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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

pointless remakes

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07:40 / 04.02.02

Videodrome
You have discraced by post, the Evil Dead and my camels. For that we must fight to the death. You choose the weapons?

07:40 / 04.02.02

quote:Originally posted by Will 'it work' Wright:
Videodrome
You have discraced by post, the Evil Dead and my camels. For that we must fight to the death. You choose the weapons?

I choose your camels. Fifty paces at dawn. Don't wake the camels, though. Don't want to upset them.

10:10 / 04.02.02

One would not want to give them the hump

The sundance kid

20:45 / 04.02.02

in the field of remake/adaptation...THE PRISONER. kids, get ready for 17 episodes of mind-expanding/numbing british psych-pop sensibility crammed into 90-120 minutes of american craptasma(?).

Molly Shortcake

00:02 / 05.02.02

Wesley Snipes pulls off a brilliant Joker in Demolition Man, while Stallone can barely portray a half-assed Arnold.

04:16 / 05.02.02

Don't forget the "Living Dead" films...my fav. "Dawn of the Dead" is on now in my room in fact.

Saw the remake of "Night of..." when it came out a decade or so and could barely make it.

Also would have loved to have seen Romero looking over the "Resident Evil" script...might have envisioned it with the proper feel...

04:19 / 05.02.02

...and for more bitching appeal go here and find out some proposed new flicks, etc.

Coming Attractions

08:32 / 05.02.02

EEK, not another Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake. Why oh Why
I caught the last remake on cable a couple of weeks ago and was shocked at how bad it was. The director obviously wanted some great shots, but in doing so left out the characterisations, the atmosphere and most importantly the intense loathing of wathcing teh film. The original was shot so well, as to put the viewer in an uncomfortable position, attained by sound, and camera ie. the distant low angle tracking shots, the disorientating closeups of the eye, the generator noise, the sound used at the beginning, 'weeeaaaarh' as the camera bulbs flash, and of course the screams.

well I wait with suspicion.........

The Return Of Rothkoid

10:26 / 05.02.02

There's information on the Ring remakes here, here and here. I'd like to be able to believe it won't be shithouse. But I think that it will be - what's the betting on a Nu-Metal soundtrack?

hanabius yamamura

20:00 / 05.02.02

Nu-metal soundtrack ?
Remake 'ring' sounds like a nightmare for all the wrong reasons ..

23:13 / 05.02.02

quote:Originally posted by Will 'it work' Wright:
EEK, not another Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake. Why oh Why
I caught the last remake on cable a couple of weeks ago and was shocked at how bad it was.

%Oh dear God, I can't believe that they made a bad horror movie, like that's never happened before%

And why the re-make of "Sabrina"? I caught a bit of the Harrison Ford/Julia Ormond cover flick and it just seemed out of time, what with the theme of class struggle 'n all....

06:33 / 06.02.02

Texas Chainsaw Massacre happens to be one of the finest moments in the horror genre. Making lame ass remakes is such a nonsense idea. It points out the ridiculous notion that by remaking a succesful film will provide bums on seats, from the originals notoriety. It also points out that the US movie industry is not investing enough time and effort in developing original material.

Hollywood has a long tradition of remaking European/World cinema, with generally poor results. Better results have occured when the European?world cinema directors are invited to make original films in the US, but this is rare. John Woo had some success, and personally speaking I find 'Face Off' a fine example of his work. Then again Jean-Pierre Jeunet, one half of Jeunet and Caro, made an atrocious transition to the US with 'Alien: Ressurection', a film devoid of tension and sense found in the others.

Remakes are becoming as symbolic of Profit over Content, much like sequels denoted in the 80's. In fact many films last year were sequels, giving the awards ceremonies a limited choice of credible films for selection. maybe this is why David Lynch is getting the attention, devoid from much of his career?

(edited to remove pointless comment on pointless statement)

[ 06-02-2002: Message edited by: Will 'it work' Wright ]

The Return Of Rothkoid

07:58 / 06.02.02

quote:Originally posted by Will 'it work' Wright:
Then again Jean-Pierre Jeunet, one half of Jeunet and Caro, made an atrocious transition to the US with 'Alien: Ressurection', a film devoid of tension and sense found in the others.It's also worth remembering that Vincent Ward had started that film off, and left - because of Sigourney Weaver having so much say over the way everything was run, IIRC - so the half-arsedness of the flick could also be because it was those circumstances of its creation? Changeover half-way always has a bad effect on films, I think.

