It’s extremely hard to please everyone with a book adaptation, especially if the literary source material is so rich and has a massive fanbase. It’s a near impossible task actually with so many failing miserably each and every year but isn’t it fascinating to note that in IMDB’s Top 250 movies, only 4 of the top 10 are original screenplays.

The Godfather, The Godfather Part II and The Shawshank Redemption hold the top three spots - all literary adaptations.

Here are 23 movies which EW believe were butchered by their cinematic reinvention…

1) THE GOLDEN COMPASS - haven’t seen

2) THE DA VINCI CODE - I think this gets a bad rap. It’s not a great movie but it’s exactly like the book - the same almost camp esque, ridiculous feel, the fast paced nonsense but also the easily to watch and a highly entertaining history lesson. I enjoyed the book and the film even if they were both like digesting a McDonalds. Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou though had no chemistry - Hanks was badly mis-cast.

3) FEVER PITCH - That’s the U.S. version of Nick Hornby’s memoirs. I love the book - one of my favourites actually about how obsessive mentality over your favourite sporting team of choice is something you can get so close to that it can often mean the world to you but then nothing to you at the same time. The Colin Firth late 90’s British adaptation is pretty decent if not quite the book. Never seen this version though.

4) MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA - My girlfriend loves the book and enjoys the film, though she admits it isn’t as good. Again, I haven’t seen it.

5) A SOUND OF THUNDER - I shall go one better here. I’ve never even heard of this one! Ben Kingsley apparently starred in this adaptation of the Ray Bradbury novel about a time portal which sends a group of U.S. military back into the prehistoric dinosaur age! Peter Hyams (End of Days) directed.

6) TROY - Have you seen the extended cut of Troy? It makes it that 15% better a movie and for me probably turns the tide between a fully disappointing film and a decent adaptation. Yes it was tragic they cut out the Gods, but there was a lot of good stuff in this flick - though Brad Pitt was awful here.

7) BRIDGET JONES: THE EDGE OF REASON - Not really my thing and neither was the original. Please don’t make a third!

8) VANITY FAIR - Haven’t seen it, despite Reese Witherspoon in a corset.

9) THE HUMAN STAIN - Bit of flat adaptation of a Phillip Roth novel but it was well acted - Nicole Kidman and Anthony Hopkins are solid.

10) THE CAT IN THE HAT/HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS - Double entry and they both suck. No doubt.

11) THE RULES OF ATTRACTION - I actually enjoyed this movie quite a bit. Sure it’s no American Psycho but it most definitely carries that Brett Easton Ellis self deprecating tone. It’s a good movie.

12) PLANET OF THE APES - I enjoyed some depictions of the Apes, I thought Tim Roth was incredible. That’s about all the good things I can say about this movie.

13) PROZAC NATION - Never seen it.

14) THE MUSKETEER - Another Peter Hyams movie. So bad, I actually forgot of it’s existence.

15) EYES WIDE SHUT - Love this movie!

16) BICENTENNIAL MAN - Brilliant idea for a movie - terrible execution.

17) SIMON BIRCH - Never seen it but I remember the author John Irving completely attacking this film during it’s release. Guess it’s bad then.

18) SPHERE - Part of a movement of late 90’s terrible space drama’s which included Event Horizon, Alien Resurrection and…yes… Starship Troopers.

19) THE SCARLETT LETTER - Never seen it.

20) THE BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES - Early signs that Brian De Palma was loosing his touch.

21) THE RUNNING MAN - A little harsh maybe.

22) THE COTTON CLUB - Never seen it.

(Yes there is no 23, remember there was two movies listed at 10)

I would like to add a few more. Danny Boyle’s awful adaptation of the marvellous Alex Garland novel The Beach… the adaptation of King’s Dreamcatcher was shocking (though I did enjoy the friendship depicted through it’s main leads) and the 2002 adaptation of The Time Machine - which is better left forgotten.

Care to add any more, or disagree with any of the listings above? Surely The Rules of Attraction, The Running Man and especially Eyes Wide Shut don’t deserve their place on that list?

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If Iron Man performs as well as the film is expected to over the next six weeks or so then Paramount will waste no time in pushing through a sequel, similar to how quickly they have already made plans for a Transformers 2 this June.

