BOOK/FILM

[ono]

Thing about Palahniuk is, Fight Club was great, yes, but he hasn't had anything like it, or even close.  Uhls has to be credited for such a great screenplay.  I read Palahniuk's latest book, Lullaby, and it was decent, but not too amazing.  So yeah, maybe I need to read more of his stuff, but I was a bit let down there.

[Rudie Obias]

Well, I'd be curious as to why you think the Clockwork book is better. As far as the last chapter goes you have to have heard the story that the version of the novel published in America did not contain the final chapter because the publishers felt that it betrayed the spirit of the rest of the novel and this is the version Kubrick based the film on. When he later read the final chapter he felt that the version without it is better, which I tend to agree with.

A CLOCKWORK ORANGE:  i think the point comes across better the the book as opposed to the film.  many people just like the film because it's violent and cool but they miss the deeper meaning which is apparent in the book.  also alex and his gang are much younger in the book which makes it more disturbing.  i really like the last chapter of A CLOCKWORK ORANGE and it makes the book much better.

[USTopGun47]

I think it matters if I've seen the book or the film first.  Whichever I've seen/read first is normally what I liked better.

That's very true.  My opinions are always highly shaped and left extremely biased.  You just naturally grow into a relationship with the characters as you see them, and an actor trying to dupilicate that or a book narrating the point just seems an inconsistent, unreal and distanced connection.

[USTopGun47]

A CLOCKWORK ORANGE:  i think the point comes across better the the book as opposed to the film.  many people just like the film because it's violent and cool but they miss the deeper meaning which is apparent in the book.  also alex and his gang are much younger in the book which makes it more disturbing.  i really like the last chapter of A CLOCKWORK ORANGE and it makes the book much better.

Absolutely.  Clockwork Orange gets too much hype and credit for being Kubrick's best film many times for its graphic violence and sex.  It didn't just have cheap shock value but was so influential and ahead of its time as well, which definetly deserves credit.  But it doesn't mean it's the best friggin Kubrick film because he could spew out some hardcore stuff into cinema.  If it were released today, would it receive the same hype considering the violence/sex level in cinema?  Not nearly as much and it wouldn't last and stand out in the generations to come as his top work.  Quoth the Raven.

[Ghostboy]

I wrote my senior thesis paper in high school on the differences between the book and the movie of Clockwork Orange, and why I thought the movie was better. I came out in favor of the movie, and I still sort of agree with myself. The mature choice would be the book, since it conveys the story better (as books are wont to do) and has a more rounded, meaningful narrative (especially the last chapter). But the movie has a sort of orgiastic glee that still wins me over every time, and I think on that level I'd rather not have Alex growing up into a normal adult. But it's really a close call, and in any case both are great works of art.

'Fight Club,' on the other hand -- well, I thought the book was a little too obvious. It was very masturbatory (but did have some redeeming bits of therapeutic value).  The movie had the same problems,  but had enough overwhelming factors in the visual and sound department to make up for what Phalaniuk lacked on the page.

That's my opinion, though -- I know some people who swear by his stuff, and that's great too. It's all about what connects with you...

[Gold Trumpet]

Not only do I think the movie of A Clockwork Orange is better than than the book, but I think the book is completely immature in its last chapter because it simply tries to bring the very violent nature of these kids and say it was part of what kids just do. Personally, thats insane given what they do. Artistically, it is unfair to the audience because it tells them what to make out the characters to be and paints them as being apart of a certain profile. The book goes from a wonderful idea and story into pandering for something exact all in the name of the 21st chapter and the bringing the characters into "maturity". Maturity? We decide maturity based upon a sequel, not just some tidy chapter of explaining how all is well. Kubrick's film holds with the greatness and brings in that final audience participation.

I'm seriously considering reading the book for Fight Club becaue of my difficulties with the film and see how the movie approached the story.

~rougerum

[ShanghaiOrange]

Jumanji.

[modage]

about a boy - movie
high fidelity - movie
jurassic park - book had great parts the movie left out but movie had real looking dinasaurs so - tie
fight club - movie
the phantom tollbooth - book
thinner - book
batman the official movie adaptation - movie

man, i really need to read more.

[sexterossa]

Great Expectations - book (vs Lean version, I will not watch the new one)

didn't the guy that did "y tu mama..." do the new one. i saw a little bit of it, it looked pretty good.

the movie is way better. i thought the relationships in the movie were much  more involving than in the book.

[Ghostboy]

Are you talking about the new one? I really disagree on that...they tried too hard to turn it into a tragic love story. I enjoyed it for what it was, and it looked gorgeous, but overall it didn't do the story justice. The Lean version is great, but even that doesn't completely capture all that's in Dickens' prose (it's my favorite of the stuff of his I've read).

[USTopGun47]

I have only seen the Cuaron adaptation of Great Expectations which I thought came out to be really weak, but I loved the book.  I do agree Gold Trumpet that the 21st chapter is to concised and just picture perfect to end and reverse the prior 20 chapters.  However, I don't see a problem with change and evolution towards a better future which may contrast the forced change of will, if it is given time to work.  I do agree that one chapter just isn't fair or enough to make it balanced.  Seems like a rush-up dab the plot up with a sugar-coated smile job.

[modage]

for more discussion on Great Expectations (Cuarons version)...

http://xixax.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=972