20:49 / 09.02.02

Cape Fear? Much as I adore Bob De Niro (much because he reminds me of ZoCher), I feel the original was probably better.

19:57 / 10.02.02

Ah, but don't forget the slaughtering of the classic "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" just a few years ago... So sad...

13:30 / 11.02.02

not sure if I preferred the remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers to the original, but it was on a par.

also, really liked the remake of The Thing but then I'm a sucker for films about men trapped in cabins in the snow...

hanabius yamamura

15:42 / 12.02.02

LOVED the ending of the remake 'body-snatchers' but prefered the subversive 'reds-under-the-bed-is-really-what-we-mean' paranoia of the original .

has anyone mentioned the hideous possibility of a sylvester stallone remake of get carter yet ? yuch !

20:05 / 05.08.02

*bump*

Benicio Del Toro is going to be redoing Warren Oates' role in a remake of Sam Peckinpah's "Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia". WHY?!? Not that I think that it's going to be a bad remake, but it just seems so superfluous. I can just see this being spun as "if this film will get a kid to rent 'Straw Dogs' because of this remake, we've done our job brining our cinematic heritage to today's troulbed youth." Whatever.

And for those of y'all bitching about the US remake of "Ring", they've got a trailer up now.

Tryphena Absent

22:42 / 05.08.02

I hate to get off the subject but having seen Ring quite recently I absolutely and totally could not stick with the Teaser site. I don't care if it's a Hollywood remake I don't want to get cursed.

16:08 / 07.08.02

bend over and spread those cheeks kiddies, because here comes the remake of The Seven Samurai! no, not The Magnificent Seven (which was an interpretation, not really a remake, but a full-fledged "if Kurasawa could do that then...just think of what we could do now!!!" remake). i'm shitting my pants with anticipation. anticipation of shit. yes, i'm shitting for shit. whilst thou join me?

and so, you know this means that business execs/producers/"directors" in modern hollywood don't hold much esteem for art to simply spew it out again with a different driver behind the wheel. hey, i got an idea! with this brush and this canvas...i'm gonna remake the mona lisa! the way i figure, it was good for its time, but needs a "re-imagining" for the 21st century. it will be the skill and craftsmanship of DaVinci, with the technology of today! woo-hoo!

07:32 / 08.08.02

I heard a horrible rumour somewhere that "Hollywood" are planning on making a live action version of Akira, that wrong in so many ways. Can you just imagine...yikes

10:02 / 08.08.02

Maybe this point was raised further up in the thread (can't be arsed to read it all) but why don't they remake crap films? Surely taking a crap film and making it better is more of an achievement than taking a good film and screwing it up? As to remakes I like 'Cruel Intentions' was a very good remake of 'Dangerous Liasons' which in turn was a remake (I think) of a french film.

23:45 / 08.08.02

On Akira:
Just watched it again the other night and was amusing myself with a live action what if... I then realised that an HBO-type series would be much better... capturing the mood & tension over a series of Episodes. Still containing the violence & special effects...
Think of it... the first season could end with Akira's big Blow-up. Followed by 2 post apokaliptic seasons... 20+ hours of madness!!!

. . . If only . . .

07:48 / 09.08.02

And then the series would go on because the actors playing Akira, Kaneda, and all the main leads would leave because they were fed up, and it would become a series set "in the Akira universe" but without any trappings of the original.

With Noah Wyle as the only original suriving cast member.

Cough.

00:29 / 10.08.02

Saw the trailer for The Ring the other day. Was disappointed with the added "The" in the title, but otherwise it actually looks alright. Looks like the American knockoff film that's web-based (can't remember the title, Fear.com or something) is gonna be the nu-metal flick. The Verbinski Ring remake could actually have something to it, which I'd be very happy to see. Trailer doesn't give away anything the UK DVD box doesn't, and it looks very quiet and grey.

In front of Full Frontal yesterday I saw the trailer for The Trouble With Charlie with Mark Wahlberg, Thandie Newton and Tim Robbins. Hadn't heard of this but it was immediately apparent that it's a remake of Charade, which my just-now-internet-reconnected peek at IMDB confirmed. Stay away from this one kids - Charade is a lot of fun, but this looks terrible.

00:31 / 10.08.02

Oh, and having just performed my yearly ritual of worshipping at the altar of Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia I have to say that the poterntial remake there terrifies me. So sad.

