Since this *definitely* fits in with our topic, I just wanted to link you guys to this podcast, in which Neil Gaiman discusses the movie-ization of his book, Stardust.
Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Movies Vs. Books
Hey, Steph, congratulations on getting BSG's 200th post. And your birthday, too. I mean, not congratulations, but happy birthday.
I'm going to take this in a little bit of a different direction. As many of you know, the only books I read are poetry books (and those pretty much never get made into movies unless they are by Homer or whoever the hell came up with Beowulf) and comic books (which pretty much always get made into movies that suck with the exceptions of Batman Begins, the original Superman, Spider-man 2, X-Men 2, Hellboy, Constantine, and Sin City).
But I want to take this opportunity to explain something about me, books, and movies. You see, everybody is always telling me I need to read the Harry Potter books. I always tell them that I don't need to, because they're making them all into movies. Same with Lord of the Rings. Why would I invest hundreds of pages of my potentially poetry/comic book reading time in a novel if they're just going to make it into a movie that I can watch in two hours? I know this rationale is flimsy, especially coming from somebody who is in graduate school for English. But if I'm going to read fiction (which I rarely do, and when I do it is not in novel form because I have ADD), then I am going to read fiction with literary merit. There. I said it. Sorry. I'm a big jerk. This isn't just because of personal preference though (since my personal preference is to watch a movie or read poems), but just academic necessity. In six years when I am done with school I'll need to apply for jobs and demonstrate that I have a pretty deep knowledge of so-called literature, and I doubt they'll ask me questions about hobbits or Hogwarts in my interviews.
Ok, you guys got me. I'm just lazy is the real reason I don't read novels.
To close this out, I want to mention that my favorite book, The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, has already been turned into a shitty movie. Which goes along with what people say about movies adapted from books. However, I do think that there are examples where movies take on a life of their own and surpass the books they're based on (or at least do something completely different but equally great). So here's my brief list.
Every Kubrick Movie
Blade Runner
Munich
JFK
Out of Sight (a million times better than the shitty book it's based on)
Solaris
Now I'm tired. What am I missing as far as movies that surpass the books they're based on?
I'm going to take this in a little bit of a different direction. As many of you know, the only books I read are poetry books (and those pretty much never get made into movies unless they are by Homer or whoever the hell came up with Beowulf) and comic books (which pretty much always get made into movies that suck with the exceptions of Batman Begins, the original Superman, Spider-man 2, X-Men 2, Hellboy, Constantine, and Sin City).
But I want to take this opportunity to explain something about me, books, and movies. You see, everybody is always telling me I need to read the Harry Potter books. I always tell them that I don't need to, because they're making them all into movies. Same with Lord of the Rings. Why would I invest hundreds of pages of my potentially poetry/comic book reading time in a novel if they're just going to make it into a movie that I can watch in two hours? I know this rationale is flimsy, especially coming from somebody who is in graduate school for English. But if I'm going to read fiction (which I rarely do, and when I do it is not in novel form because I have ADD), then I am going to read fiction with literary merit. There. I said it. Sorry. I'm a big jerk. This isn't just because of personal preference though (since my personal preference is to watch a movie or read poems), but just academic necessity. In six years when I am done with school I'll need to apply for jobs and demonstrate that I have a pretty deep knowledge of so-called literature, and I doubt they'll ask me questions about hobbits or Hogwarts in my interviews.
Ok, you guys got me. I'm just lazy is the real reason I don't read novels.
To close this out, I want to mention that my favorite book, The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, has already been turned into a shitty movie. Which goes along with what people say about movies adapted from books. However, I do think that there are examples where movies take on a life of their own and surpass the books they're based on (or at least do something completely different but equally great). So here's my brief list.
Every Kubrick Movie
Blade Runner
Munich
JFK
Out of Sight (a million times better than the shitty book it's based on)
Solaris
Now I'm tired. What am I missing as far as movies that surpass the books they're based on?
