I'm often excited when I find out that a book is making the leap from the page to the big screen. While I'm a firm believer that the book is always better than the movie (with a few notable exceptions - more on that later), I can never resist checking out the movie adaptations, particularly of books I've read and enjoyed. I recently watched the movie versions of The Fault in Our Stars and Divergent (I know, I'm a bit behind the times), and thought they were pretty solid. I still want to see the movie versions of The Giver (although I've heard not to expect too much on that score), The Maze Runner, and The Book Thief. How do you translate to film a book that's narrated by Death? Very interested to see how that plays out. Has anyone watched any of the above movies? Thoughts on their successes/failures? Occasionally, it works the other way too, and watching a film adaptation will inspire me to read the book behind the movie if I haven't already done so. This past weekend I saw American Sniper, which led me to start reading the book of the same title by U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle. The movie was intense and powerful, and so far the book is proving to be a very interesting read. I'm not far enough in (163 out of 379 pages) to judge between the two yet. I can say that the movie is proving relatively faithful to the book, with far less back story of course, although I believe I have come across one major change they made in the movie that has me fairly disappointed. Still, I think this is one of those cases where the book and the movie are both excellent in their own ways and well worth your time. While the Media Center doesn't own a copy of American Sniper, the Schultz-Holmes Memorial Library does if you're interested in checking it out - that's where I got my copy from. I will throw out a caution that there is some very adult material - language, alcohol consumption, violence, and the like - because it is after all a true story about war, and thus may not be suitable for all audiences. What actually led me to write this post was a Word and Film newsletter informing me that a book I loved, The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann, is being made into a movie this year! To put the icing on the cake, Benedict Cumberbatch, whom I adore from watching the British series Sherlock, is set to play one of the leads, so I feel like the stars have aligned on this one! You may be more excited to know that Robert Pattinson of Twilight fame is also set to star in the film. The Lost City of Z recounts the true tale of explorer Percy Fawcett, whose 1925 expedition disappeared in the Amazon in search of the legendary city of El Dorado, and whose fate remains unknown to this day. So excited to see how this plays out on the big screen!! |
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Media Center mattersThis is the place for updates on all matters relating to the BHS Media Center: new books, programs, meetings, exciting happenings in the literary world, etc. This is also the place to discover why the Media Center MATTERS: it is your gateway to the free access of information, research assistance, and wonderful wonderful BOOKS! Archives
April 2015
Categories"I cannot live without books." |