An Alphabet Of Things I Don’t Like: R

~ beetleypete

Remakes.

It will come as no surprise to long-term followers of this blog that film remakes feature for ‘R’. With a handful of exceptions, the constant remakes of great films are usually unnecessary, and completely pointless too.

Yes, they remade ‘Carrie’, that classic Stephen King adaptation from 1976.
And it was truly awful.

Taking on one of the best British gangster thrillers ever, they remade the wonderful ‘Get Carter’, in 2000.
Why? Please tell me why!

Seemingly out to murder another classic Michael Caine film, they remade ‘The Italian Job’, in 2003.
COME ON! Just stop it!

I could also write a book on how they remake foreign language films for people who can’t handle subtitles, always ruining them in the process.
One of the worst examples has to be ‘The Vanishing’. They changed the ending in the US version, to make it ‘happy’.
GRRRRRRRRRR!

And don’t get me started on Japanese Anime classics with western actors voicing the characters!
How wrong does this sound? Very wrong, believe me.

BUT WAIT!

While I am on ‘R’, I have to mention ‘Reimagining’. In case you don’t know, this is the blatant plagiarism of classic fiction, ‘Reimagined’ for the modern reader. Take ‘Jane Eyre’, set it in modern-day California, call it something else, and you have ‘reimagined’ the original. You get the idea.

DOUBLE GRRRRRRRRR!

Film makers and writers, I have a suggestion for you.

DO SOMETHING ORIGINAL!

62 thoughts on “An Alphabet Of Things I Don’t Like: R”

  2. Great post 🙂 Though there are times when a remake either equals the original or surpasses it. Here are just a few examples below and keep up the great work as always 🙂

    Sorcerer (1977) (Dir: William Friedkin)
    Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) (Dir: Philip Kaufman)
    The Thing (1982) (Dir: John Carpenter)
    The Fly (1986) (Dir: David Cronenberg)

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    1. The Thing was discussed lower down, John. I love Carpenter’s film, but I consider it to be much more than a straight remake of the earlier one.
      I really like the original ‘Body Snatchers’. It caught the mood of that era.
      Thanks for your thoughts, John.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  6. Pete, every single trailer you show here proves your point – all of those original films were classics in some way, and every single remake was an abomination! There is NEVER justification to remake/update/refresh a classic film…talk about a lack of inspiration and creativity on Hollywood’s part…it’s simply a craven “cash grab” by creatively bankrupt Executives…and I know, I work here!

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  8. (1) I just watched “Let Me In” with Chloë Grace Moretz, and thought it was pretty good, though it’s also a remake of a Swedish film (which I haven’t seen). I have the original “Carrie” on DVD, but haven’t seen the remake in which Chloë Grace Moretz stars along with Julianne Moore (an actress I like).
    (2) I’ve seen “Get Carter,” and didn’t realize it was a remake. I do like Sylvester Stallone, though.
    (3) I watched “The Vanishing” years ago, and it came to mind again while watching “Kill Bill: Volume 2” for the first time, as there is a similar buried alive incident in the film (but with a different outcome). I haven’t seen the remake of “The Vanishing,” and have never been interested in doing so.
    (4a) I don’t actually have a problem with English language voice-overs on animated films, as the lip movement isn’t enough to destroy the effect, and I think they’re easier to watch. However, I absolutely hate dubbed live action films, and will only watch a foreign film if subtitles are available. By the way, I do have “Princess Mononoke” on DVD, as well as other films by Hayao Miyazaki.
    (4b) On the other hand, watching a John Wayne movie dubbed in French is the epitome of ridiculousness. It’s hard enough to swallow American cowboys speaking French, but, for some reason, they chose (and stuck with) a high-pitched girly-man’s voice for John Wayne’s character! Aargh!
    (5) I suppose the idea behind a reimagining is that classic stories beg to be retold in a modern context, and that certain themes are universal. With rare exception, though, I prefer the original.
    (6) I agree that Hollywood relies way too heavily on remakes, reimaginings, reboots, etc. Whenever Hollywood does come up with something original, the studio milks it to death with sequels, prequels, and spin-offs…

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    1. I have seen the original film, ‘Let The Right One In’, and because of that I declined to watch the remake. The original British film of Get Carter was so much better, though Caine ‘took the money’ for a smaller role in the remake.
      For me watching a dubbed version of a film like ‘Princess Mononoke’ and hearing the voice of Billy Bob Thornton is not unlike you wincing at John Wayne having a girly voice. It is just not right.
      Thanks, David.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  9. Generally I agree and stay away from remakes, but a lot depends on whether I saw the remake before the original, for instance I really like the Magnificent 7 even after I saw one of my favorites, 7 Samurai.
    And I don’t think anyone chooses the original Maltese Falcon with Cortez over the one ten years later with Bogart.

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    1. Good points, Don. Sometimes, remakes can change a location, or some elements of the original. That way, they don’t seem so bad. A good example is ‘The Thing’, discussed by Sam, lower down. And the remake of ‘Assault On Precinct 13’, though not as good as the first film in my opinion, did add lots of new things to the story.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  12. I totally agree with you, Pete. Just a few days ago I stopped watching the remake of “The Magnificent 7”, with Denzel Washington. That definitely comes not even close to the power of the original.

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  13. My first reaction to why they do it (other than not having an original thought) was to get around the copyright laws. but Since they last for 70 or more years after the author’s death, that can’t be it. Years ago, I read a book titled,
    “Steal This Plot” the premise of the book was stories have been around for so long they have all already been told (written). Perhaps this book is in the required reading of filmmakers and they missed the point of only stealing the plot and not every nuance of the earlier film. Warmest regards, Theo

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  21. Hehehe! I know what you are saying. Some of teh classic Hindi movies had been “remade” in the past 10 years and most of them have been awful. But I have also seen remake of a Telugu movie “Chandramukhi” into Hindi “Bhool Bhulaiya” and it was amazing! And I loved some movies with sub-titles, though a lot of times, the translation is not accurate. But still… there’s nothing like an original movie.

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  24. I have to agree: very few, if any, remakes are worthy IMO of note. The ‘reimagining’ concept seems to have taken hold in music, as well: Max Richter is one who has reworked Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, although perhaps plagiarism [and outright theft] was more common with composers before music could be recorded? No doubt you will have heard the expression “pop will eat itself”: arguably, it has already done so, and it looks rather like film might be going that way as well? Cheers, Jon.

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