If you love books, then you'll love book adaptations

Most of my adult life is spent writing, reading, and watching t.v shows and movies. I’d say t.v shows like sitcoms took a backseat to curated mini series with an overall arc, thank you Battlestar Galactica.

If memory serves, that show was the first time, at least for me, where the producers had a beginning, a middle, and end in mind when they started the production. They had growing pains for sure, a few episodes in the middle left me yawning, but it created the stepping stones towards amazing short series that feel like movies.

This was the predawn age of binge watching, heck, it was the predawn age of Netflix, HBO, and all those other amazing streaming services that gouge our pockets, but give us endless evenings of viewing pleasure.

Variety back then couldn’t hold a candle to what we have now, I mean The Witcher, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Dark, Game of Thrones, the Mandolorian, and what about the Crown, Money Heist, or The Irishman? I don't think anyone could have predicted Scorcese would have written for Netflix ten years ago, but even the greats must concede that this is the golden age of television.

It’s nothing new. Movies come in and out of fashion, but what is different is the amount of content out there. It’s insane! So how do you choose what to watch? Good friend recommendation? On a whim? Netflix’s selected movie based on your viewing habits… Those are pretty accurate if I’m being honest. Damn those algorithms!

For myself, my preferred method of choice is good old fashion books! If you like the novel, then you’ll probably like the movie. Once again, I’m not re-inventing the wheel, producers have used this nifty little trick for eons. A well-known producer, would scour the New York Times best seller list, and buy the rights to the movie. It was a no-brainer because the novel came with a built-in audience.

Why do you think the author of “Fifty Shades of Grey” managed such a high profile movie deal? It wasn’t for her prose, I can assure you, it’s because she had a readership that guaranteed bums in the movie theatre.

Yes, yes, I can hear the purists screaming at me, ‘the movie is never as good as the book’, and while that might have been true once upon a time, I feel that filmmakers and producers have learned from their mistakes and have found a way to bring the novel to life sometimes making it better than the book itself. “Fifty Shades anyone... cough! cough!

Back in the day, what they did wrong was gloss over elements that seemed irrelevant to the filmmaker or producers but was important to the readers. Or, they would cram the movie with as much of everything as possible to make sure they didn’t miss anything. In the end, they were short-changing the flow of the story with too many characters, and too many details.

Another popular crutch, was to take a book series and create a mish-mash of everything at once bungling the story, and leaving everyone with a bad taste in their mouth.

Thank goodness screenwriters and filmmakers have evolved and learned from their mistakes. In recent years, whether it was a book, a T.V series to silver screen or a mini-series on Netflix, the stories have been analyzed, the actors meticulously chosen, and lastly, the marketing is off the charts.

Who doesn’t remember the poster reveal of all the major characters in “The Hunger Games” I was sold even before seeing the movie.

And don’t think the movie was an exact replica of the book either, they changed the storyline, made it tighter, but that’s precisely why it did so well.

Good filmmakers break down the movie, and distill it to its finer essence. They choose the most important plot points first, then the secondary subplots that pull the story forward, and then they pepper in the details for those hardcore fans.

Peter Jackson won many academy awards for his trilogy Lord of the Rings, and yet it was very different from Tolkien's novels. “Don’t hate me for for saying this, but… I actually preferred the movies,” she says hiding from the flying tomatoes.

Jon Favreau turned this into an art-form with Mowgli. Oh wait! It is art. JJ Abrams did the same thing for Star Trek, down to replicating the sounds of the original show. Although not based on a novel, it’s still creating something new from what already exists, and that’s not easy because the fans expectations are high, especially when dealing with Trekkies.

Now that I’ve convinced you of the sound process of watching films that are based on beloved books, here are some of my wild recommendations.

Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is a classic that cannot be overlooked. Often the movies are easier to digest than the books. While I know there are many Darcy camps out there, my heart goes out to Matthew MacFayden… When he stutters at the end. Oh my goodness, it gets me every time! This is a movie you can re-watch as many times as you need, and never get bored, but if let’s say you wanted something with a little more heat, then hellooo Bridgerton. This series is certainly inspired by Jane Austen’s novels and improved with diversity.

What about the Princess Bride? Also another film based on a book, or Stardust? I recommend reading the book and then re-watching these classics. It’s so much fun to revisit, and seeing them come to life.

If you enjoy thrillers, one that stuck with me in terms of adaptations was Silence of the Lambs, or the Talented Mr. Ripley. Another excellent choice on Netflix is Mindhunter, as well as the Stand, now playing on Amazon Prime, but I have not watched that one yet.

As for Science fiction, there are so many I could list, but I’ll go with something a little more recent.

The Witcher in my opinion was actually better than the book, and no it’s not because we get to stare at Henry Cavill shirtless, though it certainly helps.

More amazing adaptations are “The Martian” by Andy Weir. Matt Damon really captures the author’s dry sense of humour, and let’s not forget Philip K. Dick’s “Blade Runner”, “A Scanner Darkly”, and “Minority Report”.

What about female leads? Here are some of my favourites all genres included. As I mentioned earlier, Hunger Games was very good, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I have a particular attachment for the one played by Noomi Rapace. Bridget Jones is a must-read, must see and The Color Purple with Whoopie Goldberg. I could go on and on, but I think you get the point.

Next time you read a good book, remember, it just might spring to life on the silver screen, and you’ll get to experience it all over again.