Murray Hamhandler

03:27 / 10.08.02

I haven't seen the original Ring (or even heard of it until this thread, but wanting very much to see it after all of the stuff I've read about it since), but I thought the remake looked like it had promise. And it said a lot that Naomi Watts turned down many a script after Mulholland Drive to work on this one in particular (and my respect for her is just through the roof based on her amazing performance in Mulholland alone)...

But then videodrome mentioned the name Verbinski (the director of the upcoming The Ring), which sounded uneasily familiar. Which, I came to discover, was because Verbinski's the man responsible for inflicting The Mexican upon the world. And...the Budweiser frogs. The Budweiser frogs! For the love of god!!!

13:39 / 10.08.02

I haven't seen The Mexican but from what I know it was supposed to be a much smaller picture until the two big kids got involved. There have been many stories of it spiralling out of control after that, with Pitt expressing some regret at his involvement, saying that it really was a good script and could have been a good film had the marketing machine not taken control. Whatever.

What I've read with Verbinski lately makes it seem like he's got more of a handle on what Ring is about than most American directors would have, so I'm willing to give it a chance. It also helps that I don't attach any god-like status to the original film, thinking of it as an effective low-key chiller more than a heart-stopping revelation of all the is unholy.

Oh, and the other Lynch connection to the new version is that is also features Amber Tamblyn, daughter of Russ Tamblyn - Jacobi from Twin Peaks.

19:09 / 14.08.02

Planet Of The Apes has to be the worst offender. The ending was confusing. Tim Burton's commentary on the end was confusing. Apparently, region 1 DVD's come complete with a 'space map' that explains the ending. Why not just make it clear in the film?

The original Ring was excellent and was shown on Channel 4 in the UK a while back. Really chilling and disturbing stuff far removed from the shitty Scream school of 'horror'.

I'll reserve judgement on the remake until I've seen it. I thought the trailer looked promising. I have to say tho that the actual spooky video wasn't as disturbing as the original.

19:49 / 14.08.02

For what it's worth...

Cruel Intentions:
Teeny T&A. Not worthy to stand downwind while 'Dangerous Liasons' passes gas.

Evil Dead II:
Much funnier and mindbending than Evil Dead. Which is, of course, the point. So yeah, I'd give it that dollar.

Alien/Aliens:
Alien is much better. Aliens is more watchable. While some genre conditions are maintained, I think Aliens is really a Vietnam movie (albeit from a pretty sick'n'twisted all-American view -- but then all Vietnam movies are...). Read the introduction to The Beach and it all makes sense....

An actual remake which might be better:
John Carpenter's The Thing (From Another World) is a remake of a B+W 50's B-movie. In that film the Thing is just a plant critter a la Swamp Thing that wanders around munching on people. Pretty lame and forgettable, whereas Carpenter's version's got all the brilliant infection paranoia and the garishly ludicrous mid-80's SFX. Gottaloveit.

22:07 / 14.08.02

Well Aliens is just a remake of an earlier Jim Cameron film: Rambo 2 ;-)

The Thing is a great choice. John Carpenter did an excellent job on remaking that particular film. Kurt Russel throwing dynamite at this morphing horror and shouting "Fuck you!!". Classic stuff.

20:38 / 20.09.02

"The Italian Job" with MarkfuckungWhalberg and Edward Norton. To spin a phrase "Jesus wept".

20:38 / 20.09.02

"The Italian Job" with MarkfuckungWhalberg and Edward Norton. To spin a phrase "Jesus wept".
Oh, It's ok, they have the new mini's in it!!!!!!!

21:01 / 20.09.02

I was right. Insomnia stank (as a remake of the original).

Old brown-eye is back

21:11 / 20.09.02

It's getting on here, so please forgive the somewhat random nature of the following tyrade.

Why was Brett Ratner given the job of directing Red Dragon? Why make it at all?

The remake of Ring has been very well reviewed, so I'm told - same director as did Mousehunt, which was a bit of a cracker. And the trailer is as scary as fuck. Horses!

Remakes that are better than or as good as the original. The Thing; Abel Ferrara's remake of the remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers; Assault on Precinct 13/Romero's Dead trilogy/Mad Max 2 as remakes of Rio Bravo; A Bugs Life as a remake of The Seven Samurai; Scarface; Robocop as a re-doing of The Robe.

I rather liked Planet of the Apes. Surely I can't be the only one that thought staging the Second Coming with a chimp was a work of comedy genius. Can I?

Well, can I?

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