Movies more often than not have a book associated with them.
I’ve bought the book of the movie Casablanca, and will start reading it soon.

(Side note, do you know of any movies with no book?)

Using the broadest possible definition for ‘movie’.

IMHO, the movie is better than the book for:

• Howl’s moving castle.
• Pride and prejudice, BBC series.
• Nausica valley of the winds.
• Sphere, by Michael Crighton.
• Dr Who – ‘The creature from the pit’ with Tom Baker.
• Lady Chatterly’s lover.

Thje book is as good as the movie for:

• Shrek.
• ET the extraterrestrial.

The book is better than the movie for

• Dr Who – ‘The Zarbi’ = ‘The web planet’ with William Hartnell.
• Star Trek the movie.
• Evangelion series.

Any other “book of the movie” titles that you’ve read?

Terminator 2, the one by James Cameron.
The movie was bloody awesome, the book was garbage.

BTW, check your gmail please.

For the book better than the movie list:

HHGTTG.

The Rev Dodgson said:

For the book better than the movie list:

HHGTTG.

Agreed.
Not a movie, but the Red Dwarf TV series was quite a lot better than the book.

Spiny Norman said:

Terminator 2, the one by James Cameron.
The movie was bloody awesome, the book was garbage.

Most novelisations of films are pretty crappy.

Spiny Norman said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

For the book better than the movie list:

HHGTTG.

Agreed.
Not a movie, but the Red Dwarf TV series was quite a lot better than the book.

Of course…who can get past Danny John-Jules?

:)

Bliss, the book was great. The movie was pretty good.

The Fireball XL5 annuals were almost as good as the puppet series.

Sheesh, where do I start??

The Green Mile film is better than the novel, as is The Martian. Carl Sagan’s Contact was considerably dumbed down for the screen, as is pretty much every Michael Crichton novel.

Forrest Gump, The Wizard of Oz, The Prestige, and JoJo Rabbit (Caging Skies) are so different from their source novels, they cannot be compared.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (with Depp as Wonka) was… weird, but closer to the novel than the Gene Wilder version.

Better books than films: Harry Potter series, The Book Thief, Gone with the Wind, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. (Countless others!)

American Psycho, and pretty much all fairy tales, were sanitised for the film versions.

the magpies call, great book, though i have yet to read it. film meh. whoever decided to have matt damon as lead needs their head reading!!!!

Divine Angel said:

Sheesh, where do I start??

The Green Mile film is better than the novel, as is The Martian. Carl Sagan’s Contact was considerably dumbed down for the screen, as is pretty much every Michael Crichton novel.

Forrest Gump, The Wizard of Oz, The Prestige, and JoJo Rabbit (Caging Skies) are so different from their source novels, they cannot be compared.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (with Depp as Wonka) was… weird, but closer to the novel than the Gene Wilder version.

Better books than films: Harry Potter series, The Book Thief, Gone with the Wind, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. (Countless others!)

American Psycho, and pretty much all fairy tales, were sanitised for the film versions.

You can dumb down Michael Crichton?

JudgeMental said:

Bliss, the book was great. The movie was pretty good.

+1 for both. Bliss is one of my favourite books. The story of the butterfly in Bogota has always stuck with me.

Witty Rejoinder said:

Divine Angel said:

Sheesh, where do I start??

The Green Mile film is better than the novel, as is The Martian. Carl Sagan’s Contact was considerably dumbed down for the screen, as is pretty much every Michael Crichton novel.

Forrest Gump, The Wizard of Oz, The Prestige, and JoJo Rabbit (Caging Skies) are so different from their source novels, they cannot be compared.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (with Depp as Wonka) was… weird, but closer to the novel than the Gene Wilder version.

Better books than films: Harry Potter series, The Book Thief, Gone with the Wind, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. (Countless others!)

American Psycho, and pretty much all fairy tales, were sanitised for the film versions.

You can dumb down Michael Crichton?

Have you ever tried to sift through the long technological explanations in his novels? Hooley. Timeline, I’m looking at you.

I liked Contact (the novel) but got completely lost in the technical stuff.

Divine Angel said:

Witty Rejoinder said:

Divine Angel said:

Sheesh, where do I start??

The Green Mile film is better than the novel, as is The Martian. Carl Sagan’s Contact was considerably dumbed down for the screen, as is pretty much every Michael Crichton novel.

Forrest Gump, The Wizard of Oz, The Prestige, and JoJo Rabbit (Caging Skies) are so different from their source novels, they cannot be compared.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (with Depp as Wonka) was… weird, but closer to the novel than the Gene Wilder version.

Better books than films: Harry Potter series, The Book Thief, Gone with the Wind, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. (Countless others!)

American Psycho, and pretty much all fairy tales, were sanitised for the film versions.

You can dumb down Michael Crichton?

Have you ever tried to sift through the long technological explanations in his novels? Hooley. Timeline, I’m looking at you.

I liked Contact (the novel) but got completely lost in the technical stuff.

I enjoyed Sagan’s Cosmos book but found it hard to watch the TV series because of his Kermit-like voice.

Divine Angel said:

Witty Rejoinder said:

Divine Angel said:

Sheesh, where do I start??

