Best. Remake. Ever!!!

[PunditLisa]

I'm cheating because I didn't see the original Last of the Mohicans movie, but I READ that the remake was better.

[dantheman]

Could we get a remake of the OP? :D

[sirtonyh]

The recent Oceans 11 remake is way better than the original

The Thomas Crown Affair remake is probably as good as the original although Pierce Brosnan lacks Steve McQueens charisma.

The Magnificent Seven is a remake of Seven Samurai and although it isn't really better, it is still pretty damn good.

Heat is a remake (with far bigger budget) of an earlier Michael Mann movie (I forget the title) and is far better.

And this probably doesn't count but Evil Dead II is pretty much a remake of the first one and is far better.

[CalMeacham]

A lot of people seem to thin that His Girl Friday was far superior to the original The Front Page (as well as to subsequent remakes). I still kinda like the original, though.


Most remakes of early silent films are superior -- with much greater running length, a greater commitment to following the original story, and the addition of sound (although some will dispute that), you usuually got better flicks. I haven't seen The Sea Beast, but Moby Dick with a happy ending (!) just sounds weird -- and the John Huston/Ray Bradbury/Richard Basehart version was GREAT. Similarly, I'll take the 1931 Frankenstein or Kenneth Branuagh's version over the 1910 version, or Cecil B. deMille's 1956 version of The Ten Commandments over his 1923 version.

[CalMeacham]

And damn, how could I forget that the third version of The Maltese Falcom easily trumps the two earlier ones, or how the 1939 Wizard of Oz is far superior to Larry Semon's silent version (and, I think, the Baum versions as well).

[li'l Dickie Dirtz]

Most critics prefer Hitchcock's second take on The Man Who Knew Too Much to his first, I believe.

[norinew]

Stephen King's The Shining, that was made for TV, was magnitudes better than the Kubrick version.

[msmith537]

Originally posted by norinew
Stephen King's The Shining, that was made for TV, was magnitudes better than the Kubrick version. [/B]


Are you kidding?

[RickJay]

Some of the mentioned films I would place on my list.

Incidentally, take a look at this poster (http://www.blackstar.co.uk/video/item/7000000056314) for "L.A. Takedown" - the word "heat" on the poster appears the saem as it does on the posters for ""Heat."

"Red Dragon" was just as good, IMHO, as "Manhunter." In the context of remakes, "just as good" is awesome.

"The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" was a wonderful movie, and we can safely expect the sequels will be just as good. The Ralph Bakshi animated version makes Baby Jesus cry.

"Insomnia" was every bit as good as its Norwegian predecessor, and maybe a little better.

[Firebat023]

I'm glad to see that someone besides myself, norinew, believes about the Shining.
The first one wasn't even remotely close to the book (Hallorann dies!), and nothing bothers me as much as a director/writer screwing over a writer's vision.

[norinew]

msmith, no I'm not kidding! My biggest problem with Kubrik's is Jack NIcholson. Now, I like Jack Nicholson for some things, but he just wasn't right for this movie. In the movie, the character is supposed to start off okay, then get crazier and crazier as he is slowly possessed by the hotel. Nicholson looks WAY nuts right from the start. . .we don't get that sense of him "losing it" so much as that he "lost" it long ago! Also, Shelley Duvall is so pathethic, right from the beginning, that I felt absolutely no regret when he killed her.

[Ethilrist]

John Carpenter's The Thing works way better for me than the original Thing from Another World.
I was going to say that The Three Musketeers by Richard Lester was better than the 1948 version with Gene Kelly, but upon searching the IMDB I found out that there are about ninety versions of this movie out there, and I've only seen three of them, so that renders my opinion suspect...

[lost4life]

Originally posted by norinew
Also, Shelley Duvall is so pathethic, right from the beginning, that I felt absolutely no regret when he killed her.

Ummm....he doesn't, does he?

[Bomzaway]

I have to agree with norinew, the TV version was closer to the book and quite good. I also agree with the statement that Nicholson didn't quite capture the role as it should have been and that the "Wings" guy played the "slowly-going-crazy" thing pretty well.

