Remake/Reboot/Sequel/Prequel Sound Off!

[Chop-Top]

With the nauseating amount of remakes, reboots, sequels and prequels that are being slung at us, here's your chance to express your love...or hate!

Good
Evil Dead 2 (1987)
Night of the Living Dead (1990)
Psycho (1998)
Dawn of the Dead (2004)
Batman Begins/The Dark Knight
Tron Legacy

Not Bad
Planet of the Apes (2001)
The Incredible Hulk (2008)
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

Total Crap
Hulk (2003)
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
Transformers (2007)
Halloween (2007)
Friday the 13th (2009)
Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)

[stewart boyle]

I thought the Halloween remake was well worth it..its never going to better the original,but if i was 10 years old and saw the remake first i would be pissing it...

Stew

[Disheveledamethyst]

I don't care what anybody says. Quentin Tarantino has my back on this one. My favorite remake and favorite movie of everything I've watched this year.

[Chop-Top]

I don't care what anybody says. Quentin Tarantino has my back on this one. My favorite remake and favorite movie of everything I've watched this year.

Is...Rob Zombie's Halloween?

EDIT: I see...Superman Returns (your link is was invisible for a sec).

[stewart boyle]

Is...Rob Zombie's Halloween?

Yup.

[Disheveledamethyst]

Is...Rob Zombie's Halloween?

EDIT: I see...Superman Returns (your link is invisible). I haven't seen that yet. Speaking of which, I need to add the 2006 version of Superman to the Total Crap list.

1. Sorry for the invisible picture. It shows up for me.
2. Superman Returns is the 2006 Superman film.
3. FUCK EVERYBODY I LOVE THIS MOVIE

[Chop-Top]

1. Sorry for the invisible picture. It shows up for me.
2. Superman Returns is the 2006 Superman film.
3. FUCK EVERYBODY I LOVE THIS MOVIE

You sound bitter. You must have been in arguments over that movie before. lol

[Disheveledamethyst]

You sound bitter. You must have been in arguments over that movie before. lol

Sort of, haha.

I'd never watched a Superman movie until this year. Then I watched Superman: The Movie, Superman II, Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut and Superman Returns. I finished Superman Returns and declared it a masterpiece in the highest regard I can hold as a film fan. After a bit of research (which I often do after I watch a movie - at the very least I read the Wiki article) I realized that Superman Returns was not really an acclaimed film. In fact, I seemed to find more people who hated it than people who loved it. I was stunned.

When I am asked to think of my "favorite movies" I always struggle to come up with a list. Before, I usually came up with Catch Me If You Can and Blade Runner: The Final Cut and then fumbled to come up with anything else that really stood out for me. After Superman Returns, I now come up with three movies without a moments hesitation.

[Chop-Top]

Sort of, haha.

I'd never watched a Superman movie until this year. Then I watched Superman: The Movie, Superman II, Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut and Superman Returns. I finished Superman Returns and declared it a masterpiece in the highest regard I can hold as a film fan. A bit of research (which I often do after I watch a movie - at the very least I read the Wiki article) I realized that Superman Returns was not really an acclaimed film. In fact, I seemed to find more people who hated it than people who loved it. I was stunned.

When I am asked to think of my "favorite movies" I always struggle to come up with a list. Before, I usually came up with Catch Me If You Can and Blade Runner: The Final Cut and then fumbled to come up with anything else that really stood out for me. After Superman Returns, I now come up with three without a moments hesitation.

I'm glad you liked it. I was really pumped for Superman Returns. I even saw it in Imax. What did the story in for me was "Superman vs Very Large Rock", "Superman vs Airliner", "Superman vs Falling Objects" and too much soap opera in between. This was in addition to be excited about Kevin Spacey portraying Lex Luther. But, just as Johnny Depp showed us, no matter how appropriate the actor and character match-up is, nothing is a guaranteed success.

[Disheveledamethyst]

I'm glad you like it. I was really pumped for Superman Returns. I even saw it in Imax. What did the story in for me was "Superman vs Very Large Rock" and too much soap opera.

I hear that a lot - and I understand that opinion. I was nine when X-Men came out in 2000, and since then Superhero movies are all the rage (this summer alone we had X-Men First Class, Green Lantern, Thor, and Captain America). I've seen most every superhero and comic book movie that's hit the screen since then, if not in the theatre then on DVD, and quite frankly I don't even like most of them. To my generation, the comic book film is the Western, and it's a genre I see imploding in the near future when the market is sick of four origin stories a summer and the same old arcs in a different color cape.

