BBO Discussion Forums: No Seconds, Please - BBO Discussion Forums

Can someone imagine how to remake the Rocky Horror Picture Show ?

Along those lines, finding someone to play the Andre the Giant role in The Princess Bride is impossible, if for no other reason than the stories about filming that Cary Elwes has in his new book out today...

 heyrocky, on 2014-October-14, 17:59, said:

The stories notwithstanding, is that true? It is remarkable how perfect AtG was for that role, but impossible seems like an overbid for a recast. If we're going for a literal giant, Yao Ming could definitely bring some silver screen lols.

To add on another idea that I typed but deleted, I think OJ in the Naked Gun stuff was very similar; I don't want to imagine anyone else playing that specific role, but a replacement in a redo would be easy enough to cast.

Here is a variant on "no seconds" that has often occurred to me Remake or not, some movies I can see many times, others I think are very good but do not wish to see. Consider Eastwood's The Unforgiven and Preston Sturges's The Lady Eve. As mentioned, I regard Unforgiven as excellent, but I have no great wish to see it again. The Lady Eve I have seen several times. The Wikipedia quotes Roger Ebert: : "If I were asked to name the single scene in all of romantic comedy that was sexiest and funniest at the same time, I would advise beginning at six seconds past the 20-minute mark in Preston Sturges's The Lady Eve.". I assume this refers to when Stanwyck and Fonda are in Stanwyck's ship cabin. I can watch that scene over and over without it becoming stale. I'm not sure just why there is this difference, but I suppose comfort plays a role. Some good films can make me uncomfortable, it's part of what makes them good, others I just sit back, relax and enjoy the fun. In neither case would I welcome a remake.

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.

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.

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!"

 Winstonm, on 2014-October-15, 08:41, said:

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.

 billw55, on 2014-October-15, 10:03, said:

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

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

 Oof Arted, on 2014-October-15, 11:58, said:

That was such a good remake of The Seven Samurai.

 y66, on 2014-October-15, 07:53, said:

I reckon not.

 y66, on 2014-October-15, 07:53, said:

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

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.

 kenberg, on 2014-October-15, 16:49, said:

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

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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.
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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.

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.

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

http://www.addicting.../10/16/afroman/

What makes a movie good?

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.