It's Friday and the perfect time for (yet another) blogfest! Brought to you by Stephen Tremp, Livia Peterson, Al Diaz and Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh, today I'm partaking in the Best and Worst Movie Remakes Blogfest. Click here if you'd like to sign up.
When Hollywood runs out of ideas (which seems to be all the time these days) they remake older films in order to capitalize on past ideas. For the record, there are so many remakes that I had to set some parameters for my list. They are as follows:
- No reboots. This is an entire different category. One I'm considering for another post.
- I'm excluding bad remakes of movies I didn't really like in the first place (aka. Arthur). My list is made entirely of bad movies remade into good ones, or amazing movies remade into crappy ones.
- No remakes of movies that were based on books (aka. The Great Gatsby). These are simply different interpretations of the same original text.
- To keep things short, I've decided to only list my Top 5 favorite remakes for each category.
- To keep things short, I've decided to only list my Top 5 favorite remakes for each category.
Okay, so those are the rules. Now let's get to the movies. Here is the list of what I consider the BEST and the WORST Hollywood film remakes . . .
> The Italian Job (2010) – It was an average movie with awesome cars in the 60's. The remake stole the premise (and the Mini's) and made it better.
> Ocean's 11 (2001) – See above.
> Ocean's 11 (2001) – See above.
> Red Dawn (2012) – I liked the original and the remake of this one.
> The A Team (2010) – I was a bit young for the original series, though I enjoyed the re-runs, but I thought the film (and the all-A's team of Neeson, Cooper, Jackson and Copley) was a terrific update of TV classic.
> King Kong (2005) – I've always been a fan or classic monster films like King King, and I thought Jackson's adaptation did a fair job.
> The Karate Kid (2010) – I hate when they adapt childhood classics. It almost never ends well. As in this case.
> Manchurian Candidate (2004) – It wasn't the worst movie in the world. Mostly, I just it was kind of forgettable.
> The Omen (2006) – There were some parts of this version of The Omen that I enjoyed, but in general it lacked the creep factor of the original. Only remake it if you can make it scarier.
> Fame (2009) – It lacked the "hot lunch" scene. That bothered me.
> Poseidon (2006) – Again, it wasn't awful. It just wasn't worthy of its large budget if it wasn't going to improve on the original.
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> The Stepford Wives (2004) – Why? Why would you take a creeptastic film like The Stepford Wives and remake it into something campy and ridiculous?
> Dark Shadows (2012) – See above.
> Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (2005) – For the love of God, STOP REMAKING CHILDHOOD CLASSICS. They're classics for a reason and do not need remaking. Ever.
> Dark Shadows (2012) – See above.
> Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (2005) – For the love of God, STOP REMAKING CHILDHOOD CLASSICS. They're classics for a reason and do not need remaking. Ever.
> Wicker Man (2006) – It's so bad it's amazing. Best bad movie I've ever seen. But as a remake, utterly abizmal.
> Bewitched (2005) – It seems to me that Nicole Kidman just shouldn't remake movies.
There you have it. My list of the best and worst Hollywood film remakes. And a few upcoming remakes. We'll see which list they wind up making. I hope to God they don't ruin some of my favorite movies.
> Lone Ranger
> Carrie
> Robocop
> Dirty Dancing
> Drop Dead Fred
> Starship Troopers
> The Neverending Story
> Time Bandits
> The Birds
> The Creature from the Black Lagoon
> Highlander
> Lethal Weapon
> My Fair Lady
> Overboard
> Romancing the Stone
> Scarface
And the list goes on, and on, and on . . .
> Robocop
> Dirty Dancing
> Drop Dead Fred
> Starship Troopers
> The Neverending Story
> Time Bandits
> The Birds
> The Creature from the Black Lagoon
> Highlander
> Lethal Weapon
> My Fair Lady
> Overboard
> Romancing the Stone
> Scarface
And the list goes on, and on, and on . . .
Your ugly list is soooo true! I didn't realise Dark Shadows was a remake. Ha!
ReplyDeleteI have to agree that your Ugly list is very accurate. Stepford Wives is just a no, no!! I'm actually looking forward to seeing how they remake Carrie (I've heard that it's going to be more accurate to the book than the previous movie).
ReplyDeletePoseidon! Forgot about that one. It was awful and weird elements thrown in just trying to be hip.
ReplyDeleteThe Wicker Man was my second choice. Cage in a bear suit. Enough said.
Thanks for participating in our blogfest!
I never even bothered seeing the 'new' Wickerman as the original was so good - same for Willie Wonka. Much as I love Johnny Depp no one can top Gene Wilder. No one. Ever.
ReplyDeleteI can't possibly see how they can remake Drop Dead Fred and The Neverending Story and have them turn out good.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know The Italian Job was a remake - love that movie.
ReplyDeleteThey can't remake The Neverending Story - what are they thinking?
i agree with your lists =)
ReplyDeleteya know, with us writing so many great new stories, how can hollywood run out of material, having to remake? ugh!
more bad than good on the "upgrades!"
i like a lot of those movies in the upcoming list, stop messing with them, hollywood!
The fact that Carrie and The Neverending Story have SEQUELS is bad enough (though aside for the Carrie angle, the sequel wasn't terrible, and I liked the TV remake).
ReplyDeleteaside FROM lol
Deletehaha. the really really ugly! I chose Karate Kid for my worst remake too. And I loved the italian job!
ReplyDelete'Nutschell
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I also mentioned Charlie and the Chocolate Factory but Karate Kid was in my list too. Thanks for participating in the blogfest! :)
ReplyDeleteStepford Wives made my list too. Great choices IMHO.
ReplyDeleteThe 2004 Manchurian Candidate had a phenomenal cast.
ReplyDeleteThe karate kid was soooo bad. And I hear you on the kid's classics. Leave them alone!
ReplyDeleteDARK SHADOWS had a few moments, but it was pretty bad. I'm seriously worried about LONE RANGER.
ReplyDeleteI'm okay with all your picks but... they're remaking Dirty Dancing? Now that's just wrong.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen a lot of these, but I completely agree with you about The Stepford Wives and Bewitched. In fact, I hated The Stepford Wives so much, it ended up on my list of worst remakes, too! Such a disgrace to both the book and original film adaptation...
ReplyDeleteThere are some who like Willy Wonka, like myself, but we can all agree Stepford Wives was awful.
ReplyDeleteThe Geek Twins
It's funny how many people mentioned Karate Kid, but it's made the good and the bad list. Stepford Wives and Chocolate Factory, I totally agree.
ReplyDeleteI don't know all your good and bad, but I so agree with your ugly. I had only one in each category, and Willy Wonka made my bad list too.
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I purposefully avoided Dark Shadows not because I've seen the original (haven't), but because it looked shite from the trailer. ;)
ReplyDeleteAnd of your "to-be-remade" list, these are what I fear most:
> Dirty Dancing
> Drop Dead Fred
> The Neverending Story
> Lethal Weapon