The film of the book

Descartes was right. I think, therefore I am. When we read are book, we are forced to think, to use our imaginations to bring the characters and the setting to life. When we watch a film, all this hard work is done for us; the appearance of the hero, the rolling countryside, the frightening monster, all of these are presented to us. We do not need to strive to contribute to the creative process and it would seem that the experience could, therefore, never be as satisfying. The ultimate result of this is inevitably going to be that if you have read a book, watching the film can never be as fulfilling. Another drawback is that we enter the cinema with ...  Read the complete review

Don't even get me started. Please! Give me a book any day. Or give me a film any day. But don't give me a film which is masquerading as an adaptation of a book. Ok? And that's one way of looking at it. The other is: Films are being made anyhow. [It's not exactly a struggling industry, now is it?] Good ideas, like good politicians, are as rare as... good ideas and good politicians. Hare-brained excuses for a script are readily and consistently bandied about Hollywood (or so it seems from the results - not that I've ever been there myself), resulting in 120-minute extravaganzas featuring the latest technological equipment, the ...  Read the complete review

I love reading and I love watching films, but it’s not often I do both for the same piece of work. I will begin with a few brief examples of comparisons, then concentrate on a case study. Thinking back, there have been a few times I have read a book, then watched the film or vice versa. I studied Shakespeare’s Hamlet at A-level and went on a residential Hamlet weekend, which was excellent. Besides various academic exercises with the text, we also watched several (I think it was three) versions of the film, from the early black and white one to more recent. All were really impressive, but also quite different. It is interesting how the same ...  Read the complete review

'The Film Of The Book', much like the 'Game Of The Film' for the computer-minded of us all, is usually just a straight definition of 'disappointing, boring and littered with anti-climax'. Usually. The first point here that we must remember, is that the written word and the screen are two very different things indeed. It seems obvious when you think about it - how long is your average film? A couple of hours? And how long to read of book. An hour or so a night for a week, and that's if your fast. To use a popular example of both book and film - let us look for a moment at the Alex Garland novel 'The Beach', and it's ...  Read the complete review

Books vs. movies, how do you compare the two. They are such different creatures. I love them both. There is nothing like curling up on the couch on a rainy day with a good book. But on the other hand, there is nothing like curling up, late on a Friday night with a bowl of popcorn and a good horror movie. Two completely different things. But then you add to the mix the wonderful/terrible blend of a movie made from a book. *gasp* Can they do that? Yes, and they do it all the time. Taking the wonderful words of one author or another and turning it larger than life and plastering it on the big screen. When I first got the idea to write this opinion, I really ...  Read the complete review