Films Not As Good As The Books ? (2 Viewers)

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bringbackrattles

bringbackrattles

Well-Known Member
Read the book on the Iceman about the Mafia killer/hitman Richard Kiklinski and its a true story and gory and spine chilling.He killed over a hundred people and had no feelings whatsoever,a real psycho.
But watched the film Iceman tonight and it was nothing like the book,and a bit of a let down. Any films seen that were not as good as the book ?
 
skybluetony176

skybluetony176

Well-Known Member
The beach has to be the worst adaptation of a book ever. The only thing that they got right was Robert Carlyle as Daffy. Other than that a complete catastrophe.

If you want to read a fantastic book and watch a fantastic adaptation of said book The English Patient is about the finest example of that.
 
rob9872

rob9872

Well-Known Member
Life's too short to read books. Can do a film in 90 mins but my mi d wanders and a book would take me a month
 
LastGarrison

LastGarrison

Well-Known Member
skybluetony176 said:
The beach has to be the worst adaptation of a book ever. The only thing that they got right was Robert Carlyle as Daffy. Other than that a complete catastrophe.

If you want to read a fantastic book and watch a fantastic adaptation of said book The English Patient is about the finest example of that.
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I've got to disagree I didn't actually find it a bad adaptation but then it depends on your interpretation of the book. The book is very different but I felt the film gave it quite a good go.

Trainspotting is also done very well.
 
clint van damme

clint van damme

Well-Known Member
There's a trilogy of books by Dennis Lehane about an ex cop turned gangster at the start of the last century and Ben Affleck just made a film of the 2nd one -Live by night.
It was shite compared to the book, really poor. It's a big book and they tried to condense it down too much. I had really been looking forward to it as well.

Should have made 2 films from the 3 books and told the whole story.
 
bringbackrattles

bringbackrattles

Well-Known Member
clint van damme said:
There's a trilogy of books by Dennis Lehane about an ex cop turned gangster at the start of the last century and Ben Affleck just made a film of the 2nd one -Live by night.
It was shite compared to the book, really poor. It's a big book and they tried to condense it down too much. I had really been looking forward to it as well.

Should have made 2 films from the 3 books and told the whole story.
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I've read a couple of books on Charlie Bronson the long serving prisoner but the film BRONSON although okay, was more of an arty type portrayal I thought. But Tom Hardy was good playing Charlie and got him spot on.
 
clint van damme

clint van damme

Well-Known Member
bringbackrattles said:
I've read a couple of books on Charlie Bronson the long serving prisoner but the film BRONSON although okay, was more of an arty type portrayal I thought. But Tom Hardy was good playing Charlie and got him spot on.
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I've read a couple of books on Bronson but I've never bothered with the film. A few people have told me it's not up to much.
 
bringbackrattles

bringbackrattles

Well-Known Member
clint van damme said:
I've read a couple of books on Bronson but I've never bothered with the film. A few people have told me it's not up to much.
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Don't bother on others opinions on films myself,as we all see things differently. Watch it you may enjoy it ? I got fascinated on Bronson a few years back and you could write to him, which I did and got a letter back. He writes in capital letters but he was interested that I'm an ex con myself. I've kept out and he told me to stay out,which obviously he hasn't !
 
bringbackrattles

bringbackrattles

Well-Known Member
I've always liked Charles Dickens and read a few of his novels. But no film has really portrayed his books in my opinion. Only except maybe Christmas Carol with Jim Carrey as Scrooge !
 
Grendel

Grendel

Well-Known Member
Mostly books are better than films. The worst interpretation of a book I've probably seen is The Shining. The script change was strange and the descent into insanity ended up looking like an act from a pantomime. It was probably one of Kings better books and was turned into a farce

James Herbert novels The Haunting and The Survivor fared little better. I didn't even recognise The Survivior as his book just dull.

The other problem is you visualise the character from the book. So when a shaven headed 6 foot 5 one man demolition squad is played by diddy Tom Cruise you just laugh. It's like Dear old Ronnie Corbett playing Dirty Harry.
 
Otis

Otis

Well-Known Member
I love the Shining movie, but then I haven't read the novel. I might well feel differently if I had, but the film isolated on its own is a great film in my opinion.

First horror film of its kind too I believe, that of it all being played out in very bright light with no darkness to be found.
 
clint van damme

clint van damme

Well-Known Member
bringbackrattles said:
I've always liked Charles Dickens and read a few of his novels. But no film has really portrayed his books in my opinion. Only except maybe Christmas Carol with Jim Carrey as Scrooge !
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I love the old black and white Tale of two citIes film. Not sure what year it's from but I think it's even older than you BBR!
 
rondog1973

rondog1973

Well-Known Member
Can't diss the film but Goodfellas only scratches the surface of Henry Hill's antics.

