TOP TEN TUESDAYS THROWBACK | BEST/WORST BOOKS-TO-FILMS

It is my 2014 reading goal to read as many books with screen adaptations.  I’ve read and watched quite a few even before my blogging days and it seems that the literary world is Hollywood’s main source of material these past years.  Not that I’m complaining.  It is every reader’s dream (mine, at least) to see her favorite characters come to life… assuming it is done right.

These types of movies are usually a hit or miss.  Either I absolutely hate it or they’re just okay.  It is rare for an adaptation to totally WOW me.  Even rarer still is if I think the movie is better than the book.  And that has happened.  Being a reader, I make it a point to read the book before I watch the movie.  If that’s not possible, I will bump the book up my TBR pile after watching the movie.  If ever I’ve read the book beforehand, I tend to get so nitpicky from the casting to the storyline, which parts did they take out and how much liberty was taken.

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday is Top Ten Tuesday REWIND! (Pick from previous topics that you want to do again or may have missed)

PS: I’ll include TV adaptations too.  That falls into the “screen” category, too, yeah? 😉

BEST

• The Hunger Games – I honestly liked it more than the book.  I know, blasphemy.  Although I wanted to see Madge Undersee.  And an explanation of how Haymitch won his games.  I’m still not completely sold with Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss but from the moment I read about Peeta, “that kid from Bridge of Terabithia” came into my mind. Yes, I didn’t even know Josh Hutcherson‘s name at that time when I called it.
• Generation Kill, HBO mini-series – I could not ask for anything more.  Except maybe a sequel… or One Bullet Away POV.
• Jane Eyre, 2006 miniseries – The one with Ruth Wilson and Professor McGonagall’s son, Toby Stephens.  And oh, this was directed by Susanna White who directed a couple of episodes of Generation Kill.
• The Lord of the Rings trilogy – The liberties they allowed themselves were pretty huge but it did not take away from the books at all. The Hobbit trilogy is a different story, though I liked that as well.  But I prefer the LOTR and will love it for the rest of my days and beyond.  These films spurned the most iconic of castings in Legolas, Aragorn, Frodo, Galadriel, Gandalf… and the one-liner of the century, “One does not simply walk into Mordor.“
• The Borgias, season 1 – After watching the Pilot episode, I seriously stocked up on every book about the Borgias I could get my hands on.  Once again, the brilliance is in the casting and with a period piece like this, the costumes and set designs.
• The Pillars of the Earth – When they said they will make one of my favorite books a miniseries, I wasn’t going to let that pass me by.  It was pleasing to the eye and it was pretty epic.  And it gave me the best “Six Degrees” set in a long time: Marius of LesMis (Eddie Redmayne who plays Jack Jackson) is in Pillars with Agent Carter (Hayley Atwell plays Aliena) of Captain America who is the sister of Finnick Odair (Sam Claflin plays Richard of Kingsbridge) of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and their father is President Snow (Donald Sutherland plays Earl Bartholomew), also of The Hunger Games.  (David Oakes is also in The Borgias.)
• Game of Thrones, season 1 and 2 – You know I love my epics.  I especially loved season 2 with all that Arya/Gendry interaction.  Season 1 was amazing and explosive and NED STAAAARK! 
  
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone – The first one is the best one after all.  And my favorite.  How much did I like it?  Well, I can mime to it verbatim until “That thing has a name?!”, complete with their different accents.  Yes.

WORST

• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – HOW. DARE. YOU. DROP. QUIDDITCH?!  HP3 is my favorite book thanks in part to the Quidditch Finals.  Oliver Wood is one of my favorite literary characters and I felt that the 3rd book was his to take.  But alas, he wasn’t even in the movie.
• Twilight – lol, even the cast themselves hated this franchise, methinks.  I know RPatz did.  The acting was horrible and don’t get me started on the “story”.
• I hate to say this but… True Blood.  I know, I know… I go to the premiere every year since the 3rd season.  Now that this one coming up is the last, this premiere is a must-go.  I admit, I don’t watch the show anymore; I stopped midway through season 4.  While I liked seeing hot naked bodies, I could not stand the fae storyline.  I think even Sookie thought it was stupid.  I miss watch it sometimes but that’s why we have DVDs.  Come on, the books aren’t something I’d go out and recommend.  And besides, there is only one reason why I attend these TB premieres… Alexander Skarsgard.  I think had they stuck with the original plot, I would’ve stayed longer.
• Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief – I liked the book so much that I didn’t even bitch about Athena having kids.  But what in the hell was that satyr in the movie?  Grover was a loveable character in the book but I seriously wanted to strangle him in the movie.

Can you tell how much I love this category?  Maybe too much but that never hurt anybody lol.