90 Best Movies based on Books Movies to Watch On Itunes (Page 5)

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, 2023

It’s always tricky translating literature to screen. In Shortcomings’ case, it struggles to make its Berkeley and New York settings appear more lived-in than just a few postcard-like frames. You could also tell that the conversations it stirs up about things like representation and mixed-race relationships began in the early aughts, when the novel it was adapted from was first released. But those lapses are small and forgivable in the face of a lovely ensemble cast and a whipsmart script. It also takes a special kind of skill to make a character as fiercely unlikeable as Ben (Min) watchable, to hold up a mirror to the audience and make them stay. Thankfully, it's a skill that Tomine and first-time director Randall Park display with such grace. Ben, Alice (Sherry Cola), and Miko (Ally Maki) are flawed and often pathetic, but they’re also honest reflections of who we become when the demands of self-preservation and romantic openness clash. It’s a little unnerving to hear them verbalize what we've always feared about ourselves, but it’s also exhilarating, not to mention comforting, knowing that we're not alone in feeling this way. Shortcomings works because it doesn't confine itself to genre: it's a character study first, and a romantic comedy second.
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Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance

Actor: Adam Enright, Adrian Tomine, Ally Maki, Boran Anh, Debby Ryan, George Deihl Jr., Jacob Batalon, Jess Nahikian, Justin H. Min, Melanie J. Newby, Mike Cabellon, Nikhaar Kishnani, Randall Park, Ronny Chieng, Scott Seiss, Sheldon Best, Sherry Cola, Sonoya Mizuno, Stephanie Hsu, Tavi Gevinson, Theo Iyer, Timothy Simons

Director: Randall Park

Rating: R

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, 2002

Lee Holloway (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is compassionate and diminutive, but her social awkwardness hinders her as she attempts to navigate young adulthood. After recently being hospitalized for self-harm, Lee is determined to prove she is capable of autonomously taking care of herself. She begins working as a secretary for E. Edward Grey (James Spader), a meticulous attorney.

It’s not long before both Lee and Edward realize they’re attracted to one another’s opposite natures: Lee’s obedience and Edward’s dominance. They begin a mutually consensual BDSM relationship, with both experiencing a sexual and emotional awakening. 

The premise may sound familiar: 50 Shades of Grey is widely acknowledged as, at the very least, owing its title to Secretary. But while 50 Shades of Grey portrays an unhealthy, toxic, and superficial idea of a BDSM affair, Secretary maintains that consent must be at the core of any relationship. And ultimately for Lee and Edward, BDSM becomes a way for them to communicate and overcome their individual pain, and unite stronger as a vulnerable, loving whole.

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Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance

Actor: Alison Tatlock, Amy Locane, Christina Gray, David Wiater, Diane McGee, Erin Cressida Wilson, Ezra Buzzington, Herbert Russell, James Spader, Jeremy Davies, Jessica Tuck, Julene Renee, Kyle Colerider-Krugh, Lacey Kohl, Lauren Cohn, Lesley Ann Warren, Lily Knight, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Mary Joy, Michael Mantell, Osgood Perkins, Oz Perkins, Patrick Bauchau, Sabrina Grdevich, Shannon Convery, Stephen McHattie, Steven Fierberg, Steven Shainberg

Director: Steven Shainberg

Rating: R

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, 2015

Far From the Madding Crowd is a classic tale, but in terms of story, it has the familiar thread of a lady having to choose between multiple swoon-worthy suitors, which is a common story of many lengthy, overly melodramatic period dramas. However, with the restrained direction of Thomas Vinterberg, and the writing of David Nicholls, known best for his decades sprawling romance in One Day, the fifth film adaptation captures the magic of the classic countryside novel, elevating the old-fashioned romance with an easier, faster flow, and carried by the powerful performance of its cast. Fans of the novel or the 1967 adaptation might feel disappointed at how much was removed, but overall, Far From the Madding Crowd is an exemplary drama adaptation.
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Genre: Drama, Romance

