The Great Movie Remake
I'll try anything once, twice if I like it, three times to make sure. Mae West
As I have confessed on many occasions, I am a big movie addict. One of the things I like to do is see remakes of old movies. This is a dicey endeavor. As Forest Gump said, "You never know what you're gonna get." and this is very true of remakes. Sometimes they are great and other times, terrible. So for this fun little exercise, name a pair of movies (or more to make May happy), and explain why you like the remake or feel it fell short of the original film.
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I am not partial to remakes for the most part.
The Shining remake I liked (it was a TV mini-series) because it followed the book more.
The two movie remake of IT was ok but I preferred the original TV mini-series for one reason mostly - Tim Curry
The Fog - the original because of the Queen of the Scream Queens - Jamie Lee Curtis.
Halloween - the original all the way - no blood, but scary as hell
I have to stick with the original of both The Shining and It. You are right about the Shining following the book more closely but there is the thriller element missing from the remake.
It, I thought the remake was pure garbage. They removed everything that made the original great. The psychological element is what made it good for me and that was nowhere in the remake. And yes, NOBODY plays Pennywise better than Time Curry.
The one thing that bothered me about the Kubric version of The Shining was the death of Dick. It was not part of the original story, and I have no idea why they did that.
See for me I missed the empathy for the father's character that was missing from Kubrick's version. In the book and the TV version Jack was not beyond redemption. Also moving hedge animals way scarier than a hedge maze. And as Perrie pointed out Dick should not have died in Kubrick's version - it served no purpose whatsoever.
I watched an interview with Stephen King. If I remember right he where it come about either. He decided to leave it as it a sub story as he communicates with Danny.
I haven't read the book, but it seems it fit well with Dr. Sleep.
Ok you got me there.
Read the book, haven't seen the movie yet. I really want to.
Did you see the 2 Salem's Lots? I love the 1st one, but again I enjoyed the 2nd as well.
The book was way better than both movies.
They usually are. I have a massive Stephen King book collection. I have a routine on which I read the books (for the hundredth time). The summer months belong to From a Buick 8, Duma Key, and a couple of his short story collections. Winter I read his thick ones It and The Stand. In December I take a King break to read Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol. For the Spring I usually read a new one (if there is one - my son usually buys them for me for Christmas). If not then it is Christine, Bag of Bones, and The Green Mile. I find time for Salem's Lot and Doctor Sleep and the multitudes of others. I do squeeze Jaws into my summer reading - right before I watch the movie on the 4th of July.
I love the original but haven't seen the new version.
After going through this looks like I'm spending the long weekend watching movies now.
I just got the original & watched it that night. The newer one with Ron Lowe is harder to find - TNT original mini-series.
My husband always calls Barlow Nosferatu. Another movie I have watched - it was creepy even with it being silent.
What I liked about Rob Zombie's remake of Halloween was that we got to see how Michael Myers became the way he was. In the original all we saw was him standing on the street covered in blood when he was a child. The remake of Gone In 60 Seconds blew chunks.
I actually was kind of bored with the backstory. I know - that's awful. I am also not a Rob Zombie fan - gore for gore's sake.
If you want to see awful, see David Cronenberg's "The Brood".
I tried that - didn't last too long.
I agree, but I still like the remake for it's own sake.
I see that Hulu is working on a remake of Hellraiser. Clive Barker is consulting and quoted be excited about how it looks and where it's going.
That does interest me.
For me, It was kind of hard to pick just one, but I was listening to the song "Windmills of my mind", and of course, this pair of movies popped into my head.
"Thomas Crown Affair" was first done in 1968 with the iconic pair of Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway. Even as a kid, I loved the story of a bored millionaire that stole paintings for fun and the beautiful insurance detective sent out to find him. I mean what could be wrong? Great heists, great loves story, and Faye Dunaway's wardrobe was to die for. And talk about a sexy couple! There was something there for all!
Then came the remake in 1999, with Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo. It had all the qualities of the original one, but a better ending. And nothing could beat the big heist using hundreds of Rene Margrettes in bowler hats as a distraction. I realize that some people would argue that it's hard to beat anything that Steve McQueen was in, but then again, I do love Pierce Brosnan. And a nice finishing touch was Sting singing "Windmills of your mind" for this version.
Some decent remakes I've seen -
The Woman in Black remake was very good. The original was good s well, but lacked the scare factor for me.
I would agree with Ocean's Eleven, The Fly (I loved when the computer told him he was Brundelfly), and Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The other ones I think I like the original versions better.
What I liked about the remake of Body Snatchers is that Kevin McCarthy who was the main character in the original had a part in it. The remake of Mighty Joe Young also used the actress Terry Moore aka Mrs. Howard Hughes in the remake.
