New Book Club Episode: Killers of the Flower Moon

Sarah and Jonah discuss the movie adaptation of David Grann's best-selling book.

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Sarah invites Jonah to discuss whether Martin Scorsese’s film adaptation of David Grann’s Killers of the Flower Moon hit the mark. (Spoiler alert: It didn’t.) Where did the movie fail and why? Why was the book a thriller and the movie a dud? In fact, can a film adaptation ever be better than the original book?

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  1. HLB

    I had to laugh to hear Jonah on the Dispatch Book Club discussing a book he hasn't read.

    Thank goodness, I am not alone. I looked so forward to the movie after loving the book and was so disappointed. The only good part was Ms. Blackstone's performance and the cinematography. (I am from Oklahoma and the Osage is that beautiful.) This story should have been a limited series on Apple and not a 3+hour movie. The book thoughtfully told the story of a complex and wide-ranging conspiracy of evil, while the movie became some sort of dark romance with caricatures. I felt it went beyond the classic "the movie is never as good as the book" to "let's see how many ways we can screw up telling this story. " Ok, enough venting.

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  2. Clowery

    Movie better than book. I thought the movie "Field of Dreams" was good (some parts fantastic), whereas the book it is based on "Shoeless Joe" is really not good at all.

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    John Will

    The Age of Innocence (Day-Lewis, Pfeiffer, Ryder) is the best movie adaption of a novel I have seen. Scorcese outdid himself on that one. Great visual development of the symbolism Wharton developed in her novel.

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  4. Salin

    Apropos Jennifer Ehle, an American, able to carry off a British accent. Her father, John Ehle, was an American writet. Her mother, Rosemary Harris, is an English actress. No wonder Jennifer could manage the accent.

    Apropos the movie, Killers . . ., our impression was that the book was dragged out at least an additional 30 minutes because Scorcese was the director. Self indulgent.

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  5. Patricia

    List of book and movie equally great must include To Kill a Mockingbird.

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  6. Kalo

    As stated below by another, Jaws and The Godfather are the only movies in the history of film that are better than the book. And the books are great.

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    1. CCA

      Forrest Gump is a better movie than book. Same with Shawshank Redemption. Great Expectations, the film, is actually an improvement on the book, by a ton. I'll put Silence of the Lambs, the film, in a dead heat with the book. No Country for Old Men makes for a better film than the book. I'll take American Psycho, the film, over the book. L.A. Confidential the film is at least as good as the book. And, for my money, The Devil Wears Prada film eats the book for breakfast.

      Oh... and I'll take Stand by Me, the film, over King's book every time.

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      1. Kalo

        Aren't familiar with the S. King books (or movies, really, not my thing) but I'll take your word for it. Didn't read Forrest Gump. I like No Country for Old Men the film a lot, but I prefer the book. Don't know American Psycho or L.A. Confidential.

        But.....by god you're right about The Devil Wear Prada! (Yes I read it on a long flight years ago). The film is better than the book! Now I have to add this third one to my list. Thanks for shaking me out of my hidebound opinions.

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        1. CCA

          Just wanted to see if I could add to your very good, but short list. Glad someone else sees the magic that is The Devil Wears Prada.

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          1. Kalo

            I can't tell you how often my wife or I will say (with accompanying hand gesture), "I'm hearing this, and I want to hear this." IYKYK

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  7. Jabobward

    1) The Godfather was a great movie because Coppala got Puzo to help with the screenplay and excise all those chapters about the bridesmaid who ends up on Vegas.
    2) Coppola also took The Outsiders and made the movie better than the book.
    3) The Big Short is a great movie, despite it's narroy constructrd causality of the housing crisis. It's about performance and dialogue.

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    Gibby

    This was a fantastic listen

    I actually think Jonah needs to reconsider his view of doing podcast like this. The episode of the remnant where they talked about dune was awesome.

    Jonah is also missing out on some thing. John podhoretz is actually cheating. The new feature of commentary recommends allows him to interrupt his cohosts and neutralize their recommendations to talk about a new pop culture recommendation every day of the freaking week.

    This is not amounting to less recommendations on the glop podcast as pod continues long presentations about obscure episodes of 20th century television history

    Jonah has an entire platform of his own where he can talk about pop-culture recommendations without having to play solitaire on his computer until pod is done talking about bewitched

    How about a dispatch pop culture review podcast with rotating members?

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  9. Alex Weiss

    Sounds like we may just need a pop culture podcast on this site…as for great movie adaptations of books. Look no further than The Princess Bride.

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  10. Ammon.Michael

    You lost me at hating Wes Anderson. Unsubscribing.

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      Dennis

      I can’t seem to get subscribed, but you have convinced me to stop trying. Anderson rules!

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