Five Best Book to Film Adaptations

Film adaptations of books have been around ever since the medium of film has been around. Prior to film adaptations, there were stage plays based off of books. In fact, there seems to be a belief that an author has only truly "made it" when one of their works is adapted into a film. In the last few decades, the number of film adaptations has increased exponentially, but just because more books have been made into films doesn't mean those films are entertaining or good adaptations of their source material.

Today, I'm going to discuss the five best adaptations I've seen. In order to be fair, I'm limiting the list to books I've actually read and the subsequent film that was made adapting it that I've seen. For example, I haven't read the series that The Golden Compass is based on, so I can't really talk about how bad of an adaptation the 2007 film is, but I've heard its not great.

I asked people on Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook for their feedback, and there were a few honorable mentions: The Martian, Moby Dick, Fight Club, Get Shorty and No Country for Old Men

With the honorable mentions out of the way, here's my list of the five best book-to-film adaptations:




5) Sense and Sensibility

I know this might seem like a random first choice, but this movie got right what many other period pieces, especially adaptations of period novels, get wrong. The characterization, especially of Eleanor and Marianne Dashwood, is consistent. The relationship between the two sisters is captured and translated beautifully. The film works because it translates the story into a different medium without losing the atmosphere.

4)  To Kill A Mockingbird

This film is kind of the perfect storm of amazing screenwriting and phenomenal casting choices. Gregory Peck seemed to be almost born to play Atticus Finch. The key thing that makes this film so effective, and such a good adaptation, is that it doesn’t try to shy away from the subject matter. It doesn’t try to minimize the injustice and, given the period when the film was made, that very easily could have happened.



3) Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

I don’t really have a ton to say about this one. the book is an exciting spy thriller and the film is as well. There were some changes, but those changes were minimal and are more for clarity than anything else.



2) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

While later films caught flack for omitting characters and storylines, or changes in characterization, the book reads almost identical to the screenplay. Very little is changed between book and screen, very little is omitted. The production encompasses the wonder of the world of Harry Potter in a way that later films seemed to waver on.

1) Lord of the Rings

They said it couldn’t be done. For years, people believed Tolkien’s opus was unadaptable due to the sheer size and scale of the story. It wasn’t possible to do in one film, but three films were a much different story. Peter Jackson also managed to do this without making too many changes to the source material either. Some characters feature more in the films than in the book, simply to avoid introducing a character only to have them drop out of the story after doing one or two things. Yes, Tom Bombadil is absent from the story entirely and yes, the Scouring of the Shire is only seen as a vision, but for the most part, the story is exactly as Tolkien wrote it. Additionally, there’s a level of sincerity that other films, which were released after Lord of the Rings was so successful, lack. The people making these movies loved the source material and wanted to give it the best possible treatment for the silver screen.

This is my list for the best book-to-film adaptations. My list of the worst ones will be coming soon, but I wanted to start out positively. What are some of your favorite adaptations?

Follow Me Elsewhere: Facebook \ Twitter \ Goodreads \ Instagram

Buy Me A Coffee?

Blogtober Day 12: Favorite Scary Movies

As I once told a friend, a good horror movie is hard to find. With today's oversaturation of the horror film genre, there are plenty of "horror" movies that come out each year, but only a few that are actually good or actually scary. I feel like some of this was due to horror moving away from suspense-driven scares and more towards just making a gore-fest and not trying to build a sense of dread among the viewer. Movies attempt suspense, but few modern horror films manage to pull it off. Today, I'd like to discuss my favorite horror movies. To make this easier, I'm selecting my favorite in each category of horror film.



The Shining- Favorite Psychological Horror

The Shining is a great suspense film. What I mean by that is this: from almost the very beginning, the viewer gets the feeling that there's something off about the Overlook Hotel. As Jack unravels, the question isn't what's going to happen, but when. It's a great psychological horror film and the intensity of the final confrontation sticks with you. The film is also the reason why I can't watch Jack Nicholson do comedic roles.



Alien- Favorite Sci-Fi Horror

Despite the dip in quality for the series as a whole, the original Alien film, and its immediate sequel Aliens were both entertaining and scary. The original film gives almost nothing away. The viewer only sees what the characters themselves witness, as they witness it. When they find the room filled with eggs, they are clueless as to what it is. The same is true for the face-huggers. We don't see the alien until it bursts out of Kane's chest. It isn't until far into the movie that we see the fully grown Xenomorph. The film did an excellent job of balancing the sci-fi aspects with the horror elements, keeping the suspense for both.



