Pit me if you must, but the film Battlefield Earth was an improvement on the book of the same name. I’m not saying it was good, mind you, just gooder.
Song: *Hurt *by Johnny Cash. Not even a contest. Even Trent Reznor admits it.
Movie: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the original with Gene Wilder. We do not speak of the second one). The book by Roald Dahl was amazing, don’t get me wrong, but the movie was nearly perfect.
There are several silent “Wizard of Oz” flicks, notably a collection shorts made by L. Frank Baum’s own company, and the Larry Semon version that features Oliver Hardy (of Laurel and Hardy) as The Tin Woodsman.
Good one. And while we’re at it, In My Life by JC as well.
j
It’s better than the books, too.
(d&r)
As someone who almost always prefers the Asian original over the American remake (Infernal Affairs >> The Departed; any number of comedies, horrors, etc.), I will readily admit that the American remake of **The Ring **is better than the original Japanese Ringu.
Does Star Wars count as a remake of The Hidden Fortress?
I’d go with “inspired by.”
I’ll agree about Ocean’s 11.
The Stephen Sommers/Brendan Fraser version of The Mummy is a lot more fun to watch, I’ll grant you. and you can even say it’s “inspired by” the 1932 Boris Karloff film, but I hesitate to say it’s “better”. I’ll still watch the old Universal classic.
I’m rather fond of the Hammer version of The Mummy, with the caveat that it is not a remake of the Boris Karloff film, but rather the Tom Tyler/Lon Chaney Jr. series.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the television series, was far better than Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the movie.
About the ones making the Godfather movies: Mario Puzo was already a writer of novels, but he had no experience on screenwriting, however he was given the task to make the screenplays of his books:
The Mr. Belvedere TV show was much better than the Mr. Belvedere movies.
Yes. And no.
I’d say the David Cronenberg directed 1986 version of The Fly with Jeff Goldblum is better than 1958 version with Vincent Price.
I’d think *Captain America: The First Avenger *was better than the 1991 movie Captain America.
Song (in a reversal from above):
The Sound of Silence - Disturbed’s version is better than the Simon & Garfunkel original.
And another vote for Ocean’s Eleven. “They say taupe is very soothing.” is an oft-heard phrase in the Zakalwe household.
I agree on Ocean’s Eleven.
I also prefer William Friedkin’s Sorcerer (1977) to the French original * Le Salaire de la peur* (1953). The story is about four men who are down on their luck (really, really down on their luck) and living in a small, Central America village. 200 miles away an oil well has caught on fire, and the only way to put it out is with dynamite. Unfortunately, the dynamite has been improperly stored and the nitroglycerin has seeped out and become very unstable. The four men are hired to drive the explosives in two trucks through the jungle to the burning well. They will be well paid, if they survive.
The difference between the two films is a good study in when, and where, they were made. The original is rather existential. I don’t remember any backstory to explain how the men came to such desperate circumstances. The suspense sequences are shown more on the faces of the drivers than on what’s happening with the trucks and cargo. And when the end comes, it’s just a cruel trick of fate.
Action/suspense movies had changed a lot by the '70s. We see how the characters got to the point where a suicide mission was an attractive alternative. We see the trucks on crumbling mountain roads and rope bridges. And the end isn’t a surprise. Oh, and there’s a kickass soundtrack by Tangerine Dream.
Twelve covers better than the original (to my taste of course):
Carpenters - This masquerade (Leon Russell)
Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen)
kd lang - After the goldrush (Neil Young)
Manfred Mann’s Earth Band - Blinded by the light (Bruce Springsteen)
Matthews Southern Comfort - Woodstock (Joni Mitchell)
Natalie Imbruglia - Torn (Ednaswap)
Peter Gabriel - Suzanne (Leonard Cohen)
Roxy Music - Jealous guy (John Lennon)
Steven Wilson - The guitar lesson (Momus)
Sinead O’Connor - Nothing compares 2U (The Family)
This Mortal Coil - Song to the siren (Tim Buckley)
Tori Amos - Time (Tom Waits)
“A Scandal in Bohemia” has been adapted to the screen several times. The Jeremy Brett version in 1984 beat all its predecessors, and Benedict Cumberbatch’s freewheeling Sherlock adaptation beat even that.