The Trouble With Adaptations, or Why I'm Sick of Hearing That The Book Was Better

We've all been in this kind of situation before. You've picked up a book, you read it, you loved it, you've read it front to back, fell in love with the characters, scoured its pages for little nuances, references, or clever details you may not have picked up on the first, second, or seventeenth time. Then you get the news: that book that you love so very very much is getting its own movie. You're super excited to see this story brought to life on the big screen. You count down the days til the premiere, you show up first in line for the very first screening, you're in a room with dozens or hundreds of people who adore this work just as much as you do. The lights dim, the film begins, and two hours later... you find yourself underwhelmed. Or disappointed. Or even angry. Something didn't go right. Maybe they left something out. Or several things. Or  they changed things. Maybe the director's vision didn't exactly match yours. Maybe the adaptation was in name only. It's a conundrum that cinephile and bibliophile alike have suffered through. Either way, there's no more disappointing feeling than walking out of the theater and thinking to yourself, “The book was so much better.” And there's no more infuriating feeling than discussing it with someone else and hearing them flippantly say “Of course the book was better. The book is always better.”

Silence - Middle of the Road Scorsese is Still Pretty Damn Good

Silence is probably the most aptly titled movie to come along in a while. The latest from masterclass filmmaker Martin Scorsese is an exercise in restraint. How much can you do with so little? In this case, the movie's lack of sound and the absence of the frenzied urgency that is Scorsese's signature is both an aesthetic and thematic choice. We watch in silence, the film presents itself in silence, and its main characters suffer in silence. Based on the novel of the same name by Shuzaku Endo, this is a passion project that Scorsese has been trying to get off the ground since the late 80's, and while Marty has made a name for himself as a master of the art of excess, here he shows how much he can really do when really subdued.

The Top 5 Worst Movies of 2016 (in my opinion)

Last week I made my top 10 list of the best films of 2016, which means I have to pay the price of being a movie-goer and cover the bad stuff. However, this list will only be five long instead of ten. I try as best as I can to avoid seeing bad movies in theaters because I don't like wasting my time or money. When I choose to see a movie in the theater, it's because I see some kind of potential for it to at least be entertaining. But even then some stinkers manage to slip through the cracks, or morbid curiosity gets the best of me. So if you're wondering why infamous turds like Gods of Egypt, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and God's Not Dead 2 aren't here, it's because I knew that them sucking was going to be a foregone conclusion and I didn't want to waste my money. (Also, if you're the kind of person who needs me of all people to tell you those movies are garbage, then there's nothing I can really do for you.) Alright, enough beating around the bush, let's get this over with.