Movies "loosely" based on original books...

[Papa_Complex]

Originally Posted by Dave

i actually find myself wishing tv would let the other shoe drop and get as violent as the film. ever seen the original rollerball with james caan?

Hell yeah. Walks all over the remake.

[Adeptus_Minor]

Never go to the movies and sit around me.

Every time I go to a movie based on a book and hear some whiny bastard saying "But the book was beeeeeeeeetteeeeeeeeeeeer", I am filled with an intense desire to beat them about the head and shoulders.
If you want to read books, don't go to movies.
The rest of us just want to enjoy the damn movie.

If I'm really curious, I'll read the book after I go to see the movie.

[Papa_Complex]

There have been some damned fine movies based on books or comics that weren't completely faithful to the source material.

I've read the Lord of the Rings trilogy maybe 30 times and the movies drove the elf geeks nuts, but I loved them. Who cares if whole chapters and a major character were dropped? We got something approaching 9 hours of well done movies out of it.

The first Spider-Man movie didn't follow the origin story, but it was well done and fast paced.

Battlefield Earth, for all that it's hackneyed pulp with every cliche known to SF and Hubbard was a money grubbing ass, could still have made a good movie if it was done right. Problem: It's something like 800 pages long! No one would make THAT into two or three movies. Not even The Faithful.

Now a made-for-TV movie series of Doc Smith's Lensmen series........

[Adeptus_Minor]

Originally Posted by Papa_Complex

Now a made-for-TV movie series of Doc Smith's Lensmen series........

Oh the cry that would go out if that happened...

[Papa_Complex]

Originally Posted by Adeptus_Minor

Oh the cry that would go out if that happened...

Well they already made an anime series. Nothing like the books.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lensman_(anime)

[Dave]

Originally Posted by Papa_Complex

Hell yeah. Walks all over the remake.

as far as im concerned there never was a remake and anyone involved in that abortion should have been dragged into the street and shot. you just dont take a film with a great message/storyline like that, ditch anything to do with the original plot (or any plot) add some explosions and say you're good. heh, when deathrace came out some of my friends were talking about how awesome it was and to test the waters i asked them about the scene where he assasinates the president. the blank stares were all i needed

[Papa_Complex]

Originally Posted by Dave

as far as im concerned there never was a remake and anyone involved in that abortion should have been dragged into the street and shot. you just dont take a film with a great message/storyline like that, ditch anything to do with the original plot (or any plot) add some explosions and say you're good. heh, when deathrace came out some of my friends were talking about how awesome it was and to test the waters i asked them about the scene where he assasinates the president. the blank stares were all i needed

Every time I see a remake like that, I feel like some bastard in Hollyweird is strip mining my childhood. Prime example: Marky Mark and his furry Funky Bunch in the remake of Planet of the Apes. I still remember seeing Battle for the Planet of the Apes in a drive in theatre, when I was a kid. Somewhere along the line the people involved in the remake lost the subtle humour and political comment that was inserted in the storyline.

[Dave]

exactly, with a few exceptions american cinema prettymuch died after the 70's

[Corey]

Originally Posted by Dave

exactly, with a few exceptions american cinema prettymuch died after the 70's

I wouldn't go that far. I think there's a lot of blame that can be spread around. There are heads of studios just looking to make the most money with the least risk, so you see a lot of dumb shit like multiple sequels, rehashes/remakes/reimagings, and dredging the past for nostalgia. Part of that is that, quite frankly, the collective consumer is fucking retarded and wants the same shit over and over, only with new packaging. The movies that come out that have some thread of originality and are different die a slow and painful death at the box office, so the studios get even more gun-shy about backing anything different and new. The Summer flicks are almost always going to be all franchised and sequel shit, but the March movies tend to be the ones that the studios would love to back if they have the balls, but are afraid would bomb against Pixar/Generic Comedy/Superhero Sequel. At the same time, they'll pull in enough interest and loot to prime movie goers for the blockbusters coming up, without having to release them during the shit period against movies like Paul Blart: Mall Cop. The lead up to and the tapering off from the summer flicks is some prime time for interesting movies.

[Papa_Complex]

Originally Posted by Corey

I wouldn't go that far. I think there's a lot of blame that can be spread around. There are heads of studios just looking to make the most money with the least risk, so you see a lot of dumb shit like multiple sequels, rehashes/remakes/reimagings, and dredging the past for nostalgia. Part of that is that, quite frankly, the collective consumer is fucking retarded and wants the same shit over and over, only with new packaging. The movies that come out that have some thread of originality and are different die a slow and painful death at the box office, so the studios get even more gun-shy about backing anything different and new. The Summer flicks are almost always going to be all franchised and sequel shit, but the March movies tend to be the ones that the studios would love to back if they have the balls, but are afraid would bomb against Pixar/Generic Comedy/Superhero Sequel. At the same time, they'll pull in enough interest and loot to prime movie goers for the blockbusters coming up, without having to release them during the shit period against movies like Paul Blart: Mall Cop. The lead up to and the tapering off from the summer flicks is some prime time for interesting movies.

Which, I suppose, is why we're getting Watchmen in a couple of weeks rather than over the summer. If they keep at all to the storyline, then it'll be one hell of a movie. Graphic novels tend to go deeper into a real story than do comics and Watchmen is a hell of a good story, for people who at all read comics as kids.