Top Ten Tuesdays is a weekly activity hosted by The Broke & The Bookish
This could have been a top 100, but here's the best of the best...
1-Apocalypse Now by Francis Ford Coppola: This is such a good adaptation that most people don't know it's an adaptation at all. In fact, Coppola took control of Joseph Conrad's story with such strength and clear vision that he make it pertinent again, even a lot better I would say. I'd rather watch the movie than read the book. And I think watching the movie (in it's Redux Edition) actually takes longer.
2-Fight Club by David Fincher: The movie changed many lives (including my own) and the novel is an eye-opener in its own right. It was a hard task to make something coherent out of Palahniuk's chaotic novel, but David Fincher achieved it with a gracefulness that a few director can claim. Of course he has Brad Pitt to thank...
3-The Shining by Stanley Kubrick: This movie is near perfect. The minimalist approach and the careful changes Kubrick applied to King's novel actually heightened. Jack Nicholson's performance at Jack Torrance is rightfully legendary.
4-The 13th Warrior by John McTiernan: Once again a small, but dense novel adapted into a movie that chokes you with tension. McTiernan's willingness to adapt the least visual elements of the novel and his fearlessness about the subject made The 13th Warrior almost as good as its original material
5-The Godfather 1 & 2 by Francis Ford Coppola: I put both movies in, because they are adaptation of the same Puzo novel. Coppola took his time to represent the essence of each character and give them the images they deserved. Mario Puzo's story is groundbreaking, but it's Coppola's approach that made it immortal.
6-2001 : A Space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick: Not many directors have been so consistent at making good novel adaptations. The attention to detail is stunning. His cast for Dave Bowman, a man who "lowered the temperature by ten degrees just by walking in the room" is perfect and he makes the most of the creepy potential of the novel.
7-L.A Confidential by Curtis Hanson: It pulls no punches, but it does a great job at re-creating the atmosphere of the novel. Dark corners, smoke, fedoras and rotten cops are so well represented, you almost feel like reading James Ellroy's novel. Guy Pearce is particularly amazing as Ed Exley.
8-A Clockwork Orange by Stanley Kubrick: This is actually Kubrick that saved the novel. He took out the difficult, yet creative lingo and put images on it instead. I wasn't too crazy about Anthony Burgess' book, in fact, I wasn't use I understood anything of it before I watched the movie.
9-Bladerunner by Ridley Scott: It's leaving out major points from the Philip K. Dick novel, but it's for the best. Ridley Scott accentuates the highly visual scenes of Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? and leaves out the more difficult, transcendental stuff. A prime example of a director making the right cuts to make the movie concise and meaningful.
10-2010: Odyssey Two by Peter Hyams: A lot more conventional than the Kubrick adaptation of the first space odyssey novel. Too bad, because the novel is even more spectacular and would have deserved an even more over-the-top treatment. Still, it's very good, but they missed the opportunity to adapt a few key images