Elimination Chamber and the Film Meme

Elimination Chamber - I only saw the last hour but still ( spoilers. )

Film Meme:

Day 24 - The best page-to-screen film adaptation

I'm temporarily discounting plays and comics because they're different media all together and bring different problems to adapting them.

I also not going to name an actual film, for reasons which will become clear.

There's lots of different adaptations, some from books so obscure you didn't even know they were a book first, some from books you love and no-one will ever be able to get exactly right.

That brings up one of the first problems. What do you want out of an adaptation? Do you want exactly accurate, or are you happy with just the feel of the piece?

That was one of my problems with the Watchmen adaptation, it was almost panel for panel accurate, and yet managed to miss the spirit of the comic.

I'd rather a film-maker do something gloriously filmic, rather than a wet re-tread of a book. Did Kubrick change things in Clockwork Orange, yes, but were they worth it? Equally, yes.

It's like the version of Good Omens that's being rumoured. Do I think it'll be better than the rumoured Terry Gilliam version that now appears not to be happening? Yes. Do I think the Gilliam version would have been far more interesting visually? Yes.

I know people who are still angry about Tom Bombadill not being in Lord Of The Rings, and yet, could they have done him right? (Also, Tom Bombadill is scarier than Sauron)

Blade Runner bears almost no resemblence to the work on which it is allegedly based, and yet I like it, possibly because they have at least had the decency to change the name. I think, if you're going to adapt something out of all recognition, that's what you ought to do. See also 'O Brother Where Art Thou'.

( The Other Days )