adaptation

06 Sep

Little Women Remixed: So Many Beginnings & the Potential of Adaptation

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Little Women, Louisa May Alcott’s semi-autobiographical 19th century novel about four sisters growing up in Civil War-era New England has become one of the most-adapted American classics. But few retellings have done as much with the potential of adaptation as Bethany C. Morrow’s. In novel So Many Beginnings, out on September 7th, Morrow answers a question many readers have had over the years: What if Little Women was written from the African American perspective? The answer is a rich narrative of growing up in challenging times with the promise of a better future ahead that still speaks to what generations…

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02 Sep

Cinderella Review: Amazon’s Adaptation Isn’t Afraid to Be Absurd

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Camila Cabello’s Cinderella is the most ridiculous movie of 2021, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Entering this movie, with its cast of triple (or at least double) threats, it can be easy to let assumptions get the best of you. Cabello is an extremely talented singer, so you can assume there’s going to be some tunes. Billy Porter is fabulous, so you can assume he will continue to be so as this adaptation’s incarnation of the fairy godparent. Idina Menzel, who plays the tale’s stepmother, is a goddess amongst us all, so you can assume she will continue…

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21 Apr

Shadow and Bone Review: Netflix Adaptation Brings the Magic

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This Shadow and Bone review contains no spoilers. Millions of readers worldwide love young adult fantasy fiction, but even the most wildly popular titles—Sarah J. Maas’s Throne of Glass series, Cassandra Clare’s Shadowhunters books, Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games trilogy, and many more—are generally written off as “guilty pleasure” escapism, shallow, meaningless stories for people who just aren’t ready to take real literature seriously. (Barf.) Part of this reaction likely stems from the widespread public backlash to the few young adult fantasy series to gain mainstream popularity, like the Twilight saga or the aforementioned Hunger Games. But, in truth, the…

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23 Mar

Shadow and Bone: Why Netflix Cast Its Fantasy Adaptation With Relative Unknowns

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In the film and television industry, the idea of an “unknown” is extremely relative. Just because an actor isn’t one of the Hollywood Chrises doesn’t mean a media-literate viewer hasn’t seen them before. That being said, there is a difference between Chris Evans and an actor from a Doctor Who guest spot, and Netflix’s latest series—Shadow and Bone, an adaptation of Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse books—is mostly banking on the latter. While Ben Barnes, who you will probably recognize as Logan from Westworld or Prince Caspian from The Chronicles of Narnia series, will be playing the mysterious and enigmatic General Kirigan…

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10 Feb

Why Anna and the French Kiss Should Be Netflix’s Next YA Romance Adaptation

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With the To All the Boys series set to wrap up this week, it’s time to talk about what the next big Netflix young adult romance adaptation could be—because we now know it’s not going to be The Summer I Turned Pretty. The streamer has been leaning much more heavily into the teen romance genre in recent years, which means some iconic YA romance getting screen adaptations. On that note, it’s recently come to my attention that Anna and the French Kiss, the debut novel from author Stephanie Perkins that follows an American teen to Paris for her senior year…

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04 Jan

The Watch: Why Did the Discworld Adaptation Do THAT to a Major Character?

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MAJOR SPOILER WARNING KLAXON! Do not read until watching The Watch episode 2. Also contains major spoilers for the Discworld novels Men At Arms and Night Watch. Now that the spoiler warning is out of the way: why did The Watch kill off one of its main characters, Sergeant Detritus, at the start of episode two? Sergeant Detritus the troll is one of the main characters in the Ankh-Morpork City Watch in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series. He started out as a bouncer and security guard and had a brief career in the Disc’s even briefer dalliance with moving pictures, but…

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12 Dec

How Nancy Drew Succeeds as an Adaptation Where The Hardy Boys Fails

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It is a truth universally acknowledged that every few years, a new on-screen adaptation of The Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew will arrive. Since the franchises’ first appearances on the page (1927 and 1930, respectively), we’ve all been collectively fascinated by the stories of spirited teens solving crimes that range from neighborhood theft to international espionage. But this year is perhaps the first time we’ve seen two appear so close to one another. Hulu’s 2020 The Hardy Boys adaptation is the fifth time the famous sleuthing siblings have appeared onscreen. The CW’s Nancy Drew, which is set to return for…

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02 Nov

From Russia With Love’s Game Adaptation Let Sean Connery Be James Bond One Last Time

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In his final film appearances as James Bond, the late Sean Connery reminded us all that even the world’s greatest secret agent (and the legendary actor who brought him to life) can’t elude the effects of time. While 1971’s Diamonds Are Forever and 1983’s infamous Never Say Never Again (which was not produced by Eon Productions) aren’t always remembered as the worst James Bond movies, there is something bittersweet about them. Sean Connery may have been three years younger than eventual Bond successor Roger Moore, but it’s challenging to watch his final film appearances as Bond without thinking that he…

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03 Oct

The Right Stuff: What To Expect From The Disney+ Adaptation

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Actors can feel the crushing gravity of expectations when playing real-life figures, even if they’re playing astronauts. For the cast and creatives behind The Right Stuff, shooting the TV adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s iconic novel about the Mercury 7 and birth of NASA took on added historical significance during the summer of 2019, with July 20th marking the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the moon. The series from National Geographic, which begins streaming on Disney+ on Oct. 9, shot at Universal Studios in Orlando, in close proximity to the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral. The day…

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01 Oct

Jason Blum Promises “Faithful” New Adaptation Of Stephen King’s Firestarter

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Following the news that Zac Efron had been cast in Blumhouse Films’ new adaptation of the 1980 Stephen King novel Firestarter, we had a chance to speak with Blumhouse president Jason Blum about what to expect from the latest addition to the King cinematic canon. “It’s a relatively faithful version of the book,” says Blum, who is doing press this week for the upcoming Welcome to the Blumhouse series of genre movies. “We’re going to shoot it next year. I’ve got several things going with Stephen King, and he’s the ultimate icon to those of us like you and people…

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09 Sep

Dune Trailer Arrives: First Look at New 2020 Adaptation

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One of the most eagerly-anticipated movies of 2020 — despite even the raging coronavirus pandemic — has been Dune, director Denis Villeneuve’s epic adaptation of the classic 1965 science fiction novel by Frank Herbert. We’ve seen images from Villeneuve’s film (the first of hopefully two that will encompass the entire book), but now the first official trailer has arrived and it seems almost certain that the director of Blade Runner 2049 and Arrival has created another cinematic sci-fi masterpiece. Watch it here! Herbert’s original book has influenced generations of sci-fi writers and untold numbers of films and TV shows —…

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24 Aug

Iain M. Banks’ Phlebas TV adaptation at Amazon no longer happening

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For obvious reasons, it’s been a year for disappointments and delays to much-anticipated TV and film projects. The frequency of bad news though, never makes it sting any less. Unrelated to the global coronavirus pandemic, it’s been confirmed by writer and Utopia creator Dennis Kelly that Amazon Prime’s planned television adaptation of Iain M. Banks’ The Culture novel series is no longer going ahead.  Speaking to Den of Geek about new experimental Sky Atlantic-HBO drama series The Third Day, Kelly revealed his disappointment that the Banks project, first announced in February 2018, is no longer moving forward.  “We’d talked about it for two or…

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