No Seconds, Please

[y66]

I often think of that night when Jem and Scout were walking home in the dark. It's usually this time of year, when summer is over and it gets dark early and you can hear leaves rustling in the wind. That was such a good movie.

 

We recently watched the Norwegian production of Insomnia with Stellan Skarsgard and the remake with Al Pacino, Robin Williams and Hillary Swank. Skarsgard is so good. Pacino, Williams and Swank are not bad either.

 

I suppose it's possible, just barely, that someone posting here appreciates Clint Eastwood's performances more than I do.

[Winstonm]

I can't imagine a remake of Airplane! now that the jokes are known. "C'mon boys, let's get some pictures." Nor can I imagine anone but Jimmy Steward in A Wonderful Life.

[PhilKing]

Animal House. To be fair, the original is probably only a 7.5 out of ten, but it is the best film of it's type ever made by a country mile. It's difficult to imagine a remake scoring more than four out of ten without John Belushi's eyebrows being reincarnated.

 

"Toga party!"

[billw55]

Nor can I imagine anone but Jimmy Steward in A Wonderful Life.

The first one presented that I disagree with. While the film is good, I personally never found it to have the compelling uniqueness needed for this list.

 

And while we are talking Belushi, I would cite The Blues Brothers over Animal House.

 

 

[PhilKing]

 

And while we are talking Belushi, I would cite The Blues Brothers over Animal House.

 

It's a better film, but I could imagine a remake. Animal House without Belushi is a non-starter.

[Oof Arted]

They should stay clear of the 60's classic "The Magnificent Seven" you could never improve on it IMHO

 

They made follow on crap anyway :rolleyes:

[y66]

They should stay clear of the 60's classic "The Magnificent Seven" you could never improve on it IMHO

 

They made follow on crap anyway :rolleyes:

That was such a good remake of The Seven Samurai.

[billw55]

I suppose it's possible, just barely, that someone posting here appreciates Clint Eastwood's performances more than I do.

I reckon not.

[Winstonm]

I suppose it's possible, just barely, that someone posting here appreciates Clint Eastwood's performances more than I do.

Any man don't wanna get killed better clear on out the back.

[kenberg]

Maybe no one but me will find this amusing. I saw Animal House in 1978 and didn't like it at all. Blues Brothers came out in 1980. My younger daughtere was 13 and wanted to see it. Ok, I took her. I didn't like that either. I saw some Belushi skits. No sale. When he died of drugs, I thought it sounded unsurprising. Ok, not funny so far. Then GhostBusters came out. I am the ony person I know who thought it was a stupid movie. Since everyone else liked it, or loved it, I wondered how this could be. Then I found out that before his death, Belushi had been scheduled to have the role taken by Bill Murray. I found that to be an adequate explanation. Influence from beyond the grave is the part I found amusing.

 

I realize that I am an extreme outlier here. I have come to accept this. I mean no disrespect to the dead or to the opinions of others.

[mike777]

Maybe no one but me will find this amusing. I saw Animal House in 1978 and didn't like it at all. Blues Brothers came out in 1980. My younger daughtere was 13 and wanted to see it. Ok, I took her. I didn't like that either. I saw some Belushi skits. No sale. When he died of drugs, I thought it sounded unsurprising. Ok, not funny so far. Then GhostBusters came out. I am the ony person I know who thought it was a stupid movie. Since everyone else liked it, or loved it, I wondered how this could be. Then I found out that before his death, Belushi had been scheduled to have the role taken by Bill Murray. I found that to be an adequate explanation. Influence from beyond the grave is the part I found amusing.

 

I realize that I am an extreme outlier here. I have come to accept this. I mean no disrespect to the dead or to the opinions of others.

 

Just to be clear:

 

you don't love north by northwest and now:

animal house

ghost busters

blues brothers

 

 

but you think unforgiven is a better or lady eve

 

----

 

for the record I have love north by northwest and watch it silly times.

for the record I am from Chicago and ya love those guys and their movies.

---------------

 

 

As some posters start to notice most of these movies have been remade or are remakes.

Casablanca is sort of an outlier.

 

God forbid even my fav movie the Graduate has been sort of remade...it was horrible.

But its theme has been done over and over again....badly.

to be fair the theme of a sullen grad student was a bit overdone even then.

[kenberg]

North ny Northwest is, for me, different from Animal House. North by Northwest is enjoyable enough, say comparably to Legally Blonde. It's fun. But I can't see it on any list, even a rather long list, of great movies. My dislike of Animal House was at a different. level. More like "Good God this is dumb". There is a sliding scale. Fast Times at Ridgemont High was mentioned earlier, which I liked. I liked FTaRH in the same way that I liked LB. Well done and fun, but no great shakes and I can easily imagine people saying either is too silly for them. But I liked them. But I can't explain why I even stayed through all of AH. Maybe I was with someone, or maybe I actually didn't stay all the way through it and have just forgotten leaving. This was very long ago but I still remember I thought it was awful. When I took my daughter to Blues Brothers, she sort of liked it so we stayed. Maybe she really liked but was shy about saying so since it was probably pretty clear that I didn't.

 

There are quite a few movies that are admired by others that I have trouble with. Kill Bill. The Wild Bunch. Total Recall. Probably it is not a coincidence that all three of these are quite violent. Real life violence is abhorrent, filmed violence often, although definitely not always, bores me. Take Total Recall (1990 version of course) for example. The Wik tells me that it was based on a short story. That figures. There is enough of a story to fill about half an hour. The rest is filled in with grotesque violence. Violence can be done in a serious manner and I often like those films quite a bit. The Longest Day has been mentioned. I mentioned The Unforgiven. The Bridge on the River Kwai would be another. Not boring, not repulsive, very worthwhile.

