From Page to Screen
Hollywood studios are putting out their “prestige” films this time of year, in anticipation of award nominations and big holiday box office receipts. As always, the quality films are often adaptations of quality books. I saw the film version of Dennis Lehane’s “Gone, Baby, Gone” this past weekend, and the movie was great and made me eager to read Lehane’s other books featuring private eye Patrick Kenzie. The preview for the film version of Cormac McCarthy’s “No Country for Old Men” was tantalizing---starring Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem and Josh Brolin, directed/produced by the Coen brothers. Bardem also stars in big screen version of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's “Love in the Time of Cholera,” the current choice for Oprah’s Book Club. I love Ian McEwan’s novels and am eagerly awaiting the movie of “Atonement,” starring James McAvoy and Keira Knightley. “Beowulf” is getting the CGI animation treatment---it looks, um, interesting. I really enjoyed “Charlie Wilson’s War” by George Crile, and the preview for the film version looks terrific---Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Philip Seymour Hoffman. Hope it's not another "Bonfire of the Vanities!"