Books vs Movies

[Leumas]

@Malikon ...I get it. I'm totally addicted to reading. So much so that I have to very carefully plan my reading periods to 1-2 week intervals where there's not much else going on or I will completely neglect all other parts of my life.

I didn't read much at all as a kid. Hell, I used to make up book reports out of thin air. Shows you how much attention my teachers paid. Now I wish I had sharpened that tool back then, there's so much more I could have taken in, and there's nothing like having new experiences when you're young and psycho like you described , a great experience shaped you so much in those years.

 

[Kamen_Kaiju]

You know what I enjoy about the movie? No reading!

I think I heard Jim Gaffigan tell that joke.

If I have to watch a show or movie and cant turn on captions/subtitles I don't want to watch it. So even when watching the movie I still want to be reading.

When I sit down to sht I'll grab the shampoo bottle if I have to.

"Rinse, repeat if necessary? fascinating." ..I'm always reading something.

and the cool thing about liking computer books and manuals? If they're a couple years old you can get them for pennies. A $50. book that's a few years old you can buy used for like $3. It's awesome! (not all of them, but a lot of them)

 

[PeteK]

I just finished book 1 of The Wheel of Time. Pretty epic fantasy stuff. Would probably make a cool movie/mini series. It's like 14 books or something crazy like that.

 

[tjbitt]

I just finished book 1 of The Wheel of Time. Pretty epic fantasy stuff. Would probably make a cool movie/mini series. It's like 14 books or something crazy like that.

Hey Pete, I made it thru the first 11 books. You might find this of interest:

http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/wheel-of-time-tv-series-sony-1202390897/

 

[VerbalPuke]

M, Gary Sinese is great, no knock on him. Salem's Lot , Carrie, and The Stand are top notch adaptations. The Shining is JUNK-----eat some more scenery Jack. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest was Jack's best work-then parody. One Flew the book was fine, movie was nice too.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a good mentioned. I like both, but the book wins a bit just for detail. That's why I like most books better, there is extra detail that fleshes out characters, backstories, motivations, etc.

Trainspotting is one of my all-time favorite movies. The book is even better and it's largely due to the fact that it has everything the movie has but also more stories, characters, and you get to know the main characters better. First Blood is actually a great example of the book being far superior to the movie. First Blood is a fun action movie, First Blood the book is a genuinely visceral holy crap experience.

I don't read enough these days, been trying to get through UBIK by Philip K. Dick. His stuff seemed interesting so I wanted to read a bit of his work. I honestly am really sort of confused by UBIK but I am enjoying the story so far.

 

[Kamen_Kaiju]

"First Blood is actually a great example of the book being far superior to the movie. First Blood is a fun action movie, First Blood the book is a genuinely visceral holy crap experience."

So true! He's a full blown psychotic murder-machine in the book! I read that last year and was really surprised! He wants to kill everything and everyone and destroy the entire town.

 

[Tim Fezziwig]

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a good mentioned. I like both, but the book wins a bit just for detail. That's why I like most books better, there is extra detail that fleshes out characters, backstories, motivations, etc.

Trainspotting is one of my all-time favorite movies. The book is even better and it's largely due to the fact that it has everything the movie has but also more stories, characters, and you get to know the main characters better. First Blood is actually a great example of the book being far superior to the movie. First Blood is a fun action movie, First Blood the book is a genuinely visceral holy crap experience.

I don't read enough these days, been trying to get through UBIK by Philip K. Dick. His stuff seemed interesting so I wanted to read a bit of his work. I honestly am really sort of confused by UBIK but I am enjoying the story so far.

V, just "dream" when you read UBIK. You want your mind blown read this. HOLY HECK! I want the audio book=52 hours!

 

[VerbalPuke]

"First Blood is actually a great example of the book being far superior to the movie. First Blood is a fun action movie, First Blood the book is a genuinely visceral holy crap experience."

So true! He's a full blown psychotic murder-machine in the book! I read that last year and was really surprised! He wants to kill everything and everyone and destroy the entire town.

Right? Though it's weird, you sympathize with him, you get through it and think "Damn, why didn't they just leave him alone?" or "why didn't he just take his burgers and get the hell out of town?". My copy is actually from our old High School library, it's actually my friends book, he asks for it every few years.

Tim, since you seem keen on Philip K. Dick, anything else of his you'd recommend?

 

[PeteK]

Here's a weird one. I think if you have read No Country for Old Men, the movie might be better. If you haven't read it, you should because it makes the movie better. But then, I love everything the Coen brothers do and I enjoy most Cormac McCarthy.

