Remakes

[tickle gamer]

Hi All! Has anyone else watched any of these TV\Movie Remakes? And. If so what did you think about it?

I'm going to watch the remake of Charmed coming on tomorrow, just because I was a big fan of it the first go-round. But, I have heard some negative things about it.

For starters, I know it's a little thing, but they don't use the "P" names thing. The only two names they had in tomorrow's episode description started with "M".

And, the point that they are now two sisters, not three. So it's unknown where the "Power of Three" will be a thing in this new version or not.

 

[BlasterMaster]

I think we're starting to see what Isaac Asimov predicted. That humanity would literally run out of ideas and thus bordom would become the #1 problem for our species. Thus all the remakes.

But to answer your question, I'm a fan of some remakes but not of others. I never got into Charmed but I did watch the a few seasons of Angel (including the last episode which pretty much ended dark).

 

[tickle gamer]

That's what I've been saying for a long time. I see it in video games a lot too. It's like what was old is new again, just not as good as it was originally.

I never heard of Angel, was it good? And, yeah. I know Charmed was not everyone's cup of tea.

Don't you just hate it when shows do that? I mean, just end with questions still hanging.

 

[Cosmo_ac]

First, Angel is great, if you liked Buffy. Another Joss Wedan series, and a pretty decent one at that.

That aside, something to think about is that it isn't that Hollywood or whatever has run out of new ideas. They haven't, they have tons. The thing is, is that companies and investors are putting millions to hundreds of millions of dollars on the line. That's a huge investment, and many studios, especially newer ones, can't afford to take huge risks. So, they invest in something that has proven in the past to be lucrative. New ideas can be great, but that are also a lot riskier. This is why you see a lot of the same tropes and patterns in series. Yes, some do really break the mold, but for every new idea that succeeds, I bet a dozen or more fail.

That being said, remakes are something of a hit/miss type situation. Some aren't so good, like the ghostbusters movie. That was...just sad. However, some remakes are great. Who here has seen a movie called "Scarface"? I have, and it's one of my top hundred movies, and it's also a remake. Yup, the Al Pacino movie that immortalized the phrase "Say hello to my little friend!" is a remake of an old black and white movie. The Departed, staring Jack Nickolson, Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Walberg, and directed by Martin Scorsese, which won multiple awards, was a remake of a South Korean film. The cult classic movie, Memento, is also a remake of another foreign film.


The point I'm trying to make is that remakes are a toss up, but because these movies and TV series can have a certain special place in our heart, it can skew our view of them and make us judge them unfairly. Of course, like the recent Ghost Buster movie, sometimes they are just unforgivable garbage, because they are just bad movies.

 

[tickle gamer]

I Don't think people would mind it as bad if they would treat the remakes as spinoffs. Use a different title and all.

Using the same title also would make it harder on sites like IMDB. Like for example, if a show or movie had a high score (like the original TV series of Bunk'd on Disney). I would give it at least a 7. But then the remake came on, and flopped. (A self score of 3)

But, because it was the same title IMDB bundled it on one page, and the score average would go down.

 

[Vanillaphant]

The cult classic movie, Memento, is also a remake of another foreign film.

What foreign film is that? Assuming we're talking about the Christopher Nolan film here, my understanding was that the film's premise came from Christopher's brother Jonathan.

 

[Cosmo_ac]

What foreign film is that? Assuming we're talking about the Christopher Nolan film here, my understanding was that the film's premise came from Christopher's brother Jonathan.

Ah, shit, you got me on that one. I got confused. Still, I stand by my argument.

 

[CapturedDoll]

For me, most are a cringefest. (Dirty Dancing remake as a prime example... Omg... "Carrie"...(Though I like Carrie 2: The Rage". The remakes though.... *sigh*) There have been talks about remaking A Nightmare On Elm Street and I'm over here just like.... 😱 Seriously??? That's sacrilage imo. Including doing another one without Robert Englund. WHY BOTHER??

Anyway... some have been good though. Bram Stoker's Dracula. I did enjoy the first Piranha 3-D installment. That was just fun. And I'm hoping a Beetlejuice movie happens.

But it's rare when I can say I enjoyed a remake.

 

[Vanillaphant]

And I'm hoping a Beetlejuice movie happens.

Seems like an obvious question to ask, but I'll ask it anyway. Why? lol That you're appalled by the idea of a remake of one film you like, yet have your fingers crossed for the remake of another seems odd to me.

I agree with you about Bram Stoker's Dracula, though. I'm one of the few weirdos who even enjoyed Keanu Reeves' performance in that film. lol

 

[Mrcool]

My favorite kind of remakes are one’s that take a film in a new direction.
Say what you will about the rob zombie Halloween remake ( I don’t exactly like it much myself ) but I do give it props for giving us Something different in comparison to the original ( the first half at least ) some remakes are decent films but kinda Garbo remakes, the 2009 Friday the 13th film was not a half bad Friday film, but why did it need to be a remake! Outside of the first 20 or so minutes and a few shout outs. It’s mostly just a standard Friday film!
Some remakes change things a bit but keep most things the same but make them worse.
The 2010 Nightmare on elm street is a pretty shitty film that ruins Freddy Krueger in my eyes.
Him being a pedo was hinted at in the original films, but that was more of him being creepy and was never really canon.
But now he is a full on pedo and while it may sound HORRIBLE to say that in the original films the highlight was Freddy himself. Now they cheaped out and instead of making him genuinely creepy by doing genuinely creepy things. Now they just make him a pedo and BOOM NOW HE IS CREEPY ( pedo, are obviously in real life creepy, but I feel like they took a lazy way of making him creepy ) and all you are left is a less scary and entertaining horror film.

