Remakes Tagged Articles at Cinematical

We often bash the neverending flurry of remakes, and frankly, it's hard not to. Nestled in between the possible gems are many projects that wrench the magic out of the original they're supposed to love. But luckily (especially in this remake-laden movie world) they're not all bad. In fact, sometimes they can be downright delightful, thought-provoking, or even awe-inspiring.

One of the top contenders, of course, is The Fly. The 1958 version was wildly popular and loved, yet David Cronenberg was able to sweep in and concoct a film that people rave about to this day. It remains one of the only movies able to rip through my adoration of the original and find a secure spot on the appreciation shelf. Beyond that, there are further remake chills with memorable projects like Dawn of the Dead and Cape Fear, plus a bunch of more mainstream-friendly, and beloved, remakes. Ocean's 11, anyone? Oh, and who can forget the foreign inspiration? If not for The Hidden Fortress, we'd never have Star Wars; if not for Yojimbo, we'd never get Fistful of Dollars.

Over the years, Cinematical has written about the best science fiction remakes, horror re-do's that don't suck, and even remakes that are better than the original, but I wanted to hand the reigns over to you. What remakes do you love? They could be as good as the original, better, or even be loathed by the general population. That's the thing with taste -- it's wonderfully subjective and there's always someone out there who will disagree with you. Are you a fan of Goldblum becoming a buzzing insect, or do you bravely hold onto an appreciation of the latest Planet of the Apes, Willy Wonka, or -- egads -- Gus Van Sant's Psycho?

We all know nothing is immune to the clanking, grinding, perpetual remake machine that is Hollywood, but I'm actually a little shocked that it's taken this long for a studio to push along a remake of Russel Mulcahy's 1986 action-fantasy hybrid film Highlander. If much maligned '80s horror films like the House on Sorority Row can muster a remake, surely a franchise as storied as Highlander should be an easy target for a studio re-imagining. Five films, three television series and more comic books and novels than I care to count have been born from Mulcahy's film, and now we can add a new film from Summit Entertainment directed by Justin Lin and produced by Neil H. Moritz to the list.

Lin and Moritz were the same director-producer combo that brought on the money-making fourth installment of Fast & Furious earlier this year, making the duo an easy choice for Summit to entrust their hopeful franchise-restart to. And if hiring broad-appeal filmmakers like Lin and Moritz has you worrying for the state of a new Highlander, you should also know that Summit is bringing in Iron Man screenwriters Art Marcum and Matt Holloway.

And for Highlander lore purists, the studio hasn't shown any inclination of altering the plot, which the press release announcing the news still describes as, "after centuries of dueling to survive against others like him, Connor MacLeod, an immortal Scottish swordsman must confront the last of his kind, a murderously brutal barbarian, who lusts for the fabled Prize."

There's no word yet on who will play Connor MacLeod, the character who famously shouts, "There can be only one!", but I think it's safe to say that an uberproducer like Neal H. Moritz, whose been involved with everything from I am Legend to the upcoming Green Hornet, will be attracting all manner of Hollywood hunks eager to don a kilt and start chopping some heads off.

Has this thought ever crossed your mind: 'Boy, The Godfather was awesome. But it needs to be remade as a gangster saga in the hip hop world.' Or: 'The Shawshank Redemption was great, but I want a prequel, with Zac Efron as the Tim Robbins dude in college!' Or: 'Citizen Kane had too much talking -- and no color! I thought my TV was broken. I hope they reboot it with Will Smith as a rich guy who creates a new social networking site, marries a supermodel, and flies to the Moon!'

Has there ever been remake / reboot news that you've warmly greeted? We've groaned about / bitched about a ton of remakes in various stages of development. Just within the last month, we've written about Short Circuit, Alien, Total Recall, The Karate Kid, Scream, Barbarella, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Flight of the Navigator, Footloose, Mona Lisa, The Mechanic, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Also looming out there: Predator, Commando, Nightmare on Elm Street, The Warriors, Tell No One, and District B13, among many others. Next week, The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 hits theaters, and later this year Fame, Night of the Demons, A Christmas Carol, The Wolfman, and Brothers will endeavor to obliterate all memory of their original inspirations.

As Elvis Costello once sang, "I used to be disgusted and now I try to be amused." Of all these, I'm least looking forward to Total Recall, but most of these numb me with disinterest. How about you? Can you pick out one that is your absolute, most fury-inducing, 'how dare they' remake / reboot?

Every time I hear the word "reimagined," memories of Celebrity Death Match take over my brain. I don't imagine how great it would be to rethink the premise for the new MTV generation, but rather how great it would be to pit "inspired by" against "reimagined" -- the ultimate and I would hope FINAL showdown.

It seems that today's regurgitating moviemakers have forgotten the power of inspiration -- how you can take an old and beloved theme and run with it in a new and relevant way. It's the way of written art -- themes continue through the ages through life and writers taking classic ideas and making them their own.

But somewhere along the way, we got thrust into the circling, nausea-inducing whirlwind of reimagination. Rather than seeing a loved story like Beverly Hills Cop, The A-Team, The Three Stooges, The Birds, or The Crow and imagining ways that the themes could be rejigged with new characters for a modern audience, they become "reimagined." Sometimes it's just spinning the theme enough so that the scenarios and characters are the same but overall feel is different. Other times, it's trying to bank on the names of the film and characters when almost every other thing about the production is different.

Remember that Rosemary's Baby remake that Scott blogged about earlier this year? Well, fear no more! While talking with Collider, Platinum Dunes' Brad Fuller and Andrew Form said that they're no longer doing it. Fuller said: "We went down that road and we even talked to the best writers in town and it feels like it might not be doable. We couldn't come up with something where it felt like it was relevant..."

