Books and movies of books.

I watched H2G2 the movie over the weekend. I was excited to see it and the begining started verbatem from the book.. then it started to skim a bit.. then it went way off... I knew the movie was different from the book.. and overall it didnt do a bad job.. they didnt so much change the story and change the order that it was told in... I guess it I cant be objective on this one, because it was much different... Overall I was not thrilled with it. On one point in particular I was disapointed that they did not explain the towels. This is one of the great bits in the book.. and a favorite part of the culture.. but it was skipped... was that to appease the geeks (inside joke) or just skipped for time?
I was surprised that the movie only covered the first book, I expected it to cover the first 2.. but I guess that leave it open for a sequel.. the movie ended as the book did with a teaser about The Resturant At The End Of The Universe.

I also watched Gorky Park (movie) this weekend. This was better done, but deviated from the book in minor ways... In the end Pribluda is killed, yet in the book he lives and becomes important to Arkady in the time spand between Gorky Park and Polar Star. There are a few other points I was unsure of.. but it has been SOO long since I read the book.. and I cant seem to find my copy of it now.. I will have to look further for it!