It came out in the early eighties, the same year E.T. did. In many ways, it's closer to the original story than the old black-and-white version.
Classic remakes/re-adaptations: The Maltese Falcon The Ten Commandments Ben Hur The man who knew too much Remakes of old TV shows (or re-adapted from source material) The Untouchables The Fugitive The Addams Family Maverick Get Smart The first and third Mission: Impossible films Star Trek
More classic remakes: Dracula (1931) Frankenstein (1931) Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (1932) The Wizard of Oz (1939) Not sure how this "remakes suck" thing got started. Classic stories get restaged all the time, that's how it works. Do people complain when the Met stages the umpteenth production of "Carmen"?
There have been some great ones mentioned (Dracula, King Kong, The Mummy, Oceans 11). I don't know if it counts as a remake, but I loved "300". Although "300 Spartans" was cool, they are on a different level.
The 1978 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers which still scares the hell out of jaded ol' me. The 1999 version of The Mummy which is just a fun movie. And although I'm in the minority, I happened to quite like last years remake of The Prisoner on AMC. Not as much as the original, but I thought it was a good effort. Alex
"The Ten Commandments" (Elmer Bernstein scored film). Wasn't the Will Smith "The Pursuit of Happyness" film a remake? I Checked IMDB quickly and clicked on his character's name, but no other films had that character, then I briefly searched the film name, but came up empty again. I can't recall any other film remakes. Technically, BTVS doesn't count, since the TV series wasn't a remake of another TV series.
Dawn of the Dead (2004?) Halloween (2007) [Doesn't change my enjoyment of the original, nor does it rape my enjoyment of movies in general] Star Trek (2009) [Yes, I dare to A) Like this movie, and B) Like something with the name trek outside of TOS or TMP) Battlestar Galactica (Never watched the original series much, but I like it well enough, and liked the re-imagining as well) Never really considered that The Mummy was a remake, but I liked that one.
It's based on a memoir by Chris Gardner which was released earlier in 2006, the same year the film was made. So, no, it's not a remake of a previous film or an adaptation of previously adapted material.
OH ... I forgot: the U.S. version of "Whose Line Is It Anyway?", which also had about five or six of the same comedians from the British version cross over.
^ That too! In fact I like the American WLIIA a lot better now. I can hardly stand Clive Anderson anymore as a host. Still, I do miss some of the UK guests and I wonder how they would have done on the US version. Can you imagine Tony Slattery or Steve Frost on the same show as Drew? (Side note: Remember when the UK version did those 'WLIIA in America' episodes? It always mystified me because the winner in ALL of those episodes was John Sessions - who, although funny, was about the most quintessentially British contestant that show ever had. His style of humor really didn't "gel" with Americans.) Another fun fact: Greg Proops was the voice of the English-speaking head of the podrace announcer in Star Wars Episode I. "I don't care WHAT universe you're from...that's gotta hurt!"
I swear Tony was in one episode of the American version. Wish Greg had been in more. I remember one of the skits where Greg had to guess what his guests were and either Ryan or Colin were experiencing no gravity. Greg couldn't get it. At the end Drew asks him, "What keeps you here on this Earth?" To which Greg replies, "Why ... my undying love for you, Drew." Or the World's Worst Dating Service videos: Ryan: "Wanna ride in my cockpit?" Ryan: Returning a second time with the same flying ace hat, "Now that you're in my cockpit, care if I eject?" I care for both series the same, because the American version had WAY TOO MUCH singing in it. It seemed like they tailored the show sometimes just so Wayne Brady, a terribly overrated comedian, would have a chance to sing. And it also seemed -- if you're like me and watched the ones sitting down and not participating in the skit -- that he almost never laughed or seemed interested in what his partners were doing, like he was always self-centered. Colin: "Tapioca!"
I completely disagree. Abre Los Ojos is superior to Vanilla Sky in every possible way. Better direction, better lead actor, better use of music (i.e. it uses the music to help the story, rather than the other way round - using the story to make a feature-length video for director's favorite songs), it doesn't have the lame romcom ending, and overall it feels really dark and dramatic, like a real thriller/drama, not as another one of Cameron Crowe's dramedies. As for the remakes/reimaginings that I like, most of them have been already mentioned: BSG, The Fly, Scarface, Invasion of Body Snatchers (the version with Donald Sutherland); I also like US The Office almost as much as the UK original (it's one of the few exceptions to the rule that US remakes of UK shows suck). If shows based on movies count (someone mentioned Buffy, so at least one person thought they did), then of course Buffy the Vampire Slayer (this is an obvious case of the show being much better, the movie sucked), La Femme Nikita (the movie was good, but I *loved* the show), Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (loved the first 2 movies, loved the show as well).
No, he never was. Trust me, I would have remembered. To see him on the same stage as Drew Carey would be pure comedy gold, but alas, it was not to be. I love that bit in the UK version where Tony won the show, but Ryan, Colin and Greg had to read the credits - in the style of Tony. My favorite Drew's Line bits: - Ryan as 'all the characters in a Gay Western' [yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dCJxurpKNo[/yt] - Wet Biscuit McGlee. Need I say more? [yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLjQ7vZqrnw[/yt]
I haven't seen the original "The Thing From Another World", but I seem to be the only person on the Internet who didn't like "The Thing" (1982) very much. I thought it had amazing special effects, but a very dull story and forgettable, one-dimensional characters. I also seem to be the only person who likes the remake of "Dawn of the Dead" more than the original. People always say the original was so much more intelligent because it's sort of satirizing the mall culture while the newer one is just an action movie with no social commentary subtext, but I don't see the original as particularly deep. It has this one really brilliant scene with the zombies clawing at the store front window which is great satire, but the rest of it is just boring running and hiding in the mall with the occasional really neat gore effects. The remake is much more entertaining, with better atmosphere and more memorable characters/acting.
I would agree that the remake is more entertaining and fun, but the original will always be the quintessential zombie movie for me. It actually felt like they were living during a zombie crisis, and just coping as best they could, what with the room changing over time etc, whereas the remake felt like they were just there for like a week. I don't think the Taking of Pelham 123 has been mentioned yet. I loved the interplay between Travolta and Washington in the first two acts, but the third act brought it down considerably.
The Fly, The Thing, Whose line is it anyway? US, Life on Mars USA and the colour remake of Night of the Living Dead