Actor: Bradley Hall, Carey Mulligan, David Golt, Dorian Lough, Eloise Oliver, Harry Peacock, Hilton McRae, Jessica Barden, Jody Halse, Jon Gunn, Juno Temple, Mark Wingett, Matthias Schoenaerts, Michael Sheen, Richard Dixon, Sam Phillips, Stuart Davidson, Thomas Arnold, Tilly Vosburgh, Tom Sturridge, Victor McGuire

Director: Thomas Vinterberg

Rating: PG-13

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, 2017

When German forces occupy Paris in 1942, a close-knit Jewish family tearfully sends their two youngest sons, Jo and Maurice, to escape the city on foot, with promises that they will all eventually be reunited in the Free Zone in the South. Told from the perspective of Jo – and based on the 1973 memoir of Joseph Joffo – what follows is a story of adventure, discovery, loss, love and the resilience of family bonds. A tapestry of cherished memories woven together with traumatic ones, the tone shifts again and again as Jo and his brother reach the bright shores of Nice––before they are driven to hiding again. Above all else, this is a story about the power of a family’s love, and of children who rise against the odds by their own courage and tenacity.

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Genre: Drama, War

Actor: Émile Berling, Batyste Fleuria, Batyste Fleurial, Bernard Campan, César Domboy, Candide Sanchez, César Domboy, Christian Clavier, Coline Leclère, Dorian Le Clech, Elsa Zylberstein, Émile Berling, Eric Bougnon, Etienne Chicot, Fred Epaud, Frédéric Epaud, Holger Daemgen, Ilian Bergala, Jocelyne Desverchère, Joël Dupuch, Kev Adams, Luc Palun, Lucas Prisor, Patrick Bruel, Pierre Kiwitt, Vincent Nemeth

Director: Christian Duguay

Rating: Not Rated

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, 2004

Best friends Miles and Jack are off to wine country to celebrate Jack's last week of freedom before he gets married. They drop white lies about themselves, with Miles pretending to be a successful writer and Jack not mentioning his impending wedding, and soon meet two beautiful women whom they spend the rest of their stay with. What sounds like a dreamy bachelor's celebration, however, soon unravels into a messy tangle of tall tales. Miles and Jack contemplate their situation in smart, sad, and silly turns, delivering excellent performances and an overall hard-hitting road movie. 

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Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance

Actor: Alex Kalognomos, Alysia Reiner, Cesar Ramos, Jessica Hecht, Joe Marinelli, Lee Brooks, M.C. Gainey, Marylouise Burke, Mikael Sharafyan, Missy Doty, Patrick Gallagher, Paul Giamatti, Peter Dennis, Phil Reeves, Robert Covarrubias, Sandra Oh, Shake Tukhmanyan, Shaun Duke, Stephanie Faracy, Thomas Haden Church, Toni Howard, Virginia Madsen

Director: Alexander Payne

Rating: R

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, 2007

During wartime, war supersedes everything, including love. Wartime would have people ending relationships, forgoing potential dates, and seducing enemies to lead them to downfall, all in order to win, but sometimes, this rarely goes as planned. Lust, Caution is one such story, with the novella’s emotional repression making it a great match for director Ang Lee, main actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai as Japanese informant, and main actress Tang Wei, who made her breakthrough here. It’s not an easy watch. There are moments that falter and the film is a tad too long. But the smoldering stares shared by the two leads, with the lush production design and the beautiful direction, makes Lust, Caution a difficult contemplation of love and sexuality as Wang’s, and the nation’s, double-edged sword.
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Genre: Action, Drama, Romance, Thriller

