TV & Film Remakes -- rant here!

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Gambit37
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TV & Film Remakes -- rant here!

Post by Gambit37 »

Oh dear, they've remade V:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZLiNa4KzsY

What a bloody awful trailer, it gives away the entire plot and the twist. #fail.
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Re: TV & Film Remakes -- rant here!

Post by Gambit37 »

Sweet baby jeebers, 55 movie remakes in the works!

http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/166239/ ... works.html

Why don't they remake the stuff that was crap, instead of destroying the good stuff?
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Post by Christopher »

Why don't they remake the stuff that was crap, instead of destroying the good stuff?
Well Dune is in there somewhere so they are remaking at least one crappy movie.
As long as poeple have access to the original movie in some format, the "good stuff" can't be destroyed, even by the likes of Lucas or Spielberg. Once in a blue moon, an arguably good remake comes around. I can understand where you're coming from, though. The U.S. can't possibly improve on such movies as Battle Royale or Let the Right One In, and it does make me cringe at the thought of Hollywood trying to do so. What I would like to see is some foreign countries remake some American films (with the exception of Turkey).
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Post by Jan »

Christopher wrote:(with the exception of Turkey)
:shock:
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Post by Christopher »

IOWs, I'm familiar with many American inspired Turkish movies like Star Wars and E.T. I'm not going to look up their actual titles.
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Post by Sophia »

The most (in)famous one is "The man who will save the world," or something like that, which was much more than 'inspired', considering it ripped off bits of Star Wars wholesale. It's terrible, and not even in a good way.
Christopher wrote:The U.S. can't possibly improve on such movies as Battle Royale
Eh, I don't know. I didn't like it much. A smaller cast of more developed characters would've worked better, and to go a bit more ridiculous and over the top since the movie is that way anyway. (Grindhouse style)

Whatever "genre" you'd call this, I personally liked "The Running Man" more. :P
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Post by Roquen »

Gambit37 wrote:Why don't they remake the stuff that was crap, instead of destroying the good stuff?
From a quick glance, doesn't a high percentage of these qualify as crap? There's a few that I really enjoyed, but nothing I'll cry about if trashed.

Besides remakes are sometime better than the original (or different enough). For me: "The Departed" was much better than "Infernal Affairs". The remake of "Assault on Precinct 13" was different and (maybe more) fun. The U.S. version of "Funny Games" was better than the original. "The Hidden Fortress" begot "Star Wars" begot "Willow" ... enjoyed them all. I liked the first movie incarnation of "Charlie's Angels". "Yojimbo" vs. "A Fist full of Dollars" "The Magnificent Seven" vs. "The Seven Samurai" .. close calls. O.K. I go for the Kurasawa on both....humm Think I have Kurasawa on the brain.
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Re: TV & Film Remakes -- rant here!

Post by Gambit37 »

Well, remaking crap or remaking good stuff isn't really my point, I should have been clearer.

There is a lot of excellent material out there that has NEVER had a TV or movie adaptation, yet studios insist on remakes over original works. Why? Because it's safer; if the original was reasonably successful, it almost guarantees a worthwhile investment in a remake.

I'm intrigued by remakes from a technical viewpoint, especially when SFX are involved. New CGI can make some of the old stuff much more believable, but some of the charm of older films comes from how they were made using contemporary techniques.

Take for example Clash of the Titans, which is being remade for release next year. The original in 1981 used Harryhausen's amazing stop motion Medusa. Maybe I'm simply being nostalgic, but I think that stuff still stands up today -- though the skeletons in Argonauts were probably better.

Or look at The Day of the Triffids. As a child, I was terrified by the BBCs TV version in the early 80s. They are showing it again on BBC 4 currently, and it's kind of silly now, though there is still some effective threat imposed by the 10 foot tall rubber plants. It's also being remade with CGI -- lord knows what they will do with it; if the terror aspect isn't maintained effectively, no amount of CGI will make up for that.

