A while back hubby and I wanted to do a movie night. We rented The Waterhorse to watch with kiddo, and There Will Be Blood to watch after kiddo went to bed.
The Waterhorse was a lovely movie. Kiddo loved it because of the sea monster being so cool and even more because it's set during WWII. He has a big fascination with that time period since my grandpa fought in that war. Hubby and I both enjoyed it, and plan on buying it at some point. All in all, a good movie pick. And lo and behold, it's based on an adorable children's book! Must read that one with kiddo.
Then hubby and I watched There Will Be Blood. Ugh. It was awful! Completely boring. Very
strange. Not sure what else so say about it except "Ugh." About 1/2 way through, I looked over at hubby and asked if he was into it. His response? "Um, it's ok ..." I was ready to go to bed after an hour; I didn't care at all what happened in the rest of the movie. Hubby convinced me to stay up and watch it, but really only to keep him company. Then all of a sudden it ended. We both looked at the tv and said "No, that CAN'T be the end, can it?" Then we both burst into laughter at the fact that we had just wasted 2.5 hours of our lives that we'd never get back ... but hey, it only cost $1.00 from RedBox!We lounged and laughed on the couch trying to figure out why this movie was nominated for so many awards while the credits rolled by, until something I saw caught my eye. "Wait! Stop the movie! I think I just saw something!" So we backed up the DVD and sure enough, there it was ... "based on the novel "Oil!" by Upton Sinclair". NOW I understand why someone would actually make this movie - it was based on a famous author's book!
I'm familiar with Sinclair's The Jungle but I've never read Oil! so I did a bit of research. This website give an excellent summary of the novel. And guess what? It is NOTHING like the movie. In fact, if you read a summary of the movie and a summary of the novel you would never guess they were based on the same material.
The book sounds fascinating and I'm definitely adding it to my TBR list. But the movie was awful - just plain awful.
Has anyone else seen There Will Be Blood? Do you agree/disagree with me? Are there other movies that are just awful compared with the book? I'll give you one right now: Dune - loved the book, hated the movie. Also, what are your thoughts on The Waterhorse? Liked/didn't like?
20 comments:
I haven't seen/read any of them (which is weird since I love books and movies) so I got nuttin' for you! Sorry!
However, I am interested in seeing The Water Horse. I'll have to check that one out!
I too haven't seen either or read either of those, had never even heard of "there will be blood"! But I gather that The Water Horse is a good film - will have to get that one out at some point!
It is wierd though that some films are just NOTHING like the books at all, you'd think that they at least have something in common!!
Haven't seen either of these, but I would like to see The Water Horse. I was on the fence about There Will Be Blood, this puts me firmly in the NO camp. :)
Books and movies...hmmm. Is it bad that I tend not to watch movies based on books? I'm more of a mindless action movie kind of gal!
I have The Water Horse in my Netflix queue so I will get back to you with an opinion once I have had a chance to watch it.
I am blanking on movies based on books but I am looking forward to The Road, which will star Viggo Mortensen. The book read like a movie so I can easily see it adapted for the big screen.
I hated the Other Boleyn Girl in comparison with the book.
I haven't seen or read either of these, but I heard the Waterhorse was really different from the book as well?
Haven't seen either of these movies, but I'll just put out there that *almost* all Steven King movies don't hold a candle to his books. There are a few exceptions, of course - I really liked Stand By Me.
Perhaps it has to do with your imagination being much worse than anything the film makers can present to you..? Who knows. All I know is that I laughed through a few of the movies that were supposed to be "scary" :)
I haven't seen either of these, but you are the second person this week who told me how much they hated "There Will Be Blood".
As far as books and movies, I do agree that most of the time the book is better than the movie.
Thanks for playing along!
i haven't seen either of them, but after reading what you said about waterhorse it looks like a good pick. I like movies based around WWII as well... and my grandpa fought in that war too
and i got your comment on mine too... i actually agree with you about the movie not being as good as the book... and that there were a lot of very underdeveloped parts in there. i was really disappointed that they left out the bathtub part... but with all that said, I still liked the movie. I think that if i hadn't read the book it would have just been "another movie" but it filled in some visual that I like to have when I read a good book :)
I really enjoyed 'There Will Be Blood.' It's definitely different then regular blockbusters, but I thought the score, performances and cinematography were beautiful.
Hi Blake! - All I can say is that must be the different between your standard movie goer (me) and your film critic (you) and film-award-giver. I'll admit the the score was lovely, and part of the filming was beautifully done, but I need more than that in a movie.
I do appreciate your comment though - I'm glad SOMEONE like this movie ... it IS Daniel Day Lewis after all.
I'll admit I'm completely biased when it comes to 'There Will Be Blood.' The score was composed by Johnny Greenwood, the lead guitarist of Radiohead (which happens to be my favorite band ever), and the director holds a special place in my heart after watching two of his earlier films, 'Punch Drunk Love,' and 'Magnolia.' So, I'm probably not the best critic for this film!
My kids have been asking to see The Waterhorse, but want assurances that it doesn't die at the end of the movie. Can you let us know if we can get attached to the waterhorse? Thanks! :-)
My kiddos and I really enjoyed The Water Horse. Although I did have to do a lot of explaining for them since a lot of it was over their heads (the oldest is about to turn 7). But it was good.
I didn't see There Will Be Blood. On purpose. But Hubby went with a friend and they both enjoyed it. But my hubby is weird like that.
Great reviews! Thanks!
I thought the same thing when I saw "There Will be Blood"!!!! When it was over, I was like ~ that was it?!? Seriously, the people who pick movies for awards, I think they are paid - bribery, I tell ya!
Well, I totally agree with you about Dune! In fact I almost never like the movie if I've already read the book. There are a few exceptions, but they are very rare.
I took my kids to see The Water Horse in the movie theater. It was okay, but not good enough to merit the amount of money we paid to see it. The kids liked it, though.
I was actually expecting There Will Be Blood to be worse than it was. I thought the music was very distracting, really creepy. I usually tend not to like oscar winning movies so it makes sense this was one of them.
Me again. Darla, you have a green light on getting attached to the Water Horse... no devasting loss of the Water Horse. lol. =0)
Did I give away too much??
No, absolutely not! I appreciate the info. They are sensitive about that sort of thing - can't think who they get that from! (says the woman who has yet to recover from Old Yeller, The Yearling, The Red Pony, etc.). Oh, and don't even talk to me about Bambi's mother! :-p
I saw There Will Be Blood and thought the same thing about the ending, but there were parts of it I did like. But I don't think not enough to make up for the ending. My wife refused to watch it with me, and based on your review, she'd probably have the same reaction.
There Will Be Blood definitely isn't a movie for everyone. I happen to fall into the camp of someone who really liked it. I was a bit taken aback by the ending and giggled a little, wondering if that was it. The more I pondered over the movie, the more I've grown to like it. I loved the music and the cinematography. And I loved the characterizations. It wasn't so much a plot-oriented movie as it was a character study, I thought.
It seems to be one of those movies that people either love or hate with a few in between.
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