movies: which would you re-make? and more...

[cthomer5000]

I just happened to be on a real movie kick when Chief Rum started his My Personal Top Ten Movies thread. I always find that with movies (much more than music, IMO) this spurs some really interesting discussion about what people do or don't like in a movie.

I enjoy seeing movies, and watch plenty of them, often against my better judgement. If I think there is a chance something might be good, I'll usually see it, even If I know in my heart of hearts it's going to be pure crap. It's usally when I'm watching a bad movie that I'll immediately decided what I think should have been done differently. Although sometimes I can even watch a movie I really enjoyed and think of how maybe it could have been improved, or just done differently.


Now imagine you've been hired by a hollywood studio, and finances are no issue. What movies would you remake?

or a slightly different question:

What are some movies you have seen where the beginning seemed promising, but by the end you were wondering "what the hell happened here?" How could the movie have been saved or improved?

[Ragone]

Unbreakable.. it needed to be longer..

[cthomer5000]

I'll start with a few answers of my own.

What would I remake?

As much as i really liked The Truman Show, I think this movie could be re-done at some point with a different spin. What if the audience doesn't know the central character is the star of a show? What if we figure out what's happened to him along with him? This would probably force the movie to take on a far more serious/chilling tone, but it'd be a pretty interesting "twist" for everyone when Truman realizes he is the unwitting lead in a TV show.

What the hell happened?

Dreamcatcher
I had a feeling this would suck, just like most of Stephen Kind adaptations. The first half-hour of the movie was great (IMO), and turned to shit (almost literally) the first time you see an alien. Having not read the book, I still have heard that much was changed from the book, including large parts relative to the end of the movie. At the very least this movie could have used some more steady direction. It went from interesting and well-directed, to poorly acted nonsense. The highlight of the movie for me was the conversation between the group of friends in the cabin, the topic being the "memory warehouse." The editing and acting were all perfect here.

Snake Eyes
It's interesting until the end of the boxing match, and gets progressively worse. The opening shot of the movie is brilliant, and appears to be one incredibly long take as Nick Cage's character goes from ringside around the rest of the venue.

I have almost no suggestions for how to improve this.

edit: for clarity

[tucker342]

Star Wars Episode 1 and I would take out that damn Jar Jar Binks, has there ever been a character in a movie as annoying as him?

[cschex]

Star Wars Episode 1 and I would take out that damn Jar Jar Binks, has there ever been a character in a movie as annoying as him?

Indeed.

A.I. - Drop the ending. Please.

From Hell - They completely castrated this movie. I'm very afraid the same will be done to League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, another excellent Alan Moore work.

[Swaggs]

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid -- Not sure it could be improved upon, but I could see Brad Pitt reprising Robert Redford's role as the Kid. Not sure who I would cast as Cassidy.

On a related note, I was listening to Howard Stern a few months ago, and he said that a group that he invested in had purchased the rights to Porky's and Rock and Roll High and that he would be producing remakes of both. Should be interesting. I will be curious to see who gets the part of Porky.

[Calis]

Just from the top of my head, I'd say Daredevil. Maybe the worst movie I've seen in several years, and I'm a huge Daredevil fan.

The Dungeons & Dragons movie is a good one for this also, it had the possibility to be LotR only better, but it is the only movie to beat DD for the worst movie I've ever seen.

[Fritz]

Originally posted by cthomer5000
What are some movies you have seen where the beginning seemed promising, but by the end you were wondering "what the hell happened here?" How could the movie have been saved or improved?

1.) Pearl Harbor.

I would chop the love triangle and the Doolittle raid. I would either expand Cuba Gooding Jrs part or get rid of it.

2.) For Love of the Game. I would have reduced the relationship part a bunch and put more in there about being an old athlete on the cusp of leaving the game.

[cthomer5000]

Originally posted by cschex
A.I. - Drop the ending. Please. [/b]

Good to know I'm not the only one who felt this way. I was hoping for the movie to end 2 or 3 times before it did, as there was a number of ways I thought the movie could/should end. I would have been in favor of the movie ending right as he sinks/crashes in front of the blue fairy, and becomes frozen - I would have left him staring at it for an eternity.