Anyway, the point is that TV and Films are all about story telling. Both the above examples have already been made into moving pictures. Why not take other literary works and make them into films, instead of remaking stuff that's already been done. Or, here's a thought, do something completely original. Look at that list again and some of the classics being remade:

The Thing (you can't top that, why bother -- though to be fair it was remake of a 50s B movie!)
Karate Kid, Footloose, Poltergeist, Short Circuit -- all brilliant films of their time that simply don't need a remake
As for classics -- well, you simply don't touch The Birds, Barbarella or Brighton Rock. 'Nuff said. :-)

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Re: TV & Film Remakes -- rant here!

Post by Trantor »

You already saíd it Gambit - remakes are cheaper. I used to despise the idea of remaking classic films, but I have adopted a feeling of mild curiosity in the meantime. I'd say you can't deny that Carpenter's The Thing is a really good movie, and different enough from the original to hold its own. This is an exception, though, as I consider most remakes to be inferior. But as you said, it's always interesting to see new effects put to use, especially in Sci-Fi movies. For example, I am very interested in the remake of Forbidden Planet, one of my all-time favourites (and possibly the only movie that gave me nightmares as a kid!). Remaking a classic film has at least one advantage: it raises interest in the original again, which can only be a good thing, especially for the younger people among us.

I should mention that I consider book adaptations to be something different. Bringing classic literature to the big screen every few decades is always interesting, and these films shouldn't be considered "remakes", but rather different takes on established material - unless the movie is so much better than the book that the latter is - and should be - forgotten (I'm looking at you, Jaws!). Doing a new Frankenstein every 20 years is fine by me, though - and we all know that nobody can ever top Boris Karloff anyway. :P
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Re: TV & Film Remakes -- rant here!

Post by beowuuf »

Actually, someone did point out one reason to remake, where a film's reach exceeded it's grasp: whether by lesser actors or older technology/filming techniques. In this case, a remake could be forgive. You could argue the point with the Thing about seeing cooler technology. I think the John Carpenter version's effects still hold up nicely personally!

As Trant say another reason to remake can also be where the original is an adaptation of other source material. in this case, it the remake stays or more or less true to the source material, ignoring the previous film, this might also be interesting. For example, are we really saying Casino Royale did not need remade? :)
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Post by Giradius »

They are remaking Blakes 7! (for those who dont know, its a 70s british sci-fi series)

The new series of Doctor Who is terrible, lots of people like it, but i cant stand it, I thought the TV movie was bad, but its a masterpeice compared to the new series.

It seems to me that remakes feel the need to half the ages of the original characters, maybe its a cynical attempt to pull in younger viewers I dont know.

I have heard they remaking Hellraiser as well, the reason for which escapes me, because the effects of the original are still pretty good.
Some horror films get dated quite quickly, but Hellraiser has aged well, on the plus side Clive Barker is supposed to be on board so hopefully he will stop too many liberties being taken.

As for that V remake trailer, I am not at all sure about that!
Morena Baccarin looks like she will be the Diana character from the original series, and she looks like she is doing it quite well, but it looks a bit cheesy to me.
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Re: TV & Film Remakes -- rant here!

Post by cowsmanaut »

my two cents..

Romancing The Stone (the visuals are still up to par no need for CGI and the interaction between characters still meets with todays ideals.. so why remake?)

Conan (come on.. seriously.. you can't do this without arnold.. he would not be conan otherwise.. I'm sure they are kicking in something from the books in order to make it new.. because that's the ONLY way to do anything with CONAN that can work :P)

Akira (live action?? why??)

The Karate Kid (gotta be a black kid now because what.. no one will believe in a poor little itallian kid anymore.. WTF?)

