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Eeeeek, please dont touch this one :(

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/john-carpenter-big-trouble-in-little-china-dwayne-johnson-kurt-russell-a7363861.html

What are your views on the recent glut of remakes in general that have been pumping out?
For me they have been mostly miss rather than hit (point break, total recall, robocop etc).
However one or two have been good (Fury Road, Judge Dread).
My biggest gripe is that they dont bring anything new to the table so why bother?

Fury Road is not a remake, it is a continuation of the story.

Id rather they remade movies that had potential but didnt quite do it. They go for cult classics in hopes of that cash cow but it normally just falls apart and i want to not go to the movies again because of it.

The problem is that a lot of people look upon old movies with rose tinted glasses and buckets of nostalgia.

Then we hear about a remake and get full of vicious dread and horror.

Then it gets shafted because it isn't quite as good at the original.

But to be fair, plenty of the classics films are themselves remakes of films from the early part of the 20th century.

I'm a bit torn on this specific film. BTiLC is a timeless classic, exemplifying everything that was right about the 80's cinema industry.

Dwayne Johnson is awesome though, and I'd like to hope that if he is involved, it will not be bad. It'll never be as good as the original, but maybe it'll have enough of its own flavor to be enjoyable.

I swore off remakes a decade ago, they're never as good as the originals and really just a insult to the fans who loved them.

the worst remakes are retelling the same super hero origin stories, everyone on the planet knows batmans origin, but I'm sure ben afflex will put his new spin on it and tell that tired old story all over again.

then worst of all, are those who take the title of a book for a movie, that has nothing to do with the book. Looking at you WWZ, garbage, utter garbage and everyone involved should be banned and shunned.

There was a time when Hollywood actually put effort into its remakes. But, back then, they weren't really treated as remakes but just new tellings of the same story, sometimes with entirely different characters and settings (something that was very common in the radio shows of the 1930s-50s). Today, Hollywood is just looking for an easy way to make a quick buck that needs less effort to create. Why take a chance on something entirely new when you can take something that worked and spin it again?

One of the best remakes that comes to my mind is John Carpenter's the Thing, though YMMV of course.

sirlynchmob wrote:
I swore off remakes a decade ago, they're never as good as the originals and really just a insult to the fans who loved them.

the worst remakes are retelling the same super hero origin stories, everyone on the planet knows batmans origin, but I'm sure ben afflex will put his new spin on it and tell that tired old story all over again.

Psst...I suggest you actually make an effort and look into what "The Batman" has been suggested to incorporate...because Deathstroke sure as hell isn't part of "that tired old story".

 Kanluwen wrote:

sirlynchmob wrote:
I swore off remakes a decade ago, they're never as good as the originals and really just a insult to the fans who loved them.

the worst remakes are retelling the same super hero origin stories, everyone on the planet knows batmans origin, but I'm sure ben afflex will put his new spin on it and tell that tired old story all over again.

Psst...I suggest you actually make an effort and look into what "The Batman" has been suggested to incorporate...because Deathstroke sure as hell isn't part of "that tired old story".

you mean just putting ben afflex and batman together isn't reason enough to condemn the project? sure makes me not want to look into it further. deathstroke will be that tired old story if he ends up killing bruces parents this time around.

sirlynchmob wrote:

 Kanluwen wrote:

sirlynchmob wrote:
I swore off remakes a decade ago, they're never as good as the originals and really just a insult to the fans who loved them.

the worst remakes are retelling the same super hero origin stories, everyone on the planet knows batmans origin, but I'm sure ben afflex will put his new spin on it and tell that tired old story all over again.

Psst...I suggest you actually make an effort and look into what "The Batman" has been suggested to incorporate...because Deathstroke sure as hell isn't part of "that tired old story".

you mean just putting ben afflex and batman together isn't reason enough to condemn the project? sure makes me not want to look into it further. deathstroke will be that tired old story if he ends up killing bruces parents this time around.

So basically you just want a reason to hate on it because you hate on it?

They covered "that tired old story" in Batman v. Superman. It wasn't an overwhelming thing either. There was a flashback at the start and a few nightmare sequences to deal with it; that's all.

Wait. Is someone against Batfleck? The best Batman since Michael Keaton isn't good enough?

I don't mind remakes. Its interesting to see different interpretations of material. And there is nothing stopping me from going back and watching/reading original stuff... or stabbing my ears or eyes out... nothing...