Monday, August 06, 2007
From the Casting Couch
I'm just doing a short post now to get the topic out on the board. I'll update with my own response later tonight.
I'm fairly certain we all read. A lot. And I'm sure we all have some book we'd love to see turned into a movie. Well here's your chance to cast it. Give us a synopsis, and then tell who you'd cast in what roles. If you have a favorite director, hell, tell us that too.
Or, if there's a movie already made that you would've done casting differently, talk about that.
UPDATE:
Well an author I’ve recently become slightly obsessed with (and I know Jane’s with me on this) is Neil Gaiman, so I’m going to cast the first novel of his I read, American Gods.
The basic synopsis is that a convict, Shadow, is let out of prison a few days earlier than his original release date due to the death of his wife. He heads home, ready for the funeral and to start his new life, when he meets a strange man named Wednesday, who is offering him a job as a bodyguard. He rejects it, but then finds out his new job is gone due to the death of his best friend, who died in the same car accident as his wife. In fact she was was giving him a blowjob in the car. Oh - and she comes back from the dead too. Well it turns out Wednesday, is a god, Odin, and is on a crusade to gather up all the other gods in the country to rebel against the new ones America has created. The old gods were brought over with believers from other countries when they immigrated. However, as time passed, and the generations stopped believing, the old gods were forgotten, and were left to live normal lives. America replaced them with things like the internet, television, and money.
Czernobog - Peter Stormare - Slavic god that makes a bet with Shadow that if he wins a chess game, he gets to smash his head in with a hammer. Unsettling - just like this guy always is to me.
Anansi - Morgan Freeman - Lively, witty god - trickster of African folklore. Actually a bit more prominent in another Gaiman novel - Anansi’s Boys.
Shadow - Gary Dourdan (Yes, that’s the guy from CSI - I think he could totally pull off convict - at least one with depth - I could have easily just said Vin Diesel or The Rock, but that’s a bit of a cop out)
Wednesday - Billy Drago (Ok - this is where I have to admit that I watch Charmed, and he played Barbas, and was super creepy looking - btw Wednesday is not always a trustworthy character)
There are a ton more gods - several of which I might have to cast once I get to a computer with a faster internet connection. You can check out the list on Wikipedia - and feel free to add to this if anyone has read this book. I’ll try to get some links up to these actors’ pages on imdb, but in case I don’t, is it really that hard for you to look for yourself?
I'm fairly certain we all read. A lot. And I'm sure we all have some book we'd love to see turned into a movie. Well here's your chance to cast it. Give us a synopsis, and then tell who you'd cast in what roles. If you have a favorite director, hell, tell us that too.
Or, if there's a movie already made that you would've done casting differently, talk about that.
UPDATE:
Well an author I’ve recently become slightly obsessed with (and I know Jane’s with me on this) is Neil Gaiman, so I’m going to cast the first novel of his I read, American Gods.
The basic synopsis is that a convict, Shadow, is let out of prison a few days earlier than his original release date due to the death of his wife. He heads home, ready for the funeral and to start his new life, when he meets a strange man named Wednesday, who is offering him a job as a bodyguard. He rejects it, but then finds out his new job is gone due to the death of his best friend, who died in the same car accident as his wife. In fact she was was giving him a blowjob in the car. Oh - and she comes back from the dead too. Well it turns out Wednesday, is a god, Odin, and is on a crusade to gather up all the other gods in the country to rebel against the new ones America has created. The old gods were brought over with believers from other countries when they immigrated. However, as time passed, and the generations stopped believing, the old gods were forgotten, and were left to live normal lives. America replaced them with things like the internet, television, and money.
Czernobog - Peter Stormare - Slavic god that makes a bet with Shadow that if he wins a chess game, he gets to smash his head in with a hammer. Unsettling - just like this guy always is to me.
Anansi - Morgan Freeman - Lively, witty god - trickster of African folklore. Actually a bit more prominent in another Gaiman novel - Anansi’s Boys.
