Category: Movie adaptations

Movie adaptation: ‘Bones & All’ by Camille DeAngelis

The movie adaptation of ‘Bones & All” will be released nationwide on Wednesday November 23, 2022. Photo: Amazon

In a world filled with remakes and sequels, I often hear the same complaint: “Why can’t anyone make any original movies anymore.” Whenever someone does, rarely do people take notice. That is why I have made it my mission to highlight movie adaptation of books and here is this week’s movie. The book “Bones & All” is a literary fiction novel, a coming-of-age story that follows a pair of young cannibalistic lovers who flee together on a road trip. A combination of YA and horror novels. Sounds interesting to me.

Camille DeAngelis is the author of “Immaculate Heart,” the Alex Award-winning “Bones & All,” “Petty Magic: Being the Memoirs and Confessions of Miss Evelyn Harbinger,” “Temptress and Troublemaker,” and “Mary Modern,” as well as a first-edition guidebook, “Moon Ireland.” Her book of practical philosophy, “Life Without Envy: Ego Management for Creative People,” was published by St. Martin’s Griffin in September 2016. She is a graduate of New York University (B.A. in Fine Arts, minor in Irish Studies, 2002) and the National University of Ireland, Galway (M.A. in Writing, 2005). “Bones & All” has been adapted into a coming-of-age romantic horror road film starring Taylor Russell, Timothée Chalamet, Mark Rylance, and Michael Stuhlbarg. It was released in selected U.S. theaters on November 18 and will be released nationwide on Wednesday November 23, 2022. (Amazon, 2022)

“Bones & All”  – Maren Yearly is a young woman who wants the same things we all do. She wants to be someone people admire and respect. She wants to be loved but her secret, shameful needs have forced her into exile. She hates herself for the bad thing she does, for what it has done to her family and her sense of identity, for how it dictates her place in the world and how people see her–how they judge her. She did not choose to be this way. Because Maren Yearly does not just break hearts, she devours them. Ever since her mother found Penny Wilson’s eardrum in her mouth when Maren was just two years old, she knew life would never be normal for either of them.

Love may come in many shapes and sizes, but for Maren, it always ends the same–with her hiding the evidence and her mother packing up the car. But when her mother abandons her the day after her sixteenth birthday, Maren goes looking for the father she has never known, and finds much more than she bargained for along the way. Faced with a world of fellow eaters, potential enemies, and the prospect of love, Maren realizes she is not only looking for her father, she is looking for herself.

Movie adaptation: ‘Bullet Train’ by Kotaro Isaka

The movie adaptation of ‘Bullet Train’ is now on theaters and stars Brad Pitt. Photo: Amazon

Kotaro Isaka is a bestselling and multi-award-winning Japanese writer whose books have sold millions of copies around the world. He has won the Shincho Mystery Club Award, Mystery Writers of Japan Award, Japan Booksellers’ Award and the Yamamoto Shugoro Prize. His book “Bullet Train” is a dark, satirical thriller that follows the perilous train ride of five highly motivated assassins. It was adapted into a major film from Sony starring Brad Pitt, Joey King, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, Andrew Koji, Hiroyuki Sanada, Michael Shannon, Benito A Martínez Ocasio, and more. (Amazon, 2022)

“Bullet Train” – Satoshi—The Prince—looks like an innocent schoolboy but he is really a stylish and devious assassin. Risk fuels him, as does a good philosophical debate, such as questioning: Is killing really wrong? Kimura’s young son is in a coma thanks to The Prince, and Kimura has tracked him onto a bullet train heading from Tokyo to Morioka to exact his revenge. But Kimura soon discovers that they are not the only dangerous passengers on board. Nanao, also nicknamed Ladybug, the self-proclaimed “unluckiest assassin in the world,” is put on the bullet train by his boss, a mysterious young woman called Maria, to steal a suitcase full of money and get off at the first stop. The lethal duo of Tangerine and Lemon are also traveling to Morioka, and the suitcase leads others to show their hands. Why are they all on the same train, and who will make it off alive? A bestseller in Japan, “Bullet Train” is an original and propulsive thriller that fizzes with incredible energy as its complex net of double-crosses and twists unwinds up to the last station.