According to Paramount CEO Brad Grey at the Hollywood premiere of Iron Man - he said that we can expect the sequel in the same week in 2010, which would probably mean Friday April 30th as the third Narnia movie currently holds the May 7th slot.

There’s little doubt in my mind that all actors signed up to the three movie contract deal and they will all be back for a sequel with Terrence Howard’s character especially expecting some more screentime and probable character progression.

The film is in the same situation the first Spider-Man movie was in back in 2002 and Spider-Man 2 had a quick two year turn around, so I would expect the same here. It’s an easy sequel for Marvel - as would be future installments of The Incredible Hulk but I don’t think anyone expects that movie to perform as well as this.

Oh and make sure you stay after the credits for Iron Man, you will finally get to see the much talked about Samuel L. Jackson cameo as Nicky Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Or at least try to stay after the credits. I attempted it but once everyone had left BEFORE the black scroll had even started and the cinema ushers started looking at their watch and getting impatient with me, I thought it best to probably leave. But my screening was definitely the first time my local cinema had played the film, so I guess word of mouth will be out by now so you shouldn’t have any trouble.

source - /film

Directed by: Jon Favreau

Written by: Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Art Marcum, Matt Holloway

Based on the classic Marvel characters created by Stan Lee, Don Heck, Larry Lieber, Jack Kirby

Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow, Leslie Bibb, Shaun Toub, Faran Tahir, Bill Smitrovich, Clark Gregg, Jon Favreau, Stan Lee, Paul Bettany (voice)

Distributed by Paramount Pictures but the first fully financed movie from Marvel Studio’s

Film is released worldwide this week (April 30 - May 2nd 2008)… check your local cinema for exact date & time of first showings.

Review by Ray DeRousse

Comic books usually have two problems inherent in their adaptations into films: they lack a certain believability, and they require origin stories that usually bore the hell out of everyone. As action film fans, we flock like lemmings to the theater, only to witness such snooze-inducing and incredulous nonsense like The Fantastic Four, Hulk, or Catwoman. Even certain fairly successful ones like the first X-Men movie had a difficult time setting up the franchise without coming off silly.

The ones that work - Superman, and although I’m not much of a fan, Spiderman - manage a fair amount of action and human drama that creates a solid and engaging story.

And now we can add a new standard bearer to the class of greatest comic book films of all time: Iron Man.

The film chronicles a billionaire genius weapons inventor named Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), who is kidnapped during an impressive weapons display in Afghanistan. To escape his captors, he secretly builds a metal exoskeleton armed to the hilt. Once free, he dedicates his life to perfecting this suit and fighting the very militaristic evils he previously caused. Despite being aptly aided by his witty assistant Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), his greatest villain exists right under his nose in the form of his company’s CEO, Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges).

This film leaps to the head of the class simply due to its stunning cast. Robert Downey Jr. deserves every single penny he will ever make from this franchise due to his legendary transformation into Tony Stark. Slick, self-absorbed, and snarky, Stark is a character Downey was born to play, and he does not disappoint. From the opening seconds, Downey commands the screen with his effortless charm and limitless sense of comic timing.

Many fans of the comic books howled when Paltrow was cast as Pepper Potts, yet this might be the most appealing Paltrow has ever been in a film. She plays Potts as a vulnerable woman beneath a cool, confident shell, the perfect foil for Stark’s constant cockiness. The real revelation in this film - aside from Downey, of course - is Jeff Bridges as Stane. He nearly engulfs the film with his ominous presence, his voice oozing menace.

Here, for once, we have a terrific cast in service to a terrific story. The best comic book movies contain sly commentaries on the world around us. IRON MAN is no different. It touches on many important themes, such as the importance of one’s work in life, the meaning of true terrorism, and the corruption and emptiness of power and material pursuit. Stark is a middle-aged man - not some teeny-bopper - and he faces his accomplishments with a maturity that is sorely lacking from films of this sort. His retreat from his former lifestyle forms the dramatic heart of this film, causing us to root for this lost man’s redemption.

