Movie Remakes

[Brianator]

I recently read that there's plans for a remake of the 1983 Scarface movie which itself was a remake of the 1932 film of the same name.  So basically they're planning on doing a remake of a remake.  I've also heard that there's going to be a remake of Splash, Cannonball Run, Jumanji and possibly Big Trouble in Little China.  I've already seen the terrible Total Recall remake and I absolutely refuse to watch the Robocop and Ghostbusters remakes.  I realize Hollywood has been churning out remakes for decades but it seems like it's happening more and more in recent years.  It just seems like Hollywood is out of ideas and are basically saying, "Fuck it, let's just put out another remake and call it a day."  However, Comic Book Girl 19 has an interesting take as to why there's so many remakes, etc.

In addition, I realize that not all remakes are bad (for example, the 1982 version of The Thing is considered to be much better than the 1951 version).  But generally speaking more thought needs to be put into what should and shouldn't be remade.  They shouldn't just be made willy-nilly.  There has to be a good reason why the remake is being put out.  The remake has to in some way, shape or form find a way to improve upon the original, otherwise there's no point (The 1998 version of Psycho is a good example of a pointless remake).

On another note, one that bugs me besides all these incessant remakes, is when people say you can't judge a movie that's in theatres until you watch it.  So basically you want me (or someone else) to pay to watch a film just to see if I'll like it.  The problem is that by doing so you're potentially enabling Hollywood hacks (i.e. Michael Bay) to make more shitty movies.  If I know that I'm not interested in something, I'm not going to pay or have someone else pay for me to watch it.  For instance, I have no interest in watching the planned Big Trouble in Little China remake.  James Rolfe also mentions the concept of not paying to watch a movie you know you won't like.

[Rijst]

Personally I like different types of movies for different reason. I like shallow action movies with spectacular special effects and cheeky punch lines and sometimes I want to see something that leaves me amazed and gives me food for thought for a week.

I count re-makes under the first category. I might watch them but I'm not really missing out if I don't. Superhero movies are similar, there's very little connection with reality in them for me but I still enjoy watching them.

Comic Book Girl 19 is probably right that re-making so many movies is a business decision and I can't really blame them, although occasionally there will be one that takes a slightly different perspective on things and perhaps provides a critique of contemporary society and focuses on that rather than on an original story. Think the musical Jesus Christ Superstar (a bit older than what we're focusing on here, but ok). Clearly a re-make of a story that's been told many times, but from a completely different perspective (Judas'). It's the perspective that makes it interesting I think, which contrasts it with Passion of the Christ, which didn't tell me anything new at all.

[Adam Dravian]

That ComicBookGirl19 (I imagine that being her original AOL username from the '90s that she never let go of) video was interesting. I'm aware of China's growing consumption of Hollywood movies and our resulting pandering by shoe-horning short Chinese-focus scenes into some of our blockbusters, but I never considered that the increased number of remakes would have anything to do with that. I had no idea that Hollywood movies were banned in China until the mid-90s, but I'm not surprised.

But even without considering China, remakes make great business sense. Without a huge marketing campaign, it can be mega hard to make people aware of a new original movie, but it's guaranteed that people will talk about a remake. Also, many fanboys will go see a remake regardless of it's quality, so the studios don't feel they need to worry about appealing to them--they're considered a sure thing. So instead they pander to the younger generation that probably never experienced the original and who tend to be less critical in general.

It's hard for me to imagine a remake that I could be excited about. Jessica and I didn't bother to see the remakes of Robocop or Total Recall or Ghostbusters, because none of them looked looked appealing to us. I can't remember the last remake I watched and really enjoyed. Oh, Jessica just reminded me that we really liked the new True Grit.

[Rijst]

There was an old True Grit?

[Adam Dravian]

There was an old True Grit?

Yeah, it was famous John Wayne movie from the late sixties. I think John Wayne won an award for it. Jessica and I watched a few John Wayne westerns and we weren't too into them, although The Searches was pretty good. We're definitely more in the Eastwood camp.

[Rijst]

There was an old True Grit?