This past weekend I got the chance to watch Bullet Train and I was surprised to learn that it is based on a book. I have not read the book but from reading up on it, there are some obvious differences. Considering that the source is a Japanese novel, The Prince is a boy in the book but a white girl in the movie and Nanao, one of the assassins, is also white and portrayed by Brad Pitt. This does not bother me in the least and I prefer to focus on the story. It is an action comedy movie that reminds me of Deadpool and Quentin Tarantino movies like Kill Bill because of the dark humor and the insane amount of killing and blood involved but without going overboard. The plot twists and surprises keep it interesting and the fact that it takes place on a bullet train foreshadows the momentum of the action. Overall, it is a fun movie, plenty of action and comedy and not too long with a run time of a little over two hours. 

Movie adaptation: ‘Where the Crawdads Sing’ by Delia Owens

The movie adaptation of Delia Owens’ bestselling novel will hit theaters on July 15, 2022. Photo: amazon

Delia Owens is the coauthor of three internationally bestselling nonfiction books about her life as a wildlife scientist in Africa—”Cry of the Kalahari,” “The Eye of the Elephant,” and “Secrets of the Savanna.” She has won the John Burroughs Award for Nature Writing and has been published in Nature, the African Journal of Ecology, and International Wildlife, among many other publications. “Where the Crawdads Sing,” the #1 New York Times bestseller, is her first novel and has been adapted into a movie that will be released in theaters on July 15, 2022. It is at once an ode to the natural world, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a surprising tale of possible murder. (amazon, 2022)

“Where the Crawdads Sing” – For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life—until the unthinkable happens.

Movie adaptation: The Black Phone by Joe Hill

The Black Phone, from Joe Hill’s ’20th Century Ghosts’ has been adapted into a movie and will be released in theaters on June 24, 2022. Photo: amazon

Joe Hill is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the novels “The Fireman,” “NOS4A2,” “Horns,” and “Heart-Shaped Box;” “Strange Weather,” a collection of novellas; and the acclaimed story collections “Full Throttle” and “20th Century Ghosts.” He is also the Eisner Award–winning writer of a seven-volume comic book series, “Locke & Key.” Much of his work has been adapted for film and TV, including NOS4A2 (AMC), Locke & Key (Netflix), and In the Tall Grass (Netflix). The Black Phone is a short story in his “20th Century Ghosts” collection and has been adapted into a major motion picture from Universal Pictures and Blumhouse Productions. It stars Ethan Hawke and will be released in theaters on Friday June 24, 2022. (amazon, 2022)

The Black Phone – Jack Finney is thirteen, alone, and in desperate trouble. For two years now, someone has been stalking the boys of Galesberg, stealing them away, never to be seen again. And now, Finney finds himself in danger of joining them: locked in a psychopath’s basement, a place stained with the blood of half a dozen murdered children.

With him in his subterranean cell is an antique phone, long since disconnected . . . but it rings at night anyway, with calls from the killer’s previous victims. And they are dead set on making sure that what happened to them doesn’t happen to Finney.

“The Black Phone” is one of fifteen stories in Joe Hill’s first story collection, originally published as 20th Century Ghosts—the inventive and chilling compendium that established this award-winning, critically acclaimed, and bestselling author as “a major player in 21st-century fantastic fiction” (Washington Post).

 

1656069300

  days

  hours  minutes  seconds

until

The Black Phone release date

Movie adaptation: ‘Nightmare Alley’ by William Lindsay Gresham

The movie adaptation of ‘Nightmare Alley’ is now in theaters. Photo: amazon

William Lindsay Gresham was a novelist and nonfiction writer. Gresham’s was a tortured mind and a tormented life, and he sought to banish his demons through a maze of dead-end ways, from Marxism to psychoanalysis to Christianity to Alcoholics Anonymous to Rinzai Zen Buddhism. From these demons came his novel “Nightmare Alley” (1946), one of the underground classics of American literature. It is a study of the lowest depths of showbiz and its sleazy inhabitants – the dark, shadowy world of a second rate carnival filled with hustlers, scheming grifters, and Machiavellian femme fatales. Guillermo del Toro directed the 2021 movie adaptation from a screenplay by del Toro and Kim Morgan. It stars Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette and Willem Dafoe and focuses on Stan Carlisle, an ambitious carny who hooks up with corrupt psychiatrist Dr. Lilith Ritter, who proves to be as dangerous as he is. (amazon, Wikipedia, 2021)

