book vs Movie – Page 2 – Sokorra Lewis

book reviews, book vs Movie, bookit, film

Book Review: Fantastic Four (Movie Novelization, Peter David)

Posted on January 8, 2010 by sokorra

Title: Fantastic Four
Author: Peter David (Based on Screenplay by Mark Frost, Simon Kinberg, and Michael France, who were inspired by Marvel)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Movie Novelization, some romance
Summery: Reed Richards, Victor Von Doom, Ben Grimm, and the Storm siblings go up in space to hold experiments with a cosmic cloud. Things don’t go as planed, and the crew is hit by the cloud instead of being protected by the stations shielding. Suddenly Reed can stretch his arms further then natural, Susan can be invisible, Johnny can turn into fire, and Ben has transformed into a man made out of rock. Victor seems unharmed, but slowly he is transforming into a metal alloy, which turns to to be a bad combination with his mood.

Yeah, bad summery. You can probably get the gist if you watch a cartoon, or read the comic. I tend to stick to the film when it comes to Marvel stuff. And I should probably mention that there are slight spoilers here if you are a Fantastic Four newbie.

I have read Peter David novels in the past. He wrote one of my favorite Star Trek novels, Imzadi. That was slightly different then this, as Imazdi was based within that universe while Fantastic Four is based directly on a script. I bought this after watching the movie so I already had the characters set in my head as the actors. I liked it the first time through. I decided to re-read it for this year’s bookit 50, and liked it again.

There was one issue I had with this book this time through. Since the second movie hadn’t been out before I read the first movie’s novelization it didn’t phase me the first time, and I don’t think I even realized it till this time reading it. The novel has a Frankie Raye, which if you have seen the second film you know she’s a character in that film. One quite different then the one in this novelization. Although this does give me ideas for a fanfic where they ARE the same person (I doubt they are. I just think it was a matter of Peter David doing his homework and the writers of movie II not taking his novelization into account when they wrote it. Movie trumps book in this case)

Like with Willow, this book had some scenes that never made it to film or were cut during the final edit (and there are a few in the deleted scenes on the DVD). Some scenes were completely different. Like the scene where Reed and Susan talk about their relationship? Happens in a different location then in the movie.

I enjoyed it. Its a good novelization.

Rating: 4/5
Bookit # (2/50) of (1/52)

book reviews, book vs Movie, bookit, film

Book Review: Willow (Wayland Davis)

Posted on January 8, 2010 by sokorra

Title: Willow
Author: Wayland Davis (based on the screenplay by Bob Dolman who inturn based it on a story by George Lucas.)
Genre: Fantasy/Movie Novelization
Summery: Willow Ufgood, A Nelwyn farmer (and aspiring magican), is sent on a journey to return a baby Daikini to its people. As always, this journey goes differently then planned. He ends up teaming up with swordsmen Madmartigan, two brownies named Franjean and Rool and a transformed Sorceress named Fin Raziel to protect the baby from the evil Queen Bavmorda of Nockmaar who wants to kill her.

Apparently for the month of January, my theme for book reading is Movie Novelizations. These are books derived from movies (as opposed as books on which movies are derived.)

I borrowed this book from a friend because I loved the movie. And I love this book too. It follows the course of the film nicely, and as with all novelizations, has scenes that were cut out of the movie. Many I wish had been included. Like Madmartigan’s back story. Or the back story of Bavmorda and Fin Raziel’s animosity towards each other (Not only is Bav evil, but she also stole Fin’s boyfriend!).

Anyway, The Pros/Cons

Pros

– Madmartigan’s Back story (he apparently was a weapons prodigy)
– Bavmorda Backstory
– The Nelwyns have more screen time

Cons

– The flashback style is kinda awkward
– It feels like it needs to be longer.

Rating: 4/5

Bookit # (1/50 of 1/52)

(I promise these will become better as I go. Its been along time since I did a book review that was more “Eh, it was good”, so I need time to learn how to do it again.)

book reviews, book vs Movie, film, School related

This week is theme

Posted on February 7, 2009 by sokorra

So, this week in Intro To Fiction, we are studying ‘Theme.’ Which always makes me think of “The Jane Austin Book Club” where Prudie goes on about “Jane’s Theme” and kinda gets on the nerves of everyone else there except for Grigg (who was uncomfortable as it was) and Silvia who was a little preoccupied with her own personal crisis.

I actually like the movie, but don’t like the book. Which is an oddity because usually its either equal status or I like the book better. I like to watch the film first because its like having deleted scenes when you read the book. But in this case, THey changed enough of the book that I much prefer the movie. Not to say there weren’t times I wanted something from the book in the movie, but generally the movie was better. Plus Dean was a steelers fan:)

Another book that failed to meet the expectations of the movie was The Wedding Date (or Asking For Trouble if you want to read the book). The book and the movie share a common plot…Older sister is going to younger sister’s engagement party and hires an escort to pose as her boyfriend. The big difference between the movie and the book is:

The book goes over a longer period of time, from the engagement party till after the honeymoon
The names are different and everyone lives in England
Sophie (Kat in the movie) lives with her best friend and friends brother and they take an active role in the story. This plot is not in the movie.
TJ is in the book, in the form of cousin Tamara who has a simular role, except she (and apparently 95% of the family) doesn’t like Paul (Edward in the movie AKA the fiancée)
The fiancée is a jerk
Kit (Jeff) and Bianca (the sister, forget her name in the move) actually stay together, they run off together after the honeymoon.
Josh (Nick) isn’t an escort. He was filling in for an actual escort, since his friend was running the company.

Now unlike The Jane Austin Book Club, Asking For Trouble is equally as enjoyable as the movie. Its just that they are almost two different stories. And if I had to choose, I’d probably choose the movie. If only because I hate that Kit/Jeff won in the end of the book and that Paul was a jerk. Edward is lovable in the movie (half because of the character, half because Its Jack Davenport.

I’m going to be posting again tonight to get my entries up to the correct number. I’m two down (one after this entry) from being an entry a day since I started.