i was excited hearing about the remake of Death race (2000) untill i realised the director is the guy who betrayed everyone by directing AVP. then i heard he changed the story. the only similarity is the name, the fact that the drivers are supposed to kill (this time other drivers i guess?) and that they have navigators...

then i remembered i heard a rumor about the remake of the Warriors. so i looked that up a bit... this time its based in LA and theres almost no similarity again

makes me scared to even look into the remake of "The Taking of Pelham 123" ...by the same director whos possibly doing the warriors.

why cant they just re-release these amazing movies with new ad campaigns

Well the Warriors is supposed to be a new movie, not a remake. Like what if the warriors was today kinda thing. The original is perfection and a classic so I'm glad they aren't trying to remake it. I just hope its good as the warriors is on my top 10 list.

that's good to hear, about it not actually being a remake. i, for one, hate remakes. it's pathetic, and somewhat offensive. the only remakes that actually turn out good are for movies that basically sucked to start with. or, on the other hand, both the original and the remake sucked, as in the case of The Amityville Horror.

sometimes they hide the remake. take that new movie Mirrors. Just in the trailer alone i felt like i was watching clips from an updated Poltergeist movie...

I don't think I've ever seen a movie remake that I've really enjoyed. They all sound promising but fail to live up to expectations.

prime example: godzilla with ferris beuller (that spelling does not look right, but you get the idea...)

I HATE REMAKES!!!

except i wouldn't mind seeing a remake of supergirl, preferrably starring the girl who plays kara in smallville....

They are "relaunching" Friday the 13th and nightmare on Elm St as well.

how can you relaunch nightmare is what i'm wondering? Friday the 13th, though i love them all, can easily be redone and probably work, but nightmare cannot be outdone. no cgi can top the elongated arm scene in the alley. speaking of that, wes craven must love elongated arms. he uses them in serpent & the rainbow too. i bet you he has the entire run of DC's elongated man's short comic set of the 80's....fuck mr. fantastic...

I hate remakes. I was a film student through school and studied black and white non speach movies.
To name one out of hundreds: The remake of The Time Machine was so bad I was actually offended. I wanted to rip out my eyes and then I realized I could just leave.
I hate remakes that dont hold true to the original story line.

then you must agree with me that the remake of Nosferatu was about as pleasurable as a hangover...

Then you must know that they are normally referred to as silent films...?

I didn't like the Nosferatu either, but it was done by Herzog, wasn't it? And he has his own following, so i'm sure there are people out there who like it.

I totally agree; except lately they don't even sound promising. I used to assume it was a lack of original thinking, but I've come to realize that (as with anything) it's less to do with creativity and more to do with $$. The main moviegoing demographic could give a fuck about an interesting story; just stick a couple of flavor-of-the-month pretty TV faces on the poster and there you have it. That's why I go to the theatre less and less - it's not about watching the movie, it's a social gathering. And having to think would just get in the way of chatting on your cell phone or eating.

/rant.

I would love to see Cameron prank call Godzilla.

"Ahem... Godzilla, this is Mothra... Call me sir god damnit!"

Oh Ferris Bueller, the ultimate Alpha Male.

They only seem to remake movies that don't need remaking. I heard they were going to redo Hellraiser, If they really wanted to please CLive Barker fans, they'd redo something they botched the first time around...like maybe Lord of Illusions

While its unfortunate, I can at least see the logic behind the unending stream of remakes coming out of Hollywood. You've got a lot of money floating on these, and its a lot easier for an investor to wrap his or her head around a pre-existing premise (which also has a pre-existing audience) than a totally new concept. They pretty much have a guarantee of seeing their money returned and then some, particularly when you factor in the cultural currency a lot of these movies have overseas.

I feel really fortunate to live in a big city where there's an alternative in small theaters that run independent movies and video stores that stock a pretty wide variety of releases. I remember how bleak things looked in the suburbs about 10 years ago when big chain video shops were pushing all the little mom and pop places out of business and the only theaters were strip mall cineplexes, but at least NetFlix seems to have evened the playing field a bit.

If memory serves, Barker is involved in the Hellraiser film.
I have heard promising things about it.


Remakes I haven't minded were Amityville & The Omen.
But then I tend to take films as they are, and try not to compare them to books or previous incarnations.
The fact that alot of remakes tend to suck seems to have to do with Hollywood hamming it up or trying too hard.
Cape Fear was a remake and I don't think anyone here will say that was crap.
3.10 to Yuma was surprisingly good, but then I haven't seen the original.
Dawn of the Dead is supposed to hold it's own against the original.
The Thing - I'm not a Carpenter fan, or a Kurt Russell fan actually, but that was good.
The Departed was basically a remake.

Not all remakes are like The Italian Job or Assault on Precinct 13 (the original basically being a remake of NotLD)

They're remaking Nightmare on Elm Street, word is with Billy Bob Thronton as Freddy. Why? To make me mad is my only conclusion.

David Cronenberg is the only guy who can ever make a remake ever. Maybe Carpenter, but I think his time's passed.

I love the Herzog remake of Nosferatu, Isabelle Adjani is the epitome of the gothic woman in that movie. The Dawn of the Dead remake was good too, although the remake of Day of the Dead was appalling.

another good remake(?) was Argento's Phantom of the Opera, but that musical version that plays on Lifetime is awful...

Damn - I always forget that Carpenter's The Thing was a remake. I like that way more than the original.

And 3:10 to Yuma wasn't bad, but the original just smokes it. Glenn Ford and Van Heflin (one of the most underrated actors ever, IMO) are both awesome.

Scarface was good and was loosely based on the 30's version.

Just putting it into lamens terms. Some of the younger guys might not recognize the terminology.

Yeah, pretty much everyone does. The rare example of a remake that was better than the original, or at least as good. Good call.

I read that there's a remake of Hitchcock's "The Birds" in the works. Can't be done. Using allegedly more realistic CGI birds won't make it a worthwhile film. It has to be Hitch ... there's a lot more to that film than the story on the surface, and I don't trust current Hollywood to get that right.

I guess you could say that "The Wizard of Oz" with Judy Garland was a remake, superior to the original silent version.

Judging from the preview and the casting, the forthcoming remake of "The Day the Earth Stood Still" looks totally disposable.

I find it very odd when movies from my lifetime are remade. It seems almost that people don't have ideas for anything new or original, although Ricky had a good point with the 'pre-existing market' reasoning there. I'm of the opinion 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'...