Top 10 Unnecessary Remakes - Movies

I'm just curious - is there such a thing as a necessary remake?

I hope they never remake Breakfast at Tiffany's. No one could replicate Audrey...

On the other hand, a movie I'd love to see remade: All About Eve! Who would play the Bette Davis role and who should play the Anne Bancroft role?

Maybe Michelle Pfeiffer as Bette Davis and Lea Michele or Dianna Agron (the gals from Glee) as Eve H?

And who would play the deliciously evil George Sanders character?

ess said:

I'm just curious - is there such a thing as a necessary remake?

The Wizard of Oz with Judy Garland was a remake, there was a silent film version that came out in 1925 that featured Oliver Hardy as the Tin Man.

I'd say that if you're going to remake a movie, then remake a movie that either had a really good script but was executed poorly, or remake some old sci-fi/fantasy movies that were made when special effects technology wasn't there to really bring the story to life properly.

Interesting, I didn't know The Wizard of Oz was a remake ... and it's a classic movie :-D

Additionally, I don't really like remakes but to be fair from an artists standpoint, just because someone else did it first shouldn't mean that all other directors should be denied the right to interpret the material and bring their vision to the screen.

HarleyQuinn said:

Interesting, I didn't know The Wizard of Oz was a remake ... and it's a classic movie :-D

I've never seen the 1925 version so it's possible that the 1939 movie was just a different interpretation of the original book and not a straight remake (like I was saying in my last post)..

It's kind of like music, I mean a lot of people don't know that a lot of their favorite songs are remakes like Piece of My Heart by Janis Joplin, Babe I'm Gonna Leave You by Led Zeppelin, Black Magic Woman by Santana, Everybody's Talkin' by Harry Nillson, Georgia On My Mind by Ray Charles and on and on. Even Frank Sinatra's signature song New York, New York is a remake.

So, I'm not opposed to remakes but if you're going to do it, you better do a good job...

The remake of Pyscho was abysmal. Personally, I'm not a fan of Heche or Vaughn, and I've enjoyed some of Van Sant's movies, but this remake, almost literally shot for shot, was HORRENDOUS.

Just thought of a great remake -- Heaven Can Wait, with Warren Beatty and Julie Christie (1978). Very smart and funny movie. I only made it halfway through the original, so I can't truly compare, but there's no way it was better than the remake.

arnomation said:

Additionally, I don't really like remakes but to be fair from an artists standpoint, just because someone else did it first shouldn't mean that all other directors should be denied the right to interpret the material and bring their vision to the screen.

That's very true. I used to live in Austin, which is a big movie town where you can see a lot of foreign and obscure stuff. The local alt paper (the Chronicle) has excellent movie reviewers, but sometimes they think they're writing for Cahiers du Cinema and they will completely dismiss a movie on the grounds that it borrowed plot elements from some Japanese or Italian movie from forty years ago that nobody has ever seen, so you're left with no idea whether the movie might be enjoyable or worth seeing.

There are remakes and there are re-do's; Daniel Craig's Casino Royale, for instance.

ess said:

I'm just curious - is there such a thing as a necessary remake?

Red Dragon was a remake of Manhunter . Red Dragon got better reviews and I don't think its possible for anyone to play Hannibal Lecter other than Anthony Hopkins.

Gone in Sixty Seconds (2000) was a remake of Gone in Sixty Seconds (1974). The 2000 version was a better movie overall.

Evil Dead II was pretty much evil dead 1 almost shot for shot with a much bigger budget.



Going back to awful remakes, there was a made for tv version of Vanishing Point with Luke Perry that is a calculated waste of film at best. Another one that you can be sure to miss is the made for TV version of the Shining from 1997.


The wizard of OZ, Scarface, The Fast and the Furious, Inglorious Basterds, Casino Royale were all re-dos of older movies.

La jetée / 12 Monkeys / Source Code are pretty much the same idea done different ways.

blackcat said:

The remake of Planet of the Apes was unnecessary. I think the new "The Thing" is a prequel.

The Thing itself is a remake.

Sheesh, people!

;-)

arnomation said:

Additionally, I don't really like remakes but to be fair from an artists standpoint, just because someone else did it first shouldn't mean that all other directors should be denied the right to interpret the material and bring their vision to the screen.