“Nightmare Alley” – It all begins with an extraordinary description of a carnival-show geek—alcoholic and abject and the object of the voyeuristic crowd’s gleeful disgust and derision—going about his work at a county fair. Young Stan Carlisle is working as a carny, and he wonders how a man could fall so low. There is no way in hell, he vows, that anything like that will ever happen to him. Since Stan is clever and ambitious and not without a useful streak of ruthlessness, soon enough he is going places. Onstage he plays the mentalist with a cute assistant, then he graduates to full-blown spiritualist, catering to the needs of the rich and gullible in their well-upholstered homes. It looks like the world is Stan’s for the taking. At least for now.

Movie adaptation: ‘Munich’ by Robert Harris

The movie adaptation of Robert Harris’ ‘Munich’ will be released on Netflix and movie theaters in January. Photo: amazon

Robert Harris is the author of “Pompeii,” “Enigma,” and “Fatherland.” He has been a television correspondent with the BBC and a newspaper columnist for the London Sunday Times and The Daily Telegraph. His novels have sold more than ten million copies and been translated into thirty languages. His book “Munich,” a World War II-era spy thriller set against the backdrop of the fateful Munich Conference of September 1938, has been adapted into a movie by Netflix and will have a limited theatrical release before its January 21, 2022 on Netflix. It stars film stars Jeremy Irons, George MacKay, Jannis Niewöhner, Sandra Hüller, Liv Lisa Fries, August Diehl, Jessica Brown Findlay, Anjli Mohindra, and Ulrich Matthes. (amazon, 2021)

“Munich” – Hugh Legat is a rising star of the British diplomatic service, serving at 10 Downing Street as a private secretary to the Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain. Paul von Hartmann is on the staff of the German Foreign Office–and secretly a member of the anti-Hitler resistance. The two men were friends at Oxford in the 1920s, but have not been in contact since. Now, when Hugh flies with Chamberlain from London to Munich, and Hartmann travels on Hitler’s train overnight from Berlin, their paths are set on a disastrous collision course. Once again, Robert Harris gives us actual events of historical importance–here are Hitler, Chamberlain, Mussolini, Daladier–at the heart of an electrifying novel.

 

Movie adaptation: ‘Those Who Wish Me Dead’ by Michael Koryta

The movie adaptation of Michael Koryta’s ‘Those Who Wish Me Dead’ will be out on Friday, May 14, 2021. Photo: google

Michael Koryta is The New York Times bestselling author of nine novels, including “The Prophet.” His last three novels, “The Ridge,” “The Cypress House,” and “So Cold the River” were all The New York Times notable books and nominated for several national and international awards. Koryta’s work has been translated into more than twenty languages. A former private investigator and newspaper reporter, Koryta graduated from Indiana University with a degree in criminal justice. His 2014 book “Those Who Wish Me Dead” has been adapted into a movie of the same name and will be released in United States on Friday, May 14, 2021 in theaters and on HBO Max. It stars Angelina Jolie and  Nicholas Hoult. (amazon, 2021)

In “Those Who Wish Me Dead,” when fourteen-year-old Jace Wilson witnesses a brutal murder, he is plunged into a new life, issued a false identity and hidden in a wilderness skills program for troubled teens. The plan is to get Jace off the grid while police find the two killers. The result is the start of a nightmare. The killers, known as the Blackwell Brothers, are slaughtering anyone who gets in their way in a methodical quest to reach him. Now all that remains between them and the boy are Ethan and Allison Serbin, who run the wilderness survival program; Hannah Faber, who occupies a lonely fire lookout tower; and endless miles of desolate Montana mountains. The clock is ticking, the mountains are burning, and those who wish Jace Wilson dead are no longer far behind.

