So I guess you're the opposite of me when it comes to reading books first or seeing the movie first. A while back I purposely read The Da Vinci Code a month or so before the movie came out just because I knew I wouldn't be able to enjoy the book once I saw the movie. Ironically I refuse to see the movie after reading the book so this whole point doesn't really prove anything. Although there was still a small inkling of me that wanted to see the movie still, but once I saw Tom Hanks' hair in the trailers I was a hundred percent sure I wasn't going to watch it.

What I'm trying to say is when I read the book it helps me decide if the movie is worth seeing. If I see the movie first, it's impossible for me to read the book no matter how good the movie was.

I wish it were the other way around.

I was half asleep when I made that post; I feel inclined to elaborate. I'd usually prefer to read the book first, but if I absolutely love the film, I manage my way through the book in record time.

It's a complicated issue for me, this. It'd take a while for me to get my opinions into some sort of argument, but I think that it's important, in order to get the best out of both texts, to concentrate just as much on form than on subject matter. A lot of book-to-film adaptations allow the original text to serve the entire purpose for the second version, so what follows is a story-heavy film. Of course, because films aren't marketable once they're past a certain length, and because adaptations are more often than not financial cash-ins, a lot of adaptations are deemed inadequate because they're not detailed enough, because of time, because of the irrationality of an image compared to a sentence for telling a story. I think a lot of the people in the film industry are under the illusion that an adaptation is like an upgrade - "the Cinema is superior to the Novel", which is of course absurd. On the flip side, of course, you get people who hold a rather snobbish view that film adaptations are somehow ethically or artistically dubious, or wrong. Not so (though a lot result in awful films).

I actually think Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a very good adaptation, without having read the novel. Why? Because it makes use of the cinematic uniqueness of the medium. Just like the novel is (from what excerpts I've read) a writer's novel, the adaptation is a filmmaker's film. I don't necessarily like it as a film, but that's not taking away from the fact that it's made the most of the medium's technologies available, and made it its own.

Does The Da Vinci Code do that? Not really. Fear and Loathing is directed by Terry Gilliam, who is more than capable of taking an original text into different and unique realms. The Da Vinci Code is a bit silly, really, in the hands of Ron Howard, a by-the-numbers, conventional filmmaker who, it seems, took the popularity of the book and transformed its structure to form the basis of the film.

Film adaptations which I think are worthy of being made (to name a few): The Godfather, The French Connection, The Magus, The French Lieutenant's Woman. And praising the adaptations is not to say I dislike the originals, or even to say they "needed" adapting.

Forgive my incohesion. Like I said, it's a complicated issue for me.

And to elaborate somewhat further:

I see what you mean, but that's not to take away from the pleasure gained from appreciating how it's written. Literature, to me, is the "foregrounding of language" (as written in Jonathan Cutter's A Short Introduction to Literature). And so our primary engagement with a work of Literature should be in the use of language to evoke, construct or enhance meaning. Cinema exists, before anything else, via the image to inform meaning; and, since 1927, sound as well.

Supposedly the movie Choke was played at the Sundance film festival, but according to IMDB is scheduled to be released in theaters August 28th. Is that normal for Sundance movies to be released so much later?

I can't wait any longer for this movie.

One on my favorite writers. Have read them all and just finished Haunted. Good book but I read Survior first out of them all and like that one the best.

And for Choke, I've seen the trailer for it and it looks awesomoe. I cant wait for it either.

I haven't read Haunted. I think Survivor is my second favorite so far after Choke.

I didn't realize there was a trailer for Choke! I'm going to try and find it right now.

I had no idea Choke was being made into a movie! Awesome.

And I think The Great Shark Hunt has some pretty good stuff in it by HST.

Opps, I lied. Not really a trailer but it shows some clips.

http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/interview_and_footage_from_choke

Has anyone seen the movie Choke yet? It very quietly came out a couple of weeks ago and I haven't had a chance to watch it. I will probably have to wait for the DVD. I can't imagine it is anywhere near the quality of Fight Club but I still want to see it.

Longneck's partial review of the book Rant reminded me of this thread.

I watched the movie Choke about a week ago, which recently came out on DVD, and I have to say it is one of the worst book-to-movie adaptations I've ever seen. Aside from the horrible editing and overall filmmaking, the adaptation focused on the sex addiction part of the book and missed out completely on some of the true comical gems, including the ending. What a complete failure. I don't know what Chuck Palahniuk thinks about the movie, but if I were him I would be embarrassed to be associated with this piece of crap movie.

Choke is still one of my favorite novels I've ever read, but stay away from the movie.

Rant might be Chuck Palahniuk's most fucked up book.

It starts out seemingly normal but the more you read the weirder it gets.

I just finished it today.

I want to read Haunted and Snuff next.

I haven't read either of those, so let me know if you like them!

Snuff looked pretty interesting at the book store, but it might be awhile before I get around to it.

Which of his novels have you read so far?

Fight Club, Choke, some of Invisible Monsters, Rant.

Yeah, RANT was fucked-up, but in a good way, that is jarring you from the usual shit, especially the usual "shocking fucked-up" works that usually aren't...well, all that fucked up.

I dare someone to adapt that and INVISIBLE MONSTERS. That latter would be a terrific road trip from hell movie.