How many not-a-remakes have been made of The Searchers?
I know these are all of a beloved time, but I never got the love for Enemy Mine. It just wasn’t that engaging. But Last Starfighter, sure (even though it can be seen as a thinly disguised Ender’s Game) and Dreamscape, absolutely. (Especially without the luscious but always edge-of-bitchy Kate Capshaw.) But include… Explorers on that list. Even the rat was named Heinlein.
Ghostbusters. The original was funny and goofy. The new one is just smirking and mugging.
*The Last Starfighter *was released in 1984, Ender’s Game was published in 1985.
Ocean’s Eleven may not have been necessary, but it’s excellent. From what I remember, the original Ocean’s 11 is pretty good, but I really should see it again.
I know but we’re post-cinema-Ender’s.
It was an abused trope. A friend wrote one of the first “game becomes reality” novels about then and as the series progressed over the years, he was continually fending off claims of copycattism-to-plagiarism. He could skewer a panel attendee from five hundred paces with exact publication and authorship info.
But the short story was published in 1977.
(ETA: Does that invalidate AB’s friend’s skewer?)
Obligatory mentions to John Carpenter’s The Thing and David Cronenberg’s The Fly. The originals are still worth watching, though, and have their own strengths.
If I’d want anything remade, it’s The Beast With a Million Eyes. The original is typical '50s B-movie schlock, but the screenplay had the blue prints for something far less frivolous.
I would disagree with you on this.
Seven Samurai and the two Magnificent Seven movies are about a group of people who are individually competent coming together for a cause. Battle Beyond the Stars apparently belongs in this genre (I haven’t see it).
But Three Amigos and A Bug’s Life are different. They’re about a group of incompetent people learning to become competent.
Another similar genre is the heist movie, where you’ve also got a group of people coming together. But in a heist movie, they’re looking to benefit themselves not helping some cause.
This film? Color me puzzled. That is, monochrome golden hued with a single red object.
The original Ocean’s 11 was superb. Really captured the feel of Rat Pack Vegas. It had one of the all time great closing credit sequences.
The remake was … what??? I’m not sure. Stupid and then some without any real style. Furthermore, it wasn’t really a remake. A whole 'nother film. Just call it something else with different character names and move on.
Seven Samurai is about poor citizens hiring a group of warriors to defend them against a recurrent gang of robbers.
The Magnificent Seven is about poor citizens hiring a group of warriors to defend them against a recurrent gang of robbers.
Battle Beyond the Stars is about poor citizens hiring a group of warriors to defend them against a recurrent gang of robbers.
Three Amigos is about poor citizens hiring a group of warriors to defend them against a recurrent gang of robbers.
A Bug’s Life is about poor citizens hiring a group of warriors to defend them against a recurrent gang of robbers.
The twist of Three Amigos was that the villagers doing the recruiting mistook actors for actual warriors. A Bug’s Life copied that from Three Amigos.
BTW, here is Battle Beyond the Stars.
+1 One of my guilty pleasures (along with Up the Creek) and, although I love the casting of Rick Moranis as the asshole manager, a different take on the subject would be welcomed.
Cronenberg’s take on The Fly went in a different direction from the Vincent Price version. “Be afraid. Be very afraid” is as enshrined in pop-culture as the original’s high pitched “Help meeee!” An excellent remake.
John Carpenter’s **The Thing **brought back the shapeshifting from Campbell’s short story, which really ramped up the paranoia. While I love the HowardHawks/Christian Nyby original, a super carrot can’t compete with a spider crab-legged head for giving the heeby-geebies.
All remakes of I Am Legend will be necessary until they finally get one right.
The premise of Plan 9 From Outer Space lends itself to being remade as a decent B-movie, especially as we’re still in the middle of a zombie craze. Aliens creating a zombie army to conquer Earth? It could work. Unfortunately, the title would thwart any attempt at being anything other than a campy spoof.
The remake of The Italian Job was, if not absolutely necessary, at least a new take on the idea, and a worthy addition to our movie-watching options.
In the world of TV, I think the new Hawaii Five-O is even better than the original version, and I loved the original version.
Oh, and I agree about The Fly and The Thing. Both did good jobs reinterpreting the pretty good originals.
Did anyone else think of the closing Buckaroo Banzai scene when watching that clip?
Which, by the way, doesn’t need a remake but sure needs a sequel
Unnecessary remakes: Anything by Tim Burton.
At the risk of being at risk, Star Trek: Into the Wrath of Kahn and Star Wars VI: A Newer Hope could really have benefited from more originality.
And what was wrong with the Vincent Price version?
The Brady Bunch movie was a hugely funny take on the TV series.
Charlie’s Angels, on the other hand, sucked.
Of all the sequels, Rise of Planet of the Apes was the best.
There have been two remakes of The Pit and the Pendulum, each worse than the last.
Oh, just thought of Spielberg’s War of the Worlds. Kinda felt like Tom Cruise had too much sway in the thing? I mean, goddamn, he’s the only person with the wherewithal to change the solenoids!? Jesus. And staying true to the original when the scientific reasoning is long-debunked, in a science fiction movie!?
The train scene was cool though.