Clash of the titans (ok, was great at the time, but I was a little kid, and seriously watching it now.. it falls flat despite the nice stopmotion. Action, direction, acting could all be improved and let's hope story get's a bit of a boost too.. it has not stood the test of time.)

footloose.. (ok.. forget it dudes.. it's not remake material.. it's do over material. That's not to say the first one was bad.. it wasn't. It's just that it was more about that actress and the plight of her character.. if you try to follow the first one it's a fail, and if you do it new, it's not footloose.. )

Red Dawn (again, can't improve upon it. The movie still chills you and aside from date references there is no need for update)

short circuit. (top notch robotics to be what.. replaced with CGI? please excuse me while I go vomit. )

The thing (again.. top notch VFX and still super scary.. they're going to throw in some CGI.. why not just do a starwars retouch thing to them.. that might work if they spent enough time with it)

The birds (still freaky, and it was great because of how it was done, hitchcock intentionally refused to show things to make it more scary.. now they are going to throw in CGI and make it into a hunk of obtuse crap..)

Poltergeist (still works.. again, CGI won't make this better.. and adding in crappy actors will only make it worse, and good actors will make it the same as it was so why bother)

childs play.. (couldn't be any better or worse.. stupid idea to begin with.. )

Rocky horror picture show (this is a cult film.. you can't redo these and succeed.. I don't know why they are trying.. they obviously missed why it's still loved and watched EVERY halloween... they are doomed to fail)

Flash Gordon (ok, doing scifi with cardboard and wooden sets and such just doesn't hold up to todays standard so I can understand this one.. it's old enough to remake and it's VFX were bad enough to be worth a redo.. )

jetsons (live action.. hello.. flintstones.. it sucked and it had star power.. why the f..ereknd;lfkadhpihefaeg GAHHHHHHHHH!!! let's destroy a classic with stupidity)

last starfighter (even with it's dated CGI it works.. it all worked and all the new CGI is going to do it make it slightly different.. not worth touching)

Red Sonja.. (again Arnold.. sorry.. won't work :P)

Highlander.. (let it rest dudes.. let it rest.. )
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Re: TV & Film Remakes -- rant here!

Post by Trantor »

Though I agree with most of what you say Cows, I'd like to point out that Conan the Barbarian wasn't a very faithful adaptation of Howard's short stories. Conan's background is totally different, he doesn't display the grim humour and sharp thinking he does in the short stories, the whole background of the Hyborean age is almost non-existant in the movie, and for the purists out there, Arnold's hair is not black. :wink: As much as I love the film and Arnie in it, a new Conan film that stays close to Howard's material could work very well. It's too bad that Howard's material is probably not mass-friendly enough to actually make that happen, though. Also, I don't see an actor who could actually play Conan. Arnie's acting isn't exactly great, but at least he could look determined and menacing in a loincloth without looking extremely silly - something all those other barbarian movies lack...
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Re: TV & Film Remakes -- rant here!

Post by beowuuf »

vin deisel?
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Post by cowsmanaut »

*GLAGGGGHHHHHH* ... ~beg pardon~.. I suddenly had an urge to vomit..

You're right Trantor, I think very few exist in this world who can be in a loin cloth and still look menacing.. Beyond that, Arnie had charm. His character was amusing and yet plausable. Something other muscled actors do not posess.. I would remention the above as included int the non loincloth worthy.. but I'd rather keep the remaining contents of my stomach..

While I expect that a faithfull attempt at conan of the book would bring about a very different kind of movie. I have great doubts about them trying to do that rather than once again attempt to redo something like the conan movie but with more CGI..
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Post by Gambit37 »

New conan? Pshaw! Awful.

Not a remake, but this could either be seen as excellent or awful news depending on your POV:

http://popwatch.ew.com/2009/07/31/ridle ... ew-ripley/
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Post by linflas »

"The only way out is another way in." Try Sukumvit's Labyrinth II
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Re: TV & Film Remakes -- rant here!

Post by Gambit37 »

Yeah, saw the trailer the other day. Looking forward to this one, though Depp does look a bit too like Wonka!
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Post by linflas »

Depp looks like Wonka with a pinch of Jack Sparrow and Edward Scissorhands's haircut (but orange!). Great, isn't it ? :)
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Re: TV & Film Remakes -- rant here!

Post by cowsmanaut »

I thought he looked a bit too ronald mcdonald actually.. :S certainly sold on the creepy there :D
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