Based on the book
Somehow the Eclipse DVD found its way to our mailbox this Saturday. I thought that was funny, because I don’t even remember adding it to our Netflix queue, and it was released on DVD the night before at midnight! We get that movie the day it’s released and we’ve been waiting on Tron for months… what the heck?
Anyway, I didn’t really want to watch it without my sister. She’s a bit of a Twilight fan. This is the first thing you see when you walk in to her house:
I drew her name for Christmas this year and thought I could get her a Twilight thing… but I think she has it all?
Anyway, what do you think about movies “based on books”? Have you seen a series you like? Do you generally dislike them?
I didn’t really care for the movie versions of The Da Vinci Code and Angles & Demons. I enjoyed seeing the scenes brought to life, but to me, I felt like something was missing.
However, we’ve watched The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played with Fire and thought they were good (particularly the first one), so maybe the reverse is happening – the movies are making me want to read the books?
I think with the Twilight movies, I really need my sister there to make me enjoy them.
Themocracy
I read the Twilight books and i didn’t really like them. I didn’t think they were written very well. It really depends on the book/movie, but I have enjoyed a few movies that I have read the book. I think I just expect that it wont be as good as the book and just enjoy it as it is.
I think books are always a million times better than the movie. If I really like a book I will definitely want to see the movie, but they always turn out to be a bit of a disappointment. I liked the Twilight books, despite the fact that they are clearly written for jr high/high school teenagers, but the movies – especially the first couple – seemed so silly and just not very good.
I think when its something like Twilight you really have to take the movies and the books as two separate things. Yes there are things missing, but its impossible to include everything. And I agree that the books are poorly written, and the acting in the movies hasn’t been the best (I think its gotten better though). But the thing that draws me (and others) to Twilight is just the world they live in. So even if the movies are silly, or the books aren’t written perfectly, it still takes you to their world and lets you catch a glimpse of what it would be like to be in their shoes.
Also staring at Robert Pattinson for 1.5 hrs isn’t so bad either. 🙂
I liked the Twighlight series of books, but I found the first couple movies boring, maybe because the movies added nothing new for me. I liked Eclipse better though…
Usually, I prefer books overwhelmingly. I’m loving the Harry Potter movies though…
Most times I don’t care for the movies at all but I really love the LOTR movies. They cut some stuff out of the books but necessary cuts, like we don’t need to see everyone breaking into song every few minutes, you know? Harry Potter movies are horrible. I had to turn off The DaVinci Code, I couldn’t handle it. I didn’t like the book, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, so I didn’t watch the movie. Typically I stick with the books. 😀
Try HotTopic.com for some Twilight Stuff.
It can be really difficult to look at a movie as a stand-alone thing when you’ve read the book but after taking a class in college where we did that exact thing I’ve gotten better at it. If I had to choose I’d rather read the book and then see the movie rather than the other way around. For example, I saw Jurassic Park and then read the book and I hated the book. Too much science, not enough action. However, it was a great movie but probably not a great book adaptation.
lol I LOVE that Twilight collection!! Thats awesome.
I never like movies that are based on books I’ve read. I feel like they always let me down. I never read any of the Twilight books, and I have seen a couple of the movies. Im not sure how I feel about them. I mean, I SAY theyre stupid and I dont like them, but whenever they come on the movie channels, you can bet I’ll be watching.
Hm, I can’t think of a movie adaptation that I really hated. I usually pretty much accept them as two different things, two different ways of story telling, and two totally different mediums.
I like all the Harry Potter movies but I really think that someone who hadn’t read the books would be totally lost by this point in the series.
I never read Watchmen or finished the LOTR trilogy and I enjoyed both in film format.
A lot of people ask me if I watch/read Harry Potter, and I could barely follow the first one (it’s the only one I saw – I think…) so I am happy you said that 😉
Today at lunch at work one of my friends brought in a bunch of 2011 calendars that she had gotten as freebies from a bunch of wildlife and other charities she donates to. She was bringing them in to see if any of us (co-workers ranging from our 30s to 60s) wanted them. I said excitedly, “Do any of them have the people from Twilight?” and everyone laughed. Joking but with a hint of seriousness.
LOL. I wouldn’t mind seeing more Jacob sans shirt. 😉
Normally I hate seeing movies first before reading the books, but I couldn’t get into the Stieg Larsson book at all; now we have seen the movies and I am more interested in reading the book.
Loved the pictures from your Santa race! That looked so fun!
I like the “Harry Potter” movies, though I usually find 2489020843 things wrong with them because I’ve read each book so many times.
UGHGHGHHG “Twilight” makes me want to puke on myself. The movies are entertaining, but I find them really offensive. During the last one, there was some drawn-out stilted dialogue about waiting for marriage, so I groaned really loudly to let the 12-year-olds in front of me know how I felt about such things.
I thought that part was cheesy too. But then I remembered someone telling me that that was the author’s intended message with the books? So I thought maybe that was how they were trying to incorporate it in to the movies.
The author, Stephenie Meyer, is Moorman, and she definitely has incorporated her beliefs into the books, and why wouldn’t she? Why is it offensive to hear someone talk about saving sex for marriage? I think its a good message for young people today because they are able to see both sides of the argument. 🙂
My daughter (who turned 19 this year) is a big Twilight fan and she’s been trying to get me to read the books and watch the movies. I saw the first Twilight movie on my flight back from Hawaii last year, but I was tired and the movie just didn’t interest me that much.
I saw part of the second Twilight movie “New Moon” and it had some good action scenes in it, but I need to give it a full viewing before putting my opinion out there on it.
Now with the 3rd movie out, I’m sure I’ll watch it at some point, but I’m in no hurry.
As for the books, I’m pretty bad in my reading books schedule and making time to read, and there are other books that pique my interest more than a teen vampire story.
Your sister is quite the fan with that dedicated homage to the Twilight series.
Probably my favorite “books to movies” series was the Jack Ryan series by Tom Clancy. Hunt For Red October, Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger. That last two were very good with Harrison Ford in the lead role. The Sum of All Fears with Ben Affleck was so-so, but ok. Wondering if Red Rabbit will ever be made into a movie The book was really good with a good story line that had all sorts of suspense and details.
The thing about Twilight is that they’re really written for 12 year olds (I hope)…so the writing is really bad. And the movies are just as bad, PLUS the acting kind of sucks. However, I love to watch a good train wreck as much as the next person. The fact that the main moral is that you need a boyfriend doesn’t really do it much for me either.
It depends on the book and the movie for me; I thought the Da Vinci Code movie really dumbed down all the symbology that I found really interesting in the book, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil was butchered on film, but I think the Harry Potter movies are fairly well done. Comme-si, comme-ca.
I tend to avoid the movie version of a book I love. I tend to be really disappointed. I don’t think I have read a book after seeing the movie (that tactic helped me through honors English in high school, ha).
I have never seen or read Twilight. Your sis really, really likes it! 🙂 I *might* go see The Help when the movie comes out but I truly adored the book…
That book shelf is truely frightening (I can’t stand Twilight!) But to each their own I suppose..
One movie that I saw recently based on a book I read was “Diary of a Geisha”. The book is great, the movie, meanwhile, not so much. They cut up or changed too much from the book!
I liked that book better too. I did enjoy seeing the costumes and make-up in the movie though!