God knows, this is not to say that the original was bad. It still ranks extremely high on my list (mostly because of those twins...yikes!) but the TV miniseries was amazingly excellent and I think deserves the nod over the original. Believe me, this goes against all my instincts to rank a made-for-TV miniseries over a Stanley Kubrik classic, but it really was darn good.


BTW, Shelley Duvall is not killed at the end of the original.

[norinew]

Ooops, sorry! You're right, he doesn't kill her. But that scene where he hacks through the door saying "heeeeeeeere's Johnny", I didn't care whether or not he killed her. In fact, I cared so little, that I forgot he actually didn't :)
Mea Culpa

[Pythagras]

Originally posted by norinew
Stephen King's The Shining, that was made for TV, was magnitudes better than the Kubrick version.

Stephen King couldnt direct himself out of a 2 inch hole in the ground if his life depended on it.

[Charlie Tan]

nothing bothers me as much as a director/writer screwing over a writer's vision

Well, that's one opinion. Another is that the screen writer and/or director has a job and that is making a movie, using the book as inspiration.
If you want it like the book, read the book.

[Zebra]

norinew maybe, like me, you wished he killed her.


I think The Lion King is a little bit better than Bambi.

[Lute Skywatcher]

The Shining (http://us.imdb.com/Details?0081505) and The Shining (http://us.imdb.com/Details?0118460) are different, but pretty equal, movies.

The first is essentially about a guy who goes nuts, the second about a guy who falls off the wagon.


Pythagras, the miniseries was directed by Mick Garris (http://us.imdb.com/Name?Garris,%20Mick), not the author.

[Lute Skywatcher]

BTW: I've come to expect that movie versions of King stories to be different from the printed version. Some will be missing important characters (Christine), marginally different (Kubrick's The Shining), or totally different (The Lawnmower Man). Of course, there are exceptions (The Green Mile and a few others).

[Miller]

I think The Shining miniseries is a textbook example of why fidelity to the source material is not always a good thing. The TV version got all the plot details right, but forgot the scary. Kubrick's version changed a lot of the plot, but got the most important thing right: it was actually frightening. Moreso, IMO, than the novel.

Also, I really wanted to punch the grown-up future Danny in the face. I think because he looked like that kid who used to hawk Encyclopedia Britannica on TV.

[norinew]

Well, if you don't mind a slight hijack, I could say that the novel of The Shining scared the piss out of me!! I was only 16 or so when I read it; just when I was reading the part about the topiary hedges coming to life, my aunt snuck into the room I was in, and tickled the sole of my bare foot!! OMG! There was almost a hole in the ceiling!!
And you're right, Zebra. I do kinda wish he'd killed her.

[elfkin477]

I agree about the Shining mini-series being better. The orginal is a good enough movie, but a poor adaptation. It views like Kubrick didn't read the book, but read a few book reports on it before writing the script.

And since I'm in a blaphemous mood... the House On Haunted Hill remake is much better than the Vincent Price version. Don't get me wrong, I love VP, but the orginal movie is rather unscary and not much of a mystery either.

[PatrickM]

I'd say "Heaven Can Wait" with Warren Beatty was better than "Here Comes Mr. Jordan."

[Tapioca Dextrin]

How about Evil Dead II which was more or less a remake of Evil Dead. And the same for Tetsuo I and II

[norinew]

Well, if we're gonna go down that road, you could include Jurassic Park II, except that, while it is essentially a remake, it's not a GOOD remake.

[Sampiro]

I'm not a great fan of Charlton Heston, but the TV remake of A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS in which he starred was in many ways better than the original, thanks in large part to the readdition of "The Common Man" character played by the late great British everyman, Roy Kinnear. Perfect would have been Paul Scofield starring in the remake.
The motion picture THE ADDAMS FAMILY left the TV version, which was classic, in the dust.
One of my favorite films is THE LION IN WINTER, starring Katherine Hepburn & Peter O'Toole. It is currently being remade for Showtime starring Patrick Stewart and Glenn Close. He's a great choice, she ain't, but the film really doesn't need a remake to begin with. (OTOH, it does have a seduction scene between King Philip and Richard Lionheart (Timothy Dalton and Anthony Hopkins in the original), and Showtime feels honor bound to produce anything with a gay theme, so...