We loved Keith's books-to-TV post last month SO much that we asked him to do the same for our movie theme this month. And he did NOT disappoint! Grab your popcorn and check out some of these titles. Let him know in the comments if you agree with his choices or have any of your own to share.
Hollywood, Here I Come!
Last month, I wrote about books transformed into great television shows. This month, I am going bigger and moving on to books that were made into feature films. When I started looking at different movies for this post, it became apparent Hollywood needs more screenplay writers. It doesn’t seem there are very many original screenplay movies these days. They are all adapted from books!
I know nothing I just wrote makes any sense. In reality, the only thing Hollywood needs less than more actors wandering around is more writers in the muck. There is also still an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, so apparently some successful movies are made each year that don’t depend on a book for their backbone.
However, many of my favorite movies are adaptations from great books, and in my own mind, it’s all about me, so that puts us back on firm ground. I think I am getting a good feel of how our current administration just talks about both sides of each issue until you are so confused, you just shake your head and agree so they will hush talking. It works!
Since you are now confused whether I am for or against adaptations, I present to you the following:
Keith’s Favorite Films Adapted from Books
Interview with the Vampire (1994)
Let’s go ahead and get the vampire listing out of the way. We all know there was going to be one listed, but this one is legit, y’all.
Anne Rice published Interview with the Vampire in 1976, and her lush, rich language and history was transformed gorgeously to the big screen. The Vampire Lestat, played by Tom Cruise, and his cohort, Louis, played by Brad Pitt, are perfect in their roles. The film does vary a little from the book, but both are worthy of being on every list ever.
Crazy Rich Asians (2018)
Crazy Rich Asians was just released last weekend and topped the box office rankings, making the first Asian-American based film in over 25 years a huge success. Based on the 2013 book by the same name written by Kevin Kwan, the movie is funny, complex, and makes us look how many of decisions, even our most personal ones, are influenced by our family. The books are a trilogy, hopefully the movies will follow suit.
Love, Simon (2018)
This coming-of-age story is adapted from the book Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli. It is the first major studio film to focus on gay-teenage romance, and it does it in such a way, that everyone falls in love with the story. And Simon.
The Zookeeper’s Wife (2017)
This movie is the perfect WW2 flick for lovers of animals and war dramas. The amazing story of Antonina and Jan Zabinsk first was captured from Antonina’s unpublished journals by author Diane Ackerman in 2007. This true story shows how the Zabinsk’s saved hundreds of Jews in Poland by hiding them from the Germans in their Warsaw zoo. Stories like this never grow old.
The Hours (2002)
A movie packed with A-list stars and a plot that surrounds a Virginia Woolf novel is the perfect movie for all us Chick Lit Central fans! The movie is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1998 novel by Michael Cunningham. I loved everything about this one. If you haven’t watched it, do it tonight!
Two Films Adapted from Books that Keith Thinks are STINKERS
A Wrinkle in Time (2018)
C’mon, man, it had OPRAH it in it! It was a beloved young adult book. It had a huge budget. WHAT HAPPENED? I think the movie-makers cut off more than they could chew. Madeleine L'Engle wrote a phenomenal sci-fi book in 1954, but the 2017 movie was too ambitious, and it just didn’t pull together. Sorry, Oprah, I still love you, though.
Serena (2014)
As an Appalachian writer, seeing one of our most revered authors, Ron Rash, get a big-time movie deal was HUGE. Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper star in a movie based on such a great southern Appalachian story. The movie, though? It just stank. So much acting talent, such a good story, but a terrible movie. I’m sorry, Brad and Jen, I still you both!
How about you? What are your favorite/least favorite movies adapted from books? What book would you like to see adapted to a movie? Let us know if then comments below!
Keith Stewart is the author of Bernadette Peters Hates Me – True Tales of a Delusional Man. A native of Appalachia, he splits his time between his hometown of Hyden and nearby Lexington, Kentucky. His blog is www.astrongmanscupoftea.com. You can find him on Twitter at @Shiglyogly and Facebook at @AMSCOT (A Strong Man’s Cup of Tea). He is a regular contributor to HumorOutcasts.com and the GoodMenProject.com. He lives with his husband, Andy, and their two dogs, Duke and Dudley.
7 comments:
I definitely want to see Crazy Rich Asians. But I will have to wait for it to come out to rent. My husband won't pay to go to a theater to see a movie. Interview with the Vampire is one of my favorite movies and books.
Fried Green Tomatoes. They managed to not screw anything up, which, with the cast they had, was really all they needed to do.
On the otherhand, strangely enough, the film of Steel Magnolias, in my opinion, actually improved on the original stage play, which doesn't have half the jokes we all love from the movie.
Another good one is Room.
I know that technically this post is about movies and not TV shows, but I never pass up a chance to say, as a true-blue Sookie Stackhouse fan OF THE BOOK SERIES, just how completely disappointed I was by the train wreck of a tv show. The only thing they got right was to cast Lois Smith as her grandmother (which didn't exactly take much ingenuity on their part....which is a good thing bc turns out all their un-genuity whipped up is big ol' mess of sex drugs and blood.
Have a lovely evening dear.
Crazy Rich Asians is so good, so watch for it when it comes out in video. Did you know they are shooting a tv series of the Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles? I think HULU is doing it.
That’s true. I love that movie and book.
Those two movies are great choices. The True Blood tv series could have had no dialogue and just Eric Northman standing there and I would have watched.
I had no idea the Anne Rice's Vampire books were being made into a tv show. Too bad my husband won't pay extra for channels like Hulu or Netflix. He says our cable subscription is high enough and he's not paying for extras.
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