Movies, Books and Dash

To a cinemaniac like me this is the prime season for movie watching. Many in Hollywood believe that movie adaptations of classic books are prime award bait. So they throw them all up in the screen in the last 2-3 months of the year. I think there is always a part of us that wants to see our favorite moments/characters/stories brought to life in front of us.

Some of us want to see exact duplications of what we've created in our heads. Or maybe a new spin on a classic tale. I also think there are books that I never want to see adapted such as Catcher in the Rye, On the Road, and The Crying of Lot 49. Stay Away Hollywood! Stay Away!

I know it's obvious, but Books are words, movies are "moving pictures." They can't be exact or it wouldn't be a movie. There is a common perception that the movie is never as good as book. Now I could go on. I think that there have been a lot of great adaptations. I think it all depends on what your expectations are. One of my favorite stories comes from Dashiell Hammett. He and a friend were sitting and talking. His friend asked Hammett whether he was afraid that Hollywood would take away his story and change it into something different. Hammett said that as long as the book is on the shelve that no one can take it away. Amen, Dash, you speak the truth.

Here's a few that are coming this fall, all based on books. There is still time to pick up the book before these come out at your local cinema.

Appaloosa
Blindness
How To Lose Friends and Alienate People
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
Body of Lies
The Road
Curious Case of Benjamin Button (read a fine review here)
Revolutionary Road

Any others you all are looking forward to?

To read more of my book musings click here.