 

[Tim Fezziwig]

Right? Though it's weird, you sympathize with him, you get through it and think "Damn, why didn't they just leave him alone?" or "why didn't he just take his burgers and get the hell out of town?". My copy is actually from our old High School library, it's actually my friends book, he asks for it every few years.

Tim, since you seem keen on Philip K. Dick, anything else of his you'd recommend?

V, I have the US Libray 3 edition. Well worth it-Dick is a drug- I read him and I want to laugh, cry,sigh.....He is a true mystic. A Scanner Darkly is a great book/film.

 

[RustyNuts]

you hit the nail on the head here, only when there is a book and movie version can we really choose one over the other, but some books could definitely use some trimming in their own right.

And some books should stay trimmed. When they re-released The Stand as the "uncut" edition as originally written I was sorely disappointed. The first release was much better.

One of the worst book adaptations was The Running Man..

Fantastic book..Movie shared the name only...

Dude...even worse. The Lawnmower Man. Even SK is like WTF?!?!?

My thoughts exactly! What a sh!tty movie that had nothing to do with the original story.

If I have to watch a show or movie and cant turn on captions/subtitles I don't want to watch it. So even when watching the movie I still want to be reading. )

I usually watch movies to fall asleep. Working nights, it helps me wind down and ignore the world noises outside, but I turn the volume way down and turn on subtitles and "read" the movie as well.

 

[Tim Fezziwig]

@Malikon ...I get it. I'm totally addicted to reading. So much so that I have to very carefully plan my reading periods to 1-2 week intervals where there's not much else going on or I will completely neglect all other parts of my life.

Leu, I'm so addicted I had to buy a house! I had books EVERYWHERE. I need my books. I now have a FEZZ room-a room attached to my house with a separate red door. I go to library book sales-$2 for a bag. Mrs. FEZZ understands. I quit every other vice; well, I do drink coffee-no drugs,booze,red meat, cigars............

I go back into my FEZZ room every night. I peruse the three bookshelves- I get WETTTTTTTTTT!

 

[VerbalPuke]

I should note that I love reading, but my wife is an absolute book junky. She reads like it is going out of style, she started a pretty successful book club when we were enlisted. Her tastes are way different than mine but reading any book is good.

 

[Caleb]

One of the only instances I can really think of where the movie blew away the book is L.A. Confidential. The book was a slog that took me forever to finish, mainly because the scope was too broad and not a single character was likeable in any way. I disliked that book to such a degree that I had to be really convinced to give the movie a watch. Turns out it's in probably my top three movies of all time. Great goddamn movie.

Also, someone mentioned the Godfather earlier. Yeah, the book was ok I guess, but I don't think there's much doubt that the movie completely dwarfs it.

 

[Kamen_Kaiju]

yeah but there's stuff in the book (like Luca Brasi throwing the baby in the incinerator) that's sooooo much more disturbing than the movie.

Fun Fact= Sonny held the world record for most squibs worn when he gets shot up during his death scene and he's all poppin' and jivin'. That record held until Friday the 13th part 9 Jason Goes To Hell,...when Jason gets even more shot up than Sonny did in his famous/epic death scene.

He held the record for a long time. That's a lot of tiny explosives to have strapped to you to make it look like you're being shot up.

 

[TheX]

I prefer the book almost all the time. I think people have different levels of immersion into the books they read. I see and hear the book while I read it, and my imagination is pretty vivid. I'm sure some people tend to just read books without diving in head first. For them, movies would be better.

 

[LtDave32]

Roberteaux tells me that I should really read Puzo's "The Godfather" after seeing the movie so many times. It is far, far more detailed in the book, and frankly explains a lot of things and provides "back-story" to a lot of characters in the book, many of them "lower shelf" characters.

 

[Kamen_Kaiju]

@TheX
yeah probably true. When I read a good book the world disappears.

I read that some people dream in black and white,...can't imagine that. I suppose people have varying levels of imagination.

 

[LtDave32]

yeah but there's stuff in the book (like Luca Brasi throwing the baby in the incinerator) that's sooooo much more disturbing than the movie.

Fun Fact= Sonny held the world record for most squibs worn when he gets shot up during his death scene and he's all poppin' and jivin'. That record held until Friday the 13th part 9 Jason Goes To Hell,...when Jason gets even more shot up than Sonny did in his famous/epic death scene.

He held the record for a long time. That's a lot of tiny explosives to have strapped to you to make it look like you're being shot up.

Ah, yes.. I should have read the Godfather posts before writing what I wrote..

 

[TheX]

The Harry Potter books are a lot more detailed than the movies. The movies contained less than half of the story in the books.