Hmmm, hard to say. I'm usually kind of bad with film, I consider it a great visual medium but not so hot for actual telling of fiction - which is generally only an issue when books are made into films, they lose so much. When it starts off as a screenplay though it can work out better.
I'm a fan of epic failures that ended up being totally awesome in their own regard though! By failure here, I mean failure to do what the book did in any meaningful way, and often a complete departure from the book.
A Clockwork Orange - so messed up and weird, probably the closest to actually getting the book right out of my list. This one might not actually be that far off the book, it's been a long time since I read it or saw it.
Blade Runner - total cult classic, the story itself was a little bland and seemed way way too short, could have been twice as long, but the cinematography was killer, music killer, acting was perfectly bizarre. I haven't read the book this was based on yet, but my understanding is that this isn't really a film adaptation of it so much as a film inspired by it.
Dune - Ha surprise! No really this is a surprise, unlike the two above that actually did pretty good job with their stories, this one was a complete disaster on pretty much all fronts except for the visuals. As a fan of Dune, the novel, I hated this movie, but as a fan of the totally weird and beautiful - I loved it! One of the weirdest movies ever for sure. And the overall mood of the film was perfect, that's one thing they did very well other than just the visuals I guess. It's much better if you haven't read the book though.