The remake of Mighty Joe Young was really good. CGI has made movies like that much better.
The scene where he rescued the boy on the ferris wheel made me cry.
Yep, Bill Paxton was really good in the remake.
I liked the Magnificent 7 remake, but the original is iconic. Word is Steve Mc Queen was determined to be cooler in the film than Yul Brynner, and he pretty much succeeded.
This was the original -
Although Denzel Washington was pretty cool, I agree with you that the original The Magnificent Seven was iconic and not really matched. It seemed to me that the remake was more concerned about being inclusive than with being better.
I didn't know The Thing with Kurt Russell was a remake...
The one after I didn't care for.
James Arness (Matt Dillon) played the thing in the original movie.
I saw that one when I was s very young girl and it gave me nightmares for months.
There is a movie from the late 50's called Men On The Moon (I think). There were these rock monsters that resembled Ben the man transformed into rock in the remake of Fantastic 4. That movie scared the hell out me when I was a kid.
The original Frankenstein did it for me.
Scared the crap out of me as a kid.
You forgot Total Recall. I personally thought the remake with Colin Farrell was better.
Good one and Heisenberg was the bad guy ...... say my name!
I go back and forth on better. It's just very different.
I haven't seen it yet, but my daughter says it's far better than the original is Beauty and the Beast.
The Ring scared the hell out of me. So much better than the original.
The live action one with Emma Watson and Dan Stevens? I liked it, but still like the animated one more.
Also Kevin Klein as Beauty's father?
That's the one.
I love that movie. But as good as it was, the cast credits at the end were a work of art.
I don't think I've watched the credits. Now I'm going to have to check them out.
You so have to.
Scarface mang!
I was unaware that there was a remake of Scarface. My hubby loves that movie... me not so much.
The original is a classic, made in the 30’s I think .... based on Capone
Wow, I never knew that. Now I'll have to find it.
The original Scarface starred Paul Muni, an absolute brilliant but underrated actor.
I can't believe I never knew about it.
It is on You Tube. Just search Scarface Paul Muni.
That one I did not like at all. I left the theater before it ended. Very gory and repulsive.
I'll say Paul Muni was underrated. No actor was able to actually become the character he played better than he did - with examples of Scarface and The Life of Emile Zola . I still consider him my favourite actor of all time. I will say, though that Meryl Streep did a great job as Julia Child.
I have to agree with you....maybe that is why I never searched out another version before.
I really think they could have made the movie a little less graphic and gory and still have a good movie. Going for the gore the way they did turned more than just me off. I was not the only one who left the theater that day, and I suspect it happened on other days it ran as well.
Meh, to each their own. Like foreign films with subtitles, this movie wasn’t for everyone but it was still very successful just the same.
I thought it was a clever depiction of some the current events of the time. Rampant drug use/dealing, the Mariel boat lift and the criminal element that came with it. It spoke to some of mans basest tendencies ..... cruelty, greed, addiction ...... but at its core it’s a gangster movie so one shouldn’t expect to get Champagne and Chanel #5 from it.
The Best Man - Screenplay by Gore Vidal
There have not been a ton of great remakes. After looking at Rotten Tomatoes list of the 50 best remakes I would have to choose the Lindsay Lohan version of The Parent Trap, the Russell Crowe , Christian Bale western 3:10 To Yuma, and the 2015 version of Cinderella with Cate Blanchett and Lily James, which I thought was a great improvement on previous Cinderellas.
I know that critics don't often like remakes, but I think that viewers can decide for themselves.
It all comes down to personal taste. Even movie critics don't agree on these things. If you look at the "10 best" or "50 best" etc. lists, they're never even close to being the same.
I loved Cinderella with Cate B, but it took me days to get that song Dum Dilly Dilly out of my head.
Oh, another one I just thought of is Cape Fear. Both versions are great
I have to totally Cape Fear. Both versions were really top notch.
Yep, Robert Mitchum or DeNiro ..... tough to pick which was the best bad guy.
I was more afraid of the original villain.
So true. I give it to the original by a nose. Mainly because of the story Mitchum tells of how he got revenge on his x-wife. That story was a little hard to put in a movie at the time and today it would be considered offensive and an indictment of those times.
PS
I liked the remake of the Producers much better than the original
I liked both versions.
Pretty rare for me in this regard but sorry to say I haven’t seen either version
I'll bet if you were to watch the remake first, you wouldn't care much for the original.
Both are now on my list
Agreed. Love the fact that they used a much older Gregory Peck for a different part in the remake.
Yeah, that’s always cool when they pay homage to the previous like that.
They gave Peck the choice to be the Judge, the Prosecutor or a sleazy lawyer for DeNiro. Peck chose to be the sleazy lawyer.
Lol ... of course he would take the juiciest part.
