TV/Movies Megathread

[Valmy]

I don't know why they keep remaking successful movies with worse movies. I know the answer is money but still...you can still make money with good art and it doesn't cost any more than bad art.

[Josquius]

Mulan- they're so dedicated to the Chinese movie aesthetic they even made sure the special effects looked suitably  awful. Meh.

I thought it looked horrid in the previews but damn this Chinese youtuber, who really liked the animated film and the original poem, really rips the shit out of this remake:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZccG-wtt5FA

Ah interesting. I follow this guys videos but haven't seen this one yet. Shall give it a watch.
Apparently Chinese reaction is universally hostile. Chi as basically just the force was daft.

[Barrister]

I don't know why they keep remaking successful movies with worse movies. I know the answer is money but still...you can still make money with good art and it doesn't cost any more than bad art.

Well there have been some very good remakes out there... but you have to bring something new or different to the table.  Too many remakes these days are just trying to cash in on a known franchise.

[Sheilbh]

Also Mulan involved four state media/propaganda departments in Xinjiang and was partially filmed there which is sub-obtimal from Disney

[grumbler]

Well there have been some very good remakes out there... but you have to bring something new or different to the table.  Too many remakes these days are just trying to cash in on a known franchise.

There have?  I'm struggling to think of any.  There have been some okay remakes, but John Carpenter's The Thing is the only remake that immediately springs to mind as better than the original movie.

[Josquius]

Bodysnatchers
Scarface
True Grit
12 Monkeys (does it count?)
Probably quite a few from the silent era and the decades after

[The Larch]

Well there have been some very good remakes out there... but you have to bring something new or different to the table.  Too many remakes these days are just trying to cash in on a known franchise.

There have?  I'm struggling to think of any.  There have been some okay remakes, but John Carpenter's The Thing is the only remake that immediately springs to mind as better than the original movie.

Scarface, Ben Hur, Quo Vadis, The Magnificent Seven, A Fistful of Dollars, Ocean's Eleven, The Producers, Solaris, A Star is Born, True Grit, The Wizard of Oz, Cape Fear, The Departed, The Fly, The Last of the Mohicans, The Maltese Falcon...

[grumbler]

Well there have been some very good remakes out there... but you have to bring something new or different to the table.  Too many remakes these days are just trying to cash in on a known franchise.

There have?  I'm struggling to think of any.  There have been some okay remakes, but John Carpenter's The Thing is the only remake that immediately springs to mind as better than the original movie.

Scarface, Ben Hur, Quo Vadis, The Magnificent Seven, A Fistful of Dollars, Ocean's Eleven, The Producers, Solaris, A Star is Born, True Grit, The Wizard of Oz, Cape Fear, The Departed, The Fly, The Last of the Mohicans, The Maltese Falcon...

Exactly.  I can't think of a single remake of those movies that was better than the original.  The "remake" of True Grit was about as good as the original, but such a different movie that I don't consider it a remake, even if it has the same title.  I've never seen the original 1936 The Last of the Mohicans so reserve judgement on that one.  The new Ocean's Eleven isn't even in the same league as the 60s Rat Pack version.  it's a pleasant enough movie, but not a classic like the original. 

I suppose one could argue that the '54 remake of A Star is Born is almost automatically an exception to the general rule (it has James Mason, so automatically gets preferential treatment in my book), but, again, I haven't seen the 1937 original.  Certainly none of the re-remakes of it can hold a candle to the 1954 version.

[Sheilbh]

I suppose one could argue that the '54 remake of A Star is Born is almost automatically an exception to the general rule (it has James Mason, so automatically gets preferential treatment in my book), but, again, I haven't seen the 1937 original.  Certainly none of the re-remakes of it can hold a candle to the 1954 version.

The seventies version was meant to have Elvis in the Kris Kristofferson role, but I think his management team got cold feet - which is a shame because that would've been amazing. And Elvis could act it would have been great to see him try that sort of role.

[frunk]

Airplane, Cape Fear, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Heat, Little Women

[Syt]

Question about The Thing: is it really a remake or is it a new adaptation/reinterpretation of the same story? I assume the line is blurry, but I would struggle to call Branagh's Hamlet a remake of previous movies based on the play, or Cruel Intentions a remake of Dangerous Liaisons.

(I'm aware that Carpenter is a fan of The Thing From Another World, which was more loosely based on Who Goes There? than The Thing was.)

[celedhring]

The Man Who Knew Too Much (Hitchock directed both versions so it's a bit of a weird one)
Body Snatchers (the 1978 version is superior imho)
The Fly
A load of Dracula movies are better than the 1930s version.
Village of the Damned
The Crazies
Casino Royale (easy one)
Little Shop of Horrors

Realise there's a lot of horror in my list. I suppose there's something to be said about talented directors like Carpenter and Cronenberg seeing promising concepts in forgotten B-movies and giving them an A-treatment.

Solaris,

I love you Larchie but I should end our friendship over this. That's an undefensible opinion 

[celedhring]

Question about The Thing: is it really a remake or is it a new adaptation/reinterpretation of the same story? I assume the line is blurry, but I would struggle to call Branagh's Hamlet a remake of previous movies based on the play, or Cruel Intentions a remake of Dangerous Liaisons.

(I'm aware that Carpenter is a fan of The Thing From Another World, which was more loosely based on Who Goes There? than The Thing was.)

If it's adapting the same story as the previous film, to me it's no different. The example is i.e. Dredd, where the last movie is vastly superior to the Stallone abortion of a film, but the films are telling different stories even if they are adapting the same character.

[Syt]

Speaking of horror, would Evil Dead 2 count as a higher budget remake of Evil Dead 1?

[celedhring]

Speaking of horror, would Evil Dead 2 count as a higher budget remake of Evil Dead 1?

Heh, you're probably right. It's more of a remake than the actual official remake was.