 

[CapturedDoll]

Seems like an obvious question to ask, but I'll ask it anyway. Why? lol That you're appalled by the idea of a remake of one film you like, yet have your fingers crossed for the remake of another seems odd to me.

I'm not exactly being a hypocrite here. I did write that basically I HAVE enjoyed SOME remakes. (Or sequels.) Just MOST were cringeworthy. Not ALL. And there's nothing saying a sequel to Beetlejuice will be good. At least in this instance Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder were/ are on board- if it happens at all. Though I won't be surprised if it does suck. It's how long being done after the fact? Around 30 years?

But I've always wanted a sequel since the day I saw it. So... maybe that's 11 year old me still hoping for it rather than 40 year old me who knows most remakes/ sequel's suck. lol

(MOST- not ALL.)

 

[BlasterMaster]

I'm one of the few weirdos who even enjoyed Keanu Reeves' performance in that film. lol

Ugh, that horrific HORRIFIC accent attempt by Reeves. Just terrible.

Other than that Dracula was great! 😀

 

[Vanillaphant]

I'm not exactly being a hypocrite here. I did write that basically I HAVE enjoyed SOME remakes. (Or sequels.) Just MOST were cringeworthy. Not ALL. And there's nothing saying a sequel to Beetlejuice will be good. At least in this instance Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder were/ are on board- if it happens at all. Though I won't be surprised if it does suck. It's how long being done after the fact? Around 30 years?

But I've always wanted a sequel since the day I saw it. So... maybe that's 11 year old me still hoping for it rather than 40 year old me who knows most remakes/ sequel's suck. lol

(MOST- not ALL.)

Fair enough. I was just intrigued by the difference in attitude to those particular films. 🙂

Ugh, that horrific HORRIFIC accent attempt by Reeves. Just terrible.

Other than that Dracula was great! 😀

I think, on a technical level, Reeves' performance was pretty crap lol. And yet - I would argue, anyway - it somehow worked! I think if they'd had a great naturalistic actor playing the part of Harker, with a convincing accent and all, it actually would have taken something away from the film. The film itself is quite over-the-top, after all... Bit of camp value, maybe lol. It didn't seem incongruous, in other words. 🙂

 

[Barbershopman]

First, Angel is great, if you liked Buffy. Another Joss Wedan series, and a pretty decent one at that.

That aside, something to think about is that it isn't that Hollywood or whatever has run out of new ideas. They haven't, they have tons. The thing is, is that companies and investors are putting millions to hundreds of millions of dollars on the line. That's a huge investment, and many studios, especially newer ones, can't afford to take huge risks. So, they invest in something that has proven in the past to be lucrative. New ideas can be great, but that are also a lot riskier. This is why you see a lot of the same tropes and patterns in series. Yes, some do really break the mold, but for every new idea that succeeds, I bet a dozen or more fail.

That being said, remakes are something of a hit/miss type situation. Some aren't so good, like the ghostbusters movie. That was...just sad. However, some remakes are great. Who here has seen a movie called "Scarface"? I have, and it's one of my top hundred movies, and it's also a remake. Yup, the Al Pacino movie that immortalized the phrase "Say hello to my little friend!" is a remake of an old black and white movie. The Departed, staring Jack Nickolson, Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Walberg, and directed by Martin Scorsese, which won multiple awards, was a remake of a South Korean film. The cult classic movie, Memento, is also a remake of another foreign film.


The point I'm trying to make is that remakes are a toss up, but because these movies and TV series can have a certain special place in our heart, it can skew our view of them and make us judge them unfairly. Of course, like the recent Ghost Buster movie, sometimes they are just unforgivable garbage, because they are just bad movies.

I think you hit it on the head Cosmo. I think it is all in the timing. I didn't watch the original Charmed so I could watch it and base it on its own merit if I wanted. You mentioned Al Pacino's Scarface was a remake. The original was in 1932 and Pacino's was in 1983. That is 61 years, or almost 2 generations. I doubt that anyone who saw Scarface even remembers there was a 1932 version, much less seen it. They go into the movie with an open mind, without any pre-conceived notions of what the movie should or shouldn't be. If you remake a movie, unless a significant amount of time has passed, people will view remakes while the original is in their minds and make assumptions based on their memories of the originals.

This goes true for movies, TV shows, and music. If you remember the original version, most likely, you are going to have a skewed version of what you think the remake should be.

Barbershopman

 

[BlasterMaster]

Sometimes a remake works very well but most times it fails so utterly hard that it redefines to concept of failure in terms of financial loss to a Hollywood studio.

The Ben-Hurr remake, the Ghostbusters remake, the Pink Panther remakes, all failed miserably at the box office.

A few (like Dracula mentioned above) did well.