Movies that are as good or better than the books

Okay. There have been a few for me, over the years; movies that rise above the level of the books from which they were inspired. For example:
The Shining. Awesome cast, exceptional directing and choreography.

The Shawshank Redemption -- another Stephen King adaptation, from the novella, "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption". What a colossal star-studded cast and truly remarkable performances. Great book. Incredible movie.

No Country For Old Men. WOW. This movie doesn't stop from the opening scene to the end. Cormac McCarthy wrote a great novel, however it was (imo) deadpan, without much inflection or emotion, as was his style.

To Kill A Mockingbird -- written by Harper Lee. A complex and twisted theme and yet the film seems to rise higher, to develop the characters, to jack up the tension, to reinforce the moral of the story. Excellent movie.

Dances With Wolves I love the movie Dances With Wolves. I liked it even more when I saw the "Making of Dances With Wolves" and realized how much of himself and his finances Kevin Costner sank into the movie. His first shot at directing, and everyone seemed to be against him. When you look at the film and realize that all the angles and shots and development were his direction, you realize what a genius he was and is.

What are your choices? There are SO many movies. I love movies, all the way back to the jerky films of the early 1900s, such as Nosferatu.

a reply to: argentus

"The Natural" it's one of my favorite movies and a loathsome book. Very negative.

Anything by Turow, IMHO, his books suck but some of the movies are pretty good.

For me personally, I'd have to say The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Not because the movie actually is better than the books per se, but because I'd never been able to get into the books to read them. Maybe it's Tolkien's writing style on the trilogy because I've read and enjoyed The Hobbit many times, but I just can't get into the trilogy.

So, not having been able to slog through the trilogy, the obvious answer is that the movies had to be better!

a reply to: argentus

IF we add series into your mix both Game of Thrones (Song of ice and fire) and American gods do well to their source material.

If strictly movies I would add Stand by me (The body) as a stellar film that outdid the source material.

a reply to: argentus

Most cases, it's the other way around, but there are a few like this! One that jumps to my mind quickly is another Stephen King story. The movie, Silver Bullet is FAR better than the book on which it was based!! The book was truly bad. Just BAD. I like some of his stuff, and not so much for other works, but wow, that one was a stinker. LOVE the movie, though!!

I have to agree on the Game of Thrones stuff as well. Shame they didn't tone down his tacky style, though. it distracts from the story.

The hubby says, Great Expectations.

Mitch Cullins 'Tideland,' as adapted by Terry Gilliam is a masterpiece.

Fightclub was as good as the book.

Old movie called flowers in the attic was as good as the book.

Shawshank redemption was as good as the book maybe better.

The alice in woderland cartoon from 1951 was better than the book.

The shinning was better than the book.

Naked lunch was as good as the book and if you have never seen or read it please do. It's about time your mind were truly open.

originally posted by: skunkape23
Mitch Cullins 'Tideland,' as adapted by Terry Gilliam is a masterpiece.

Wow that was a book? When I first saw this movie I had never heard of it, had no idea what to expect.
The first like 10 min had me feeling such a range of emotions I didn't know what to think. That scene were we get to see the little girl and boy interact for the first time in her living room is super freaky.

originally posted by: LadyGreenEyes
a reply to: argentus

Most cases, it's the other way around, but there are a few like this! One that jumps to my mind quickly is another Stephen King story. The movie, Silver Bullet is FAR better than the book on which it was based!! The book was truly bad. Just BAD. I like some of his stuff, and not so much for other works, but wow, that one was a stinker. LOVE the movie, though!!

I have to agree on the Game of Thrones stuff as well. Shame they didn't tone down his tacky style, though. it distracts from the story.

The hubby says, Great Expectations.

I find a few steven king movies to be better than his books.
I am not with you guys about a song of ice and fire , not at all.
Never read nor seen great expectations

a reply to: ketsuko

I read Tolkien as a wee lad and loved all of it.

Watched the films later, every scene it was like exactly what I'd expect.

