Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Movies (For Their Great Stories)

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. The feature was created because The Broke and Bookish are particularly fond of lists (as are we!). Each week a new Top Ten list topic is given and bloggers can participate.

 Today’s Topic: Top Ten Favorite Movies (For their Great Stories)

Ricki

Confession: I hate movies. I never start a movie with my husband without a book by my side (in case I get bored). I rarely go to the movie theater because I feel trapped.

1. The Thing Called Love

This is the one movie I could watch over and over again. The story is beautiful. It stars River Phoenix and Sandra Bullock, to name a few greats. 🙂

2. Crazy Stupid Love

With a great cast, this movie really shines. I couldn’t stop talking about it after I saw it!

3. 50 First Dates

There is something beautiful about the combination of Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler.

4. In Love and War

I loved seeing this movie, which was based on Hemingway’s time during the war. I am not certain how accurate it is, but either way, I really enjoyed it.

5. Three Great Book-to-Movie Adaptions (But Read the Book Instead)
The Help
The Fault in our Stars
I am Legend

Of course, while the books were better, I was please with these three movie adaptions.

Kellee

I had a tough time with this list as there are as many wonderfully written movies out there as books, but I did the best I could!

1. Pixar Movies

I am cheating with this one, but all of their movies are brilliant. From the original, Toy Story, to their shorts that are shown at the beginning of each Pixar movie, they are all so well done.

2. Memento

This is a story about a man that has anterograde amnesia which means he cannot make any new memories after the event that caused his amnesia. He is trying to avenge for a tragedy in his past. It is so amazing how the story is told in flashbacks and snippets.

3. Usual Suspects

Um, Kevin Spacey is awesome, right?! And the end?! Wow. Still amazes me. If you haven’t seen this, do it now.

4. American History X

This movie has a story that I wish was a book so I could read it. It is about prejudice and regret and pain and family. It is a tough, tough movie.

5. Four Book-to-Movie Adaptations
Bridget Jones’s Diary
Shawshank Redemption
Clueless
10 Things I Hate About You

My favorite book-to-movie adaptation is probably Bridget Jones’s Diary. I adore this movie (and the book. Read the book.) I also loved The Shawshank Redemption based off of Stephen King’s short story Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption from his short story collection Different Seasons (a superb short story collection. Includes the short stories that were adapted into the movies Apt Pupil and Stand By Me.)
But for my other two best book-to-movie adaptations I went a different route.  My two favorite adaptations are modernized adaptations of classics which I admit I have not read: Clueless (Emma) and 10 Things I Hat About You (Taming of the Shrew), but these two movies are two of my favorites ever.
(By the way: I agree with Ricki about The Fault in our Stars. It was a phenomenal adaptation, and I adored that book and read it 6 times.)

What other movies have great stories? Please share!

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