I've never quite understood why people get so up in arms about movie remakes but have no problem going to see Hamlet 5 times with different actors, directors, cultural settings, and levels of abridgement.

kthnry said:

Just thought of a great remake -- Heaven Can Wait, with Warren Beatty and Julie Christie (1978). Very smart and funny movie. I only made it halfway through the original, so I can't truly compare, but there's no way it was better than the remake.

Very true, but the Chris Rock remake of THAT, Down To Earth, wasn't as good as Warren Beatty's remake of Here Comes Mr. Jordan.

Freeway said:

Red Dragon was a remake of Manhunter .

This is where things get fuzzy, though. If two films are based on the same book, but go in two different directions, does that make the second version a remake or just a different interpretation of the source material?

Hopkins was great in SOTL, but a caricature in the other movies. Brian Cox will always be Lector for me, but Scott Glen was the definitive Crawford. Neither Fiennes nor Noonan got Dolarhyde right for me, though.

ETA: It appears I have my snarky film critic head on this morning. Apologies, I'll go have a cup of coffee and calm down now...
:-D

How about worthwhile remakes/sequels/versions?

Color of Money, Cape Fear, and Body Heat come to mind.

^^ I prefer the Gregory Peck-Robert Mitchum version of Cape Fear. In the remake, I thought DeNiro overacted and Nolte was wooden (as usual).

I'm disgusted that they're re-making Conan, I refuse to entertain the notion of a new Highlander and as far as the original list... The Manchurian Candidate was fantastic as an original; never bothered to see the update.

And as far as the need to remake The Karate Kid? Hey - Will Smith forgot his son's birthday and needed to buy him a present... does that count as a need?

Both good movies.

I prefer the Hustler to the Color of Money myself, but enjoyed the follow-up.

ridski said:

arnomation said:

Additionally, I don't really like remakes but to be fair from an artists standpoint, just because someone else did it first shouldn't mean that all other directors should be denied the right to interpret the material and bring their vision to the screen.

I've never quite understood why people get so up in arms about movie remakes but have no problem going to see Hamlet 5 times with different actors, directors, cultural settings, and levels of abridgement.

Good point. It's like all those versions of Little Women or Pride and Prejudice....the stories are identical and it just becomes a vehicle to show "look at me, I'm the new It girl and I can ACT".

ridski said:

I've never quite understood why people get so up in arms about movie remakes but have no problem going to see Hamlet 5 times with different actors, directors, cultural settings, and levels of abridgement.

Never looked at it that way - that's interesting, we sort of celebrate the differences in live performances but have different standards with movies - art is art, I'm going to try to watch my next re-make thinking of it that way. A new interpretation of a classic story instead of my typical "this better be good" attitude

The Debt is currently playing at the Maplewood Theatre..........English speaking version is well made but overly long.
Caught the Israeli version on Comcast on Demand a few weeks ago. Better edited and all around better film

I am fine with alternative takes on old movies--some work and some don't. Life goes on. I find it far harder to watch a movie based on a book (All the King's Men comes to mind) than a remake of a movie.

soulive said:

How about worthwhile remakes/sequels/versions?

Color of Money, Cape Fear, and Body Heat come to mind.

The Coen Bros. True Grit was excellent IMO.

I hope the following movies never get remade: Princess Bride, Stand By Me, and Bull Durham. There are others, but those just came to me.

soulive said:

I hope the following movies never get remade: Princess Bride, Stand By Me, and Bull Durham. There are others, but those just came to me.

Goodfellas! Lil' bit, Lil' bit...

case said:

I refuse to entertain the notion of a new Highlander

Because there can be only one.

ridski said:

soulive said:

How about worthwhile remakes/sequels/versions?

Color of Money, Cape Fear, and Body Heat come to mind.

The Coen Bros. True Grit was excellent IMO.

I agree. I had never seen the original. So I went out and rented it and imho it was actually better.

I heard they were going to remake the Wizard of Oz. Yikes.

The Ring was a not so awful remake of a god awful Japanese film. And I think that Cloverfield was an awful "reimagining" of a great Korean film, The Host, much like The Departed was a bad remake of a great Hong Kong film, Infernal Affairs.