DVD Movie Reviews

By Dan

Over the years, Hollywood has taken much of its inspiration from the world of books. In fact, without the literary world, we wouldn’t have had film classics like The Godfather, The Shining, One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Trainspotting or Jurassic Park. Hey, it beats them rehashing TV shows from the ‘70s – Welcome Back Kotter: The Movie anyone? But there are still many written works out there yet to be tapped.

Here are the six that I think need – yes, need - to make it onto the silver screen (and you might get an idea about my book collection too).


Snow Crash

This seminal sci-fi book by Neal Stephenson might actually be my favourite book of all time – it’s a rare year that I don’t read it at least once. And while it’s a book that will make you think, it’s also incredibly cinematic – there are big action scenes (taking on an aircraft carrier with a mini-gun; glass tipped spears being thrown about; too many sword fights to count), scenes set in a 3D cyberworld, an alternate world where countries have turned into franchises, the Mafia as pizza kings, a lead character (and sword fighting badass) called Hiro Protagonist, an adversary (and all-round badass) called Raven who’s wired into a nuclear bomb. Yes, this has it all. OK, the frequent excursions into the history of ancient Sumerian language (trust me, it all makes sense) might slow the story down, but to me it’s just a bit of breathing room.


The Diamond Age

Yes, I’m an unashamed Neal Stephenson fan, and The Diamond Age is just as good as Snow Crash; in fact it explores similar yet vastly different territories. Set in the near future, the world has split into different tribes, split across racial, religious and even economic lines. The long, sprawling book focuses on a tribeless orphan girl named Nell and her illegal ownership of a new type of interactive book. Meanwhile, the developer of the book, Hackworth, has made his own illegal copy of the book for his daughter, a crime that sees him involved in a power struggle between tribes. Back in 2007 it was announced that it would be adapted into a six-hour miniseries; that has never eventuated (despite having George Clooney on the production side of things), but maybe it’s time to make it happen.

Mogworld

If you’re a hardcore gamer, you’ve no doubt heard of the webseries Zero Punctuation, in which fast-talking game critic Yahtzee Croshaw offers his (usually negative) opinion on the latest games. But, did you know that he’s also a novelist – and not a bad one either. Mogworld is set in an online fantasy world, in which Jim (a failed wizard) is wrenched from blissful death back into life by a power-mad necromancer. Once he’s back amongst the living, he reluctantly embarks on a quest to get back to his previous dead state. This is a pretty darn funny novel, which will feel comfortably familiar to any fan of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series. Yeah, it would make a rather bizarre, yet undoubtedly hilarious film.


Good Omens

Speaking of Terry Pratchett, here he teams up with Neil Gaiman (writer of American Gods and The Sandman comic book series), which is a pairing sure to make any sci-fi fan’s head explode with glee. In this we follow the angel Aziraphale and the demon Crowley – who despite being on opposite sides of the good/evil divide, have over their many years on Earth become fast friends. But when the Antichrist is born, they try to find him to prevent the war between Heaven and Hell beginning. Only problem is – the boy they think is the Antichrist, actually isn’t (there was a mix-up in the hospital). Pratchett’s work has been lavishly adapted for UK TV a number of times, while Gaiman’s Stardust and Coraline have both made it to the big screen; it’s time for this fiercely funny joint project to make the leap.


Have a Nice Day!: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks

Hey, do you like pro wrestling? Nope? Maybe Have a Nice Day will change your mind. One of the first wrestler biographies (doubly notable for a: actually being a true autobiography, and b: still being one of the best, even 13 years since its release), this follows the life of 3-time WWE champion (and surprisingly loveable dude) Mick Foley, as he moves up from his early days on the independent circuit, through to Japan, WCW, ECW and finally the WWE. For someone known for being an ultra-violent “deathmatch” pioneer, it is surprising how much he remembers, and how compelling a writer he is. Anyway, this would be perfect as an unconventional bio-pic (although I have no idea who would play him – maybe fellow hairy dude Zach Galifianakis?)

Ice Station

And finally we come to Australian author Matthew Reilly, and the first in his “Scarecrow” series, Ice Station. Now, I quite like Reilly’s books, despite them not being technically very good. If fact, all of his books read like they’re designed to become a film some time – there’s not much character development, but there is a lot of action scenes. Big action scenes – involving soldiers; double crossing soldiers; more guns than some nations’ armies; and one mega-hero character in Shane “Scarecrow” Schofield – a man seemingly more impossible to kill than Superman. Yes, this isn’t a book to stretch your brain, but put it on the big screen and you know that it’ll keep you entertained.