Good book to film transfers. EDIT: to include a list.

[Rhaisington]

Fight Club is a book?

Its by Chuck Palahniuk. See also

~Survivor (1999)
~Invisible Monsters (1999)
~Choke (2001)
~Lullaby (2002)
~Diary (2003)
~Haunted (2005)
~Rant (2007)
~Snuff (2008)

Great author. Interesting style of writing as well as overall character development. Really draws you in when it comes down to it.

 

[cleverlymadeup]

Jurassic Park was a descent book-to-film movie...the sequels....not so much

actually so was Rising Sun, totally forgot about that one also by Micheal Crichton

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy- Newer one, not the BBC gem. walked out of the movie

actually the book is the adaption

it goes like this

radio play
book
bbc tv series
and various other formats until the movie

all written by Douglas Adams himself, so any changes he made to the movie were done by him

 

[MrGFunk]

Fight Club
Lord Of The Rings
Trainspotting
A Clockwork Orange

All very good films in their own right.

Thank God for the Clockwork Orange film. I tried to read it and didn't have a clue what was happening. That book should come with a translation guide.

Jurassic Park was a descent book-to-film movie...the sequels....not so much

Great Shout. Love Jurassic Park. Haven't read the book though.

 

[Inverse Skies]

The best I could think of would be Jurassic Park. The only time I've liked the film BETTER than the book. Amazing I know, but the book had really stupid parts to it like the velociraptor wiping its mouth with the back of its arm, and they also tried to chew through steel bars in order to get to the survivors - distinctly un-dinosaur like behaviour which really dragged the book down.

And the film had that great theme music by John Williams... (goes and digs out ipod)

 

[Lukeje]

Fight Club
Lord Of The Rings
Trainspotting
A Clockwork Orange

All very good films in their own right.

Thank God for the Clockwork Orange film. I tried to read it and didn't have a clue what was happening. That book should come with a translation guide.

The copy I read did. Though I only found it after finishing the book. Are you sure there wasn't one at the back in an appendix?

 

[MrGFunk]

Fight Club
Lord Of The Rings
Trainspotting
A Clockwork Orange

All very good films in their own right.

Thank God for the Clockwork Orange film. I tried to read it and didn't have a clue what was happening. That book should come with a translation guide.

The copy I read did. Though I only found it after finishing the book. Are you sure there wasn't one at the back in an appendix?

There totally was but I think i'd prefer it if it was just written in english, I didn't get why they had used strange Russian underground slang. I'm not going to lie, now I seen the film i'm not going to bother with the book.

 

[Lukeje]

There totally was but I think i'd prefer it if it was just written in english, I didn't get why they had used strange Russian underground slang. I'm not going to lie, now I seen the film i'm not going to bother with the book.

The only thing that's massively different is that Kubrick's copy of the book didn't have the final chapter, thus kind of missing the point. Though I'm sure if you didn't want to read the whole thing, you could just read a synopsis from Wikipedia or something.

 

[Good morning blues]

I've never read the book that the original Die Hard was based on, but I've always kind of wondered how it would read. Either way, it's an awesome action movie.

EDIT: There are dozens of suggestions that I could make, but off the top of my head I'll throw Saving Private Ryan and Ghost World into the list.

 

[super_smash_jesus]

the bourne series, the movies are brilliant

I am not sure how anyone can actually say that the movies are a good adaptation from the books. Personally, they are my favourite books of all time, and when I saw the movies I died a little inside. The only thing similar in the books and film was the name, and the general background of Jason Bourne. Other than that, the films absolutely bastardized the entire theme of the books, which was the rivalry between Carlos and Bourne, both of which were claiming to be the best assassins in the world.

In my opinion, the movies were good, but would have been better if they didn't have the bourne trilogy as their name. I had a hard time enjoying them knowing full well that they covered maybe 1/2 of the first book in three movies, yet continued the names of the original trilogy. The second book is entirely in asia, and that was completely overlooked, and the third book was the showdown between bourne and carlos was completely avoided, except if you count the second movies rivalry between the two assassins.

I am jaded when it comes to these movies, and consider them the worst adaptation in the history of adaptations.

