If you haven't heard, a major book was adapted into a movie last week, and people have been going bananas for it. The book? The Odyssey. So, for this weekend movie roundup, I figured we should highlight some of the best book-to-movie adaptations, including the novels you can read as well! So pick a film, grab some popcorn, and get to watching."
All synopses are from Letterboxd, not responsible for spoilers!
Review #1: "get urself a man as loyal as samwise gamgee."
Review #2: "Magical, astounding filmmaking. This could've turned out terribly, oh so terribly, but it didn't. It sure didn't. It's a near-perfect cinematic experience and adaptation, delicately told right from the opening exposition dump that haunts the very marrow of my bones. A world with so much beauty soon becomes tarnished by darkness. It only becomes clear around the 45 minute mark why Jackson was chosen for the project; his craft is sweeping and relentlessly classical. Only a splatter and adventure geek could evoke such crumbling destruction and still sell every mythical, at times overwrought, line of dialogue; he believes in it. The world was real to Tolkien, it was real to Jackson, and it's real to the audience."
2.
Little Women, starring Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Eliza Scanlen, Laura Dern, and Timothée Chalamet.
Review #1: "you know when people ask you if you could pick just one film to watch for the rest of your life what would it be yeah well i’d pick this one."
Review #2: "The big stupid grin I had on my face for basically the entire first half hour. I noticed it and was like “oh wow I should not be smiling this hard I look weird” and 5 seconds later went back to smiling. The love and care that is oozing out of this film gives it this dreamlike feeling that I haven’t felt since, well, Lady Bird. Overwhelmed really is the best word to describe my initial reaction when it ended because this thing gives you so much to love and hold on to. It makes me so glad that this thing exists and is a film I can eventually own on blu-ray and just watch whenever I need to! I haven’t even read the book! Which brings me to my point that I was honestly a little confused sometimes (I blame the editor) and it honestly is probably the main reason I didn’t cry when I was totally supposed to. But again....this film does so much good. I love you Greta Gerwig!!!!"
3.
The Joy Luck Club, starring Tsai Chin, Kieu Chinh, Lisa Lu, France Nuyen, Rosalind Chao, Ming-Na Wen, Lauren Tom, and Tamlyn Tomita.
Review #1: "The feminine urge in the 90’s to make movies about generational trauma that just obliterated audiences to tears >."
Review #2: "Whether you grew up in China or in the United States, if you don't know your self-worth as a woman, you're going to find yourself in terrible situations. In The Joy Luck Club, some of those scenes were the most heartbreaking. Despite the heart-wrenching scenarios some of these women found themselves in, the film as a whole was beautifully-told and incredibly touching. I loved this window into Chinese and Chinese-American cultures, respectively, the latter of which has barely received much focus in American cinema. More than anything, though, I loved the centrality of women to the plot of the film. The men were merely a footnote."
4.
Call Me by Your Name, starring Timothée Chalamet, Armie Hammer, and Michael Stuhlbarg.
Review #1: "I warned my mom about the scene and every time she saw a fruit tree she whispered 'oh no.'"
Review #2: “'I remember everything.' I remember everything. I couldn’t put this film into words if I tried. I couldn’t ever review this, or even explain how personal this felt to me. Every kiss, every movement, every laugh, every dance, every look, goodbye, embrace. If I could, I couldn’t even begin. 'I remember everything.'”
5.
Dune, starring Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Jason Momoa, Stellan Skarsgård, Josh Brolin, Stephen McKinley Henderson, and Javier Bardem.
Review #1: "love love love when a blockbuster is almost all methodical worldbuilding instead of pew pew space fighting filler like yes girl give us EVERYTHING."
