Thursday 13 #8 (123rd ed.)--Favorite Movies Based on Books

(or, in a few cases, short stories)

Now, many of these movies have not won awards nor received critical acclaim; they make my list because they told a good story, as presented. Since I’ve read only 6 of the original books, I can’t really speak to the authenticity of the screenplay in most of these cases.

1. Green Mile--I watched this at a friends’ house, and had to fight off ferret attacks to my feet throughout. I don’t believe the varmints colored my opinion of the movie, but they definitely added a surreal atmosphere to Stephen King’s storytelling. The books were originally published as serials, but have since been compiled into one volume. I have a copy of the latter on Mt. TBR, but have no immediate plans for it on the schedule.

2. Practical Magic--Bullock and Kidman were wonderful in this, and Stockard Channing was icing on the cake. Great soundtrack, too. I believe this was my first Hoffman movie; I’ve since read this and several more of her books, and I enjoy her style of magical realism.

3. Princess Bride--From what I’ve heard in my circles, this movie became a cult classic almost immediately after its release. I’m not one of “those people” who have memorized the dialogue, but I think I’m about due for another viewing. I know people who hunt down multiple copies of the book in order to infect/introduce it to their friends.

4. Stardust--I really enjoyed this one (especially Clare Danes’ performance), but it didn’t do as well at the theaters as I’d hoped. I think that, while it was released around the time of the Plieades (a nice tie-in to nature), it was otherwise poor timing. If they’d waited for the Geminids (going on now), however, I think it would have gotten better turnouts. Well, there’s always DVD sales. I first encountered this as a serial graphic novel (I can’t call this genre a comic book with a straight face, or without worrying about a trouncing from a friend in the industry), then as a standard novel, of which I desperately need my own copy.

5. Contact--Jodie Foster really picks some winners to be in, and she’s smart about waiting years between films for the right script to come along. Matthew McConaughey has a supporting role, but I sure don’t remember his being on-screen all that much. The original book was by the popular and controversial scientist Carl Sagan.

6. What Dreams May Come--Funny this is the only favorited movie starring Robin Williams. His body of work is vast and varied, but this was the best one that fits this category. I thought the movie was an extremely interesting discourse on how we affect our afterlife (or next stage following death, however you lean philosophically), not to mention the almost calorific use of color. Haven’t read the book yet.

7. Stand By Me--Based on King’s short story “The Body”, this movie touched me for its quest theme (even though the quest itself was pretty danged morbid), and for its portrayal of friendship dynamics. Oh, and this one also has a great soundtrack. True to the King style, it had just enough grossness to make me go “ew!” without actually putting me off my popcorn.

8. Carrie--I really tried to avoid repeat authors here, but I couldn’t manage it; here’s the third King on this list. Now I don’t know if this says more about my taste in movies, or if this would happen anyway, as the statistics are simply high in King’s favor. I can’t remember which I did first (read or watch), but I know they were very close together. I was one of the outcasts in high school, and this movie made me realize that eventually, the mean kids would get their karmic due.

9. October Sky--This movie, based on “Rocket Boys”, was one of the better inspirational-type films I’ve seen; not too sappy, not too far down the downtrodden path. It was also one of the few that my husband and I could fully agree on, without compromising.

10. The Hours--I read this one a few years before the Streep/Moore/Kidman film was released, and I found the movie to be reasonably true to the original story. The performances were good, and pretty equal to each other. With a story like this, it was important that none of the main characters make their piece stand out too far from the others.

11. Charlotte's Web--I am, of course, referring to the original (1973) animated film from my childhood. I’m not certain I’m ready to see a live-action/CGI version when I still have such fond memories of the first. I hope I still have a copy of the Garth Williams-illustrated version of the book (he also illustrated the Little House series by Laura Ingalls-Wilder).

12. Brokeback Mountain--Wow. What a story! I’ll confess that I prepared myself for a few good crying bouts; mostly silliness over seeing one of my favorite actors batting for the other team. I instead managed to bawl myself stupid during certain scenes, not because of the original imagined reason, but because I realized that NO ONE was EVER going to love me like THAT. And then I cried because denying people the right to love who they will is so many kinds of wrong, I can’t see straight to think about it. I am actually going to have to watch it again because I was crying so hard, I missed parts of some important scenes. I’m planning to read my copy of the book sometime next month.

13. Apollo 13--OK, I really did not put this one here to be cute. It simply worked out this way, as I was going through my search results in reverse alphabetical order. Multiple outstanding performances from the cast, riveting true story, and great effects re: setting in the craft.