The Conjuring- Favorite Supernatural Horror

While I enjoy classics such as The Exorcist and Poltergest, they aren't my favorite. Genre-defining, yes, but I don't find them particularly scary. This may be because when I saw them, they were a few decades old and horror had become a lot bloodier and scarier. In fact, my enjoyment of The Conjuring comes in part from how it uses a number of tricks and traits from the two other films. The film relies on old school scares rather than having a jump scare every few minutes. There are truly tense scenes that build towards a scare rather than having a ghost pop out of nowhere, scare the character and race off. I keep mentioning film building tension, and that's because suspense is the key to horror, not monsters or gallons of fake blood.



28 Days Later- Favorite Zombie Horror

I'm pretty sure this was the first zombie movie I ever saw. If it wasn't, it was definitely one of the first few ones I saw. I love a good zombie movie, and this one brought something new to the table: fast zombies. Until 28 Days Later, zombies normally shuffled around and it was a little hard to believe the characters couldn't stop them or escape. (Yes, I know I'm trying to apply real world logic to zombie movies and how ridiculous that sounds). Fast zombies though, they open up a whole new world of story-telling and I like it. The film's a little gory, but that comes with the territory. They are dealing with zombies after all.



Scream Favorite Slasher Horror

I won't lie. The meta-ness of Scream is part of why I enjoy it so much. It's a slasher movie that is aware of, and comments on, the tropes slasher movies. Any time a film has a character explain how to survive the film, without it seeming ham-fisted in, that's a yes in my book. It's a slasher film that's aware of it being a slasher film, while at the same time subverting only some of the tropes it pokes fun at. I like it when films are self-aware. I like it even more when the narrative doesn't seem to brag about how smart it is about being self-aware. Scream strikes the perfect balance between being meta and patting itself on the back for being meta. The kills are also interesting  and entertaining to watch.

Those are a few of my favorite horror films. What are yours?

Blogtober Day 5: Top 5 Disney Villains

I feel like Disney villains kind of run the gamut. They stretch all the way from villains that are pure evil, just for the sake of being evil and they love it, to misunderstood figures who aren't necessary good, but when looked at through a certain lens, viewers might not call them evil.
I love Disney villains. So many different types of villains, so many stories to be told. Here are my top five Disney villains and why I enjoy their villainy so much. I decided this list based on how much I enjoy the villain, not necessarily how evil they are.



5) Yzma

I won't lie, a large part of the reason why I like Yzma, and The Emperor's New Groove in general so much, is because of Kronk. His dynamic with Yzma elevates the story and makes it much more enjoyable. On her own though, I do love Yzma. She's one of the few memorable female Disney villains who's motive isn't about finding/keeping the handsome prince to herself. She's got personality and knows exactly what she wants. Also, the whole "I'll turn Kuzco into a flea" scene cracks me up every time.


4) Scar

If I had to guess what movie I've seen the most times, it would probably be The Lion King. My sister used to make us watch it all of the time when we were kids, not that I complained. I love Scar for his theatricality. The Shakespearean-ness (I don't know if that's a word, but I'm going to pretend it is) of his actions and his plans made me love this film as a child and I love it even more as an adult (except for the scene where Mufasa dies, which is much more traumatic than I remember)


3) Maleficent

Yes, Sleeping Beauty is a very old Disney movie. It also has one of the best, pure evil characters ever (before Disney decided to give Maleficent her own movie and turned her into a misunderstood figure). While the film Maleficent has its own merits, I prefer the cartoon version. Why does she curse Aurora? Because she wasn't invited to a party. It was a petty reason, and sometimes, you need that in a villain.


2) Jafar

Jafar is a great villain because he's pretty much unshakeable. He knows what his goal is, he knows what he wants and at no point in Aladdin does he consider changing his mind. Not only that, but the lengths he's willing to go to in order to get what he wants, the throne of Agrabah, take him pretty far. Not many villains are willing to take risks like that to achieve their endgame.


1) Hades

Even though Hercules isn't my favorite Disney film, it has my favorite villain. Why is Hades my favorite? One word: sass. I like villains with sass and attitude. Hades is clearly a villain, but he's also a genuinely funny character. I enjoy that, even if the rest of the film doesn't live up to the same standard.

Those are my top 5 Disney villains, which Disney villain is your favorite?