His redemption, however, does not come easily. Blown up, sewn together, tortured, half-dead, and beaten to a pulp, Stark finds himself in the middle of several stunning and ball-busting action sequences. One thing is for certain - this film will rev you up. Accompanied by AC/DC and Iron Maiden rocking over the soundtrack, Iron Man destroys everything in his path. Particularly impressive is a mid-movie rescue of families in Afghanistan who are being tortured by terrorists. Director Jon Favreau keeps the action steady, easily dissected, and humorous.

Beyond all of the glorious action sequences, special effects, and brilliant character work, this film has a lot of heart. Running gags and cute, snappy wordplay keep audiences engaged. And if that’s not enough, the film is also loaded to the very brim with hot cars, impressive gadgetry, and gorgeous women. This might be the most masculine superhero movie ever made, and it is a welcome sight at the multiplex.

I cannot say enough about this flick. If not for the original Superman or X-Men 2, I might easily put this at the very top of my favorite comic book films. As it stands, it’s a toss up. I loved this damn movie!!!

Babylon A.D, the upcoming dystopian sci-fi thriller is a project that Vin Diesel is said to have much faith in and despite the warning signs to us after it was delayed from February to August… it’s still very much a movie on my radar. Particularly because it’s based on an absolutely classic French novel from Maurice G. Dantec.

With a similar kind of imagery as Children of Men - Vin Diesel plays mercenary Thoorop who escorts a woman (Melanie Thierry) from Russia to China but it’s not going to be as easy as it sounds because said woman is an organism that a cult wants to harvest and produce a genetically modified Messiah..

SEE IT HD HERE 

Sadly the trailer starts off promising but then jumps into a quick fire cross cutting making it out to be another Vin Diesel action movie. Shame really because much like The Rock - unless they actually give the guy a chance of doing this type of thing as an actor first - then an action star - he will never be quite as interesting in your movie as he could be.

Could you imagine True Lies if Arnie didn’t get the opportunity for some dramatic scenes?

Michelle Yeoh and Gerard Depardieu co-star. Talented visual helmer Mathieu Kassovitz (Gothika, La Haine) directs and it’s due out August 29th.

source- /film

Joe Dante’s classic 80’s creature feature comedy/horror Gremlins has recently become kind of “the unofficial OWF Film” in recent weeks. If you have been reading the great reviews Michael Edwards has been conducting for us recently you will know why.

So I could hardly pass up this new advert as our next Daily Vid (it’s still daily - we are writing off yesterday as if it never happened after our terrible server trouble).

It’s great when a company goes fully into remaking something classic like this and doing it in such a faithful manner. That’s Peter Jones by the way if you can’t tell, from Dragon’s Den (hence the title) who actually pulls off some good acting impressions in this commercial for U.K. network provider BT.

Crazy as it sounds, it’s often publicity generated from stunts like this that get movie execs talking about resurrecting franchises for future films. MMM, I just wonder…

DAILY VID - A brand new feature where we showcase one video I have found cool, humorous, insightful, interesting or all of the above!

If you have any suggestions for the feature then e-mail us directly at editor @ obsessedwithfilm.com (remove the spaces).

Comedian Demetri Martin is in final talks for the starring role in Ang Lee’s next movie Taking Woodstock - a film based on Elliot Tiber’s memoir as the in-the-closet gay guy working at this parents motel who inadvertently sets the wheels in motion for the generation-defining concert of 1969.

I can’t say I know the guy but a lot of pages come up when I type his name in Google, so he must be someone famous. Maybe he hasn’t made the transition to the U.K.

Taking Woodstock will be Martin’s first leading role, though he will have a small role in two comedies next year The Rocker and The Post Grad Survival Guide.

source - variety

Maggie Gyllenhaal is starting to make a career out of replacing actresses’. We already know that she swooped in to replace Katie Holmes in The Dark Knight for the boring role of Rachel Dawes and Variety report today that she has done it again with Sam Mendes’ upcoming and still untitled comedy.

She will replace Toni Collette (who dropped out for scheduling clashes) as the College Prof. who has a history with lead John Krasinski. The comedy revolves around a road trip between Krasinski and his new wife played by Maya Rudolph, who are searching the U.S. for a place to settle and start a family.

Gyllenhaal will begin filming her part next week.

Mendes next movie and his fourth completely different genre in as many films - Revolutionary Road which reunites Titanic pair Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet for the first time since that ship  a decade ago, will be released at Christmas.