Monday, July 8, 2013

[Top Ten Tuesday: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, Books To Movies]

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly linkup hosted by The Broke And The Bookish!

This week we were asked to talk about our books that have been turned into movies!  I love book movies, but I feel like a lot of them don't hold up, that is unless I didn't really like the book to begin with.  So many of the movies on my lists are favorites of mine, but I didn't actually care for the book.  Though a few of them make the exception.  And then on the flip side, sometimes I really liked a book, was extremely excited for the movie and then got pissed off after I saw it.  And so here are my lists!

P.S. all of the titles link to the flim's IMDB page.

The Good (I loved the book and the movie!)

     This movie blew my mind.  I mean it's a zombie love story!  I loved everything about it.  It's full of classic zombie movie gore, but also a ton of humor and heart.  I read the book after I took myself to see the movie and I loved it just as much.  They are primarily similar, but the book definitely has a darker edge to it.  I highly recommend both!

     I can't remember if I saw the movie or read the book first, but I'll tell you one thing I love both.  I think this was one of my first contemporary books that I read that I really liked.  The travel and sexy Greek man might have something to do with my love of both the film and the book.  Maybe?

     Oscar Wilde is one of my literary heroes.  I know for a fact that I saw this movie first and that is what caused me to fall in love with his plays and writing.  I was the teenager carrying around falling apart books of plays and laughing my head off as I read them.  I'm actually a fan of all of his plays turned films!

     Can I tell you how much I love Neil Gaiman as an author?!  He's seriously one of my favorites.  I have to admit that Stardust wasn't my favorite book of his, but I still enjoyed it.  The movie, however is one of my favorites!  I'm a total sucker for movies like this.  Willow, The Princess Bride and Labyrinth have been constant favorites, and this film reminds me of those! 

     This book was one of my favorites when I was younger!  The film wasn't that great, but I remember really liking it when it came out.  It's just good fun.

The Bad (movies I hated born from books I loved)

     How did they miss the mark on this one?  The casting was perfect, the story was pretty much the same and yet it just didn't work.  This was the book that I clung to when I was younger, so when I went to see the film and it didn't live up to the book, it crushed my soul.  Yes this movie was a soul crusher!

     Once again, what happened here?  This is such a cool book with so much awesome imagery and character conflict, but when it hit the stage I wanted to hide in hole just like all of the characters in the film.  I really wanted to like this one, and parts were cool, but not enough of it.  While were at it let's just add all the Twilight films to this too.  I guess Stephanie's books just shouldn't be put on the screen, but it's too late now.

The Ugly (movies I love that came from books I can't stand)

     I feel like people are going to throw things when I say this, but I'm not a huge Jane Austen fan.  I think that all of her books make way better movies that books.  Her wit and charm shines through on the screen better than on the written page.  In my opinion at least.  Which makes me fully appreciate what she's done even if I don't like to read, but rather watch her stories.  Emma is one of my favorites, but I like all of them!

     Gah, I love this movie so much!  So many good things came out of this flick.  Finding actors and musicians that I would respect for years and finding a story that I connected with in my teen years.  Seriously Mia was my homegirl and I adored her story.  Then I read the first book and DNFed it.  Thank you Disney for making a movie that I loved/love so much out of something that I couldn't stand!

     I can't stand Nicholas Spark's books.  They are all the same and I don't get it.  I did love this movie to pieces though.  It's so sad and I love me some Mandy Moore in it.  I guess I liked odd duck characters in high school, but who doesn't?

*Honorable mentions of book and movies that I love.  "The Perks of Being a Wallflower", "Little Woman", "Gone With The Wind" and "Coraline".

Well there's my list!  What's on yours?  I wanna know.  Leave your link below or tell me in the comments!

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love the way you've set out your list this week. I'm anxious to see The Host as I loved the book.

Sharon (A Book Barbie) said...

I like how you separated your categories. That was a good idea!

I actually love both The Princess Diaries books (well, the first 3) and the movie. But they were so incredibly different that I felt like I couldn't include it on my list, LOL. They basically took the characters and went their own way. Which I was okay with, because the movie is MAGIC. And I infinitely prefer Julie Andrews to "Grandm´re" from the book.

Natalie @Natflix&Books said...

I love Stardust the movie. I haven't read the book, but I've seen that movie a dozen times. I absolutely adore the Princess Bride (movie) and Labyrinth and have seen both a thousand times. I hated the Host (book) and haven't seen the movie yet. Great list!

Lili said...

How did I forget SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS on mine?! I am so disappointed! haha that one was amazing!

Tammy Sparks said...

I agree with most of your choices! I adored Warm Bodies (both) and Sisterhood...!! But I do have to disagree with Ella Enchanted. I have never read the book, but the movie is one of my all-time faves!! Sorry Christianna! I have a thing for quirky movies that throw songs into the mix unexpectedly LOL!

I also have to agree with Emma and The Princess Diaries, LOVE both those movies. Great choices!

GillyB said...

Traveling Pants! The Importance of Being Earnest! Stardust! I forgot all those, but they're brilliant! Particularly Stardust. I HEART that movie.

I can't even talk about Ella Enchanted.

I love you to bits, but it's AustEn, not Austin :)

Nicole said...

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is a good one! There are so many I didn't even think about. But I honestly haven't read many books that I've watched the movies for so I don't really have opinions on most of these. I relied a lot on Ashley this week.

Shane @ItchingforBooks said...

Great list. Thanks for sharing :)

Jessica (Peace Love Books) said...

I almost put sisterhood on my list, but the second one just didn't do it for me. I did love Perks of Being a Wallflower! I saw it was your honorable mention :)And I actually really liked The Host. I was so scared they would ruin it, but it turned out a lot better than I expected! Great list :)

Here's my Top Ten!

La Coccinelle said...

Ella Enchanted was on my list, too, but I wasn't sure where to put it. Good adaptation or bad adaptation? I finally decided on "bad"... not because it's a bad movie (I quite like it), but because it's so different from the book that they're difficult to compare.

As for Jane Austen, I've yet to finish one of her books. I've gotten halfway through both Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice... but I got bored and never finished either. I can't even get through the first few pages of Emma without becoming thoroughly confused by all the character names and giving up (it's happened more than once). But I do enjoy a good Jane Austen movie adaptation -- though I have to say that those adaptations of Emma are probably my least favourite.

Charlotte said...

I've been listening to "Warm Bodies" on audio - I'm interested in seeing the movie, as I think the story drags at times, and it'll be improved by a movie's plot speed.

"Ella Enchanted" - TOTAL AND UTTER TRAINWRECK. ugh, the book and the movie shouldn't even be mentioned in the same sentence.

"Lord of the Rings" and "Scott Pilgrim" would be in my good category. "Pride and Prejudice" would be in my ugly category. (I'm not a Jane Austen fan either!)

Giselle said...

I'm a huge fan of the Traveling Pants and I loved both the book and movie, too. Gah I could re-watch those every week! I really want to see AND read Warm Bodies!!

LOL @ Princess Diaries - it's so rare to love a movie more than the book, though. I've never heard of Emma I'll have to check that out!

I loved the Host book - one of my favs of all time and the movie was pretty disappointing. I didn't hate it but god they could have done so much more. What was up with her talking to herself? That Is NOT how they talked O_o. *sigh*

Unknown said...

Good list. I completely agree with Stardust and though I've yet to see Warm Bodies, I'm really looking forward to it!

Thanks for stopping by my Top Ten!