The one thing though, as a kid with the book I liked golem, but he totally irritates in the film. I actually skip past those scenes. And its not to say they didn't do it right, but getting the full experience he drives me up a wall.

a reply to: argentus

The Harry Potter films were just as good as the books imo.

a reply to: scraedtosleep

I read Naked Lunch in my teens and I couldn't really make head or tail of it.
A few years later I saw the film and it didn't help.

I'm going to have to find it again and see if it makes more sense this time. Cheers for the reminder.

I rarely enjoy films of books I've already read because I've created an image of the people and places from the book which very often doesn't coincide with that of the filmmaker.

I couldn't watch Lord of the Rings properly because so much of it seemed totally wrong for me compared to the book. Casting being a major problem. Gormenghast was awful when they put that on TV . they should've known better than to try and film Mervyn Peakes writing.

a reply to: LadyGreenEyes

ITA - "Sliver Bullet" was a much better movie then the book. I am a big King fan but he does go on at times...as does another of my favorites, Anne Rice. "Interview With The Vampire" was a great book, but the movie was incredible. I always wished they would make "The Witching Hour" into a movie.

a reply to: argentus

I'm not sure if this counts but I really liked The Watchmen movie.
The original graphic novel is a classic and I was worried they'd butcher it as a movie but I was pleasantly surprised.

Okay -- maybe a little off the rails here, but there's gotta be one in every crowd, right?

I love vampire stuff. And I love series even more. Anne Rice is still one of the greats in that respect, but the (2) movies were nowhere near as good as the books...

Someone suggested I read the Charlaine Harris "Sookie Stackhouse" books 10 or 12 years back. I tried, but couldn't get into them. Her writing style is not Gothic enough for my vampiric tastes. In places they read like goddamn Judy Bloom books. Not my thing...

Then HBO came out with True Blood and I was hooked. Admittedly, the first 3 or 4 seasons were better than the last few seasons, but ALL were better than the books, IMHO.

I still power-watch Season 4 once in awhile. I love the over-the-top witches vs. vampires story-line punctuated by bloody ruthless vampire politics.

The show is not for everyone (my girlfriend hates it), but this thread is about movies that are better than the books and that's pretty much the best example I can think of.

The Exorcist would be my runner-up...

The Running Man (1987)

The movie was a typical action packed one staring Arnold Schwarzenegger. While the movie itself was corny in many ways, it was certainly different than the original novel by Stephen King, who originally published it as Richard Bachman in 1982.

The novel was DARK...very dark. The protagonist was a weak and half starved man trying to find a way to provide money for his wife and small child. Don't want to spoil anyone in case they want to read the book, but it ends very sadly, unlike the movie.

I'd read the book first back in 1983.

Life of Pi by Yann Martel,both the book and the movie were pretty good.



The other one is Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer.
It is a true story directed by Sean Penn and has a pretty good cast.

What about games that were better than the movie?

I present to you:

The Shining - 8 Bit Cinema










Its not an actual functional game that I know of.

originally posted by: IgnoranceIsntBlisss
What about games that were better than the movie?

All of them! I can't think of one movie based off a video game that was decent.

a reply to: NarcolepticBuddha

I was being funny.

Resident Evil is alright, unless you're trying to expect it to be like the game. I havent been keeping up on the game series, but I get the impression the films went on their own path.

Tomb Raider wasn't bad. I'd rather watch it than Indiana Jones (the standardized OST annoys me now). Jolie was primin' then how could you go wrong?


Then there's this whole reality that the games now are becoming the biggest movies themselves.

Uncharted 4 would have to take all the cake to that (I featured quite a few on topic in my Ultimate Dystopian Films List thread).



I seriously got sucked right into watching this "game movie", and then went back and played all of 3.

I guess they're making a major motion picture for it now. It's hard to imagine why they'd even do some short little one way street version, but there is a chance that the right writers could make something good with the three act structure (which 99% of films all follow of course). Those kinds of adventure films tend to be good really.