Review #2: "I will never watch any kind of making-of documentary or behind-the-scenes featurette about Denis Villeneuve’s Dune. I don’t want to know how this film was made. I prefer to believe the extremely convincing illusion that Villeneuve somehow traveled to the year 10,191 and documented the strange civilization he encountered. Dune is full of stylization and visual artistry, but the future it conjures feel so complete and tactile that some segments play like a documentary of the world to come — which is an especially impressive feat since that world involves giant sandworms that consume everything that passes through their sphincter-like maws. Full review at ScreenCrush."
6.
If Beale Street Could Talk, starring KiKi Layne, Stephan James, Regina King, Colman Domingo, Brian Tyree Henry, Teyonah Parris, and Pedro Pascal.
Review #1: "i love James Baldwin's book, but it's a testament to Barry Jenkins' talent that many of the most beautiful parts of this adaptation are of his own invention (Dave Franco's scene being a clear and particularly moving example). what an extraordinary, generous, perseverant film this is. as with Roma and Burning i feel the need to see it again before i say anything more, but yeah… Barry Jenkins: not bad at making movies."
Review #2: "if beale street could talk it would ask me to stop crying during its entire run time."
7.
Gone Girl, starring Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris, Tyler Perry, Carrie Coon, and Kim Dickens.
Review #1: "Whenever I think about getting back together with my ex, I watch this film. Works like a charm every time."
Review #2: "my favourite thing about this film is that no matter what's happening, Ben Affleck always takes the time to give the cat some love."
8.
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, starring Lana Condor, Noah Centineo, Israel Broussard, and Janel Parrish.
Review #1: "kavinsky has the general vibe of a teenage mark ruffalo and i'm losing my entire mind over it."
Review #2: "cute and wholesome but my advice to my fellow women out there is that if a guy likes Fight Club, run the other direction."
9.
Remarkably Bright Creatures, starring Sally Field, Lewis Pullman, Colm Meaney, and Alfred Molina.
Review #1: "Alfred Molina collecting octopus roles like infinity stones."
Review #2: "'humans. for the most part, you are dull and blundering. but occasionally, you can be remarkably bright creatures.' I love the book, I love this movie, I love the way sally and lewis played tova and cameron. I love marcellus. I laughed and I cried. and I'm going to rewatch it a thousand more times. all the scenes that weren't in the book didn't spoil the plot at all, and I'm very grateful to the whole team for that. this is a heartbreaking, wonderful, kind film about family, love and friendship. he named you. sorry i just can’t stop thinking about it. I’m still crying."
10.
Fried Green Tomatoes, starring Kathy Bates, Jessica Tandy, Mary-Louise Parker, and Mary Stuart Masterson.
Reivew #1: "this movie is so gay but still not gay enough."
Review #2: "how can so many horrible things happen and the film still be so comforting."
11.
The Shining, starring Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, and Danny Lloyd.
Review #1: "A tuxedo-clad man with a furry fetish has the best night of his life rudely interrupted by a marital dispute."
Review #2: "Primarily a film about abuse, and how sanity is often impossible to return to once it's lost. Jack Nicholson gives a performance that goes from 'fully crazy' to 'existential specter of rage and terror' over the course of two hours and change. Undoubtedly a masterpiece."
12.
Jurassic Park, starring Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, and Richard Attenborough.
Review #1: "i strongly relate to jeff goldblum in this film because in this scenario i too would just walk around being sexy and flirting with laura dern then get injured at literally the first instance of danger and spend the rest of the time lying dramatically on a table, still being sexy and annoying everyone but with my top off this time."
Review #2: "those dinosaurs were all lesbians and they were all valid."
13.
Grave of the Fireflies, starring Tsutomu Tatsumi, Ayano Shiraishi, and Yoshiko Shinohara.
Review #1: "Masterpiece. Never watching it again tho."
Review #2: "What a heartbreaking narrative, It's extremely sad and will make you reflect so much about the ethical implications of war and the enduring ties of family and love in the face of so much tragedy put on innocent lives, especially children, totally devastating."
Have any other book-to-movie adaptations you want to add to the list? Let us know in the comments below.
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