Your Rules for Movie-Going

[Bogey]

They should have left these alone:

The Day the Earth Stood Still
Planet of the Apes
Godzilla (any of the remakes)
Psycho

[Sergeant Rock]

They should have left these alone:

The Day the Earth Stood Still
Planet of the Apes
Godzilla (any of the remakes)
Psycho

Agree...except for Psycho IV: The Beginning. The reason: Olivia Hussey 

Sarge

[Ken B]

They should have left these alone:

The Day the Earth Stood Still
Planet of the Apes
Godzilla (any of the remakes)
Psycho

Bad remakes are common. Great ones are rare. My nomination for best remake: The Maltese Falcon

I much prefered the second True Grit, and the second Ocean's Eleven ( sorry, Bill).

[Bogey]

Bad remakes are common. Great ones are rare. My nomination for best remake: The Maltese Falcon

I much prefered the second True Grit, and the second Ocean's Eleven ( sorry, Bill).

No worries.

Best remake for me is probably TheThomas Crown Affair

[Rinaldo]

They should have left these alone:

Planet of the Apes

The new ones (Dawn and Rise) are actually very solid efforts, close to reaching a truly great status.

Best remakes: The Thing and Scarface.

[Sergeant Rock]

Agree...except for Psycho IV: The Beginning. The reason: Olivia Hussey 

Sarge

Actually, Psycho IV is a sequel, or prequel, not a remake. So it doesn't count. Sorry.

Sarge

[Bogey]

The new ones (Dawn and Rise) are actually very solid efforts, close to reaching a truly great status.

Best remakes: The Thing and Scarface.

Oh, man!   I love all of those in their original forms more so.  (However, to be fair, I need to give the new Ape run another look.) 

Actually, Ken is right about the Maltese, but I refuse to accept the existence of the previous.

[Karl Henning]

Actually, Ken is right about the Maltese

He is, though one could argue that you need to be a fetishist to know that it was not the original   0:)   

[Rinaldo]

Unrelated but I had to share this:

It's a Mad Mad Mad Max Fury Road

[Cato]

Unrelated but I had to share this:

It's a Mad Mad Mad Max Fury Road

More nostalgia: I saw It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (in Cinerama) several times: Dick Shawn, Jonathan Winters, great car chases with late '50's early '60's vehicles, and who can resist watching Terry-Thomas and Milton Berle hold Ethel  Merman upside down to shake loose something from her...balloons? 

Terry-Thomas Rule: anything with him must be halfway decent!   

[Ken B]

No worries.

Best remake for me is probably TheThomas Crown Affair

Yes, that's much better in the remake too. You want to remake interesting but failed movies.

[Cato]

They should have left these alone:

The Day the Earth Stood Still
Planet of the Apes
Godzilla (any of the remakes)
Psycho

Amen to those!

Bad remakes are common. Great ones are rare. My nomination for best remake: The Maltese Falcon

I much preferred ... the second Ocean's Eleven ( sorry, Bill).

Amen to those also!

The Thomas Crowne Affair

Yes, that's much better in the remake too. You want to remake interesting but failed movies.

Thanks for the recommendation.

[James]

Godzilla (any of the remakes)

The one from last year was pretty good, these kind of movies really need the visuals to pay off .. it is vastly superior to the now silly looking original ..

In fact, a lot of old horror and sci-fi pictures are prime ground for remakes given the advances within the medium of visual storytelling (movies) ..but as with ANYTHING it all depends on who's involved.

[mc ukrneal]

The new ones (Dawn and Rise) are actually very solid efforts, close to reaching a truly great status.

Best remakes: The Thing and Scarface.

I think I'd go with the Fly.

[James]

The Fly.

[Karl Henning]

Best remakes: The Thing and Scarface.

I've seen the remakes, and applaud them both, though they are not close to my cinematic heart.  I suppose I am too casual a cinephile to seek out the originals.

Two re-makes which I like just as well as the originals (I think too well of the originals to say better) are The In Laws — updated with heart, different-but-not-inimical tone, the family members become a more interesting part of the ensemble — and The Manchurian Candidate.

[Bogey]

How about the attempt for the Avengers' television show to the big screen.  That was dreadful IMO.

[Karl Henning]

How about the attempt for the Avengers' television show to the big screen.  That was dreadful IMO.

I've not seen it, nor have any plans to . . . .

[Cato]

How about the attempt for the Avengers' television show to the big screen.  That was dreadful IMO.

I've not seen it, not have any plans to . . . .

Not even a 4 out of 10 on IMDB:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118661/

From one of the reviews there:

..."The Avengers" is one of the flattest movies to come down the pike in a long time...


As for the writing, well.... I think (despite the credits) they actually gave the job to a couple of public school lads who rather thought that they were being clever.

Following the rule that making a movie from a TV show is a dangerous undertaking.

Vice-versa: Limitless is being turned into a series for CBS.  The premise has been turned into something really different (ha-ha): an FBI-adviser crime show.   

[Karl Henning]

As for the writing, well.... I think (despite the credits) they actually gave the job to a couple of public school lads who rather thought that they were being clever.

Tangentially, the closing credits of Live Free or Die Hard list a team of 10 (count 'em!) orchestrators.  (Masha commented to the effect of, What is there, five minutes of music?)  Okay, I get that Composition for a Hollywood movie is Something a Bit Other, and I hear the insistence of others, that it needs to be taken on its own terms.

But it still gives me a belly-laugh, to find that 10 people were needed to do what any one reasonably talented musician is capable of.  Maybe it's just "cultural welfare," I dunno . . . .