Of course if I could back up even further, I probably would have dropped the whole blue fairy/pinocchio stuff and gone a completely different direction.

[DeToxRox]

Sum of All Fears

UGH

[tucker342]

Originally posted by Fritz
1.) Pearl Harbor.

I would chop the love triangle and the Doolittle raid. I would either expand Cuba Gooding Jrs part or get rid of it.

2.) For Love of the Game. I would have reduced the relationship part a bunch and put more in there about being an old athlete on the cusp of leaving the game.

Both good ideas...

[CAsterling]

Originally posted by DeToxRoxDVHStyle
Sum of All Fears

UGH

Also add these two
Clear and Present Danger
Patirot Games

The only decent film from a Tom Clancy novel was Hunt For Red October, they definitely need remaking.

The one film I would make a new version of is
The Italian Job - or at least make a sequel - The ending left too much to the imagination, but otherwise a brilliant film, just wants a more complete ending.

The Bourne Identity is another one I would remake, there was so much that could have been done with that film, but it was too shallow and too disjointed.

[sianews]

The Italian Job has been remade (May 30)

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/TheI...22/preview.php

[ACStrider]

The Two Towers - As an avid Tolkien lover, I was very impressed with the first movie with how true to the book they tried to stay. The Two Towers wasn't as bad as some other movies, but there were some needless "liberties" that Peter Jackson took that he really didn't need to take. I still liked TTT, but it was bittersweet.

The other movie, cartoon actually: Watership Down. I remember watching it as a kid. I don't remember much, but reading comments on it, people say that it could have been better. I'm reading it right now for the first time (almost done) and it's very well written. I'll have to read it again sometime.

[QuikSand]

I think Eyes Wide Shut could use a re-edit, perhaps not a complete remake. I though the portions about the couple and their problems were very underrated, but the 45 minutes of crap about the party and secret society was garbage. Take the central idea (the central couple's candid discussion, and the psychological fallout from it) and expand that - I think you could have had a very intriguing film, worthy of Kubrick.

[cthomer5000]

Originally posted by CAsterling
The Bourne Identity is another one I would remake, there was so much that could have been done with that film, but it was too shallow and too disjointed.

This was one of the movies that actually inspired my starting this thread. I thought the concept was good, but the execution poor. I just found out they will be making 2 more movies (I didn't know until know the first was adapted from book). The next two are supposed to be based from the novels as well, althought they haven't decided if Matt Damon will still be the lead.

[Chief Rum]

I actually hope they keep Damon as the leading man. I thought he played the part very well.

Chief Rum

[IMetTrentGreen]

i always wanted to remake the seven samurai, and the ninka tutrles 2 and 3. and its not a remake, but i always thought the legend of zelda series would make a good movie

one movie from mthe second question was jeepers creepers. it started out promising, but then turned out to not be scary or good at all.

[JeffNights]

Well, as a huge fan of the PC-game series Wing Commander....i'd say the movie blew huge chunks..hmmm didnt know everybody in the entire confederation navy would be english...except for the two stars of the film...YEESSSH. seriously, the combat scenes were horrible......if anyone has played the games, especially the wC3 through WC5....you know the game cut-scenes had much better animations and hell yeah the Kilrathi were really believable...but alas, if this movie would have been done right...you might have seen a sequel...because this is the movie FOX had the "Phantom Menace" previews first and primarily why the star wars fanatics went to see it...if you could have hooked them you would have built a fan base.....but alas, make a horrible movie and...NO SEQUEL FOR YOU!

[cthomer5000]

Originally posted by IMetTrentGreen
one movie from mthe second question was jeepers creepers. it started out promising, but then turned out to not be scary or good at all.

I can't believe they are releasing a sequel!!

Something like this makes me wonder if executives even watched the first one before deciding to make another.

[Dawgfan1980]

I thought that Death To Smoochie (Williams and Norton) was missing some vital parts of back-story, and I wish the end was ALOT different. It left me wanting more. Tell me why Norton went to Anger Management, tell me why Williams starts taking money. Show me something other than the standard ending. Was VERY disappointed in the end, and why do movies throw in love stories for no reason into plots? Just a question...

[Samdari]

Originally posted by Dawgfan1980
why do movies throw in love stories for no reason into plots? Just a question...