 

[Teachingaddict]

How about for good

The Stand
The Shining
Salems lot
Bram Stokers Dracule
Misery (actually is it me or are most SK book to films good)
I've heard Marely and Me is excellent
About a Boy (totally awesome)
+1 for High Fidelity
Trainspotting
=1 Jurassic Park
Alice in Wonderland
The lion the Witch and the Wardrobe (mostly the 80s british one)
Casino Royale
Johnny Mnemonic (based on a short by ....i forget)
Mary Shellys Frankenstein (the Kenneth Brannagh one)

Im sure there are more

ooo yeah

Oliver (is it the oliver reed one)
War of the Worlds (the first one not the Tom Cruise CGI remake)

 

[Galletea]

You have to look at adaptations as works in their own right. An adaptation is not a straight transfer from book to film, well, in almost every case. The author's intentions are never exactly what the reader gains from a novel, and all experiences are different, so a film adaptation is very rarely going to meet your expectations if you expect a straight copy of the narrative.

 

[MrGFunk]

I've never read the book that the original Die Hard was based on, but I've always kind of wondered how it would read. Either way, it's an awesome action movie.

EDIT: There are dozens of suggestions that I could make, but off the top of my head I'll throw Saving Private Ryan and Ghost World into the list.

Ghost World goes on the list

The book of Saving Private Ryan is based on the screenplay.
I read a book of The Game (David Fincher) only to find out half way through it was a book version of the film. It added nothing. Eurgh, felt like wasted time.

I didn't know Die Hard was based on a book - Nothing Lasts Forever [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nothing_Lasts_Forever]. Brilliant. Great present for a friend of mine if I can get hold of a copy.

 

[Good morning blues]

I've never read the book that the original Die Hard was based on, but I've always kind of wondered how it would read. Either way, it's an awesome action movie.

EDIT: There are dozens of suggestions that I could make, but off the top of my head I'll throw Saving Private Ryan and Ghost World into the list.

Ghost World goes on the list

The book of Saving Private Ryan is based on the screenplay.
I read a book of The Game (David Fincher) only to find out half way through it was a book version of the film. It added nothing. Eurgh, felt like wasted time.

I didn't know Die Hard was based on a book - Nothing Lasts Forever [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nothing_Lasts_Forever]. Brilliant. Great present for a friend of mine if I can get hold of a copy.

You are correct about Saving Private Ryan! I was thinking of the Band of Brothers miniseries, based on the book by Stephen Ambrose.

Other good movies based on books include Apocalypse Now (which was based on Joseph Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness), The Maltese Falcon, Blade Runner (based on Phillip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?), and A Scanner Darkly.

 

[this_was_a_mistake]

Can't have a discussion on awesome movies without Fight Club.

 

[vamp rocks]

i have heard twilight made a good movie, i just finnished the book so now i want to go see the film

Sorry, but are you a girl!

lol, euan... shut up...

 

[mark_n_b]

Ghost World? srsly?

Watchmen? Bandwagon jumping is fun. If you were a twelve year old girl instead of a gamer fanboy you would say twilight and wonder how anyone could stand that gross stupid watchmen movie.

Field of Dreams, seeing as how the film was better than the book by most critical accounts. How about Dr. Zhivago, Christmas Carol, Ben Hur? Or are we only thinking nerd faves?

I'm not sure list threads are favored on these forums though.

 

[Duh]

Blindness, man was that a good movie and book

 

[cleverlymadeup]

V for Vendetta

I'm also going to throw in the mix.

Sin City

Sin City yes, but i'm on the fence with V, just reading the comic now, ALTHOUGH it's not a butcher of the story, it did keep a lot of the feel of the comic and a lot of the tons, it's just not a shot for shot like Sin City or 300

Thank God for the Clockwork Orange film. I tried to read it and didn't have a clue what was happening. That book should come with a translation guide.

the only bad part about the movie is the end, it's missing the final and most important chapter. it's also one of Stanley Kubrick's great regrets as the version of the book he read never had that chapter.

as for the book, after the first couple chapters nadsat is pretty easy to understand, especially if you understand some of the odder british dialects, who knew having a mom who liked corrie st and being forced to watch it as a kid would be useful


i'll also add Stardust, it's pretty faithful to the book

 

[FinalGamer]

Thank God for the Clockwork Orange film. I tried to read it and didn't have a clue what was happening. That book should come with a translation guide.

FINALLY, somebody else says it! Jesus christ that book is more illegible than the Voynich Manuscripts.

And nobody mentions To Kill A Mockingbird? Perhaps the only novel-based movie that the author praised and loved so much she gave the leading actor Gregory Peck a very special gift, in the form of her father's watch engraved "To Greg from Lee"?

For shame.

 

[Talisker]

I thought No Country For Old Men was pretty good.