Actor: Akiko Takeshita, Anupam Kher, Cheng Yu-Lai, Chih-ying Chu, Chin Ka-lok, Chung Hua Tou, Hayato Fujiki, He Saifei, Jacqueline Zhu Zhi-Ying, Joan Chen, Johnson Yuen, Johnson Yuen Tak-Cheung, Kar Lok Chin, Ko Yu-Luen, Lawrence Ko, Lawrence Ko Yu-Luen, Lee Hom Wang, Leehom Wang, Lisa Lu, Liu Jie, Saifei He, Song Ruhui, Tang Wei, Tony Chiu-Wai Leung, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Tou Chung-Hua, Tou Tsung-Hua, Ven Kao, Vince Kao, Wang Lin, Wei Tang, Yan Su, Ying-hsien Kao

Director: Ang Lee

Rating: NC-17

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, 2018

Directed by the award-winning Swedish filmmaker Bjorn Runge and adapted by Jane Anderson from Meg Wolitzer's 2003 novel, The Wife has enjoyed great acclaim since premiering at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival. The film follows the growing tension between acclaimed author Joseph Castleman and his wife Joan, who works as his secret ghostwriter, as Joseph is set to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. The direction is clean and careful with Glenn Close giving possibly one of the finest performances of her career as the supportive then increasingly resentful Joan. Emotional and funny at times, The Wife is a profound character exploration, celebrating womanhood and liberation.

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Genre: Drama

Actor: Alix Wilton Regan, Anna Azcárate, Annie Starke, Björn Runge, Björn Runge, Carolin Stoltz, Christian Slater, Elizabeth McGovern, Glenn Close, Grainne Keenan, Harry Lloyd, Jan Mybrand, Jane Garioni, Johan Widerberg, John Moraitis, Jonathan Pryce, Karin Franz Körlof, Mattias Nordkvist, Max Irons, Michael Benz, Morgane Polanski, Nick Fletcher, Ossian Skarsgård, Peter Forbes, Richard Cordery, Suzanne Bertish

Director: Björn Runge

Rating: R

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, 1988

The only Kundera film adaptation frankly hasn’t disproven that the source novel is unfilmable, but The Unbearable Lightness of Being is a pretty decent attempt. While Kundera’s meditations aren’t tackled in full depth, director Philip Kaufman manages to retain enough of the novel’s images to rein in the unwieldy plot, such as Sabina with the mirror, Tereza’s nightmare of naked women, their photography around Sabina’s studio and the black-and-white moment of Prague Spring, where editor Walter Murch adeptly inserts Tereza and Tomas within the historical footage. These images, along with the excellent cast, keep the wistful feeling that haunts Kundera’s novel.
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Genre: Drama, Romance

Actor: Anne Lonnberg, Bruce Myers, Clovis Cornillac, Consuelo De Haviland, Daniel Day-Lewis, Daniel Olbrychski, Derek de Lint, Donald Moffat, Erland Josephson, Jacques Ciron, Juliette Binoche, László Szabó, Lena Olin, Leon Lissek, Pascale Kalensky, Pavel Landovský, Pavel Slabý, Stellan Skarsgård, Tomasz Borkowy, Vladimír Valenta

Director: Philip Kaufman

Rating: R

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, 2008

The Reader is a German-American drama from 2008, based on the best-selling novel by author Bernhard Schlink. The storyline begins with adult Michael (Ralph Fiennes) reminiscing about his adolescence in post-World War II Berlin and his fateful relationship with an older woman named Hannah (Kate Winslet). 15-year old Michael is beset by Scarlet Fever and helped off the street one day by Hannah. Taken into her care, they soon begin a passionate affair, quickly forsaking family and friends for every opportunity to ensconce themselves in a world of lust and desire. As their time together progresses, Hannah begins urging Michael to read to her daily—to which he draws from many classic novels and delights in their rich interchange. Hannah suddenly disappears from Michael’s life, however, only reappearing several years later when young law student Michael is stunned to find her facing a World War II war-crimes tribunal. Tied to a real-life series of trials against former Auschwitz employees, The Reader is a strikingly original and exceptionally well-made film that is recommended to those who appreciate sophisticated, emotionally mannered cinema.
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Genre: Drama, Romance

