A Couple Of Reasons Why, 'The Book Is Always Better Than The Movie'

[caption id="attachment_1803" align="aligncenter" width="407"] Game Of Thrones... This may be a TV Show based on a novel... but trust me when I say that the rule still applies![/caption]

I was talking with a buddy of mine recently about, 'Game Of Thrones' in both the book and TV series... And I got to telling him basically about the fact that, 'The book is almost always better than the movie...' (Before I go on, I should say that this metaphor is applicable to TV as well,) either way I really got to thinking... Well why is that? And this is what I could come up with:

1. In movies oft times filmmakers tend to take creative liberties with the the casting for a specific role, (an example is that in the original novel, 'Psycho' which was written by, 'Robert Bloch', Norman Bates is a bald pudgy guy... In the movie he was played by Anthony Perkins (Edge Of Sanity) who as it turns out was a tall skinny guy with a full head of hair... Another example of this is that in the original novel, 'The Stand' by: Stephen King, one of the prominent characters by the name of, 'Harold Lauder' is a fat pimply faced kid that is infatuated with, 'Franne Goldsmith', in the movie, 'Harold Lauder' is played by: Corin Nemic (Sand Sharks), who is thin... (although in the movie he is still pimply faced...)

2. Another thing is the time frame that most filmmakers have to work with in regards to the story... What I mean by this is  that most novels tend to take place over days, months, or even years (although in, 'Gerald's Game' the story is a detailed example of a women who is held after a particularly rough sexual event kills her husband, while she is handcuffed to the bed...) And so I got to imagine that, that has to be at least one of the reasons why they take certain creative liberties with the story line... A great example of this is the movie, Queen Of The Damned (2002)....

[caption id="attachment_1804" align="aligncenter" width="450"] Queen Of The Damned... A great movie, but an even better book![/caption]

Now Queen Of The Damned, took other creative liberties between the movie and the book (considering the fact that this movie is based on the book, 'Queen Of the Damned' and, 'The Vampire Lestat'), but the book itself takes place over centuries, and so while they heavily accented certain elements of the present day as seen from the original novels, they seemed to primarily focus on, 'Lestat' and how he became introduced to, 'Enkil' and, 'Akasha'...

All of that is good, the problem is, is if they had done it right, that particular movie would never have had to gloss over a lot of the rich tapestry that Anne Rice painted in the books for what would have been considered to be the present... And I think that because of the timeline for trying to fit 2 particularly meaty books in to an 1:40 minute movie was just plainly impossible!

And then last but certainly not least, there is another reason that I think that the book is better then the movie... And that is when certain movies try to take artistic liberties with the big screen adaption that they are trying to do... I mean Hollywood was a little bit more like that in the 90s and beyond but it is still happening all of the time! Now I don't mean taking artistic liberties with a novel to make the story fit in to a 2 hour movie...

No I am talking about when they just start cutting out, or adding in elements to the movie that had never been part of the original novel!

I found that when this is done, not only does it change the vision of what the author had originally intended, but I also have found that when I have later started reading the novel, that the way the author had written the novel the way it had originally been intended was actually better!

In the end, I am not saying that all big screen adaptions suck, as a matter of fact, I have that I have really liked a lot of them... But in the end, what I mentioned above is: 'A Couple Of Reasons Why, 'The Book Is Always Better Than The Movie'!

http://youtu.be/y9klJA1JMbM

http://youtu.be/qsMp2pZK-Cw

http://youtu.be/2Gu9HtN05sc

Sand Sharks (2011) - Movie Review

[caption id="attachment_330" align="alignright" width="220"] Official Score = 2 1/2 Devils[/caption]

Have you ever seen a movie that was so bad that it was good, and then begin to wonder if that had been the intention of the crew that produced said movie? I have… and you want to know what? If you have the right group of decent and crummy actors, a totally ridiculous plot that is both far-fetched but fun, and great special effects, then you got a truly amazing ‘As they say’ B-Movie!

And that is what Sand Sharks (2012) truly is!

Written by: Cameron Larson (Xtinction: Predator X), Joe Benkis (Grizzly Flats) and Directed by: Mark Atkins (Princess Of Mars). Starring: Corrin Nemic (The Stand), Brooke Hogan (Brooke Knows Best), Veronica Lee Evigan (Holiday In Handcuffs), Eric Scott Woods (Jonah Hex), Edgar Allan Poe (Cape Fear), Robert Pike Daniel (Half-Caste), Delpaneaux Wills (Dark Tower), Jack Kennedy (The Last Vital), and Andrea Pineda (Guns, Girls And Gambling).

Now what I mean by the above, is that you take a group of actors and actresses, and then you throw them in a movie that could be said to be based on Tremors (1990), and Jaws (1975), and you throw in some pretty mediocre, but still better then to be expected special effects and you got some real gold… And that is pretty much what this movie is all about!

You see this movie tells the story of Jimmy Green (Nemec) whom after arriving back on the island that he grew up on, to start a festival that will catapult him to the financial top, a scourge comes to that small island!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Jimmy Green (Corin Nemec) with his assistant, is about to regret trying to produce a show on his home Island![/caption]

What is this scourge? Well it is, a Shark that can swim in the sand! Now at first no one believes it, (I mean Sharks don’t swim in the sand), but as the death toll begins to mount, a group of people finally end up accidentally taking out this menace when it kills its final victim, it ends up getting electrocuted to death!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="620"] These are some unhappy party goers[/caption]

Now with the Shark dead, the show can go on… and Jimmy throws the bash of the century! But is that the last this small community will ever hear from these dreaded Sand Sharks? Or is it just a blood bath waiting to happen?

Ultimately this movie is so awesomely bad, and such a close remake to Jaws (1975), that this movie has its own version of Jaws’ Sheriff Brody, Hooper and even Captain Quint!

Another thing that I thought that I would mention (and this one is a rare treat when you get to see it,) but sometimes in B Movies, the B Actors or Actresses who are either the children of A list talent (as is the case with Renee Estevez (Sleepaway Camp 2: Unhappy Campers) who is an amazing B Movie starlet, and daughter of legendary actor Martin Sheen (Firestarter),) or the B Movie Actor or Actress who is the sibling of an A list actor (as is the case with Sylvester Stallone’s B Movie brother, ‘Frank’) come together to do something truly spectacularly cheesy! (as is the case with Brooke Hogan (Hulk Hogan’s daughter), and Vanessa Lee Evigan (Greg Evigan’s daughter) who both star in this movie together!

In the end though I am going to be honest and say that if you’re looking for more than just a pretty amusingly, ‘B’ Horror movie spoof, then this movie is probably not the movie for you, but if you like B Movies, and are not expecting anything more than pure cheesy brilliance , then you might like this one!

http://youtu.be/6TShf6gp7N4