Books into Movies, The Good, the Bad, and the Blah

I have an opinion and express it frequently. Sometimes my thoughts about movies and books follow the mainstream. Other times? Eh, not so much.

I have three categories. The Good Ones, the movies that brought the books to life and vice versa; Blah, movies that fell flat. And the movies that surpassed the books by a wide margin.

In the Good column (according to my vast research of the last few minutes with IMDb):

• To Kill a Mockingbird. Comparing the book and movie isn’t relevant. The two are both outstanding in their own right.
• Hunger Games. The first chapter sucked me in and wouldn’t let go. The movie started slow. Then exploded. The hubby rolled his eyes when he saw my choice for that night’s entertainment. Then was mesmerized until the very end.

The Didn’t-Work-for-Me column:

• Gone With the Wind. About everyone has seen the movie. But what about the book? Holy crap, read it. The written word, the storyline with all the side streets and alleyways, gives us the reasons behind Scarlett and her character traits. It makes the movie seem trivial.
• Twilight. Yeah I liked the movies. Got posters of RPatz and everything. But the screenwriter didn’t capture the true magic of the books.

Movies that Blew Me Away. And are nothing like the books:

• Harry Potter. IMO, the books can’t touch the movie. Absolute genius. And I get chills thinking of those words, ‘you have your mother’s eyes’.
• The Princess Bride. I loved the movie so much that I figured the book would be great also. *shiver* Ahhh, no. Horrible, in my opinion. Nasty ending and blah writing.

Do you agree with my choices? How about a few of your own.

Favorite Films Friday

The movies that struck a chord in me are varied. Most were the shoot-em-up kind with special effects and CGI. But a few that I labeled On Golden Pond types is sprinkled throughout.

The Friday posts will reflect my choices. This is also a way to insert comments on politics, a bit of WTH kind of stuff/sh**.

When I think, “Best Movie of All Time”, Schindler’s List is the one and only.

"This list…is an absolute good. The list is life. All around its margins lies the gulf."

As director, Steven Spielberg gave the film a creative touch that is incomparable. It is a combination of subject matter, the acting by Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, and Ralph Fiennes. The cinematography. And who thinks music doesn’t play a huge part in a movie? I have the soundtrack by John Williams and Itzhak Perlman on my mp3 player.

Who can forget the girl with the red coat walking through the black and white scenes?

Now, a warning.

Politics follow.

WTH is up with Afghanistan. Is there no common ground? The Taliban can burn mosques and desecrate holy books but the burning of those same mutilated books is the cause for violence and slaughter?

It seems we are dealing with a people with a propensity for apeshit behavior.