Love me some Gregory Peck.
Then you'll love watching A Conversation With Gregory Peck. Link =
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Thx, I’ll have to check that out
The reason I liked the original was the evil of Mitchum's character seethed behind those gorgeous eyes and you had to wonder what he was up to. DeNiro came off as bat shit crazy from the beginning which spoiled the suspense about him for me.
OK, so one that was missed was "The Italian Job". I loved both, but I think the remake did a better job with the mini scene.
Agreed, the more we think, the more movie remakes we think of.
That new Mini Cooper scene was great!
Do you mean the one where they were racing through the culvert?
Yep, from the street, to the subway, to the drain culverts, back to the streets
It was so much fun and really intense. The stunts they pulled were great!
The remake I'm really looking forward to watching is Dune. However has a movie been remade as many times as Pride and Prejudice? Of all of them I consider the BBC's Colin Firth as Darcy version the best as it fairly accurately follows the novel and covers much of it, the acting by all is quite good, and well, Colin Firth. For fun to watch, Bride and Prejudice, the Bollywood version, did a pretty good job.
I know people won't like this but I never could finish Doom. The book or movie.
I always thought it was boring.
There is a 2005 movie called Doom, but I don't think it was adapted from a novel, so I guess you're making fun of the name of the movie Dune since you replied to me. Actually Frank Herbert's novel is my favourite SciFi novel, and maybe that's why the movie adapted from it is also my favourite SciFi movie. Chacun a son gout.
Oh yeah, sorry.
Dune.
See? I wasn't impressed. Haha
Some people didn't like TLOTRs. I loved those books.
Speaking of remakes, the Hobbit movie can, I guess, technically be called a remake as there was a full feature cartoon of it.
I enjoyed the LOTR trilogy, but I think of it as Fantasy rather than SciFi.
LOTR was one of the few times I liked the movie adaptations better than the books. I liked the books, but there was a lot in them that came across as a bit silly, and I tended to skip over those parts a bit (Tom Bombadil comes to mind).
I watched the original Dune and enjoyed it.
What about the remake of Alfie? Michael Cain vs Jude Law. I always had a hard time thinking of Michael Cain as a playboy, since I don't find him a good looking younger guy, but as a period piece, I really like it.
A remake I would like to see is Fantastic Journey. The special effects back then were amazing but think what could be done now with all of the new advanced film technology.
This article got me thinking about movies that should NEVER be remade, and the reasons for them not to be. I think I'll do an article about it.
I hear that. Orson Wells made sure that would never happen to Citizen Kane thanks to his specific instructions regarding its future in a special attachment to his will. You will never see it altered, colorized, or remade.
Pop quiz..What was Rosebud? There are two correct answers, but only one in the movie. First to answer wins a six pack and a billy goat.
His childhood sled. I don't know what the other one was other than a rose blossom that has not fully opened.
Never mind the prizes if I was correct, no place for a billy goat in my 15th floor apartment and I stopped drinking alcoholic beverages a few years ago.
I agree with what a number of famous directors have demanded, that movies should NEVER be colourized. Can you imagine a movie like The Third Man, which is full of darkness and shadows and mystery being colourized? Check out this article I have linked....
JACK MATHEWS : FILM DIRECTORS SEE RED OVER TED TURNER’S MOVIE TINTING
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Rosebud had a double meaning. It was a childhood snow sled and it was what William Randolph Hearst called his wife's vagina.
It was a vehicle Welles used to run over Hearst.
If you hate colorized movies, just turn off the color on your TV set and you can watch them in B&W.
Way to go. I don't remember that second meaning even with your posting it.
Thanks for the suggestion (which I don't intend to make use of anyway), but where did I say I HATED colourized movies? There are some that can benefit from being colourized, like "It's a Wonderful Life", but it depends on a number of factors. As a person who dabbles in photography, I think that purposely using B&W conveys an intended mood, and can reduce distraction from the intended primary subject, and those who made the movies may have used the lack of colour for such purposes so that colourizing can diminish rather than benefit. Well, as I've now said many times on this site..."Chacun a son gout."
His wife?
I just realized that I had said that movies should NEVER be colourized, but I don't mean to contradict myself. I was agreeing with the Directors' opinions, but I realize that there are circumstances possible where some movies might be improved by being colourized, but certainly not if the Directors didn't want it.
That's Marion Davies. She was Hearst's mistress. He called her vagina "Rosebud" (how romantic).
So Orson Welles used "Rosebud" as the climax of Citizen Cane to needle Hearst.
For the most part, the only thing I don't like about remakes is that I've aged enough for there to be a remake...
Well, yeah, but they're remaking films that were only made 10 years earlier. For no good reason, usually.
Or releasing a new enhanced version...
That makes me feel a little better.