Because Hollywood Execs can't figure out any other way to make women want to watch.

[ColtCrazy]

The last couple of Bond movies. Maybe more. The scripts are getting worse and being replaced by bigger explosions. I like Brosnan, but his best Bond was the first one he did. It was more like the classic Bond....some gadgets, but a good story line too.

[clintl]

Grand Canyon - I thought it was trying to do something pretty ambitious, but ultimately failed to live up to its intentions, and the Grand Canyon metaphor was too heavy-handed.

[cuervo72]

Originally posted by QuikSand
I think Eyes Wide Shut could use a re-edit, perhaps not a complete remake. I though the portions about the couple and their problems were very underrated, but the 45 minutes of crap about the party and secret society was garbage. Take the central idea (the central couple's candid discussion, and the psychological fallout from it) and expand that - I think you could have had a very intriguing film, worthy of Kubrick.

Hmm, A Clockwork Orange could be an interesting remake.

[cthomer5000]

Originally posted by cuervo72
Hmm, A Clockwork Orange could be an interesting remake.

I certainly agree. Though thought of as one of Kubrick's masterpieces, I don't see how anyone who had read the book beforehand could have been pleased with the movie. Things that were truly disturbing in the book came off as completely cartoony in the movie. For instance, the two girls he has sex with in the movie appear to be roughly his age. In the book, they're like 11 or 12 and he basically rapes them - and finds it hilarious. In the book, Alex is a really fucked up character!

Also, the book ends differently from the movie. Kubrick was unaware of the final chapter at the time of production - since the U.S. version was one chapter shorter than the Brit release. It just so happens that one chapter radically changes the tone of the whole story. I used to enjoy the book in it's compete (21 chapter form), but after re-reading it recently (for about the 10th time), I think Anthony Burgess' editor might have been right in telling him to leave the last chapter out of the U.S. release. Alex's change of heart seems to come out of nowhere, and it feels like it should have been set up better.


Regardless of whether they go with the 20 chapter or 21 chapter version, I think the movie could be remade to be far superior to the Kubrick version.

[korme]

reservoir dogs freakin mr. orange should notta told mr. white that he was a cop.. he woulda lived

[cthomer5000]

Originally posted by Ragone
Unbreakable.. it needed to be longer..

Unbreakable spoilers below

First let me say I really enjoyed this movie. I find the concept fascinating, and honestly quite possible. If people can be born with all kinds of genetic defects that severly hamper certain abilities, why can't there be people at the opposite end of the spectrum? It's so interesting in a "I guess we'll never know" sort of way.

But back to the movie. I really loved everything through Bruce Willis' character discovering his powers, and even when he goes on his first mission to rescue the enslaved mother/daughter combo from the killer. What I really didn't like about the movie was the last TWO minutes. Ok, so "Mr. Glass" is evil. Fine, I can deal with that, it really ties up the whole comic book symettry to the movie itself. I don't love it, but I can see how it works. What I thought was incredibly stupid was the text that flashes on screen saying "Mr. Glass (whatever his real name was) was arrested and is now serving time in a prison for the criminally insane." Reading the line, it just seemed so ridiculously laughable. It felt as if the filmmakers didn't trust the audience to believe that Bruce Willis' character would do something about it, so they had to hammer us over the head with the fact that he was a "bad guy." In seconds that text destroyed the incredibly complex characters the movie had spent 2 hours setting up. Never has a movie walked such a fine line between brilliant and incredibly cheesy. I'm somewhat on the fence but really like it.

Ragone, what would you add if the movie was longer? I remember after the movie came out hearing that M. Knight wanted to make it the first movie in a trilogy, but I'm guessing it didn't really have the financial or critical success necessary to really do so. Also, I think a second movie might have just made everything a bit too comic-booky for anyone who saw it. It would have had to been based around Bruce Willis' adventures, and probably Mr. Glass escaping prison or something ridiculous. I don't think it could have worked.

[Samdari]

I would remake The Cutting Edge, with Moira Kelly naked this time.

[Easy Mac]

Coyote Ugly.

Remove all the shitty love scenes, and let the hot girls dance in skimpy clothing for an hour and a half... or just make it a porn.