Of course, this news sends my mind a-racing, wondering (and hoping) if any other proposed remakes will get canceled or shelved. You could go in the Dunes-verse alone, and think back to the likes of The Birds, A Nightmare on Elm Street, or Friday the 13th. Or, go further, and think of the likes of Romancing the Stone, Footloose, The Crow ... the possibilities are nearly endless.

Me, I'd love to see Kevin Bacon's dancing shoes stay on his own feet, but what about you? Is this Baby news the blessing you've been waiting for, or is there another remake you're hoping will die?

With this weekend's The Day the Earth Stood Still, Hollywood continues its attempt to remake every remotely viable classic property it can get its hands on. (It also conjures up the perfect role for Keanu Reeves, but that's another post.) The science-fiction genre has been a particularly inviting target, which makes sense since the ability to use modern effects makes filmmakers think that they are improving on their source material regardless of whether that's actually true. But it hasn't been all bad. Hollywood still churns out some good sci-fi from time to time, and some of the remakes have hit their mark. Here's a list of seven that worked for me -- though I warn you that my tastes in genre films are somewhat idiosyncratic. I'm fond of some black sheep.

1. War of the Worlds (2005) - Some of you may want to get off the train right here. But I saw Spielberg's War of the Worlds before the bad buzz, and I found the first ninety minutes just ridiculously intense -- the realest alien invasion ever put on screen. This was Spielberg the wizard, the technician, in top form. Sure, he chose to play out his daddy issues instead of giving us a believable ending; everyone is right about that. But to me, that's barely a smudge on this movie's accomplishments.

Things weren't so peaceful in the movie buff land when word got out a few weeks ago that Werner Herzog plans to remake Bad Lieutenant with Nicolas Cage in the lead role. Even noted trash auteur Abel Ferrara publicly complained about having his work redone. Bad Lieutenant isn't anybody's idea of a good time: Harvey Keitel puts on a freakishly raunchy performance. Still, it definitely sounds like Herzog's pumped about the gig. Defamer cornered the director in New York today for a few questions about the project, and the responses are kind of amazing. Herzog tends to do a great job of explaining himself, no matter what crazy scheme he has cooked up, but the best part of this interview arrives when the guy claims utter cluelessness about Ferrara's work. Way to stick it to the source material.

To hear Herzog tell it, his version of Bad Lieutenant isn't a remake, although he wouldn't know, since it sounds like hasn't actually seen the original. However, he says that Cage's character's name and the plot are entirely new. Herzog apparently liked the "very, very dark story," written by William M. Finkelstein, and he can't wait to work with Cage (given Herzog's notorious appreciation of Anna Nicole Smith, this last bit actually makes sense). Hearing about Ferrara's discontent, Herzog just eggs him on: "Let him fight the windmills, like Don Quixote." It's a feud made in heaven, almost too good to be true. You might just call it ecstatic truth.

Top: Early poster art for the new 'Bad Lieutenant,' snapped at the Cannes Film Festival last month.

Since Monday was a holiday, I now present you with the rare (but often more interesting) Tuesday Morning Poll. Because Tuesday just doesn't get enough lovin' these days. So everyone seems a tad floored that Rob Zombie's re-imagined Halloween scored $31 million over the Labor Day weekend. Me? I kind of saw it coming. As much as audiences have been turned off by horror as of late (or, more specifically, "torture porn"), it's obvious the genre still has its fans -- especially those searching for some nostalgia. Tack on a director with a name (sort of), call it a re-imagining of the original, and people flocked to see it. Of course, this now means we have officially landed in the re-imagined era. If there's one thing that $31 million haul did tell us, it was that we should expect a lot more films to be re-imagined (or whatever the hell they're calling it) in the near future. I wouldn't be surprised if work starts right away on reviving the Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street franchises in the same fashion. Heck, imagine how many rumor posts we'll have to write when they start searching for someone to replace Robert Englund as Freddy Kruger?

But it's not just horror that's caught the re-imagined bug. Next summer we're already in store for The Incredible Hulk -- a film that isn't necessarily a sequel to Ang Lee's version, but an updated, re-imagined thingy. Christopher Nolan has already found success with his re-imagined Batman franchise, and now it's just a "wait and see" game as far as what the future holds. And that's exactly what I'm looking to find out from you today -- what does the future hold? Are there other films that are ripe for re-imagining? And what's the difference between a remake and a film that's been re-imagined? Do you prefer one over the other?

So, I ask you: What's your take on the re-imagined era? And are there any films that you'd personally like to see updated and re-imagined for today's audience?

In David Lynch's new Inland Empire (8 screens), an actor is told that the movie he's working on is actually a remake. "I wouldn't have done it if it were a remake," is his angry reply. Not long after I saw that movie, I interviewed director Joe Carnahan about his movie Smokin' Aces. He spoke about some of his upcoming projects, including a film called Bunny Lake Is Missing. "A remake," I replied. "Not a remake," he retorted. He explained how his version would be different from Otto Preminger's 1965 film, which somehow made it "not a remake."

It's a touchy subject, apparently, and yet every other movie that comes out these days is a remake of something: a video game, a TV show, another movie. Sometimes we get sequels of remakes, or remakes of sequels or even more complicated configurations. In my less-than-400-screens realm, we have The Painted Veil (275 screens), which was already made back in 1934 with Greta Garbo. We have Casino Royale (187 screens), which is completely different from the version made in 1967. We have Black Christmas (4 screens), an already forgotten remake of a great, underappreciated 1974 horror film.