Yeah, it was famous John Wayne movie from the late sixties. I think John Wayne won an award for it. Jessica and I watched a few John Wayne westerns and we weren't too into them, although The Searches was pretty good. We're definitely more in the Eastwood camp.

I've only seen the new one and I enjoyed it. Which one was the truer grit in your opinion?

[Adam Dravian]

I've only seen the new one and I enjoyed it. Which one was the truer grit in your opinion?

Shit, you've backed me into a corner here. Since I tend to be a purist, I sorta have to say that the original True Grit is the truer grit by virtue of it being first. That said, the remade True Grit is the grittier.

[Rijst]

I've only seen the new one and I enjoyed it. Which one was the truer grit in your opinion?

Shit, you've backed me into a corner here. Since I tend to be a purist, I sorta have to say that the original True Grit is the truer grit by virtue of it being first. That said, the remade True Grit is the grittier.

Films these days are grittier in general though, if we place them both in the context of contemporary films the original might be relatively grittier?

[Adam Dravian]

I've only seen the new one and I enjoyed it. Which one was the truer grit in your opinion?

Shit, you've backed me into a corner here. Since I tend to be a purist, I sorta have to say that the original True Grit is the truer grit by virtue of it being first. That said, the remade True Grit is the grittier.

Films these days are grittier in general though, if we place them both in the context of contemporary films the original might be relatively grittier?

::sigh:: All that truly matters is that the original lacks the bear man, which was my favorite part of the remake.

[Brianator]

First of all, the reason why I'm posting this late is because I was uh,  busy battling Space Pirates on the planet Zebes.  Yeah, that sounds about right.  Anyways, I probably should've been more specific in my criteria for remakes.  I think that this article has a good idea of when remakes are necessary.  At any rate, I have also seen the True Grit remake and I thought it was pretty good.  One thing that bugged me though is that it wasn't always easy for me to understand what Jeff Bridges was saying because of his drawl.  It's why I like watching movies with the subtitles turned on-it makes the movie easier for me to follow along. Furthermore, my dad loved the song, Leaning on the Everlasting Arms by Iris DeMent which was featured in the True Grit remake .  However, my older sister made the mistake of buying my dad an Iris DeMent CD.  Lets just say a little Iris DeMent goes a long way.

[Adam Dravian]

First of all, the reason why I'm posting this late is because I was uh,  busy battling Space Pirates on the planet Zebes.

Cool to see you pop in again, Microwave Dude! I'm going to take this comment to mean you've been playing the recently released (and then smacked down) fan re-make of Metroid 2 (speaking of remakes). Or wait, did that take place on SR388? My Metroid lore is a bit rusty. As a kid, the first game blew me away because it had an "open world" and the levels could scroll both vertically and horizontally, which was totally novel at the time. I think I finally managed to beat the game when I was about 12 or so. Never played much of the GameBoy sequel except this one time my friend was trying over and over to beat the final boss. In frustration, he finally he let me give it a go and then I made him look like a total ass by beating the Mother Metroid on my first attempt (which was also my first time ever playing the game). One of my prouder gaming moments. And of course Super Metroid was one of my favorite SNES games. I never got into the Prime games because I wasn't into the changed game-play.

Anyways, I probably should've been more specific in my criteria for remakes.  I think that this article has a good idea of when remakes are necessary.

I agree with every example in that article. Great remakes can be done, but some movies are such a product of their time, like Big Trouble in Little China, that I can't imagine a remake doing it justice. There's also the fact that so many re-makes feel the need to update the setting to become contemporary. Since I'm not a fan of many aspects of our current culture, this tends to render remakes less appealing to me.

However, a few years ago when I first heard they were doing a remake of It, I thought it'd be interesting to have the "adult" portions be contemporary, so that the "kid" portions could take place in the '80s. That way, instead of Pennywise taking on the aspect of classic movie monsters, as he does in the original story that takes place in the 50s, he'd take on aspects of '80s horror icons like Jason, Freddie, Pinhead, Chucky... oh man, that could be awesome. Of course the studio making it would need to have the rights to use those characters, but if not, approximations could suffice ::coughMr.Skullcough:: I recently found out that the It remake will indeed set the "kid" portion in the '80s, so I'm very curious to see how they handle it. Especially now that Stranger Things has shown the Hollywood bigwigs that there's demand for well-made '80s throwback stuff.