I think that the thing that sits poorly with me generally is when a property is exploited for it's name and nostalgia. When the new film is so divergent- unnecessarily divergent- from the source it's all but unrecognisable but for old names and a few gimmicks. The current Transformers films for example could just as easily be a Machine Men film if you stripped the names from the bots (perhaps excluding Optimus) as the lore is new and the characters, other than Optimus, would easily pass copyright claims. The new Ghostbusters is another example. Remove the proton packs (or replace them with some other anti ghost device) and it's a whole other franchise.

I'd much prefer to see Hollywood do remakes of stories rather than franchises. I'd like to see them go 'hey that was a great story, I'm going to remake it but completely different'. In the same way they did with a bunch of Kurosawa film, take the same story and make a new version.

Can you believe they're remaking Scarface? How dare they touch the Al Pacino classic! This is an outra... wait... Al Pacino's Scarface is a remake of a film from 1932?

Remakes have been something Hollywood has been doing for a very long time. There is nothing new about this trend.

There are more movies being made now than ever before in history, and therefore there are far more original films being made than ever before in history.

Perception does not always equal reality.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
There are more movies being made now than ever before in history, and therefore there are far more original films being made than ever before in history.

Unfortunately most of them are hearless rom coms or generally unfunny comedies in general, because those are cheap to make and appeal to most (until they see them and realise they're bad).

The signal to noise ratio of films tricks people who have more discerning taste into not realising just how many films are made these days.

 BrookM wrote:
One of the best remakes that comes to my mind is John Carpenter's the Thing, though YMMV of course.

Absolutely. I loved that in the theatre, and how it fit with the original. Stop rebooting things, Hollywood.

 AegisGrimm wrote:

 BrookM wrote:
One of the best remakes that comes to my mind is John Carpenter's the Thing, though YMMV of course.

Absolutely. I loved that in the theatre, and how it fit with the original. Stop rebooting things, Hollywood.

Invasion of the body snatchers with Donald Sutherland is also a good one, the 50's one is ok if you are into pulp sf movies of that age.

The Departed is also a pretty good 'recent' remake and (imo) better than the originals (Infernal Affairs 1&2).
If there is effort put into it, it can work very well. Otherwise, it's just a money grab.

Tough to say. I've seen some pretty good remakes and then there's the other garbage out there.

If a company really loves the source material, then remakes can be awesome. Usually, however, they are just mindless cash grabs.

The nutty professor remake with Eddie Murphy was better than any Jerry Lewis movie, ever. But that's a pretty low bar to hurdle.

Remakes have been something Hollywood has been doing for a very long time. There is nothing new about this trend.

Thats not really in dispute though. Its the relative quality of said remakes I find depressing overall.

I was getting burned out on the super hero remakes (Spiderman and Fantastic 4 immediately come to mind, plus Punisher) but I've enjoyed some of the more recent re-makes.

I may be in the minority here, but I enjoyed Total Recall's remake. It diverged from the 80's movie pretty substantially, but after learning that it more closely matched the original source material (novel I believe) I was okay with the changes made.

Dredd was another good re-make. I grew up with the Stallone Dredd and it is fun, but it hasn't held up well. The new one was grim and dark in all the right ways.


I am sure it is coming sometime soon, but I dread a Back to the Future remake. I just don't see how the rapport between Christopher Lloyd and Michael J. Fox could be recaptured and it was their on screen chemistry which helped make that series of movies so magical. I fully attribute this opinion on my nostalgia for BttF, but I don't care. Those guys were gold on screen and I don't know who could replace them.

Never been a big fan of remakes, but if they are done well I dont mind seeing them really

 DarkTraveler777 wrote:
I was getting burned out on the super hero remakes (Spiderman and Fantastic 4 immediately come to mind, plus Punisher) but I've enjoyed some of the more recent re-makes.

I may be in the minority here, but I enjoyed Total Recall's remake. It diverged from the 80's movie pretty substantially, but after learning that it more closely matched the original source material (novel I believe) I was okay with the changes made.

Short story.

Although "Quail and the machine designed for his hand millions of years ago" thing is a big part of that story - whereas "the fall" wouldn't even work - because the CORE of this planet is a nickel-iron chunk that isn't molten. The mantle is the molten part, but it doesn't go right to the centre. The fall is the main part of that remake that made the movie suck.