 

Anyway, tastes differ. That's not news. What perhaps is interesting is that some movies I think are very good, excellent even, but watching them once is enough, I don't want to see them again, whether remade or in the original. Others, and maybe they are not quite as good, I can relax and enjoy like old friends. I don't want them remade, I am perfectly happy seeing the original over and over. Of course there is a limit for most, although for The Third Man the limit is nowhere in sight yet.

 

Everyone, definitely including me, likes Casablanca, and it has all of these great quotes. But it has some very weird parts. In the closing scene at the airport Rick, who has now re-discovered his idealism, is speaking to Victor Laszlo saying something like "Another thing you should know. Your wife came over last night and pretended that she still loved me and I let her pretend". I preferred the part where Victor asks Ilsa "Is there something you wish to tell me?" and she says "No Victor there isn't". A quite honest response.

[Cyberyeti]

Just to sidetrack a minute, a song I'd never have thought would get remade, and an article explaining it:

 

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2014/10/16/afroman/

[blackshoe]

What makes a movie good?

[billw55]

Ken, I also tend to not like films with pointless violence. Even movies that are otherwise well regarded critically, such as Pulp Fiction.

 

As Phil points out regarding Animal House and The Blues Brothers, the current discussion is about "remakability" more than artistic merit. I touched on this also, referring to "compelling uniqueness".

 

Following this line of thought, I tried to consider films that have both: disturbing violence, and also singularly irreproducible. I came up with A Clockwork Orange. Not something I want to watch again, but inclusion on this list would be fair. Also Schindler's list, a very different film but even more compelling.

[barmar]

Ken, I also tend to not like films with pointless violence. Even movies that are otherwise well regarded critically, such as Pulp Fiction.

Is the violence in that film really pointless? It's a movie about violent people.

[Oof Arted]

That was such a good remake of The Seven Samurai.

 

 

Oh yes I do agree the Kurosawa was a Classic although in Black & White

 

:rolleyes:

[kenberg]

Huh! I have twice posted thoughts here, and they do not show up. If this shows up, I may edit it. Eventually.

 

OK, it snuck in.

 

Bill had mentioned Schindler's List and it brought Sophie's Choice to mind. SC is another excellent film that I do not want to see again.

 

We shall see if this disappears. I seem to have offended the Gods of the Internet.

Maybe that could be a movie title. Or a movie plot.

Or maybe I have seen it.

[blackshoe]

Huh! I have twice posted thoughts here, and they do not show up. If this shows up, I may edit it. Eventually.

 

OK, it snuck in.

 

Bill had mentioned Schindler's List and it brought Sophie's Choice to mind. SC is another excellent film that I do not want to see again.

 

We shall see if this disappears. I seem to have offended the Gods of the Internet.

Maybe that could be a movie title. Or a movie plot.

Or maybe I have seen it.

Or you might be living it. B-)

[barmar]

Huh! I have twice posted thoughts here, and they do not show up. If this shows up, I may edit it. Eventually.

I see several posts from you in the thread: #2, #10, #14, #25, #35, #37.

[kenberg]

I see several posts from you in the thread: #2, #10, #14, #25, #35, #37.

 

Right. Thanks.

 

I found Bill's Post #40 of interest,and it was directed to me, so I responded. It didn't take. I tried again and it didn't take. My Firefox had been acting a little weird, and I think it was either that or it was me.

 

As I recall, besides mentioning Sophie's Choice, the main elements were that I agreed about Schindler's List and that I had not seen A Clockwork Orange. Back around then I had read several novels by Anthony Burgess (and I liked them since I read several) but I don't think I got to Orange. His novels are all pretty violent, but I remember them as being good. Just about any author has a repetitive style, at some point I usually feel it is time to move on to someone else and I think with Burgess this happened before I got to Orange.

 

Anyway, thanks for checking back.

[kenberg]

I just pushed RECORD for a re-make of Harvey. I would not so much say that I am opposed to remakining it as I am surprised. The part seems to be perfect for the James Stewart style. But I'll give the remake a try.

 

My mother said to me

"Elwood"

She called me Elwood

"In this world you have to be oh so smart or oh so nice"

For thirty years I tried smart.

I recommend nice

 

Or something like that, it's been a while.

[jjbrr]

Sandlot

[barmar]

I just pushed RECORD for a re-make of Harvey. I would not so much say that I am opposed to remakining it as I am surprised. The part seems to be perfect for the James Stewart style. But I'll give the remake a try.

I remember this remake coming out, although I'm not sure I saw it. Then I IMDb'ed it, to see who was in it. And that reminded me that I haven't seen Harry Anderson in anything for a while. He's apparently mostly dropped out of Hollywood for the past dozen years -- his only appearance was in a 2008 episode of "Third Rock From the Sun" where several "Night Court" cast members appeared. But he's also in a new movie coming out this year.

[Fluffy]

I saw a letter from Stanley Kubrick threatening another director to death because he was planning on making an Odissey in Space sequel, and Stanley found he couldn't stop he legally. Not a remake though.

 

I am with Cyberyeti, the only films I don't want a remake are those who suck in first place, Beowulf (christopher lambert) or Zoo Warriors (Chinnese film) come to mind.