Steve tries to offer Brian a little insight on where The Walking Dead might be headed, and uncovers Brian’s greatest phobia: reading!
|
Brian Hates Spoilers!11 comments to Brian Hates Spoilers! |
 
Follow this blog
|
|
Copyright © 2012 The Film Cynics - All Rights Reserved 
|
||
its not reading. I read good. Its spoilers that get my goat. I don’t like to know anything about what I am about to watch. Now leave me alone.
Does that impact on your ability to watch movies about the second World War, or biopics about people like Johnny Cash?
Hey, does that actually affect the way you pick what documentaries to watch?
I agree with Brian on some accounts, but I would argue that a great book to film adaptation isn’t ruined by having knowledge of the story beforehand. I don’t think that holds for mediocre adaptations, as their flaws by comparison to the book become highlighted. Which of course makes bad adaptations seem downright awful.
Due to my timing I saw Harry Potter films 1 – 6 before reading the books and the latest 7 Pt. 1 after, and I can say I don’t think my experience is altered that much either way. I still enjoy the films for what they are, and I like the ways in which they’re similar, but different.
Brian’s got that unique philosophy of considering the film to be the original work – the movie version of such and such film being more valuable to him that the written version of it. I just figure having the source material under your belt heads off any of the “what the hell was that all about?” questions, and ultimately helps fill out the experience. I’d prefer to do it right the first time, especially considering that if there were things in the book that would have enhanced my experience, I won’t be checking out the book because my experience wasn’t enhanced. I also like having a clearer picture of the “why” behind the things that the characters are doing.
Confession: I totally liked the novelization of Total Recall by Piers Anthony way better than the movie.
I kinda understand what Brian is coming from. When I watch a movie and read the book, I would be happy with book. There was a time when Running With Scissors would a great read. It was twisted, darkly comic and then that sanitized version came out. It ruined the expierence for me.
I had the opposite expierence with The DaVinci Code. It was so literal that it was boring.
I saw Sideways the movie and read the book. It made me pissed at the movie for taking so many liberties with it. I blame Alexander Payne and Tim Taylor for that.
Is it better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all? Is it better to have read and been disappointed than to never have read at all? I get the whole holding off the spoilers thing, but I’ve enjoyed getting more emotionally invested in what I’m watching by doing a little digging on what I’m getting into. Besides, it’s not like I’m spending my time reading “word books” I’m spending most of my reading time on graphic novels like Scott Pilgrim, Kick-Ass and The Walking Dead. And every single one of them helped set the mood for my viewing experience without an excessive amount of spoiling (although that’s mostly due to the liberties taken by the folks who adapted the story into a script).
I remember you talking about Sideways before – how it departed too much from the book. The movie still comes off as very cerebral and unorthodox compared to most “big movies”, I can only imagine how much of a think piece the book was. I’m curious to hear about what people thought of the adaptation of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo…
I read the book of Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. The beginning of the book is very slow like the movie, but there was subtle nuances that I didn’t pick up on with the movie. I understand that certain characters and storylines have to be cut, but I thought too much was cut out with Lisbeth’s character is concerned.
And I didn’t read the books at all and I still found Lisbeth to be a totally fascinating character – probably related to some of the gaps left in her character, those mysterious elements. Wait… Did you just get me to see things from Brian’s point of view? Branden, you sly fox!
Steve, that was not my intention at all.
Well then I’d say you have a natural gift for conflict resolution. Perhaps you should ply your trade between the Coke and Pepsi wars, or negotiate a reconciliation between Ewan Macgregor and Danny Boyle, vis a vis a Trainspotting sequel.
[...] endless movie reviews. This new feature was inspired by a spirited discussion with the guys from The Film Cynics where Brian made a point about not reading the source material before or after seeing a movie. I [...]