 DarkTraveler777 wrote:
I was getting burned out on the super hero remakes (Spiderman and Fantastic 4 immediately come to mind, plus Punisher) but I've enjoyed some of the more recent re-makes.

I may be in the minority here, but I enjoyed Total Recall's remake. It diverged from the 80's movie pretty substantially, but after learning that it more closely matched the original source material (novel I believe) I was okay with the changes made.

Dredd was another good re-make. I grew up with the Stallone Dredd and it is fun, but it hasn't held up well. The new one was grim and dark in all the right ways.


I am sure it is coming sometime soon, but I dread a Back to the Future remake. I just don't see how the rapport between Christopher Lloyd and Michael J. Fox could be recaptured and it was their on screen chemistry which helped make that series of movies so magical. I fully attribute this opinion on my nostalgia for BttF, but I don't care. Those guys were gold on screen and I don't know who could replace them.

The newer Dredd was just grinding crap. Great actors but it was work to watch. You can't top campy 80s Stallone. I AM DA LAW! is cult humor classic.

Remakes are ok if they extend the story, but often just take the name for cheap bucks-especially recently. Certain classics can be remade with every generation putting its interpretation on it (Magnificent Seven is an example). Others, are a product of their times or actors and should not ever be d with (Stripes, Ghostbusters, African Queen).

 Frazzled wrote:

 DarkTraveler777 wrote:
I was getting burned out on the super hero remakes (Spiderman and Fantastic 4 immediately come to mind, plus Punisher) but I've enjoyed some of the more recent re-makes.

I may be in the minority here, but I enjoyed Total Recall's remake. It diverged from the 80's movie pretty substantially, but after learning that it more closely matched the original source material (novel I believe) I was okay with the changes made.

Dredd was another good re-make. I grew up with the Stallone Dredd and it is fun, but it hasn't held up well. The new one was grim and dark in all the right ways.


I am sure it is coming sometime soon, but I dread a Back to the Future remake. I just don't see how the rapport between Christopher Lloyd and Michael J. Fox could be recaptured and it was their on screen chemistry which helped make that series of movies so magical. I fully attribute this opinion on my nostalgia for BttF, but I don't care. Those guys were gold on screen and I don't know who could replace them.

The newer Dredd was just grinding crap. Great actors but it was work to watch. You can't top campy 80s Stallone. I AM DA LAW! is cult humor classic.

Remakes are ok if they extend the story, but often just take the name for cheap bucks-especially recently. Certain classics can be remade with every generation putting its interpretation on it (Magnificent Seven is an example). Others, are a product of their times or actors and should not ever be d with (Stripes, Ghostbusters, African Queen).

Now that's just heresy... the newer Dredd was an awesome surprise... much like how the first Matrix happend.

As to remaking BTiLC? With Johnson?

What does Jack Burton alway say?
What the hell...

 whembly wrote:

What does Jack Burton alway say?

Jack Burton: When some wild-eyed, eight-foot-tall maniac grabs your neck, taps the back of your favorite head movie franchise up against the barroom wall, and he looks you crooked in the eye and he asks you if ya paid your dues, you just stare that big sucker right back in the eye, and you remember what ol' Jack Burton always says at a time like that: "Have ya paid your dues, Jack?" "Yessir, the check is box office returns are in the mail."

 welshhoppo wrote:
The problem is that a lot of people look upon old movies with rose tinted glasses and buckets of nostalgia.

Then we hear about a remake and get full of vicious dread and horror.

Then it gets shafted because it isn't quite as good at the original.

But to be fair, plenty of the classics films are themselves remakes of films from the early part of the 20th century.

I think welsh has pretty much hit the nail on the head

I think the current trend for remaking 80's movies is part of the cycle, the people with power in movie land are children of the 1970's and 1980's so the nostalgia is most likely a factor which results in some bad ideas getting to screen

For example Ghostbusters, Female leads or not it was doomed from the word go, fans of the original are going to be sniffy about it and the a large part of the audience have no idea what or who the Ghostbusters are, same with Bataffleck vs Hobojesusman, it's loosely based on a graphic novel from 30's years ago, and whilst its not a terrible book it has not aged at all well.

I don't think its really a concern as a few more big budget flops and the remake fever will die down until new people are in power, and then it'll be 90's remakes...

I actually do not mind remakes. I am interested in seeing a new group of talents spin on things.

For example, I am really looking forward to someone making a new version of the Matrix Trilogy to see how it has evolved. Maybe it is because I am old.