Kevin's Watch

Bitches leave.

Sayonara, Robocop.

Guns! Guns! Guns! Tigers are playing to-night! I never miss a game . . .

Bitches leave.

A sequel I'm OK with (sort of). The latest wave of "re-imaginings" actually haven't been that bad. It seems we've gotten past the "spoof" trend of the late '90s (Starsky & Hutch comes to mind immediately), and serious attempts are being made at remakes.

But Robocop is a classic. Both the sequels were pretty terrible, but the original kicks ass.

Cail wrote:Bitches leave.

I'd buy that for a dollar!

I hear they're remaking A Clockwork Orange.

Lord Foul wrote:I hear they're remaking A Clockwork Orange.

OK...

If this is true,
now I'm displeased...

We've always had remakes. Shakespeare built his career on doing "remakes" of earlier stories. Why shouldn't the current crop of thespians do the same?

Because they're not Shakespeare? Shakespeare improved his origin stories or made them his own. A Hollywood remake usually butchers them. Plus, his origin stories were much older than the Elizabethan Age, whereas Hollywood is remaking films less than 50 years old. Says either the industry is out of ideas or the average moviegoer's historical knowledge is pathetically limited. In another decade we'll be remaking LOTR, I guess.

There is nothing wrong with reinterpreting a story for a new generation. If you believe Joseph Campbell, that's all we've been doing for 1000s of years: retelling the same basic stories. If you look at it that way, every movie is a "remake." I agree with Cail--it's only bad when you butcher the original.

And like I said elsewhere, I'm really looking forward to someone remaking the Star Wars prequels. Sometimes the original deserves to be supplanted by a remake.

There's no reason why a particular director should be the only one to leave his mark on a story. That's like saying no conductor should ever try to top the best recorded versions of Beethoven's symphonies. I'm fine with multiple interpretations.

How is Journey to the Center of the Earth doing at the box office, and has anyone noticed it? Or was everyone watching The Dark Knight?

I took my daughter to see Journey. Nine is the perfect age to go see it; she exclaimed at the end that it was awesome!!! What could I add to that?

As a movie for adults, it's lame.

As a remake, its not even a "re-imagining". Its a collection of ad-hoc 3d graphics strung together with a storyline that could be described, loosely, as a journey which goes underground, and that justified the title.

Speaking of remakes, is that 'In-Laws' movie from a few years back a remake of the 70's Allen Arkin/Peter Faulk masterpiece? I refuse to watch it because I think it is and there's no way in hell you could improve the prior film.....just like the Pink Panther stuff; the originals are great, and to add insult to injury, that remake is awful! Of course, that's not stopping them from making another.

Malik23 wrote:There's no reason why a particular director should be the only one to leave his mark on a story. That's like saying no conductor should ever try to top the best recorded versions of Beethoven's symphonies. I'm fine with multiple interpretations.

Absolutely. As I've said elsewhere, I think Kaufman's Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Carpenter's The Thing are both superior to the original films.

Watching the Trailers at The Dark Knight I thought this exactly...

Wow, with all the "re-imaginings" I'm seeing, what else is due for one? Probably Robocop and Alien.

I agree with LF.

A lot of films that come out of Hollywood lately that have achieved critical fame have been straight remakes of recent Asian Cinema. And now we have a ton of franchise remakes being churned out. Some have been quite good. There is not anything necessarily wrong with this, however, nine times out of ten the remake is quickly forgotten. For every remake of the standard of De Mille's Ben Hur, there are twenty forgettable pieces of shite like Stallone's Get Carter.

As for Robocop . . . the original is perfect. Brilliantly paced; hilariously cynical and over-the-top, but totally apt social commentary; gloriously violent; two of the most memorable cinema villains; excellent performances; great soundtrack . . . I could go on, but won't. Robocop was a triumph. Robocop 2 was barely ok, and Robocop 3 was a crime against humanity.

I hold zero hope that the remake will be even a third as good as Verhoevan's masterpiece.

Malik23 wrote: And like I said elsewhere, I'm really looking forward to someone remaking the Star Wars prequels.

Personally, I'd rather not see the artistically-dead horse of Star Wars be flogged anymore.

You didn't happen to see that the director attached to the project is Darren Aronofski? I think he is a genius filmmaker. (Pi, Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain)

I am very interested to see what he does with it.

I did notice. He is very good, yeah. But, I doubt he'll be afforded the same freedom that Verhoevan was for the film, however.

Cail wrote: As I've said elsewhere, I think Kaufman's Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Carpenter's The Thing are both superior to the original films.

Well said.