by Upton Sinclair
Now on DVD
With one of cinema's great menacing portrayals, Daniel Day-Lewis plumbs the depths of human greed in Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood. Based on Upton Sinclair's unflinching epic of the crusade for oil in a hardscrabble California town, the film is uncanny, visually arresting, and complemented by an equally intense performance by Paul Dano.
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by Wendy Orr
Now in Theaters
Wendy Orr has said she penned a first draft of her delightful 1999 kids' adventure story when she was just 9 years old, about the same age as Nim, her Robinson Crusoe-like heroine. Now Nim's Island hits the big screen, with Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine)as the intrepid Nim, Jodie Foster as the agoraphobic adventure novelist Alex Rover, and 300 star Gerard Butler in a dual role.
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by Ian McEwan
Now on DVD
Keira Knightley leads a cast that includes James McAvoy, Brenda Blethyn, and Vanessa Redgrave in the film version of Ian McEwan's superb novel. A sharp, sophisticated study of morality, the story takes place in England between the wars and explores the fallout from a 13-year-old girl's confused interpretation of a tryst between her sister and a local boy.
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by Philippa Gregory
Now in Theaters
History has linked Anne Boleyn to King Henry VIII, but, as Philippa Gregory illuminates in her bestselling historical novel, it was Anne's sister, Mary, who had first won the king's favor. Scarlett Johansson plays the more sympathetic Mary to Natalie Portman's scheming, power-hungry Anne, whose fate is all too well known.
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by Cormac McCarthy
Now on DVD
A consummate chronicler of the American West, Cormac McCarthy explores the land along the Rio Grande in his novel: It's a present-day West that is as violent and lawless a landscape as it was a century ago. The film adaptation, written and directed by the Coen brothers, stars Tommy Lee Jones.
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by Khaled Hosseini
Now on DVD
Marc Forster (Finding Neverland, Stranger Than Fiction) directs the adaptation of Khaled Hosseini's poignant debut novel, which explores fathers and sons, the friendship of two Afghan boys from different social classes, the dissolution of their friendship, and its redemption.
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by Karen Joy Fowler
Now on DVD
Karen Joy Fowler's novel about the six-member, All-Jane-Austen-All-the-Time Book Club comes to the big screen this month in a film adaptation written and directed by Robin Swicord and starring Kathy Baker, Emily Blunt, and Amy Brenneman. As members put forth their idiosyncratic theories of Austen, their own stories become intertwined with those of their literary heroines.
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by Richard Matheson
Now on DVD
Richard Matheson's harrowing tale of Robert Neville (Will
Smith) shows a man who has escaped a plague that ravaged
all of his fellow humans. But they're not dead, they've just
mutated into fearsome, otherworldy beings—and they'd like
nothing better than to suck the lifeforce from Neville. During
the daylight hours, he's the hunter, but at night...
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by Dennis Lehane
Now on DVD
Ben Affleck wrote, directed, and cast his brother Casey as the lead in his film version of the detective drama by Dennis Lehane, the author of Mystic River. In Lehane's book, private detectives Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro meet head-on with Boston's criminal underworld and their own personal struggles as they search for a missing 4-year-old girl.
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by Cecilia Ahern
Available on DVD May 6
Harry Connick, Jr., and Hilary
Swank bring Cecelia Ahern's
tender, touching novel to life on the big screen. In
it, a young widow discovers a series of letters left
to her by her husband, written before his untimely death
at age 30 from cancer. His letters give her inspiration
to embrace life.
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by Ron Hansen
Now on DVD
After shooting Jesse James in the back and killing him, Robert Ford was known and reviled as the "dirty little coward." Ron Hansen's novel explores the relationship between the charismatic antihero James and the admiring yet murderously envious Ford. Brad Pitt stars as James and Casey Affleck as Ford. |
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by Jon Krakauer
Now on DVD
Was Chris McCandless a misguided adventurer whose death was a tragic mistake, or was he a thoughtful and inspired young man who sought a meaningful life? Sean Penn adapted Jon Krakauer's book about the young man who set off to live in the wilds of Alaska, and directed his film adaptation, which features a moving soundtrack by Eddie Vedder.
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by John Burnham Schwartz
Now on DVD
Director Terry George (Hotel Rwanda, Some Mother's Son) collaborated with novelist John Burnham Schwartz on writing the screenplay for Schwartz's book, which follows two families in the wake of a sudden tragedy. The stellar cast includes Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Ruffalo, Mira Sorvino, and Jennifer Connelly. |
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by Philip Pullman
Available on DVD April 29
The theatrical release of the first book in Philip Pullman's classic His Dark Materials trilogy is an event for anyone, young or old, who has been captivated by the story of the young orphan Lyra and her quest. The visually splendid film features Daniel Craig, Nicole Kidman, and Sam Elliot. |
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by Caitlin R. Kiernan, Neil Gaiman, Roger Avary
Now on DVD
Renowned science fiction author Neil Gaiman has created a striking cinematic retelling of one of the most enduring pieces of literature in the (Old) English language. Rife with magnificant battles, fearsome monsters, and sumptous mead-hall feasts, the story lends itself just as well to epic poetry as to a portrayal on the big screen. |
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by Eileen Chang
Now on DVD
Award-winning director Ang Lee follows the phenomenal success of Brokeback Mountain with an adaptation of another unique piece of litereature. Eileen Chang's story brims with intrigue and psychological tension as it follows the doomed attraction between a young Chinese woman and a powerful Japanese official during the Japanese occupation of Shanghai in the 1940s. |
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