I found midsummar to be the much more interesting of the two.

Important to underline is that neither is bad in any way.

In Hereditary, the theme is worn on its sleeve and becomes very easy to hone in on the concepts of generational trauma, which it explores beautifully.

In Midsommar, the exploration seems to be more focused on contemporary reaction to trauma and the dichotomy between a Western individualistic approach compared to the more communal approach of the cult.

The protagonist is constantly being told to basically just suck it up by the people around her until she gets to the commune, where they share in her pain as a group. The scene with all the women screaming and sharing her pain is a perfect illustration and counter to the boyfriends cold detachment.

Furthermore, I really enjoyed a movie that made the concept of joining a cult seem like the more logical choice, a genuine story point. Most movies jump right into condemning the whole cult thing, but Midsommar seems more interested in asking why people join to begin with, which I found to be very unique to a movie.

I can't remember the name of the show, but it was a medical show where it turned out it was all in the imagination of a kid (I think Saint Elsewhere was the name, but not sure).

Anyway, there were a ton of cameos on that show, which means that these shows would then also be part of this kids imagination, and the shows had other cameos making the ripple effect go so far.

I really enjoyed watching it, but to an extend (and this isn't necessarily a criticism) it seemed more like three episodes of a really really good TV show, over a singular coherent movie.

I believe in the saying: 'You can make a good movie out of anything'.

They question is less whether you can make a good movie out of something and more a question of people's personal demand/preference in terms of direct adaptations.

I think very few people would call 'The Shinning' a bad movie. Except the author himself (Steven King) who said Kubric destroyed his works themes. Having read the book I see his point, but that doesn't take away from the fact the movie is a classic.

Similarly, the Godfather as a book and the movie are kind of far from each other l, but I don't think anyone would call the Godfather bad.

Rambo First Blood is an adaptations which is miles away from the themes of its book counter part (not to mention significantly less violent)

American Psycho changed a lot from the book, and is also a great movie.

So it's not a matter of 'could it' but more a question of how faithful do you require the adaptations to be.

Lastly, a great video game adaptation of the work has been made with 'SPEC OPs the line'. So most definitely it can be done..

The scene in The Social Network where the laywer gets Zuckerberg to go on a rant about his attention is very subtle, but at the end the lawyer blinks to his clients to show that they got him, because of how easily they can manipulate him into an angry outburst.

A lot of Edgar Wrights movies are really good throughout but all just go fucking nuts at the end.