Jenn and Kendyl discover what the real meaning of “based on the true story” according to Hollywood and despair at the twisting of the story that In the Heart of the Sea (2015) is based on. An enjoyable film? Sure. A generally true story? Not really.
Jenn and Kendyl love The Peanuts Movie, but come to some distressing realizations about the characters. Still, the movie did a great job refreshing this iconic crew.
Jenn and Kendyl discuss the first nonfiction narrative that we’ve covered on Adaptation, Nathanial Philbrick’s In the Heart of the Sea. While sometimes confused by the many names to remember, their enjoyment is obvious in the fierceness with which they’ve become Team Whale.
Dorin and Kendyl pick apart Victor Frankenstein (2015). They hoped for something closer to the novel but got an confusing and occasionally interesting take on previous adaptations—an origin story that takes it too far.
Wrapping up this series is a true accomplishment for our hosts, having covered The Hunger Games novel on episode #6. And now they’ve made it to the final film, Mockingjay Part 2, screaming names in despair and drooling over JLaw’s performance.
Other episodes in the series:
The Hunger Games – novel and film
Catching Fire – novel and film
Mockingjay – novel and film part 1
Kendyl and Jenn are back to discuss the film Brooklyn. In some ways more satisfying than the book, they don’t have many negative things to say about this adaptation. Great chemistry, hilarious dinner scenes and beautiful visuals are all they need to give this one a thumbs up.
The hosts don’t exactly have a glowing review for Pan (2015). While they liked the visual elements, the plot just gave us another “chosen one” and changed everything that we’ve come to know about Peter Pan.
Check out our episode on Peter Pan by JM Barrie and our commentary on Peter Pan (2003).
Kendyl struggles to pronounce the Irish names in Colm Toibin’s Brooklyn, while Jenn patiently corrects her and they talk about moving away from home, memories that fade, and choosing between futures.
Kendyl and Jenn discuss the second book in the Maze Runner series, The Scorch Trials. There’s good. There’s bad. There’s nervousness about the upcoming film. And there’s more advice about surviving these books by endearing yourself to the main character.
Check out our episodes on The Maze Runner novel and film! And on The Scorch Trials film!
Our hosts think that the Paper Towns film was a fun adaptation of the John Green novel, much lighter than the book and with a few unresolved plotlines. They’ve also decided that no one is good enough for Lacey and we really need to find a story that properly deconstructs the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, preferably from her perspective.
This time around the hosts discuss the film Dark Places based on the novel by Gillian Flynn. They admire how accurate the plot was, but wonder why the characters seem to be more likable than in the book.
The Adaptation hosts were not too happy with Fantastic Four (2015). This probably doesn’t surprise you. Bad balance and pacing, no character development, and awkward moments consisting of “Hey! I noticed you look different than your familial relations! What’s that about?” all led to a movie they were really upset they spent money on.
Our hosts find a lot of tropey things in Ant-Man (2015). But despite the issues, they still enjoyed the humor and the action.
The hosts can barely get their thoughts in order after binge reading Gillian Flynn’s Dark Places. They have a lot to say about these very twisted and mostly unlikable characters, and a bit of advice for anyone that hasn’t read it yet. Pace yourself. You’re going to need time to process.
Our hosts brains are a little scrambled trying to figure out how the timeline works in the film Terminator Genisys. As a reboot it may work, but having just marathoned the first four Terminators, they are going to be a little picky.
Nicole and Jess talk Paper Towns by John Green, giving Margo more than her share of character analysis and comparing the treatment of this Manic Pixie to that of Green’s Alaska and how (un)satisfying they found the ending.
Adaptation talks Game of Thrones season 5, going over all the major storylines—cheering for some, groaning for others—and making predictions for next season!
NOTE: We do not spoil anything past where the show is, but we do talk about things that happened differently in the books, so there are some minor book spoilers.
In this week’s Adaptation, the team discusses Jurassic World (2015), and they have a lot of feelings…mostly about the park, the dinosaurs and who the real monsters are. While it might be unfair to compare this to original–and who can help themselves?–they conclude that, while enjoyable, that original wonder is lost.
Adaptation Podcast 