Movie adaptation: ‘Without Remorse’ by Tom Clancy

The movie adaptation of Tom Clancy’s ‘Without Remorse’ will be released on Prime Video on April 30, 2021. Photo: google

Tom Clancy was an international thriller author. Starting with “The Hunt for Red October,” all thirteen of his previous books have hit #1 on the The New York Times bestseller list. His books, “The Hunt for Red October,” “Patriot Games,” “Clear and Present Danger,” and “The Sum of all Fears” have been made into major motion pictures. The latest one is “Without Remorse,” which shows how an ordinary man crossed the lines of justice and morality to become the CIA legend Mr. Clark. It is a spin-off of the Jack Ryan film series and stars Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Bell, Jodie Turner-Smith, and Guy Pearce. Release date on Prime Video is Friday, April 30, 2021. (amazon, 2021)

“Without Remorse” is set during the Vietnam War, it serves as an origin story of John Clark, one of the recurring characters in the Ryanverse. It introduces Clark as former Navy SEAL John Kelly and explains how he changed his name.

Movie synopsis: (Wikipedia) In a war-torn region of Syria, an elite team of US Navy SEALs led by Senior Chief John Clark rescues a CIA operative taken hostage by ex-Russian military forces. Three months later, in apparent retaliation for his role in the mission, Clark’s pregnant wife Pam is murdered by a squad of Russian assassins. Despite being shot multiple times himself, Clark manages to kill all but one of the attackers before being rushed to the hospital. In Washington D.C., Clark’s friend and former SEAL team member Lt. Commander Karen Greer meets with CIA officer Robert Ritter and Secretary of Defense Thomas Clay to discuss response options. Leaked news of Russia’s unprecedented attack on American soil has caused the already-strained relations between the two nations to sour further. If something is not done soon, the result could be a full-scale war. Healed from his injuries, Clark tracks down a corrupt Russian diplomat who issued the passports to his wife’s murderers and at gunpoint forces him to give up the name of the surviving assassin.

Movie adaptation: ‘Nomadland’ by Jessica Bruder

The movie adaptation of ‘Nomadland’ by Jessica Bruder will be released on Friday, February 19, 2021. Photo: amazon

Jessica Bruder is an award-winning journalist whose work focuses on subcultures and the dark corners of the economy. She has written for Harper’s Magazine, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. Bruder teaches at the Columbia School of Journalism. Her book “Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century” is a non-fiction book that explores a phenomenon of older American workers traveling the country like “nomads,” campers in tow, in search of employment, many of whom were adversely affected by the Great Recession. It is the inspiration for the Chloé Zhao’s 2020 Golden Lion award-winning film starring Frances McDormand and is scheduled for release simultaneously in theaters and digitally on Hulu on Friday, February 19, 2021. (amazon, 2021)

“Nomadland” tells a revelatory tale of the dark underbelly of the American economy―one which foreshadows the precarious future that may await many more of us. At the same time, it celebrates the exceptional resilience and creativity of these Americans who have given up ordinary rootedness to survive but have not given up hope. From the beet fields of North Dakota to the campgrounds of California to Amazon’s CamperForce program in Texas, employers have discovered a new, low-cost labor pool, made up largely of transient older adults. These invisible casualties of the Great Recession have taken to the road by the tens of thousands in RVs and modified vans, forming a growing community of nomads.

Movie adaptation: ‘The Witches’ by Roald Dahl

The newest movie adaptation of Roald Dahl’s ‘The Witches’ will be available for streaming on HBO Max. Photo: google

Roald Dahl was a Welsh novelist, short-story writer, poet, screenwriter and wartime fighter pilot. His books have sold more than 250 million copies worldwide. He has been referred to as one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century. He is best known for “James and the Giant Peach,” “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “Matilda,” “The Witches,” “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and  “The BFG.” “The Witches” features the experiences of a young British boy and his Norwegian grandmother in a world where child-hating societies of witches secretly exist in every country. The second feature-length adaptation of the novel stars Ann Hathaway, Octavia Spencer and Stanley Tucci and is directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Zemeckis, Kenya Barris and Guillermo del Toro.  It will be available for streaming on HBO Max on October 22 with a theatrical release in selected theaters on October 28.

“The Witches” is set in Norway and in the United Kingdom where the witches are ruled by the extremely vicious and powerful Grand High Witch. An unnamed seven-year-old English boy goes to live with his Norwegian grandmother after his parents are killed in a tragic car accident. The boy loves to listen to his grandmother’s stories, especially the ones about real witches.  According to her, witches are horrific creatures who are out to kill human children and tells the boy how to recognize them. The Grand High Witch has just arrived in England to organize her worst plot ever but when the grandmother, a self-professed former witch hunter, and her young grandson find out about her evil plan, they must work together to defeat the witches.