sailed past.  It did this because the slaves were packed so tightly into the ship that they had all become ill and many were dying, so no-one would have bought them on arrival.  The insurance company is contesting the claim for compensation.

Belle's father dies at sea but leaves her a large legacy, so she is a good marriage prospect - or would be if she were white.  Her cousin, meanwhile, is white but has no dowry, so no-one wants to marry her either.  Emily Watson and Penelope Wilton (the dowager aunt) have to try to sort all this out.  In the meantime, Belle has befriended a young minister who is intent on proving what really happened on the boat, and to bring about the abolition of slavery.

It's a fantastic story and the acting is excellent.  Gugu Mbatha-Raw plays Belle to perfection.  Recommended.

Rosemary

[marjifay]

Thanks, Rosemary.  Belle is playing at our favorite movie theater.  We'll go see it.

Marj

[pedln]

Thanks for an excellent review, Rosemary. I've put it on my queue for sometime in the hopefully not too far distant future.

[mrssherlock]

I stumbled across Nanny McPhee this am on HBO and it was hilarious!  Been a while since I saw so it was fresh and new.  No Time For Sargents was on TCM a while ago and it has aged well but the extra scenes at the end added nothing.

[rosemarykaye]

Last weekend the daughters and I went to see 'Chef' - we enjoyed it a lot.  It's a simple story, no great surprises but beautifully acted.  The soundtrack is great too.  Have you all seen it already?

Rosemary

[ginny]

I haven't, but I've heard a lot of good things  about it.

I came in to say I saw Jersey Boys, the Clint Eastwood new movie which has a lot of pans. I saw it in Williamsburg, VA, at a national Classics Conference and had 4 hours to kill. The theater had I'd say over 100 retirees, most of whom seemed to know each other.  (I could happily  live in Williamsburg, it was like a huge party of friends there, lots of retirees, I was really impressed). Anyway, I'm saying this because at the end of the movie there was clapping, which I haven't seen in a movie in a  long time.

The movie has been panned, but I enjoyed it. I have not seen the Broadway show. At the end of it the Frankie Valli character says the best was when we were singing under the street lights (I don't think this is a spoiler, it's the credits) and then they show them doing just that as the credits begin to roll. Then more and more characters come out for a bow, then more, and it's like a curtain call at the theater. I love the way he did that. Even Christopher Walken comes sort of  dancing out.

I really enjoyed that movie, curse words and all, and there are plenty of them: it's Jersey as they say, profane Jersey.

I also got to see my first Transformers with my grandson Thursday, the Exile one. I liked it? I  can't believe I liked it. Metal monsters fighting each other and transforming into trucks. Fabulous CGI. Not much plot, hard to tell one monster from another, who is bad, who is good, who IS that monster,  but Stanley  Tucci was super.  I like Stanley Tucci. Kelsey Grammer is in it too and Mark Wahlburg, he appears to be  all built up muscle wise. But he was good, have never seen "Markey Mark" in anything and he was good.

 I liked that  about 90 percent of the violence, (with one notable exception which they really should have toned down: too MUCH but it was the token loss of one of the actors/ heroes early on to show they mean business. Still it was overdone)..... most of it was metal monsters, and that sort of dilutes the violence for me.

I realized after liking both of these movies I don't see enough movies and my taste is a bit off. Anybody seen either of these?

[ginny]

By the way, the previews for the new Helen Mirren movie  about the Indian restaurant across the street from her French restaurant looks like another The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. I think it comes out here August 8.

[rosemarykaye]

Not seen any of those but I love Stanley Tucci so much it would almost be worth seeing Transformers!

Rosemary

[ginny]

Hahaha.  I would never have gone but my grandson has seen all the previous films, apparently it's a series, and so he had more idea about what was going on.  It kind of reminded me of those older Japanese Godzilla Destroys  the City type films, which I think are an art form, Rotten Tomatoes type stuff,  except the monsters here are these huge metal things.  From outer space....I think.   I enjoyed Stanley Tucci. As the film goes on he's got a pretty large part. And the thing is almost 3 hours long.    Hahaha

[marcie]

Ginny, I hadn't thought of watching Jersey Boys or Transformers, but now I probably will. Thanks for your reviews.

I think someone must have mentioned the following film here but I can't find the post. I got the DVD of ALL IS LOST from our library and watched it last night. It has only a few lines of dialog in the beginning and a couple of words toward the end and it's almost 2 hours long. It has only one actor, Robert Redford, who has to try to outwit nature to keep alive in his capsizing boat in the middle of the Indian Sea. Redford, who looks little like his early "pretty" image, is mesmerizing. I think the film is fascinating and thought-provoking.

[pedln]

Marcie, that film, All Is Lost, is on my Netflix queue, so I'm glad to see your positive comments.  One actor with very little dialogue sounds pretty demanding.  The subject brings to mind a book on a similar topic, written several years ago -- Tinkerbell.  And I can't remember the author or the subtitle, but an advertursome sailor wrote about his experiences sailing a 12 or 14 foot day-sailor across the Atlantic by himself.  An acquaintance. because of his sailing experience, was asked by some newspaper to review the book.  His overall opinion was that the sailor had a relatively easy time because the boat was so small.  Sailing a larger boat solo would be difficult.

I recently watched Fruitvale Station, about the last day in the life of Oscar Grant, a young man shot in a BART station by Oakland police -- yes, you know the ending at the beginning of the film. When it started I wasn't sure if I really wanted to watch it, but soon found myself caught up in the life of young Oscar Grant.  Looking at Netflix reviews, it seems to be one of those films that's either loved or hated.  Based on a true incident, the film took a few awards at Sundance and at Cannes.

[Frybabe]

Here is a Book Page list of some upcoming movies from books. http://bookpage.com/the-book-case/16892-highly-anticipated-book-to-film-adaptations#.U8P_Ho1dVng  Some of these books I am unfamiliar with, none have I read.

[maryz]

I've read Wild, and was totally unimpressed - a rare time when I stayed with a book thinking it would get better.  It never did.  I'll skip the movie.  (Since we don't go to many movies, I'll probably miss the rest of them, too.  )

[Tomereader1]

I think "The 100 Foot Journey" will be a terrific movie.  With Helen Mirren, how could it go wrong?  (I didn't read the book yet)