Film remakes: do they ever succeed?

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Originally Posted by danthepoetman

I agree with you guys, that the second version of "The Thing", by really fun director John Carpenter, was fabulous. Very good little sci fi flick, full of suspense, horror and surprises.
John Carpenter is a master of the genre. He's the one who also directed films like "Escape from New York", with Kurt Russell, "The Fog", the original "Halloween", "They Live", "Vampires" with James Woods, the remake of "Village of the Damns" with Christopher Reeves and a bunch of other good little sci fi and fantastic movies. And if you don't, you'll be interrested to know, Ryder, that the guy does his own music! He composes musical scores that are always perfect for the action of his films.

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Originally Posted by maxpower

Ryder, I think you and Mr. Blonde are talking about two different things, maybe? My interpretation is that he is referring to the Matt Damon version being better than the old version with Richard Chamberlain, and that you mean the remake from last year was not as good as the Matt Damon version. Is that right? I would also agree with both of those assessments.

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oic. I wasnt aware the Matt Damon Version was a remake. Thanks for clearing that up or me . :)

I'm in the anti-remake group, but ironically, I'm one of the few people who enjoyed the remakes to Get Carter, Halloween, Clash Of The Titans, and Total Recall. RoboCop also looks good.

I loved the remake of Total Recall, but they should have named it differently. If all you are going to take from a movie is one part of the story (memory loss in this case) then you aren't really remaking the film, you're just slapping the name on something else for quick recognition. Clash of the Titans did the same thing, although it wasn't very good and it was based on a not so good original. I still love the original though.

in my opinion, the US version of Insomnia sucks big time in comparison to the Norwegian original.

Best remake ever imho was Howard Hawks' 1940 film His Girl Friday starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell remake of the 1931 movie The Front Page (which in turn was based on the broadway show). There have been several subsequent remakes, all of which are pale shadows of Hawks' movie.

Fully agree on His Girl Friday - its the example I always use in the remake debate

The Italian Job the maybe?

i can think of some successful remakes;

king kong 2005,...the fly 1986...oldboy 2013....inglorious basterds 2009...

dawn of the dead 2004...the departed 2006...the blob 1984

the mummy 1999...the nutty professor 1996

planet of the apes 2001...village of the damned 1995....willard 2003

the wolfman 2010

Curious choices -Oldboy has received some of the worst reviews of Spike Lee's career so far, I don't think anyone cares enough about film to rate The Blob before or after, but I must admit I didn't know Inglourious Basterds was a re-make and had to look it up. I saw the re-make once and can't remember much about it except that most of the characters in it appeared and disappeared along with my interest, but the first version might be worth seeing. Tarantino, like Spike Lee, is one of the most over-rated directors of recent years. Tarantino never got beyond Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, and Spike Lee has only made one watchable film, Inside Man (2006).

Quel maledetto treno blindato (1978) - IMDb

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Originally Posted by Stavros

Curious choices -Oldboy has received some of the worst reviews of Spike Lee's career so far, I don't think anyone cares enough about film to rate The Blob before or after, but I must admit I didn't know Inglourious Basterds was a re-make and had to look it up. I saw the re-make once and can't remember much about it except that most of the characters in it appeared and disappeared along with my interest, but the first version might be worth seeing. Tarantino, like Spike Lee, is one of the most over-rated directors of recent years. Tarantino never got beyond Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, and Spike Lee has only made one watchable film, Inside Man (2006).

Quel maledetto treno blindato (1978) - IMDb

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.depends on what is one's like. Cuz i've heard far too many people rave about Tarantino's D'Jango Unchained ,..as well as Kill Bill.
If i depended upon reviews,then there would have been a ton of guilty pleasure movies i would missed out on.
BTW, i enjoyed Spike's Oldboy more than the original.