Top Ten Favorite Movie Adaptations

 Today's Top Ten Tuesday hosted by hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl was listed as "Freebie." I've chosen to list my Top Ten Favorite Movie Adaptations.

 1. A Time to Kill by Josh Grisham. A terrible crime is committed by White Supremacists and followed by a swift act of vengeance by a grieving father. This is one of the rare occurrences where the movie is better than the book.

 2. Jaws by Peter Benchley. A monster shark is terrorizing the beach just in time for 4th of July. Probably the only shark movie that isn't B-rated. Peter Benchley was good, but Steven Spielberg was better.

3. Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist. Two kids with dark secrets and a serial killer terrorizing the suburbs. There were two movie adaptations of this, Let the Right One In was the Swedish version, and later the US produced one called Let Me In. I've seen the both. If you're going to watch one, pick the Swedish version (with English subtitles). It was true to the novel, and slow-chill-up-your-spine creepy.

 4. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. Melinda is left isolated, alone, and afraid to ask for help, after a high school party gets out of hand. I'm not really a Kristen Stewart fan but she absolutely nailed the it, and the subject matter is so important to get out to kids.

5. War of the Worlds by HG Wells. HG Wells proved to be a bit ahead of his time when he wrote this sci-fi thriller in 1895. A story designed to be a metaphor for British Colonization and social Darwinism was quickly elevated to classic literature. In 1938 a radio broadcast incited public panic, as listeners believed a martian invasion was truly underway. Since then, it's been remade "like a million times," according to my dad. Its been made into movies, tv shows, comic books and video games, and served as inspiration for other works. I know the ending of the 2005 version wasn't as strong as it could have been, and its far away from 1895, but I liked it.

6. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. Daniel Craig and Roony Mara gave haunting performances as a pair of troubled souls digging into a missing girl and a serial killer. I was so disappointed when they weren't able to continue this franchise with these two. I read this book I found it was a ridiculous amount of work to read. I don't know if it lost suspense in translation, but the movie was spectacular.






7. A Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin. This was the an enchanting love story about an Irish immigrant destined walk the streets of New York eternally caught in a war between Heaven and Hell. The book had a ton of content and it was charming and tragic. The movie cuts a lot out, but I think it moves a little soother.


8. Holes by Louis Sachar. Shia Lebeouf was not true to the character description set forth in the novel, but he was super cute in this...The cast is half of what made the movie so good, the other half was its source material was strong. I felt like largely this ran true to the novel and was entertaining from beginning to end.







9. Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton. I was 5 in 1993, and I still remember being scared shitless when the utility worker got pulled inside the cage. I still remember feeling a sense of wonder as brachiosaurus walked across the screen. Now as an adult, when I watch the movie, I still marvel at the work that went into bringing Michael Crichton's dream alive. I've since read the book, and the characters are very different and the adventure is longer, I'd say in another 30 years, the movie would still be on my top ten list...or maybe that's my nostalgia speaking.




10. Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien. The special effects, the costumes, the make-up, the choreography, the cast...what was not to love about these movies? And if you've ever read the books you know it had more content and characters than was strictly necessary to tell the story...The movie cut a lot of that out. 



Have you seen/read any of these? What's your favorite movie adaptation?

Comments

  1. The Lord of the Rings series and Let the Right One In were both excellent!

    My post: https://lydiaschoch.com/top-ten-tuesday-an-outdoor-adventures-reading-list/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They both set the bar high for storytelling in their respective genres.

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  2. A great theme. I love seeing what books have been made into films.

    I love Lord of the Rings, but haven't read the books. I need to! I have read the Hobbit (which I enjoyed) and absolutely love the film!

    It is the same with Jurassic Park - I love the films but haven't read the books.

    Have a great week!

    Emily @ Budget Tales Book Blog
    My post:
    https://budgettalesblog.wordpress.com/2022/07/19/top-ten-tuesday-storylines-settings-that-make-me-think-of-summer/



    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Hobbit was very good. I had mixed feelings about Evangeline Lilly's character, the purest in me knew she wasn't in the book, the romantic in me loved the twist. And she really did a great job with the role, i believed she was an elf.

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  3. I recently picked up a copy of Let the Right One In. I want to read it before I watch it because I've heard both are a bit crazy.

    Here is our Top Ten Tuesday. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Crazy good though. I feel like the critics that want to compare him to Stephen KIng are doing JohnAjvideLIndqvist a dishonor. He's his own person, with his own idea of horror.

      Delete
  4. I've read Speak, which I found okay though it didn't pack as much of an emotional punch as I was expecting. I might try the film though.
    My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2022/07/19/top-ten-tuesday-377/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A teacher in middle school handed me that book (that was a long time ago) she said i reminded her of the main character. I was never sexually assaulted, but I do struggle with in-person-communication. I think that's why that story affected me so much, because the situation wasn't that hard to imagine.

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  5. They did a great job with these movies. I also thought they did a good job with the Hunger Games series.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's good to know! I've never seen Hunger Games, I think I was going through a zombie-phase at the time, and missed out on the Hunger Games craze. But i can always revisit.

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  6. Yes, I loved Jurassic Park. Great picks here, fun to think about which movies we actually weren't disappointed in if we'd already read and loved the books.
    Lisa Loves Literature

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, there's a lot of movie adaptations out there that didn't live up to their source material.

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  7. Great topic! I was just talking about Lord of the Rings with a family member over the weekend, and what an amazing achievement the movies were!

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