Actor: Alexandra Maria Lara, Benjamin Trinks, Bruno Ganz, Burghart Klaussner, Carmen-Maja Antoni, David Kross, Fabian Busch, Florian Bartholomäi, Hannah Herzsprung, Heike Hanold-Lynch, Jeanette Hain, Jürgen Tarrach, Karoline Herfurth, Kate Winslet, Kirsten Block, Lena Olin, Linda Bassett, Ludwig Blochberger, Margarita Broich, Marie Gruber, Martin Brambach, Matthias Habich, Moritz Grove, Ralph Fiennes, Susanne Lothar, Sylvester Groth, Vijessna Ferkic, Volker Bruch

Director: Stephen Daldry

Rating: R

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, 2002

Being released just a year after 9/11, we weren’t expecting The Quiet American to be critical about America’s intervention in the Vietnam War– the original novel was criticized by the country in its initial release, and the previous 1958 film adaptation revamped the entire story for an anti-communist message. Still, while the film could have expanded on Phuong’s perspective, The Quiet American is well made and surprisingly faithful to the book– willing to delve into author Graham Greene’s cautionary tale on exceptionalism and acknowledging how his prediction has happened in reality, all easily understood through the simple, yet effective metaphor of a love triangle.
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Genre: Drama, Romance, Thriller, War

Actor: Brendan Fraser, Do Thi Hai Yen, Ferdinand Hoang, George Mangos, Holmes Osborne, Jeff Truman, Kevin Tran, Mathias Mlekuz, Michael Caine, Rade Serbedzija, Robert Stanton, Tzi Ma

Director: Phillip Noyce

Rating: R

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, 1987

When depicting a novel, book adaptations on film, especially earlier on in the medium, tend to be quite lengthy. The film version of Pelle the Conqueror does have this quality, and the storylines that aren’t directly connected to Pelle and Lasse do feel randomly stitched in. But, when this epic film focuses on Pelle and Lasse– their struggles immigrating to another country, dealing with harassment from the Danish majority, and the rare moments of joy once they finally figure things out– it shines. The legendary Max von Sydow and Pelle Hvenegaard (who was one of the many boys named after the title character) share a tender father-son dynamic that easily stirs one’s heart, and it’s all beautifully captured within Denmark’s lovely countryside. Pelle the Conqueror may only adapt the first of four volumes of the iconic Danish novel, but it does compassionately capture the struggles of the country’s impoverished immigrants.
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Genre: Drama

Actor: Astrid Villaume, Axel Strøbye, Bjorn Granath, Buster Larsen, Erik Paaske, John Wittig, Kristina Törnqvist, Lars Simonsen, Lena-Pia Bernhardsson, Max von Sydow, Nis Bank-Mikkelsen, Pelle Hvenegaard, Sofie Gråbøl, Thure Lindhardt, Troels Asmussen, Troels Munk

Director: Bille August

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, 2014

Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker, The Town, Arrival) plays Gary Webb, a journalist in investigating the American government’s possible involvement in cocaine trafficking in Latin America. Based on a true story, it’s in the same vein as other recent movies on investigative journalism. Jeremy Renner’s performance is the main reason to watch this movie. Even as the story spins into deeper levels of complexity, he remains a coherent, steady point of reference. It was his chance to prove to directors that he can carry a big-budget movie and he nailed it.

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Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller

Actor: Andy Garcia, Barry Pepper, Dan Futterman, David Alessi, David de Vries, David Lee Garver, Gil Bellows, Jen Harper, Jena Sims, Jeremy Renner, Joshua Close, Lucas Hedges, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Matt Lintz, Matthew Lintz, Michael Cuesta, Michael Kenneth Williams, Michael Sheen, Nancy Davis Reagan, Nancy Reagan, Oliver Platt, Paz Vega, Ray Liotta, Rhoda Griffis, Richard Schiff, Robert Patrick, Robert Pralgo, Rosemarie DeWitt, Shaira Barton, Steve Coulter, Susan Walters, Tim Blake Nelson, Yul Vazquez

