Favourite Movie Adaptations | Raquel

So Faith and I won tickets to go see Paper Towns and I just thought that this post went perfectly. Here are some of my favourite Movie Adaptations of books!

The Kite Runner

This movie is based off a book by Khaled Hosseini. This book is one of my all time favourites. I am absolutely in love with this story and this is one book I could read a million times over. This movie was made about 8 years ago so it is older quality, but I still think it was well done. I think that the chosen actors did a good job. This movie, his stories aren't for everybody. Not everyone likes to read such sad, tragic stories, but I think it's important too because these things really do happen. These stories aren't about tragedies in another world or universe. He is just taking real things and making a story out of it. I read the book before I watched the movie for this one and I am glad I did. The movie is well done, but the book is just so much more real. It was definitely worth reading before watching the movie for this one! 

Here is a link for the review I wrote on this book: HERE


Maze Runner

This is based off a book written by James Dashner. It was pretty popular so I am sure most people know about it. I personally love this series. I like the books and movies! I know a lot of people found the books to be less interesting, but I enjoyed them. The books are quite simple, not difficult, but the story is what really kept me interested. Something about it just really got me hooked. I think it helped that I saw the movie because I find then I get attached to the characters and am more compelled to finish the series much quicker. I think I saw the movie first for this one. I didn't really know about the series and just went to see the movie. Though I wish I read the book first, I found that it wasn't such a big deal that I didn't. This series is one of those where a lot of people think the movies are better, and I kind of agree. There is a lot of action and stuff and in scenes like that its usually much more entertaining to watch. I think that the movies could be really amazing and I am looking forward to the Scorch Trials which is the next one coming out!

Catching Fire

This is based off a book by Suzanne Collins. So I was debating between Hunger Games and this one, but I know this was my favourite book and I really enjoyed the movie as well. The first movie was well done, but this one definitely topped the first one! The effects were phenomenal and they didn't drift far from the book which I did like. I think that all the actors are perfect for this story and I am so glad that each of them got cast. I really like the scenes where they are in the game. Just all the action and FX are really amazing to watch! I read the book before I saw this movie, but for the first one I watched it first. That may be why I like this one better, though I never know. I am really glad I read the book first because I like how I kind of know what's going to happen so I can kind of look at the movie from a different perspective. I feel I am more able to notice certain details, its almost like I am watching the movie for a second time. The new mockingjay part 2 trailer was released recently and it was so amazing I was just shocked. I am so excited for this last movie to come out, but also sad because this has been such an amazing series!

#EVERLARK - Faith

The Giver

This is based off a book by Lois Lowry. I think the Giver is actually a really cool movie. I read the book sometimes after I saw the movie. I didn't even know it was a book until like a month later when my friend told me! I had never heard of it before I saw the movie. The story is unique, and kind of makes you think of how overwhelming our society and all our cultures and traditions actually could be. Most people don't really see much of other cultures or societies, but the few that do actually see how different it can be even just from one side of a country to another. I personally am pretty fascinated by how different we really all live. I couldn't even imagine getting so much information and memories about a place so different from where you live and knowing that all the stuff that they have has been taken away from you. I love how this story really makes me think.

I am Number Four

This movie is based off a book by Pittacus Lore. A lot of people aren't really into this series, some find it just drags on, but I just have always kind of loved it. I really wish that they made more movies for this series unfortunately they just made this one. This isn't exactly a new movie so the effects aren't top notch and I doubt they had a huge budget so it isn't exactly the best it could have been, but as a fan of the book I enjoyed it! The story was pretty consistent and I thought the casting choice was near perfect! The actors were almost exactly what I imagined in my head. There definitely were some things in this movie that could have been better, but overall it was a pretty decent movie and is one of my favourite adaptations to watch. I watched the movie before I read the book, except I didn't know I did. I watched this movie when my mother was watching it and I had no clue what it was called. It was only after I was partway through the book I realized I had seen the movie! I thought it was kind of funny how that worked out.

