And by the same token, there are movies that just get it right when it comes to their subject matter. Even if they aren't word for word representations of the story they are attached to, they still manage to capture what was essential about work to complement it.
I am reminded of a moment in time where I actually burned myself. I was looking up the movie version of Ulysses again recently and there was a user review of it, and reading the title, I thought what idiot wrote that it was the best they could have done with the material. I was that idiot 7 years earlier. That is a unique moment. But I digress.
Now personally in my worst category I have to say that The Postman was perhaps the greatest cinematic disappointment I've seen... but Kevin Costner was involved, so I shouldn't have had high expectations. It wasn't David Brin's best book(I think Glory Season holds that title), but it was a good yarn and a well-thought out tale. It saddens me to think that David Brin claimed to be happy with the bloated, overly produced results. Total Recall is another movie adaptation that really missed the point of the simple Philip K. Dick tale "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale".
On the flipside, I was impressed by The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, even though it wasn't 100% accurate to the books, it did seem to really capture the spirit of Douglas Adams and his sense of whimsy and it is my hope that if they ever do make a Discworld novel into a movie, that they at least try to accomplish that. Gettysburg, an adaptation of Michael Shaara's The Killer Angels is also particularly noteworthy in my mind.
Now my burning question is: What are the best and worst literary adaptations you've seen?
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