Holy crap, there are movies I liked JUST AS MUCH as the books? A rare statement from a writer, to be sure, but sometimes Hollywood gets it right.
Sometimes.
Here are my top 10 picks (and before you think mean thoughts, this does not mean I liked the movies better. It just means I enjoyed the movies, too):
10. The Firm (1993). John Grisham’s The Firm was one of the first thriller novels I ever read. The movie echoes the pacing of the novel – fast, furious, and full of tension. Tom Cruise is perfectly believable as a lawyer who gets in with the wrong law firm.
9. Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992). I have to admit I’m not a huge fan of the original novel. The diary-style narrative and the old-fashioned prose didn’t do a whole lot for me. But I love the cinematography of this movie, and Gary Oldman was wonderfully creepy as Dracula.
8. The Bone Collector (1999). It’s no secret that I love Jeffery Deaver and the whole Lincoln Rhyme series, and what’s not to like about Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie?
7. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001). Potter fans, please don’t hurt me, but I was captivated by the film. If I was J.K. Rowling, I’d have been thrilled with this movie.
6. Fight Club (1999). This is dangerous territory, because nobody has fans quite like Chuck Palahniuk has fans. But I thought the movie captured the narrative voice of the novel perfectly, and the casting was brilliant.
5. Anne of Green Gables (1985). Megan Follows is the perfect Anne! This was a huge movie when I was growing up, since it was filmed in Canada and starred Canadian actors. If you haven’t seen it and are a fan of the books, rent the whole trilogy and settle in. You won’t be disappointed.
4. Misery (1990). Annie Wilkes has made a lot of my Top Ten lists, but with good reason. She’s sort of hard to forget. And Kathy Bates totally did her justice.
3. Interview with a Vampire (1994). I’m a fan of Anne Rice’s novels (specifically the Vampire Chronicles), and was prepared to dislike the film. But I was pleasantly surprised. Sometimes a soundtrack makes all the difference.
2. The Silence of the Lambs (1991). This movie also keeps popping up on my Top Ten lists, but I can’t help it. It’s just that good. Nobody could have played Hannibal Lecter better than Sir Anthony Hopkins, and I actually thought the movie was much scarier than the book.
1. Princess Bride (1987). The book is s’wonderful, but the movie is s’marvelous. Here are ten reasons why.
Honorable mention goes to:
True Blood, based on the Sookie Sackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris. Okay, I’m totally cheating here, since True Blood is an HBO series and not a movie, but hey, it’s my blog and I can do what I want. I enjoyed Harris’s books, but I love love love this show. Maybe it’s all the naked man-candy (Eric the Vampire! Alcide the Werewolf!), but what can I say, I’m hopelessly addicted. (And, gee, looking over this list now, it appears that I’m bigger fan of vampires than I originally thought.)
What movies did you like just as much as the books?