Shadow - Gary Dourdan (Yes, that’s the guy from CSI - I think he could totally pull off convict - at least one with depth - I could have easily just said Vin Diesel or The Rock, but that’s a bit of a cop out)
Wednesday - Billy Drago (Ok - this is where I have to admit that I watch Charmed, and he played Barbas, and was super creepy looking - btw Wednesday is not always a trustworthy character)
There are a ton more gods - several of which I might have to cast once I get to a computer with a faster internet connection. You can check out the list on Wikipedia - and feel free to add to this if anyone has read this book. I’ll try to get some links up to these actors’ pages on imdb, but in case I don’t, is it really that hard for you to look for yourself?
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Freedom and the Best American Movie EVER
In the words of Bart Simpson, "Hey, America, you're so fine, you're so fine you blow my mind, America." Now as most of you may or may not know I'm usually an extremely a pretty contentious person. I spend a lot more time complaining about the ole U.S. of A. than I do singing her praises so I've decided to throw my hat into this week's discussion and take up the challenge of naming a few things I love about my country (patriotic music swells up here).
First and foremost (and I'm amazed Glenn didn't talk about this), I'd like to give a shout out to the Bill of Rights. That whole free speech thing--fucking brilliant. Considering how frequently it's attacked these days, particularly by morons who mysteriously think the ACLU is bad, I sometimes forget that we came up the whole idea of guaranteeing by law that people be allowed to voice their opinions, no matter how unpopular.
For example, when I googled "why America is great," I turned up this website. I disagree with at least half the items this schmoe's list (Wal-Mart? college football? Monopoly? I think not.), but I'm still all for his right to appreciate things that suck. And THAT's what's really great.
Changing direction a bit, let's acknowledge that it was Americans who invented the internets, allowing us to all be here today having this virtual discussion about why we're so damn great. I know that for many of us it's an addiction, but still, hats off to the internet.
Now, I don't want to name too many things here since there are a hell of a lot of people who will be posting after me, but I'd like to quickly celebrate one last thing, a person actually, or rather persons. That's right, I'm talking about the Coen Brothers. Honestly, I don't think I could survive without a minimum bi-monthly viewing of The Big Lebowski, and I think it's fair to say The Big L is a celebration of America in its own hilarious way. And because it makes me smile, I'll leave you with a clip from the movie. I chose this one because I saw John Tuturro in Union Square last week and that was awesome. He's MUCH taller than he looks in the movies.
PS - Sorry for going totally link crazy. I have way too much time on my hands.
First and foremost (and I'm amazed Glenn didn't talk about this), I'd like to give a shout out to the Bill of Rights. That whole free speech thing--fucking brilliant. Considering how frequently it's attacked these days, particularly by morons who mysteriously think the ACLU is bad, I sometimes forget that we came up the whole idea of guaranteeing by law that people be allowed to voice their opinions, no matter how unpopular.
For example, when I googled "why America is great," I turned up this website. I disagree with at least half the items this schmoe's list (Wal-Mart? college football? Monopoly? I think not.), but I'm still all for his right to appreciate things that suck. And THAT's what's really great.
Changing direction a bit, let's acknowledge that it was Americans who invented the internets, allowing us to all be here today having this virtual discussion about why we're so damn great. I know that for many of us it's an addiction, but still, hats off to the internet.
Now, I don't want to name too many things here since there are a hell of a lot of people who will be posting after me, but I'd like to quickly celebrate one last thing, a person actually, or rather persons. That's right, I'm talking about the Coen Brothers. Honestly, I don't think I could survive without a minimum bi-monthly viewing of The Big Lebowski, and I think it's fair to say The Big L is a celebration of America in its own hilarious way. And because it makes me smile, I'll leave you with a clip from the movie. I chose this one because I saw John Tuturro in Union Square last week and that was awesome. He's MUCH taller than he looks in the movies.
PS - Sorry for going totally link crazy. I have way too much time on my hands.
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