The Green Mile film is better than the novel, as is The Martian. Carl Sagan’s Contact was considerably dumbed down for the screen, as is pretty much every Michael Crichton novel.

Forrest Gump, The Wizard of Oz, The Prestige, and JoJo Rabbit (Caging Skies) are so different from their source novels, they cannot be compared.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (with Depp as Wonka) was… weird, but closer to the novel than the Gene Wilder version.

Better books than films: Harry Potter series, The Book Thief, Gone with the Wind, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. (Countless others!)

American Psycho, and pretty much all fairy tales, were sanitised for the film versions.

You can dumb down Michael Crichton?

Have you ever tried to sift through the long technological explanations in his novels? Hooley. Timeline, I’m looking at you.

I liked Contact (the novel) but got completely lost in the technical stuff.

I quite like MC but didn’t find his novels taxing. Not read ‘Contact’.

Witty Rejoinder said:

Divine Angel said:

Sheesh, where do I start??

The Green Mile film is better than the novel, as is The Martian. Carl Sagan’s Contact was considerably dumbed down for the screen, as is pretty much every Michael Crichton novel.

Forrest Gump, The Wizard of Oz, The Prestige, and JoJo Rabbit (Caging Skies) are so different from their source novels, they cannot be compared.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (with Depp as Wonka) was… weird, but closer to the novel than the Gene Wilder version.

Better books than films: Harry Potter series, The Book Thief, Gone with the Wind, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. (Countless others!)

American Psycho, and pretty much all fairy tales, were sanitised for the film versions.

You can dumb down Michael Crichton?

Divine Angel said:

Witty Rejoinder said:

Divine Angel said:

Sheesh, where do I start??

The Green Mile film is better than the novel, as is The Martian. Carl Sagan’s Contact was considerably dumbed down for the screen, as is pretty much every Michael Crichton novel.

Forrest Gump, The Wizard of Oz, The Prestige, and JoJo Rabbit (Caging Skies) are so different from their source novels, they cannot be compared.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (with Depp as Wonka) was… weird, but closer to the novel than the Gene Wilder version.

Better books than films: Harry Potter series, The Book Thief, Gone with the Wind, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. (Countless others!)

American Psycho, and pretty much all fairy tales, were sanitised for the film versions.

You can dumb down Michael Crichton?

Have you ever tried to sift through the long technological explanations in his novels? Hooley. Timeline, I’m looking at you.

I liked Contact (the novel) but got completely lost in the technical stuff.

I’ve only read The Andromeda Strain of Crichton’s and I read that as a teenager. No idea if there is a movie of it. I don’t remember having any difficulties with technicalities.

The Rev Dodgson said:

For the book better than the movie list:

HHGTTG.

definitely

What came first?

If the book followed the movie it is usually trashy.

Perhaps the worst of these examples is Braveheart the book.

The Rev Dodgson said:

For the book better than the movie list:

HHGTTG.

cough

Where does the radio serial fit in?

cough

sibeen said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

For the book better than the movie list:

HHGTTG.

cough

Where does the radio serial fit in?

cough

seminally, right in.

If a movie’s been made out of a book, see the film first, then read the book….I have heard plenty of people grumble about how the film was nothing like/not as good as the book, never the reverse.

If it’s a novelisation of a film written as a merchandising ploy, chances are it’ll be pretty unimpressive – they are usually written by unknowns for a less-than-stellar fee,and knocked out to cash in on any success the film might have.

Neophyte said:

If a movie’s been made out of a book, see the film first, then read the book….I have heard plenty of people grumble about how the film was nothing like/not as good as the book, never the reverse.

If it’s a novelisation of a film written as a merchandising ploy, chances are it’ll be pretty unimpressive – they are usually written by unknowns for a less-than-stellar fee,and knocked out to cash in on any success the film might have.

yeah.

Neophyte said:

If a movie’s been made out of a book, see the film first, then read the book….I have heard plenty of people grumble about how the film was nothing like/not as good as the book, never the reverse.

If it’s a novelisation of a film written as a merchandising ploy, chances are it’ll be pretty unimpressive – they are usually written by unknowns for a less-than-stellar fee,and knocked out to cash in on any success the film might have.

You see, that’s accepted wisdom and that’s what I thought before reading the novelisations of Shrek and ET, whose novelisations are awesome. And the novelisation of Star Trek the Movie is definitely better than the movie. I’m pretty sure it depends on the quality of the author who does the novelisation. Some authors are excellent.

mollwollfumble said:

Neophyte said:

If a movie’s been made out of a book, see the film first, then read the book….I have heard plenty of people grumble about how the film was nothing like/not as good as the book, never the reverse.

If it’s a novelisation of a film written as a merchandising ploy, chances are it’ll be pretty unimpressive – they are usually written by unknowns for a less-than-stellar fee,and knocked out to cash in on any success the film might have.

You see, that’s accepted wisdom and that’s what I thought before reading the novelisations of Shrek and ET, whose novelisations are awesome. And the novelisation of Star Trek the Movie is definitely better than the movie. I’m pretty sure it depends on the quality of the author who does the novelisation. Some authors are excellent.

Shriek was a book before movie.