Speaking of Stranger Things, Jessica and I recently started watching it. Four episodes in and we're loving it. I really appreciate that it captures the look and feel of the '80s without going way overboard and cranking the "80sness" to eleven like so many '80s throw-back things do. They don't shove things like giant cell phones in your face or have every girl sport giant hair and wear neon clothing. Anyway, I think we'll do a podcast episode on it once we're done, so I'l save my thoughts on it until then.

At any rate, I have also seen the True Grit remake and I thought it was pretty good.  One thing that bugged me though is that it wasn't always easy for me to understand what Jeff Bridges was saying because of his drawl.  It's why I like watching movies with the subtitles turned on-it makes the movie easier for me to follow along.

I know what you mean. Jessica and I have watched lots of European movies and anime (subbed, of course), so reading subtitles has become second nature to us. So yeah, we're also not shy about throwing it on if some of the characters in an English-language movie are hard to understand due to a heavy dialect or poor audio mixing. But after watching lots of subtitled stuff, it can feel a bit liberating to watch a movie subtitle free. Then I can just sit back and really soak in the visuals.

Furthermore, my dad loved the song, Leaning on the Everlasting Arms by Iris DeMent which was featured in the True Grit remake .  However, my older sister made the mistake of buying my dad an Iris DeMent CD.  Lets just say a little Iris DeMent goes a long way.

I just looked up a random song of hers on YouTube. Interesting voice, but her stuff's not for me. But then, my taste for country/blue grass/folk is about on par with my taste for rap/hip-hop/r&b, in that it's pretty much non-existent.

[Brianator]

First of all, the reason why I'm posting this late is because I was uh,  busy battling Space Pirates on the planet Zebes.

Cool to see you pop in again, Microwave Dude! I'm going to take this comment to mean you've been playing the recently released (and then smacked down) fan re-make of Metroid 2 (speaking of remakes). Or wait, did that take place on SR388? My Metroid lore is a bit rusty. As a kid, the first game blew me away because it had an "open world" and the levels could scroll both vertically and horizontally, which was totally novel at the time. I think I finally managed to beat the game when I was about 12 or so. Never played much of the GameBoy sequel except this one time my friend was trying over and over to beat the final boss. In frustration, he finally he let me give it a go and then I made him look like a total ass by beating the Mother Metroid on my first attempt (which was also my first time ever playing the game). One of my prouder gaming moments. And of course Super Metroid was one of my favorite SNES games. I never got into the Prime games because I wasn't into the changed game-play.

My comment didn't have anything to do with me actually playing Metroid (I don't own any Metroid games, although I would love to get my hands on Super Metroid).  I was just making a really lame joke to explain why I haven't posted anything in a while. Sorry for the confusion.

[Adam Dravian]

First of all, the reason why I'm posting this late is because I was uh,  busy battling Space Pirates on the planet Zebes.

Cool to see you pop in again, Microwave Dude! I'm going to take this comment to mean you've been playing the recently released (and then smacked down) fan re-make of Metroid 2 (speaking of remakes). Or wait, did that take place on SR388? My Metroid lore is a bit rusty. As a kid, the first game blew me away because it had an "open world" and the levels could scroll both vertically and horizontally, which was totally novel at the time. I think I finally managed to beat the game when I was about 12 or so. Never played much of the GameBoy sequel except this one time my friend was trying over and over to beat the final boss. In frustration, he finally he let me give it a go and then I made him look like a total ass by beating the Mother Metroid on my first attempt (which was also my first time ever playing the game). One of my prouder gaming moments. And of course Super Metroid was one of my favorite SNES games. I never got into the Prime games because I wasn't into the changed game-play.

My comment didn't have anything to do with me actually playing Metroid (I don't own any Metroid games, although I would love to get my hands on Super Metroid).  I was just making a really lame joke to explain why I haven't posted anything in a while. Sorry for the confusion.

Heh, no problem. That's what I thought at first, but then I remembered that the fan remake of the second game had just come out, so I assumed you might be playing that. Besides, it provided an opportunity for me to brag about my defeat of the Mother Metroid.