Director: Michael Cuesta

Rating: R

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, 2003

Though it paints in overly broad strokes and takes a while to get going, this tale of broken people finding each other eventually reaches an irresistibly feel-good conclusion. Like many good sports movies, Seabiscuit isn't really dependent on the final outcome of a matchup between underdog and high-profile contender. What becomes important, then, is the perseverance of a handful of individuals in doing something just to prove they can beat the odds. And while there aren't actually as many racing sequences in Seabiscuit as you might be led to believe, they're well worth the wait—punctuating the drama with sharp editing and beautiful, period-specific production design.

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Genre: Drama, Family, History

Actor: Annie Corley, Cameron Bowen, Camillia Sanes, Carl M. Craig, Chris Cooper, Dan Daily, Danny Strong, David Doty, David McCullough, Dyllan Christopher, Ed Lauter, Eddie Jones, Elizabeth Banks, Gary L. Stevens, Gary McGurk, Gary Ross, Gary Stevens, Gianni Russo, Hans Howes, James Keane, Jeff Bridges, John Walcutt, Ken Magee, Kevin Mangold, Kingston DuCoeur, Mariah Bess, Matt Miller, Michael Angarano, Michael B. Silver, Michael Ensign, Michael O'Neill, Michelle Arthur, Noah Luke, Pat Skipper, Paul Vincent O'Connor, Peter Jason, Richard Reeves, Robin Bissell, Royce D. Applegate, Sam Bottoms, Shay Duffin, Tobey Maguire, Valerie Mahaffey, William H. Macy

Director: Gary Ross

Rating: PG-13

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, 2019

The 1980s were not a great time to be of Pakistani descent in the UK. Hate crimes are at an all-time high and the economy is suffering. Plus, there is really no good era to be a misunderstood teenager. Javed is both those things in this coming-of-age comedy based on a true story. Javed finds solace in the music of one Bruce Springsteen, relating to his themes of small-city blues and the dreams of escaping them.

All of this makes Blinded By The Light a charming movie about a lot of unpleasantness, and while it tries to be too many things (a commentary on race, a musical, a coming of age story, etc), it succeeds where it matters: to treat the story with care and intelligence.

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Genre: Comedy, Drama

Actor: Aaron Phagura, Asheq Akhtar, Billy Barratt, David Hayman, Dean-Charles Chapman, Frankie Fox, Hayley Atwell, James Ballanger, Jeff Mirza, Kriss Dosanjh, Kulvinder Ghir, Kumiko Chadha Berges, Lorraine Ashbourne, Marcus Brigstocke, Meera Ganatra, Nell Williams, Nikita Mehta, Olivia Poulet, Rob Brydon, Robert Ryan, Ronak Chadha Berges, Ronak Singh Chadha Berges, Sally Phillips, Sofia Abbasi, Tara Divina, Vincent Andriano, Viveik Kalra

Director: Gurinder Chadha

Rating: PG-13

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, 1987

While marked as a comedy, Zegen isn’t the kind of film that would make you laugh freely– it is, after all, a film that mocks the real-life sex trafficking of impoverished Japanese women during both world wars. This makes it a challenging film to watch, especially to viewers outside the country. But to Shohei Imamura’s credit, the butt of the joke isn’t on the women being sold, but rather, on the titular pimp Iheiji Muraoka, the delusions and lies he told himself and others, and the twisted nationalism he uses to exploit his ladies. Zegen is based on Muraoka’s supposedly true autobiography, but Imamura uses the text to mirror the follies (and consequences) of imperialism.
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Genre: Comedy, History

Actor: Hiroyuki Konishi, Ken Ogata, Ko Chun-Hsiung, Mitsuko Baisho, Norihei Miki, Sanshô Shinsui, Shino Ikenami, Taiji Tonoyama, Tetta Sugimoto

Director: Shōhei Imamura

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