Insurgent

This film is based off a book by Veronica Roth. Faith and I LOVE this series! This series is what started my obsession with Dystopias and really got me into reading a lot more books! All these stories about odd societies are just so fascinating! They really make you think what if that was real? It's an interesting thing to think about. Its a really unique concept. To me this society shows similarity to how things have been in history. They separate people based off something like a trait, but the truth is that you can't really separate people like that. I mean you could for the people who had the weird DNA in this series, but for the normal people they show that you can't. I think that is interesting because it reminds me of our society. We tried to separate people by things like culture or religion but things aren't always that simple. For example if somebody is more than one culture or believes in many different things it begins to become more complicated to separate them. To me all these small things are a dumb way to separate people. The truth is we are all just one thing and that is human and thats a thing we all have in common. That's the only group we all belong too and really the only one that has real significance.

You're welcome for forcing you to read the books so I had someone to go to the movies with me. :D  - Faith

It's Kind of a Funny Story

This movie is based off a book by Ned Vizzini. I had heard about this book and I was told it was really good so I thought I'd give it a try. I also wanted to watch the film, but I thought it would be best to read it first. I really enjoyed the book. There are a lot of books written like this one, but I like how in this story it wasn't super ridiculous or anything super intense. There wasn't anything really gory or any really bad things that happened to him. He is just a regular boy who has gone down a bad path. I really liked his whole map obsession. It was just so unique and his drawings that he made out of them, I could really picture in my head and I just think that those would truly be amazing to see. As for the movie itself it was really well made. It was made a few years ago and you can see that in the quality, but the acting and everything else was fantastic. I think they definitely choose the write people to play each character. They really lined up at least for me, what I thought they would look and act like. I really liked how instead of somebody else admitting him, or him being taken after an attempt he checked himself in. It's not a common thing in books like this to reach out for help themselves. It was really nice to see a story showing that though you may be in a situation like that, having thoughts such as that, you can get help.

Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

This movie is based off a book by Cassandra Clare. Faith and I went to see the movie together before we read the series. The main reason we went on to read the books was because of the ending of this movie. It was really odd and we both couldn't just accept the fact that the ending could be true. We both really wanted to know so we picked up the series. It turns out that we both really loved the books. We also went on to read the Infernal Devices series as well. This movie is actually really well done. I loved the actors chosen they were phenomenal! I am less of a fan of the new actors for the television series, but I think I could get use to them. If you read the book series you will notice that the movie doesn't exactly line up, but I think that it still works really well! The editing was really good too and I am hoping that this and the FX will continue to be of this or better quality for the television series. Though they aren't continuing this series as a movie I definitely think that it still is cool to watch the movie! 

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

This film is based off a book written by Stephen Chbosky. I have watched this movie quite a few times. I can't really say for sure why, but I really love this movie, this story. There is just something about it that really stuck to me. The actor who plays charlie was absolutely incredible. I think that he truly was perfect for this role. This story is very different from what you may imagine. It really is hard to see where this story will be going until you have gone through the whole thing. In this film there are really happy parts, but also really sad parts. There are events that happen that make you just cringe, and also others that will just make you laugh. I think this book is a perfect combination of many things and thats what makes it so unique. For me personally this film really made me feel something and I think any story that can do that is phenomenal. There are certain things that were more awkward to read in the book version, but I think that the book really matched well with the movie. I didn't find that a whole lot from the story had changed. The few things that did change weren't extremely significant so the movie still was close to the book. I would highly recommend watching this movie! (READ THE BOOK FIRST)

Warm Bodies

This movie is based off a novel that Isaac Marion wrote. I saw this movie before I read the book, but I thought the book was good as well. This story is a zombie, apocalyptic version of Romeo and Juliet. I at first wasn't really sure how I would like this movie because I am not usually a big person on zombie things. Also I am not a super fan of Romeo and Juliet adaptations as I feel they are so common. However I actually really enjoyed this movie. The way that they made it was really different. I liked how though their relationship was definitely a key point, they did include other things of fighting and action. It wasn't your typical romance type story. The FX were pretty good in my opinion. Though I hate to admit it the skeleton creatures honestly freaked me out at first. I have no clue why, but something about them just really scared me. This movie isn't overly graphic and really isn't scary. I liked that though it had a romantic or relationship centre they kept a lot of substance which made the story a lot more interesting. As I mentioned Faith and I had gone to see Paper Towns a short time ago. The movie was pretty good, but I found unlike this movie, it has very little story in between. It felt like they were just stalling until the end. I knew it would be like this because I did read the book before hand so I wasn't super surprised by this. It did have its good moments, but overall it wasn't one of my favourites. I know a lot of people like those kinds of stories, but personally I like stories with a bit more to tell.