What I love about Superman Returns is that it's not like the other comic book movies I've grown up watching. It's hardly even an action movie. It's a drama, and one I found very moving. I could watch every Marvel Studios movie and watch the same movie a dozen times, but I haven't seen anything else like Superman Returns. I wept at the end of that movie. Even watching it post-Dark Knight, I've never enjoyed or identified with a superhero as much as Bryan Singer's presentation of Superman.

That is to say, I confess to knocking up a reporter and then disappearing for five years.

[Chop-Top]

That is to say, I confess to knocking up a reporter and then disappearing for five years.

"Clark, why'd you leave me?" "But you LEFT me Clark!" "Clark, you fucking asshole, you USED me for tang!" This is what I remember. lol

[stewart boyle]

Just had a look through IMDB must see upcoming movies..the ones that caught my eye where,
Cleopatra(Fincher/Jolie),
Kill Bill Vol3,
Westworld(Russel Crowe)
Robopaclypse(Spielberg)
A Star Is Born(Eastwood/Beyonce)
The Raven(John Cusak)
Die Hard 5:Police Academy(kidding)

Stew

[jayn_j]

Nothing new.  Back in the '50s we used to plunk down our dimes and quarters to see Flash Gordon, Superman, Zorro, Batman, etc.  Usually serialized in 13 episodes and several different ones in a single Saturday.  New stuff has better effects and has far better characterizations, but I kinda miss that anticipation of wondering for an entire week how he was going to stop the train in time.

[Lebowski]

X-Men: First Class was one of those rare prequels/sequels that faaaarrrr out-shined the originals.

[Gimpy]

Wow Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes is in the "not bad" category instead of it's own "absolutely effin terrible trash heap" category. I have no words ...to....describe this thread....wow.

[Disheveledamethyst]

Coming back to this thread, I'd also like to throw in that I completely disagree on the inclusion of Psycho and Tron Legacy on the "Good List". Particularly Psycho, which is viewed pretty unanimously as one of the biggest failed experiments in modern filmography. Even by the director.

[eatbrie]

Great topic.

This is my remakes only list.  Not sequel, or prequel.  I probably forgot a bunch of stuff.

I didn't list remakes of movies based on books, which are essentially remakes of books (Jane Eyre, Romeo and Juliet, Lolita, Dangerous Liaisons) and movies based on movies based on true events (Joan of Ark).

Awesome
Carpenter's The Thing
De Palma's Scarface
Coen's True Grit

Great
Cronenberg's The Fly
Coppola's Dracula
Cameron's True Lies
Tarantino's Pulp Fiction (a remake of everything)
McTiernan's The Thomas Crown Affair
Nolan's Batman Begins

Good
Rafelson's The Postman Always Rings Twice
Schrader's Cat People
Spielberg, Landis, Dante, Miller's The Twilight Zone
Scorsese's Cape Fear
Armstrong's Little Women
Badham's Point of No Return
Soderbergh's Ocean's Eleven
Crowe's Vanilla Sky
Gray's The Italian Job
Waters' Freaky Friday
Demme's Manchurian Candidate
Abrams' Star Trek
Wyatt's Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Okay
Amiel's Sommersby
McBride's Breathless
Oz's Little Shop of Horrors
Reynold's Robin Hood
Chechik's Diabolique
Singleton's Shaft
Shadyac's Nutty Professor
Collet-Serra's House of Wax
Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Jackson's King Kong
Moore's The Omen
Zaillian's All the King's Men
Leterrier's The Incredible Hulk
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Aja's The Hills Have Eyes
Mangold's 3:10 to Yuma
Scott's The Taking of Pelham 123
Scott's Robin Hood
Zwart's The Karate Kid

Crap
Burton's Planet of the Apes
Brill's Mr. Deeds
Richet's Assault on Precinct 13
Douglas' Amityville Horror
West's When a Stranger Calls
Levy's The Pink Panther
Singer's Superman Returns
Zombie's Halloween
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Nispel's Friday the 13th
Iliadis' The Last House on the Left
Zombie's Halloween 2
Johnston's The Wolfman
Leterrier's Clash of the Titans (3D)
Bayer's Nightmare on Elm Street
Antal's Predators
Turteltaub's The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Roach's Dinner for Schmucks
Aja's Piranha 3D
Reeves' Let Me In

Total absolute crap
Van Sant's Psycho
Wainwright's The Fog
Winer's Arthur

Opening soon
Footloose
Conan
Fright Night

[Bruce]

Great list, but you rated Burton's Planet of the Apes way too high!

