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Can someone provide me a list of 5 or so movies that have been turned into movies that they believe were a good representation of the original story?

Hmm, a good question and open to debate but personally i thought the following five movies were very accurate portrayals of their source novel. Keep in mind though that its almost impossible for every movie to include all details of a book-time constraints are the limiting factor for a movie.

1. The Road- just as grim and oppressive as the book and stayed faithful to the big set pieces like the abandoned ship and the human farm

2. The Shawshank Redemption- not technically a book i know, more a novella but still, this movie was an almost word for word adaptation of the famous story, with Robbins and Freeman giving true Oscar worthy performances

3. Misery- brilliant and very accurate portrayal of the classic fruitcake stalker book, the ankle breaker scene was harder to watch that to read

4. The Haunting of Hill House (1963)- a movie that actually exceeded the book in terms of performance, character and scares.

5. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo/Played with Fire- im gonna lump in the first 2 movies of this series (havent seen the third one to date) as they are excellent adaptations of fantastic books, its quite tricky to include all of the characters from the books, and any associated secondary characters, in such a way as to not confuse the audience but the movies do a great job of this!

I'd agree with the above and add

Brideshead Revisited
The Reader
The Remains of the Day
An Education
House of Sand and Fog
Shutter Island

No doubt there are others I have forgotten but that's what come immediately to mind

The Green Mile
The Last of the Mohicans
Lord of the Flies
No country for old Men
Pet cemetery (I think I am the only one in the world who liked the movie adaptation )
The Constant Gardener
The Legend of Baggar Vance

The English Patient is another one

Gannon wrote:Pet cemetery (I think I am the only one in the world who liked the movie adaptation )

You're not. Awesome film. That final shot is damn near brilliant.

One flew over cucoo's nest.

Fran wrote:The English Patient is another one

Ah the English Patient, that is the book I was trying to think of when I wrote "The Constant Gardener.

Revolutionary Road
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Only ones I can think of at the moment...

Pet cemetery (I think I am the only one in the world who liked the movie adaptation )

I agree as well.

Misey, as was previously stated, as well as The Shawshank Redemption.

There was a European version of 1984 that was a pretty decent depiction of the Orwell novel.

I would have to say the Lord of the Rings trilogy was fairly well done. My father is one of the biggest LOTR fans on the planet, and he loved the movies. There was only one major change relating to the end, but it was something understandable because if Peter Jackson had not changed the ending when the Hobbits go home and find everything as it was when they left, then the movie would have lasted another hour!

The Martian! Its movie was great, the book was very funny and its one of my favorites. Its about a guy who gets stuck alone on mars after his fellow astronauts leave him when they mistakenly thought he died.

The 1995 A&E version of Pride and Prejudice is, to this day, one of my absolute favorites. The length of the movie (mini-series) lets them do complete justice to the story, and I wish that more adaptations would take this approach!

Their Eyes Were Watching God
The Host
The Hunger Games
The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe
If I Stay

braver wrote:The 1995 A&E version of Pride and Prejudice is, to this day, one of my absolute favorites. The length of the movie (mini-series) lets them do complete justice to the story, and I wish that more adaptations would take this approach!

I also liked the BBC's mini-series on War and Peace...one of the few times a movie actually encapsulates the entire story and meaning behind the book, without adding any extra 'fluff' to help sell more entries.