Scott Pilgrim vs the World, Edgar Wright’s Perfect Adaptation Rory Steabler August 10, 2020 Analysis, By The Book, Features Ten years ago, Scott Pilgrim vs the World bombed at the box office. Director Edgar Wright had made a name for himself with his first two features: Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, a pair of gag-heavy genre...
Why Every Generation Needs its Own Little Women Alex Goldstein August 13, 2019 Analysis, By The Book, Features Every generation gets its own adaptation of Little Women, and here is ours, with its first trailer released today. But just how well has Greta Gerwig cast her adaptation compared to past...
Virginia Woolf on Film Josefine A. July 4, 2019 Analysis, By The Book, Features In 1926, when film was still a young and emerging artform, Virginia Woolf wrote the essay 'On Cinema', considering the medium with all its possibilities and limitations. In it, she is particularly outspoken on...
By the Book: The Sisters Brothers Rory Steabler April 1, 2019 Analysis, By The Book, Features Patrick deWitt’s 2011 novel The Sisters Brothers is very funny. Jacques Audiard’s new film adaptation of that novel is significantly less funny. Despite (or really, because of) this, the film is a great...
Why You Should Read Mortal Engines Before Seeing the Film Joni Blyth December 6, 2018 Analysis, By The Book, Features Let’s be real, there’s like a 50/50 chance that Mortal Engines is going to be any good, let alone do right by its source material. Fans of the book will agree that Peter Jackson, director of Lord of the...
It’s Alive! Frankenstein At The Movies Katy Moon July 4, 2018 Analysis, By The Book, Features On a dark stormy night in 1818, a teenage girl wrote one of the most influential pieces of fiction in history. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has always appealed to movie makers – what better source...
By The Book – We Need To Talk About Kevin Stephanie Watts March 13, 2018 Analysis, By The Book, Features What do you think of when you hear the name Kevin? For many, it’s Lionel Shriver’s creation of modern day demon child Kevin Khatchadourian, who commits a mass shooting at his school in the thriller novel...
By The Book – Blade Runner (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?) James Andrews October 6, 2017 Analysis, By The Book, Features Welcome to By The Book, where we compare books with their cinematic adaptations. Are they faithful and delightful partners in storytelling, or are the authors turning in their graves through these unholy...
Sad Russians: Top Five Russian Lit Adaptations Carmen Paddock April 26, 2017 Analysis, By The Book, Features By reputation, Russian literary works are giants – War and Peace and Crime and Punishment are possibly the first to spring to mind among these classics, and their troubling psychological themes, large cast...
How One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Mastered the Art of Adaptation Calum Baker April 13, 2017 Analysis, By The Book, Features Adaptations: they're never as good as the book. Lord of the Rings purists would mostly agree, and though Ang Lee and Emma Thompson did an Oscar-winning number on Sense and Sensibility, there's no way any of...
By The Book – Trainspotting Naomi Soanes January 25, 2017 Analysis, By The Book, Features Welcome to By the Book, where we compare books with their cinematic adaptations. Are they faithful and delightful partners in storytelling, or are the authors turning in their graves through these unholy...
By The Book: The Girl On The Train Stephanie Watts October 11, 2016 Analysis, By The Book, Features Welcome to By the Book, where we compare books with their cinematic adaptations. Are they faithful and delightful partners in storytelling, or are the authors turning in their graves through these unholy...
Jane Austen on Film: Clueless, Bridget Jones and Zombies Tori Brazier June 1, 2016 Behind The Curtain, By The Book, Features Ah, Jane Austen – perhaps the only British author who can boast of giving Shakespeare a run for his money in terms of both international profile and popularity. And where timeless personal quandaries and...
By The Book: The Martian Rachel Brook October 6, 2015 Analysis, By The Book, Features Welcome to By The Book, where we compare books with their cinematic adaptations. Are they faithful and delightful partners in storytelling or are the authors turning in their graves through these unholy...
By The Book: Watchmen Phil W. Bayles April 28, 2015 Analysis, By The Book, Features Welcome to By The Book, in which we take a look at cinematic adaptations of literary works. This feature is less a review of the merits and shortcomings of the films themselves, rather a study of the films as...