Bruce

[jayn_j]

when you rate a remake, are you comparing it to the original, or to movies in general?  I find that most remakes cannot stand up to the original.

Examples
Twelve Angry Men.  The remake was OK, but the original was a masterpiece.
The Italian Job:  remake sucked on all levels.
Willy Wonka/Charlie:  Thought the remake was better than the (quite good) original.

[DreamWarrior]

Yup.

Same here

[eatbrie]

Great list, but you rated Burton's Planet of the Apes way too high!

Bruce

You may be right, Bruce.  That was one pretty horrible flick.  But I still can't put it in the same category than Vince Vaughn great Anthony Perkins impersonation. 

[Bruce]

I thought Burton could do no wrong (at least all his stuff was super interesting) and then I saw his POTA and was SHOCKED by how bad and unoriginal it was.

Bruce

[ddilts399]

Disagree button has been pushed:

Crap
Zombie's Halloween
The Last House on the Left
Zombie's Halloween 2

The original Last House I thought was an unwatchable film. Zombies Halloweens I thought sucked when I first watched them, upon repeated viewing I get it and actually like the films.

Superman Returns, I have to say is the worst comic based film ever created, does not follow the mythology of the character, and spirals the franchise directly into the ground. Besides, everyone knows if Clark and Lois were ever be together he would blow her insides out!

I am starting to think maybe you have a man crush on Routh.  

[DreamWarrior]

Bayer's Nightmare on Elm Street
Antal's Predators

These two still make me want to kick babies

[Disheveledamethyst]

Superman Returns, I have to say is the worst comic based film ever created, does not follow the mythology of the character, and spirals the franchise directly into the ground. Besides, everyone knows if Clark and Lois were ever be together he would blow her insides out!

I am starting to think maybe you have a man crush on Routh.  

1. Clark and Lois have sex in Superman II, so if you are unhappy with that plot point, you can attribute it to another movie entirely.

2. Superman Returns never attempted to follow comic book mythology, it was a continuation of the mythology set-up and contained in Superman I and II. Bryan Singer has stated plenty of times that he wasn't a comic book fan, but he was a fan of the movies, and so you cannot identify the Superman comic books as the source material for Superman Returns. Despite the seemingly commonly-held belief, comic book movies do not have to be panel-to-frame translations of the story. Nobody criticizes Jaws for not sticking to the book, or The Thing for not sticking to The Thing from Outer Space, or There Will Be Blood for not sticking to "Oil!". Comic book movies have no obligation to honor the source material like a bible. When that happens, you get Kenneth Branaugh's Thor.

3. There are plenty of worse comic book movies and you know it. Did you see Green Lantern? Thor? Batman Forever/Batman and Robin? Whether you enjoyed it or not, structurally and thematically speaking Superman Returns is very ambitious and, at least in my opinion, very successful in being more than just a comic book movie, a label which it cannot seem to escape.

I mean, this is Superman we're talking about. Superman is not a comic book character any more. Superman is an icon. He is so ingrained into world culture that source material at this point is kaput. People don't know the flightless Superman that was introduced in Action Comics. People know Superman from the recurring Seinfeld jokes, the teen soap, the Donner films, Nietzsche's theory of superiority, etc. Superman can be interpreted and portrayed however you want. Which is why we have Lois and Clark and Smallville. Which is why we have the costume design in Godspell. Which is why we have Superman killing people in Justice League and Batman killing Superman in The Dark Knight Returns.

And besides, comic book mythology hardly even exists past the first issue.

EDIT: And I will say again, Superman Returns was an ending. It was not a franchise starter. It was not some TV serial that can't have any impact on the overall story because it's supposed to go on forever. Regardless of the studio's plans, Singer's plans for Superman was to end what he perceived as a trilogy. Just like Nolan will end Batman in The Dark Knight Rises. I can't wait to hear the criticism of there being no sequel set-up and the series is dead because Bruce Wayne winds up in a wheel chair.

Although, I guess since it "happened in the comics", it's perfectly okay. But God forbid you make a major character change that didn't.