I’m fascinated by how different moviemakers adapt the same book to the screen. Recently, I was able to watch four versions of the same story. It’s a French novel I read many years ago in Spanish during a Costa Brava vacation: Le Salaire de la Peur (my translated version was called El Salario del Miedo), by Georges Arnaud, originally published in 1950. Comparing the 1953, 1958, 1977, and 2024 adaptations offers insights into how different filmmakers have approached the same material, reflecting their eras, styles, and societal concerns. Le Salaire de la Peur (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1953) is often hailed as
Tag: movies (Page 4 of 5)
My latest movie marathon was all about The Lost World. First I read the original novel by Conan Doyle (yes, the same guy who created Sherlock Holmes) and then watched six adaptations for the screen. At the end of the 19th century, Sir H. Rider Haggard was the king of stories about lost worlds, with books like The People of the Mist (about a lost tribe in Africa) and Heart of the World (about a lost Mayan city in Mexico). But the genre got it’s masterpiece in 1912, when Sir Arthur Conan Doyle unleashed The Lost World. Explorers venturing to
I’ve recently bingewatched the many iterations of Lost in Space. The “castaway as hero” idea is surprisingly adaptable. It has been marooned on islands, stranded on planets, and even hurled across galaxies. As a concept, it all started with one resourceful guy: Robinson Crusoe and his tale of survival that kicked off a whole genre, sparked imitators and adaptations, and eventually landed an entire family Lost in Space. In 1719, Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe hit the shelves, changing the literary world forever. Possibly inspired by the true story of Alexander Selkirk, a marooned Scottish sailor who survived alone on an
The stop animation of Ray Harryhausen has always fascinated me. That sword fight against skeletons in Jason and the Argonauts (Don Chaffey, 1963) will forever have a place in my heart. So, when I recently had the chance to watch three of his films, I didn’t hesitate. None of these are great movies, but even the worst of them has some good moments. The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (Nathan Juran, 1958) is a classic in the realm of fantasy cinema. At that point, it was a significant leap forward in visual effects, establishing itself as a milestone for stop-motion animation
How many Terminator movies can you watch in a single day? Well, if you are a geek like me and happens to be stranded at home feeling a bit sick, you can watch all of them. At the time of this writing, there are only six Terminator movies out there, so I was able to fit the whole 722 minutes (that’s a bit over twelve hours) into my totally not busy schedule for the day. The Terminator (James Cameron, 1984) started everything. A near-unstoppable cyborg assassin (Arnold Schwarzenegger), is sent from a future dominated by machines, to kill Sarah Connor
In chronological order, only one movie per director.
- Mientras Duermes (Jaume Balagueró, 2011)
- Her (Spike Jonze, 2013)
- About Time (Richard Curtis, 2013)
- Only Lovers Left Alive (Jim Jarmush, 2013)
- The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson, 2014)
- Birdman (Alejandro González Iñárritu, 2014)
- Ex Machina (Alex Garland, 2014)
- Relatos Salvajes (Damián Szifrón, 2014)
- The Hateful Eight (Quentin Tarantino, 2015)
- The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2015)
- Trumbo (Jay Roach, 2015)
- Captain Fantastic (Matt Ross, 2016)
- The Shape of Water (Guillermo del Toro, 2017)
- Marjorie Prime (Michael Almereyda, 2017)
- Get Out (Jordan Peele, 2017)
- Parasite (Bong Joon-ho, 2019)
- Dolor y Gloria (Pedro Almodóvar, 2019)
- Waiting for the Barbarians (Ciro Guerra, 2019)
- Ventajas de Viajar en Tren (Aritz Moreno, 2019)
- The Midnight Sky (George Clooney, 2020)
In chronological order, only one movie per director.
- The Lord of the Rings (Peter Jackson, 2001/2003)
- The Ring (Gore Verbinski, 2002)
- Basic (John McTiernan, 2003)
- The Dreamers (Bernardo Bertolucci, 2003)
- Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola, 2003)
- Kill Bill: Volume 1 / Volume 2 (Quentin Tarantino, 2003/2004)
- Sideways (Alexander Payne, 2004)
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, 2004)
- Crash (Paul Haggis, 2004)
- House of Flying Daggers (Zhang Yimou, 2004)
- Match Point (Woody Allen, 2005)
- A History of Violence (David Cronenberg, 2005)
- La Moustache (Emmanuel Carrère, 2005)
- Pan’s Labyrinth (Guillermo del Toro, 2006)
- Volver (Pedro Almodóvar, 2006)
- The Lives of Others (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, 2006)
- The Man from Earth (Richard Schenkman, 2007)
- Synecdoche, New York (Charlie Kaufman, 2008)
- The Time Traveler’s Wife (Robert Schwentke, 2009)
- Inception (Christopher Nolan, 2010)
In chronological order, only one movie per director.
- Silence of the Lambs (Jonathan Demme, 1991)
- Delicatessen (Marc Caro & Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 1991)
- Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994)
- The Usual Suspects (Bryan Singer, 1995)
- Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead (Gary Fleder, 1995)
- Twelve Monkeys (Terry Gilliam, 1995)
- Fargo (Joel Coen, 1996)
- Contact (Robert Zemeckis, 1997)
- A Simple Plan (Sam Raimi, 1998)
- Fight Club (David Fincher, 1999)
- The Matrix (Andy Wachowski & Larry Wachowski, 1999)
- Being John Malkovich (Spike Jonze, 1999)
- Todo sobre mi Madre (Pedro Almodóvar, 1999)
- Nueve Reinas (Fabián Bielinsky, 2000)
- Memento (Christopher Nolan, 2000)
In chronological order, only one movie per director.
- Body Heat (Lawrence Kasdan, 1981)
- The Postman Always Rings Twice (Bob Rafelson, 1981)
- Raiders of the Lost Ark (Steven Spielberg, 1981)
- Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982)
- Storia di Ordinaria Follia (Marco Ferreri, 1982)
- Amadeus (Milos Forman, 1984)
- Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (Hugh Hudson, 1984)
- The Terminator (James Cameron, 1984)
- Ran (Akira Kurosawa, 1985)
- The Decline of the American Empire (Denys Arcand, 1986)
- House of Games (David Mamet, 1987)
- Mujeres al Borde de un Ataque de Nervios (Pedro Almodóvar, 1988)
- Farewell to the King (John Milius, 1989)
- The War of the Roses (Danny DeVito, 1989)
- Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (Tom Stoppard, 1990)
- Misery (Rob Reiner, 1990)
Sometimes I get obsessed with a theme and dive into a marathon of movies and/or books about it. This week it was the famous Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. It all started because I read the book Tombstone – Wyatt Earp, the O.K. Corral, and the Vendetta Ride, by Sean McLachlan. It’s a straightforward account of the gunfight and the events leading to it and spreading from it. That got me thinking about all the movies I had seen that misrepresented the episode, so I decided to watch them again. I couldn’t find Law and Order (Edward L. Cahn, 1932)