The sci-fi movie Contact was far superior to the book. Carl Sagan had gone into great detail to tell his story, but overall I thought the book was a bit too long. The movie was an excellent adaptation, however, and is one of my all time favorites. :)

You cant really compare a book to a movie. There are certain things you look for in a movie and certain things in a book. For instance, one may critizise on an actors acting in a movie, but in a book, you make look for various literary devices. To me a book is as good as you make it. It depends on who you cast as the protagonist and antogonist. In a movie the story is played out to you, you see. You do not feel as you would while reading a book. To be honest, it would be like comparing football to mozart in how they are two different things.

I disagree, I think movies are the evolved form of the fiction story. The whole idea of a novel is to convey a message through fictional story telling.

Movies can add music, sound, backgrounds and camera angles to a story. Books must describe this mood in great length to get to the meat of the subject, oftentimes they become boring in doing so (Snow Crash).

So, while novels will always exist, I think it is clear they have been devolved to secondary compared to movies.

When interactivity gets on track, movies as we know them will also digress and admit to a higher cause.

Disagreed. Novels incite the imagination of the reader, who applies the music, sound, backgrounds, camera angles, and actors into his own visual representation of the story. When he watches the film, however, he loses that freedom.

So, novels and films are different. One is not subordinate to the other.

Films better than the books:

Sense and Sensibility

Blade Runner (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?)

The Godfather

IN a sense, you are a right, imagination can play a cool part in the reading experience. However, is it not the author's intent to convey an idea? I know there are exceptions, but I believe that the author has a clear mindset of what he wishes to accomplish in his words, and lest us not forget that the message is more important than the words and/or cinematography.

I don't mind using that freedom if you apply the concept that it is what the novelist would have you believing anyway. With exceptions that I acknowledge.

Back to the subject: the short story to Rear Window is garbage suspense at it's worse. Hitchcock did a miracle of a restoration and social critique.

Rear Window is officially the best example I've read now.

The Green Mile- I have read the book and watched the film 100s of times. Both are superb pieces of work, but Tom Hanks and Michael Duncan bring out a chemistry which the book doesn't.

The Empire of the Sun - Awesome movie, cannot say the same about the book ...