Are the books better than the movies?

So what do you think, are books usually better than the movies?

I read a lot of books and I would have to say yes. But there are some Stephen King movies that were better than the book. The Stand is one. I can't think of anything else right now. My brain just died. Lol!

Books can create more vivid images than is possible with a camra, and they can show a lot more detail. Usually the book is better than the movie (if the movie is based on the book)...but if it's the other way around (like Saving Private Ryan), then it's c**p

The books for both Jurassic Park and The Lost World were ALOT, LOT better than the movies. Same with Sphere. If you can't tell Michael Crichton is my favorite author. He writes about the coolest stuff.

There are some movies where I think the movie was actually better than the book. American Psycho, and Great Expectations were two of them. I didn't like the movie of Great Expectations too much, but it was an improvment from the book.

__________________
Horror's Not Dead
Latest Movie Review(s): Too lazy to keep this up to date. New reviews every week.

Are you kidding OG??? Great expectations better than the book?!?!?! That's my favourite book of all time, no way is the movie better! It doesn't even get CLOSE to the book, the director mercilessly chopped out some scenes, and of course there are tons of other things which he plain and simply couldn't show...

You should re-read the book my friend

I think lots of times, the book is better than the movie. I think Godfather and Jurassic Park were better books than they were movies. It is nice to see a book come to life in the movies though.

__________________
Paul Goodman
TheStands.com- Post and win!

I was only about 11 when I read Jurassic Park - I don't know if I could have followed it without having seen the movie beforehand.

Sphere was boring as a book in some ways, but very exciting in other ways. For example: the conversations with Jerry, and the things afterwards, were very interesting - I couldn't put the book down during those parts. The ending was good as well, but there was just too much junk in the middle at times that I think made it drag a bit.

But then again, I tried to read it years ago - I might enjoy it more now. That said, I think Lord of the Rings won't be better or worse as a movie - just different. If they ever make movies about The Chronicles of Narnia, I think the books will be superior, though.

I thought Sphere was an excellent book. It use to be my favorite untill I read Timeline. Michael Crichton has got some serious talent on his hands. The man is a genious.

I only think Great Expectations the movie was better than the book because I didn't like either, but I liked the movie slightly better.

Are they going to make a movie out of Timeline? It seems like I read something about it.

Yea, it comes out late this year I think.

I've found that movies based on John Grisham books are better than the books. That's mostly because Grisham is a hack writer and there's tons of stuff that can be cut or tightened when making the jump from the page to the silver screen. And given how poor a writer Mr. Grisham is, the screenwriter doesn't have to work all that hard to make the movies better than the books.

I thought the book version of Sphere was better than the film, by the way.

i totally can't agree about The Stand, the book was waaaaay better. it was incredible. that was the first stephen king book i ever read and it was only after reading that book that i gained any respect for him. then i saw the miniseries and was sorely disappointed.

i agree, usually the book is better than the movie. BUT - i saw the Pedo Almodovar movie, Live Flesh (which is not as tawdry a movie as it looks/sounds from the name and cover of the box). It's based off this mystery/thriller writer from the UK, Ruth something or other, and after watching the movie -- which I LOVED -- i got the book, which was mildly interesting, but sucked. And the story was entirely different. In fact, I found the story in the movie MUCH better, deeper, and more interesting. It was no longer the mystery that it was in book form, but that didn't matter, it was just rich and great.

____
woohoo!! i wuv movies.

I thought TIMELINE was the worst book Crichton had ever written. No comparison at all to JURASSIC PARK or even ANDROMEDA STRAIN. The book RELIC -- you know, the monster in the museum) was very good too -- the film did not do it justice. And of course, a lot of the novel HANNIBAL simply cannot be translated onto the screen (ie. the fascinating concept of Lecter's Memory palace or the scene where Lecter's baby sister Mischa was taken away to be appetizer.)

__________________
Pigsnie, Vicar of Fries!

I loved TIMELINE. As for the Hannibal memory palace scene, me and my friend thought of a way it could be done perfectly. I was pretty sure that they would of thought of it and used it, but I guess they didn't.

What was your idea for Lecter's memory palace? I thought Terry Gilliam could have pulled it off. Remember that floating staircase in TIME BANDITS?

Too hard to describe without visual stuff. I'll try though. It would be sort of matrix style roating cameras. Take the running in the woods scene. He would watch her run. Then she would freeze. The whole picture(the whole world) would freeze, and the camera would zoom in and out and rotate and fly around with in it. Or you could have him walking around in the frozen frame.

You would intro it by having him watch it, then show his face watching it, then the camera would of zoomed into his eye and rotated to show the whole scene(from Lecters perspective), then he would blink and the whole picture would freeze. Letting you know its frozen in his mind. So then it zooms out of his eye and free flys through out the scene.

It's impossible to compare them.Two different types of art.Although,I think that books have a stronger impact,they affect people more.

__________________
"Anything less than immortality is a complete waste of time."

Brideshead Revisted was a masterpiece of a book. The 80's BBC Miniseries was very very good. The movie was a pathetic abomination. In this case, the book must be read.

__________________
Under-the-radar Movie Awesomeness.
http://earlsmoviepicks.blogspot.com/

Stephen King movie adaptations are always better than his long-winded books.

__________________

^ I'm with you there.