Based on the Book

Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Shutter Island, Green Zone, The Road, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Playing the Enemy; sometimes it seems as if there are no writers in Hollywood, as if all we ever see are remakes or adaptations, particularly movies based on books. I'll admit that I've been fairly critical of Hollywood's effort so far, some might even say I've been a hidebound curmudgeon about the subject.

But I've had a change of heart. Recently I was shelving yet another stack of the Sherlock Holmes: the Complete Novel and Stories when I realized that this renewed interest in the Great Detective must be -- at least partly -- due to the new Sherlock Holmes film and that whatever I think of the movie, more people reading the original is a capital development! I still think most movies fall far short of the book, but the quality of the movie is beside the point. Be it misinterpreted, over-simplified, cheapened, or commercialized, it's all so much free advertising.

So, Hollywood, keep providing us with multimillion-dollar commercials. And gentle viewer, next time you leave a movie thinking, "well it wasn't all bad," or even , "wow, that was great! I wish I could get more of that", stop by your friendly neighborhood bookstore, there's a decent chance it was a book first.

(I'm still morally outraged over the Dante's Inferno video game, though.)