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What’s Your Story? - A Monday Movie Meme Sequel
Monday, August 6, 2012 at 5:00AM Today, we have a special guest topic for the Monday Movie Meme. It comes courtesy of Marta Szemik, who is a frequent reader of my writings over at the A to Z blog.
Marta’s chosen topic is “books made into movies,” which reminds me of the week that Dale at Smurfin’ the Web had us discussing films that feature books in them. So, I’m recycling the Smurfdok’s title for this week’s Monday Movie Meme theme: What’s Your Story 2?
Share on your blog or in the comments section, movie adaptations of books. The movie does not have to feature books in it but does have to be based on a book. Here are my selections for this week’s What’s Your Story 2 theme.
Watch Out
Steve Balderson’s film about a guy who is obsessed with himself has got to be one of the most bizarre movies I’ve watched in a long time. It contains an interesting mix of comedy, horror, drama and porn. Balderson does the material justice and Matt Riddlehover gives an engaging performance in this movie. It’s based on a novel written by Joseph Suglia.
Desert Flower
Backed by National Geographic, this drama film is the adaptation of an autobiography of the same name. It tells the account of fashion model named Waris Dirie, who escaped from Somalia after being circumcised as a young girl. I haven’t watched the film but I do have the book.
American Splendor
Comic books count as a “book,” right? Although I never had much interest in watching this movie about the comic book author Harvey Pekar, it stands out as a print-to-screen adaptation worth mentioning because, well, I like the cover art!
A Scanner Darkly
I feel like I might as well have watched this film, after all of the magazine interviews and online features that I read about it and director Richard Linklater. The Sci-Fi flick is based on Philip K. Dick’s novel about an undercover cop who gets way in over his head while trying to save the world from a dangerous drug. Yep, you guessed it -- I haven’t read the book either, but I DO adore the cover art and conceptual art in this movie!
What movie adaptations can YOU think of?
Reader Comments (5)
The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold, was a very interesting movie to watch. Although I haven't read the book, I've heard it was a good adaptation. Slightly to my personal shame, I admit I watched it more for Mark Walhlberg :-)
Of the ones you've mentioned I've only seen American Splendor and I liked it a great deal.
One of the best book to movies I can think of where I've experienced both versions is No Country For Old Men. I thought the movie did a great job of depicting the book.
This week-end I rewatched The Celestine Prophecy. I enjoy that film a great deal and imagine that the transfer from book to film is probably well done since the author had a big hand in doing it.
Another favorite of mine is Nathaniel West's Day of the Locust--a film about the golden age of Hollywood in the 1930s. I thought the film did a pretty job of telling the story in the book.
Lee
Tossing It Out
I must say The Notebook. One of my favourtie movies that made my heart melt.
I love seeing the credits roll of any movie and find out it was adapted from a book. Makes me happy:)
The "Whole Wide World" a movie about the later years of Robert E. Howard's life. It is based on the bio-autographies "One Who Walked Alone" and "Day of the Stranger by Novalyne Price Ellis
Glad to see you give props to American Splendor. Being a huge Crumb and Pekar fan, I naturally gravitated to this movie. It's so depressing it's beautiful, much like any song by the Eels ;-)
Books that were made into movies....go!
- Fight Club (can't pass over this one. After all, my son is named after the lead character)
- Starship Troopers (alas, the movie is *nothing* like the book)
- War Horse (I actually really liked this flick)
- Watchmen (do graphic novels count?)
- Shooter (I only mention this one because I'm a huge fan of Stephen Hunter and his character Bob Lee Swagger)