7 Movies I Watched Over "Winter Break" - All Based on Books

Wednesday, January 9, 2019


I'm not much of a movie-watcher, to be honest, but when I have the time & inclination, I can tear through a few - which is what I did during the holidays, when I took a full week off of work & just relaxed & slept &, OK, freelanced a little bit. I later realized that all the movies I'd chosen were adaptation of books, which seems very on-brand for me!


Love, Simon

I was skeptical of this film, given how much I loved the book, but in a rare turn, I think I loved them both equally. The movie was so good, so charming, so heart-warming, with the actor who plays Simon really bringing him to life - & I was surprised to love Jennifer Garner & Josh Duhamel as Simon's supportive but occasionally misguided parents.

Crazy Rich Asians

This was an audiobook I didn't finish, not because I didn't like it but because it was returned to the library before I had the chance to finish it - so I was excited to watch the film version, which I'd heard great things about. Indeed, the movie is opulent, beautiful, luxurious - & with really great acting from the cast. How great is it to see an all-Asian cast rocking the box office?!

Ready Player One

I'd heard terrible things about the film adaptation of Ernest Cline's now-classic book, but I actually really enjoyed it. Sure, the movie has changed plenty of plotlines, but given the level of CGI it required, I'm not surprised that they had to make some cuts - & frankly, I liked the film. It was probably difficult to follow for folks who haven't read the book (much like the third Harry Potter movie...), but hey - I read the book, so it worked for me!


A Simple Favor

This book is on my to-read list, but now that I've watched the film, I may not bother - not because I didn't like the film (I did!), but because the twist is blown, which might not make for as enjoyable a read. Starring Blake Lively as a high-powered businesswoman/mother who disappears without a trace, & Anna Kendrick as her neurotic vlogger best friend, it's both suspenseful and campy, one of my favorite combos.

Wonder

Ohh, this book was so lovely & so well-done & so insightful & sweet - & the movie was more of the same, although the actor who plays Augie didn't have nearly the extent of facial deformities that his character in the book did. I suppose that's understandable, but it did make the film a little bit less realistic than the book. Oh, & I loved both Daveed Diggs as Augie's schoolteacher Mandy Patinkin as the principal, Mr. Tushman, a.k.a. Mr. Tuchus - great little Jewish joke there.

Dumplin'

This was another book I really enjoyed, & the movie was no exception to its adorableness. Danielle Macdonald plays Willowdean, the happy but overweight daughter of the organizer of the local beauty pageant. When she & a few not-standard-pageant-queen-material friends decide to join the competition - just to mess it up & thus mess with her mother - Willowdean never expects the camaraderie & confidence she finds instead.

Bird Box

Hey, guys, what the actual fuck is this movie? This was so terrifying that I screamed out loud, like, seven times - & then, at the end of it, I wept. Suddenly, the world has gone crazy, with unexplained forces urging nearly everyone to commit suicide in the most horrifyingly brutal of ways. A pregnant Mallory falls in with a group of fellow survivors, interspersed with scenes of her & her two kids blindfolded on a canoe as they try to escape - to what? Holy crap, this movie.

What have you watched lately & enjoyed? Anything I ought to add to my list? 

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