TV/Movies Megathread

[The Minsky Moment]

Dinklage's issue with Snow White was that it was revived at all.  He thinks the depiction of the dwarves in the story is inherently stereotypical and offensive.  The CGI dwarves do not respond to his critique they make the matter worse. They are supposed to be 275 year old sophisticated metallurgists but act like unruly children that need to be Mary Poppinsed by a 17 year old girl.

I don't agree that the story is completely unsalvageable, but it would require some heavy revisionism, more even than the one that came out with Kristen Stewart and whole McShane/Winstone/etc. crowd a few years back.  That isn't how Disney rolls.  The approach seems to be very similar to the redos and Beauty of the Beast and the Litle Mermaid = cast a spunky post-femininst lead but otherwise hew as closely as possible to the animated version.  The result is a bizzaro mashup of live actors with animatronic-like critters and birdies and animated dwarves dutifully recycling their warhorse musical number from the 40s, because after all, Disney got to fill the seats on their Magic Kingdom Mine Train.  Oex is right, they would have been better off doing a far more thorough redo as a straight animated film.

[frunk]

It also violates one of the principles of movie remakes.  Don't try to remake good movies, remake bad ones.  Good movie remakes are only asking for unfavorable comparisons and have a tougher time even reaching the bar of the previous.

[Sophie Scholl]

It also violates one of the principles of movie remakes.  Don't try to remake good movies, remake bad ones.  Good movie remakes are only asking for unfavorable comparisons and have a tougher time even reaching the bar of the previous.

There are a few where it works well (Scarface, A Star is Born, The Departed, Magnificent Seven, The Mummy, and the Fly for example), but they are pretty few and far between. The odds of them being mediocre or bad are much, much higher, though. I'm still more than a little mind-blown that Barb Wire is a Casablanca remake for example. 

[Valmy]

The approach seems to be very similar to the redos and Beauty of the Beast and the Litle Mermaid = cast a spunky post-femininst lead but otherwise hew as closely as possible to the animated version.

I just remember watching the Disney Live Action remake of Cinderella a decade ago, so long ago I didn't realize they were trying to do a live action remake. I just thought I was watching another version of the story.

Anyway I remember thinking that if Cinderella is this adult, able, feminist woman instead of a meek abused teenage girl the story doesn't even make sense.

[Syt]

There's also the blurry area of remake vs re-adaptation. Some remakes are pretty clear - e.g. Michael Haneke's Funny Games that he made in German and then again in English, or that shot for shot remake of Psycho.

On the other end of the spectrum you have movies based on the same source material but interpreting it differently. I'd struggle to call Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet a remake of Lawrence Olivier's Hamlet. Similar with Last Man on Earth vs. Omega Man vs. I am Legend, all adapted from the same book.

But there's obviously a lot of blurry territory between both ends of the spectrum.

[Admiral Yi]

I very much enjoyed the Coen brothers remake of True Grit.

[celedhring]

There's also the blurry area of remake vs re-adaptation. Some remakes are pretty clear - e.g. Michael Haneke's Funny Games that he made in German and then again in English, or that shot for shot remake of Psycho.

On the other end of the spectrum you have movies based on the same source material but interpreting it differently. I'd struggle to call Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet a remake of Lawrence Olivier's Hamlet. Similar with Last Man on Earth vs. Omega Man vs. I am Legend, all adapted from the same book.

But there's obviously a lot of blurry territory between both ends of the spectrum.

Not a remake, but my favorite case of this is Dr Sleep. Adapted from the Stephen King book, but that Warner tried to have it both ways by making it look as much as possible as a sequel to Kubrick's The Shining (which King famously hated) by adding numerous fanservicey scenes and callbacks.

And it's not a terrible film, if I must say. All the stuff lifted from the Kubrick movie is what I find the least interesting, though.

[Syt]

Coming towards the end of S5 of Superstore. I got way too invested in the saga of Sandra/Jerry/Carol 

Also ... very woke show, between ICE rates, corporate shenanigans, the exploitation of minimum wage workers, and the slow death of retail.

Dean Norris as Dina's dad - great choice.

Also just watched an episode with Tawny Newsome (Becket Mariner in Star Trek Lower Decks) and was shocked how much taller she looks than America Ferrera (Amy). Turns out Ferrera is 5'1 (155cm) while Newsome is 5'10 (177cm)

[Josquius]

Yes, Ferrera is basically a dwarf though they often seem to hide this

[Duque de Bragança]

Sorcerer or The Thing, remakes or new adaptations? It's not like we call every new Three Musketeers of Count of Monte-Cristo adaptation a remake.

Regarding Barb Wire, it is a remake of sorts but somewhat well-hidden. 

[Syt]

Yes, Ferrera is basically a dwarf though they often seem to hide this

I had seen Newsome in live action, but was still surprised how tall she is. I guess when she was on Strange New worlds it was a bit disguised by Jack Quaid (Boimler) and Anson Mount (Pike) both being 185cm tall

[Sheilbh]

There's also the blurry area of remake vs re-adaptation. Some remakes are pretty clear - e.g. Michael Haneke's Funny Games that he made in German and then again in English, or that shot for shot remake of Psycho.

Love these two radically different results too. I think Haneke's remake really works and delivers something from doing it as a remake.

On the other hand Psycho has occasional moments where it really works and you can see something again - but is generally irredeemably crap (And I think casting Vince Vaughan as Norman Bates is the weirdest casting decision I've ever seen and makes me wonder if anyone involved had even seen the original...)

But there's obviously a lot of blurry territory between both ends of the spectrum.

Yeah - I did my dissertation on exactly this sort of thing, in particular a translated volume of poetry as being actually primarily "creative" rather than recreative of the original.

[celedhring]

Yeah - I did my dissertation on exactly this sort of thing, in particular a translated volume of poetry as being actually primarily "creative" rather than recreative of the original.

From a legal standpoint translated literary works are considered creative works on their own (i.e. they generate authorship rights and IP). At least over here (and I guess the entire EU).

[HVC]

Yeah - I did my dissertation on exactly this sort of thing, in particular a translated volume of poetry as being actually primarily "creative" rather than recreative of the original.

From a legal standpoint translated literary works are considered creative works on their own (i.e. they generate authorship rights and IP). At least over here (and I guess the entire EU).

So if you translate a text into Spanish that was previous translated from Spanish to another language can you co-opt the IP right? 

[Sheilbh]

From a legal standpoint translated literary works are considered creative works on their own (i.e. they generate authorship rights and IP). At least over here (and I guess the entire EU).

Yeah legally they're related but separate. So the translator has the IP in the translation, the original author has the IP right to translation (for commercial ends at least).

Translated literature normally includes acquiring the right to translate into x language and then also acquiring the rights in the translation produced by a translator. That also helps protect, say, a small indie acquiring all that and finding it does well only for Penguin to launch their own translation.