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Remakes you liked?

Warped9

Warped9

Admiral
Admiral
The general consensus seems to be that remakes are usually inferior to the original to some degree or other. But is that universally true.

So lets throw out some remakes you liked as equally to the original or (heaven forbid) perhaps better than the original. There must be some. And, no, it doesn't have to be a widely held opinion.

For myself I liked Peter Jackson's King Kong. I think he did an admirable job of updating the original while adding more nuance and texture. Jackson's Kong is not just a hairy and scary beast Ann Darrow only wants to get away from. PJ's Kong has a soul.

I like the 1978 Invasion Of The Body Snatchers as well as Cronenberg's version of The Fly. And I was pleasantly surprised to find I didn't mind the remake of War Of The Worlds.

Anyone else?
 
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Warped9 said:
I like the 1978 Invasion Of The Body Snatchers as well as Cronenberg's version of The Fly.
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I like those too. A rare case where I liked both the original and the re-make almost equally, but for very different reasons. Other remakes I love are "The Departed" (the original was okay, but I found it rather forgettable), "Scarface" (haven't seen the original) and "The Mummy".
 
Agreed on King Kong, I really enjoyed Jackson's take. I haven't seen it since the theaters, so I don't know if it holds up a few years later, but it was pretty effective and fun when it came out, although I think Jack Black was kind of miscast. I don't see him as an actor like Robin Williams or Jim Carey, i.e. guys who can break out of goofy mode.

If TV shows are included here, I love nuBSG, too.
 
King Kong would have been good if it had been about 45 minutes shorter.

BSG is definitely on my list.
 
IMHO, NuBSG is much better than oldBSG. I like both but I just think the re-imagined one is more enjoyable with more interesting themes and characters. To be honest, I like political allegory and dark and gritty stuff.
 
Warped9 said:
The general consensus seems to be that remakes are usually inferior to the original to some degree or other. But is that universally true.

So lets throw out some remakes you liked as equally to the original or (heaven forbid) perhaps better than the original. There must be some. And, no, it doesn't have to be a widely held opinion.

For myself I liked Peter Jackson's King Kong. I think he did an admirable job of updating the original while adding more nuance and texture. Jackson's Kong is not just a hairy and scary beast Ann Darrow only wants to get away from. PJ's Kong has a soul.

I like the 1978 Invasion Of The Body Snatchers as well as Cronenberg's version of The Fly. And I was pleasantly surprised to find I didn't mind the remake of War Of The Worlds.

Anyone else?
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You had me until War of the Worlds, although does it still count as a "bad remake" if you thought the original (and in this case the concept itself) sucked in the first place?

Jackson's King Kong is a really good movie, his second best film (after, of course, Dead Alive).

I like Vanilla Sky more than Abre Los Ojos. And Soderbergh's Solaris more than Tarkovsky's.
 
Halloween
Dawn of the Dead
The Mummy
The Thing
The Ring
The Fly
The Uninvited
Scarface
Buffy
BSG
V
Sanford and Son
Hell's Kitchen

I thought King Kong, Godzilla, Wolfman, War of the Worlds, and Planet of the Apes were decent, or good in parts.
 
I don't think the original War Of The Worlds sucked. I quite liked it particularly considering when it was made. I simply meant that the new version was better than I expected it. I don't like it better than the original--I simply think it's just as good but just different.

The dvd version of Peter Jackson's King Kong is better than the theatrical version. It has some deleted footage put back in and some very selective editing that improves the film's pacing. It's actually a bit longer than the theatrical version, but it feels shorter because of the editing.
 
Warped9 said:
I don't think the original War Of The Worlds sucked. I quite liked it particularly considering when it was made. I simply meant that the new version was better than I expected it. I don't like it better than the original--I simply think it's just as good but just different.
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No, it was a popular and reasonably well-made film. I just always hated the concept (aliens attack Earth, die because they do not understand the concept of bacterial infections).
 
With you on The Fly and Invasion of the Body Snatchers. I also rather liked Miami Vice though it was really just a lavishly produced trifle.
 
When it comes to feature films, The Thing, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and The Fly are obvious choices. The Bogart version of The Maltese Falcon is an excellent adaptation, and better than either previous version in most respects.

On television, I prefer the new version of Battlestar Galactica, but I don't actively dislike the original.
 
Recently I've heard several references to the new version of The Thing, but I'm not familiar with and I've never seen it.
 
The Fly is about the only one I can think of.

Friday the Thirteenth I've never seen the original, and the remake was just... meh.

I kinda liked the Dawn of the Dead remake, not quite as good as the original, but it was that much less good either.
 
Myasishchev said:
No, it was a popular and reasonably well-made film. I just always hated the concept (aliens attack Earth, die because they do not understand the concept of bacterial infections).
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Not enough explosions and mayhem for you? I think WOTW is genius.
 
King Kong (as much as)
The Music Man (as much as, but definitely not better than)
Ocean's Eleven (better than)

Alice in Wonderland...(does this count?) Burton's version is my favorite so far.

Most remakes simply can't fill the shoes of the original, no matter how great they are.
 
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