Fake-Fat Sunny Posted May 28, 2005 Share Posted May 28, 2005 The redo of the Longest Yard has made me think about the artistic merit of the remake. I can easily pass on remade songs which simply strike me as uncalled for. If the original was so good, then the redo sounds wrong and pale to me in comparison. In the case of movies, if I do not even remember much of the orginal so the redo is new, then why the heck do it over. I think a good remake can be done, but for me it has to occupy a pretty narrow artistic band where it was a good piece to start with. but the new version adds something in terms of interpretation or presentation which makes it special to me (art is cool because in the end it is all about you). I'm not flat out opposed to remakes because I can actually watch the original of a good film over and over again (this seems to be somewhat genetic as my wife simply wonders why I can watch war movies like The Great Escape or Kelly's Heores over and over and over again). However. at least the orginal had some novelty and creation which gives it merit and the redo of Oh Baby I Love Your Way simply seems dunb to me. At any rate, I take special note of these remakes I found great: 1. All Along the Watchtower- Jimi Hendrix- This was a remake of a Bob Dylan song and he does the orginal pretty well. However, even Dylan says that this became Hendriz's song based on the way he did it. 2. Fatal Attraction- In essence this like many pieces of art is a redo of something from another artistic form as it is a redo of the opera Madame Butterfly. However, the performances are compelling and interaction is great and the fact they actually added to the presentation by presenting different endings based on market research adds to this redo for me. I'll try to think of some more and will check the thread when I return from a surprise party, but i'm curious what folks think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
/dev/null Posted May 28, 2005 Share Posted May 28, 2005 Movies: Apocalypse Now / Heart of Darkness Songs: Metallica's cover of Turn The Page and Guns N Roses cover of Paradise City Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dante Posted May 28, 2005 Share Posted May 28, 2005 Movie "The Thing" Song "Purple Haze" by The Cure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDH Posted May 28, 2005 Share Posted May 28, 2005 Movies: Apocalypse Now / Heart of Darkness 347069[/snapback] That would be an adaptation, not a remake. Best remake of a film: His Girl Friday (remake of The Last Page...which was an adaptation of a play) Best remake of a song: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Higher Ground Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taterhill Posted May 28, 2005 Share Posted May 28, 2005 Movie...Ocean's 11 Song...Jane's Addiction...Sympathy For the Devil(original is GREAt too) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USMCBillsFan Posted May 28, 2005 Share Posted May 28, 2005 Movie: Psycho.... Exact same frame by frame shot.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eSJayDee Posted May 28, 2005 Share Posted May 28, 2005 Movies, off the top of my head, I'll go w/ Magnificant Seven/Seven Samurai. As for music, I think I feel somewhat differently than you. To me, music is all about the interpretation of the song. Different versions/interpretations can be SUBSTANTIALLY different (case in point, All Along the Watchtower). That's what makes a song good or bad (IMHO). There's plenty of room for many versions of the same song. As for movies, it's mostly story. Once the stories been told, it basically gets tired. That said, the 2 songs that come to mind are Jamaican (sp?) Farewell Jimmy Buffet, & Landslide by Dixie Chicks (They're vocals are inferior to Stevie Nicks, but the background instrumention adds to the song.). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mary owen Posted May 28, 2005 Share Posted May 28, 2005 Movie "The Thing" Song "Purple Haze" by The Cure 347088[/snapback] I agree with your movie selection. I love that remake of The Thing. Wilford Brimley losing his mind and getting all violent. Is that brilliant casting or what????? and one of my favorite lines from the Movie by Garry: http://www.houseofhorrors.com/couch.wav so it's John Carpenter's "The Thing" and for song, She's Not There (from the album "Moonflower", Santana's remake of The Zombies hit) purely masterful. One of the best guitar songs ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsGuyInMalta Posted May 28, 2005 Share Posted May 28, 2005 I really enjoyed the recent Dawn of the Dead remake...mainly because it kept true to the original with some parts of it and then definitely improved in other areas (like keeping the camera steady...poor Romero and his low-budget) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMadCap Posted May 29, 2005 Share Posted May 29, 2005 For songs, Rush did a killer cover of the Who's The Seeker... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost of BiB Posted May 29, 2005 Share Posted May 29, 2005 I have to agree with "The Thing". Probably one of the better horror sci-fi movies in the batch. One of John Carpenters better efforts. As for music, I like a lot of the oldies...I mean, oldies. Natalie Cole does a great job on Stormy Weather. Dianna Krall does a great job on most anything-most of them are piano bar/cigar standards. But, that's dinosaur music, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Fong Posted May 29, 2005 Share Posted May 29, 2005 Movie: Dawn of the Dead Song: Ziggy Stardust by Bauhaus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnTheRocks Posted May 29, 2005 Share Posted May 29, 2005 Just off the top of my head I would say "The Fly" IMHO it was actually better than the original. A close second: "Planet of the Apes" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fake-Fat Sunny Posted May 29, 2005 Author Share Posted May 29, 2005 Folks reactions are interesting. I'd agree that the remake of the Thing was a superior redo to the original. It points out that one good reason for a redo is that new technology can improve an old film, though I agree with folks general Thing comments that reference some great acting which carried the film and made it a good reason to have the better effect. If one redoes a film because of new technology, but the acting is bad it will still be a badly told story and probably a bad film. Someone's comment that Ocean's 11 was a good remake is odd to me because I found the new movie to be inferior to the old film. The new one had so many stars that it demanded a happy ending (I doubt this is a spoiler because business dictated a sequel which became Ocean's 12) and the 50/50 ending of the orginal was one of its finer points from my perspective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mile High Posted May 29, 2005 Share Posted May 29, 2005 The new Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake was good. Anyone else see it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zac Posted May 29, 2005 Share Posted May 29, 2005 Movie: Dawn of the Dead Music: Jeff Buckley-Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen) and Weezer-Velouria (The Pixies) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe in NC Posted May 29, 2005 Share Posted May 29, 2005 Cape Fear. The original was great but De Niro was a better homicidal maniac than Robert Mitchum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted May 29, 2005 Share Posted May 29, 2005 Movie...Ocean's 11Song...Jane's Addiction...Sympathy For the Devil(original is GREAt too) 347093[/snapback] Janes version of Ripple is one of the greatest remakes. I also love Dinasaur Jrs cover of Show Me The Way. The Chili Peppers do a great remake of Higher Ground too. Ray Charles doing America the Beautiful is awesome. Jimi doing the Star Spangled banner too. Thats just off the top of my head- I will think of some more Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buffal0 Bill5 Posted May 29, 2005 Share Posted May 29, 2005 Song: Mr. Big Wild World was better than the original IMO Movie: The Time Machine of acouple of years ago was alot better than the original Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SF Bills Fan Posted May 29, 2005 Share Posted May 29, 2005 Movie "The Thing" 347088[/snapback] You beat me to it. The remake of The Thing was great. Way better than the original. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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