And whilst a marvellous performance, Joe Pesci's portrayal of Tommy de Vito/de Simeone doesn't get near to what an actual psychotic madman he was.
 
Philosoraptor

Philosoraptor

Well-Known Member
I Robot and The Bicentennial Man.

I don't think any film could live up to Asimov's writing. One day they will put the foundation saga to screen.
 
RegTheDonk

RegTheDonk

Well-Known Member
The Choirboys. Was like an "adult" police academy, not the kind of life the book portrayed.

Read another book by Wanborough, The Black Marble, and the film didn't do that justice either.
 
S

SkyblueBazza

Well-Known Member
Pretty much every film I see having read the book leaves me feeling a bit short-changed for one reason or another.

Except porn films...they're always better than the books

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk
 
Covstu

Covstu

Well-Known Member
I agree but I think a lot of people get caught up on this type of thing. You cannot cram the detail of a book into films otherwise films will be 5 hours long each. Game of thrones is another one where it's not the same but a book generally has more dialogue which cannot cross over to film in some cases
 
ajsccfc

ajsccfc

Well-Known Member
Look Who's Back - a satirical novel about Adolf Hitler waking up in the modern day and using the celebrity culture to get back into power. The film was more like a series of sketches where they film the public's reaction to a guy with a great Hitler impression.
 
LastGarrison

LastGarrison

Well-Known Member
Stand By Me was a great film based on a short story The Body by Stephen King.

For me the film easily surpassed the written story.
 
Nick

Nick

Administrator
bringbackrattles said:
Read the book on the Iceman about the Mafia killer/hitman Richard Kiklinski and its a true story and gory and spine chilling.He killed over a hundred people and had no feelings whatsoever,a real psycho.
But watched the film Iceman tonight and it was nothing like the book,and a bit of a let down. Any films seen that were not as good as the book ?
Click to expand...
I didn't get to the end of that film but found the book really interesting
 
bringbackrattles

bringbackrattles

Well-Known Member
Nick said:
I didn't get to the end of that film but found the book really interesting
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You can watch his interviews online with a psychiatrist when he was in prison.
They showed them on T.V. a few years ago and it was spine chilling. He was more scary than any made up horror character !
 
Nick

Nick

Administrator
bringbackrattles said:
You can watch his interviews online with a psychiatrist when he was in prison.
They showed them on T.V. a few years ago and it was spine chilling. He was more scary than any made up horror character !
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I think I saw one, to him it was just like us going for the toilet and as normal as that.

Also managed to hide it for so long, very scary.
 
bringbackrattles

bringbackrattles

Well-Known Member
Nick said:
I think I saw one, to him it was just like us going for the toilet and as normal as that.

Also managed to hide it for so long, very scary.
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He was the Devil incarnate but when you read about his childhood you get some insight as to why he was who he was. His father and mother beat him badly and his father beat another child so bad he died. He grew up in an ultra violent home and knew nothing else.
 
Ian1779

Ian1779

Well-Known Member
Covstu said:
I agree but I think a lot of people get caught up on this type of thing. You cannot cram the detail of a book into films otherwise films will be 5 hours long each. Game of thrones is another one where it's not the same but a book generally has more dialogue which cannot cross over to film in some cases
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Tolkein's works are another example of this - his world was so expansive that you would never be able to put it all into a film unless you were looking at 20+ hours of film, but by making the films they allowed people to access the story that many never would otherwise.

I think they did a pretty good job in the main on both LOTR and The Hobbit trilogies.
 
Nick

Nick

Administrator
bringbackrattles said:
He was the Devil incarnate but when you read about his childhood you get some insight as to why he was who he was. His father and mother beat him badly and his father beat another child so bad he died. He grew up in an ultra violent home and knew nothing else.
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It was the way he was so calm about it all though, not flying in to fits of rage and hammering people. Could just walk up and shoot somebody in the head and then carry on with his day.
 
D

Deleted member 5849

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Grendel said:
The other problem is you visualise the character from the book. So when a shaven headed 6 foot 5 one man demolition squad is played by diddy Tom Cruise you just laugh. It's like Dear old Ronnie Corbett playing Dirty Harry.
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Ian Fleming's quote on seeing Sean Connery as James Bond in Dr No was along the lines that it wasn't his idea of Bond when he wrote the books, but would be if he could write them again.

And have to say, the better Bond films are better than Fleming's books, IMNSHO.
 
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