Remakes that are better than original | Page 3 | The Boneyard

Remakes that are better than original

While both are good, I'd give a nod to The Departed vs. the foreign film Infernal Affairs it was adapted from.
 
Thought of another. The Al Pacino/Robin Williams/Hillary Swank thriller Insomnia was vastly superior to the Norwegian film of the same name it was based on, IMO.
 
superjohn said:
The Town isn't at all a remake of Heat, they both deal with bank robbers but The Town is loosely based on Anthony Shea's Charlestown crew. Heat is a far superior film and is Michael Mann at his best. The Town was overrated and terribly cliche-ridden, Affleck did a much better job with Gone Baby Gone.
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Gone Baby Gone sucked. It was a pretentious and predictable thriller that was not nearly as smart as it thought it was.
 
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G0UCONN said:
Agree and assume he meant John Carpenter version with Kurt Russell.

The real original was in 1950s.
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Yes, honestly didn't even know about the orignal Howard Hawks film. The John Carpenter one is a personal favorite, so is The Fog and They Live. Carpenter was awesome in the 80's, made some amazing stuff on shoestring budgets.
 
G0UCONN said:
Agree and assume he meant John Carpenter version with Kurt Russell.

The real original was in 1950s.
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ahhh ok. They remade the thing AGAIN in 2011, which is what I thought he was referring to. Mildly confused at this point.
 
intlzncster said:
ahhh ok. They remade the thing AGAIN in 2011, which is what I thought he was referring to. Mildly confused at this point.
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Howard Hawks made the original in early 50's which I didn't know about. I was talking about the Carpenter one in the 80's.
 
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Here's one where the remake is better by default. "The Big Bounce" based off an Elmore Leonard novel. The 2004 version was lackluster, but the original 1969 version was terrible! Apologies to any Ryan O'Neal fans. Leigh Taylor-Young looked nice but that didn't even come close to saving this pointless, plotless clunker.
 
The Great Gatsby remake was better than the original. Baz Luhrmann's movies are always visually interesting, and this was no exception. While a bit over-the-top in terms of activity and the music, the era and the world that Gatsby and Daisy lived in was over-the-top. The original is a bit boring and kind of empty.

Leonardo DiCaprio was born to play this role, and was a lot better than Redford. The only minor complaint I had with the two leads in the remake was that both Decaprio and Maguire were at least 5 years too old for their roles, but they still pulled it off. Redford was too old for that role in 1974 too. I wasn't crazy about Carey Mulligan or Mia Farrow as Daisy, so that is a wash. I think both movies should have gone for a better actress rather than focusing on what Daisy looked like.

There was also just something wrong with the original movie's script. It didn't catch the scope of the book, and felt too much like a generic love triangle than a bigger story of class, greed and ambition.
 
nelsonmuntz said:
The Great Gatsby remake was better than the original. Baz Luhrmann's movies are always visually interesting, and this was no exception. While a bit over-the-top in terms of activity and the music, the era and the world that Gatsby and Daisy lived in was over-the-top. The original is a bit boring and kind of empty.

Leonardo DiCaprio was born to play this role, and was a lot better than Redford. The only minor complaint I had with the two leads in the remake was that both Decaprio and Maguire were at least 5 years too old for their roles, but they still pulled it off. Redford was too old for that role in 1974 too. I wasn't crazy about Carey Mulligan or Mia Farrow as Daisy, so that is a wash. I think both movies should have gone for a better actress rather than focusing on what Daisy looked like.

There was also just something wrong with the original movie's script. It didn't catch the scope of the book, and felt too much like a generic love triangle than a bigger story of class, greed and ambition.
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To each is own, I thought The Great Gatsby remake was horrendous. One of the few movies I had to shut off before it even ended. Dreadful film.

Baz Luhrmann should be a music video director, all style with zero substance.
 
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nelsonmuntz said:
Gone Baby Gone sucked. It was a pretentious and predictable thriller that was not nearly as smart as it thought it was.
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Gone Baby Gone was a disappointment to me in that it left out huge swaths of stuff that happened in the book, especially dealing with the moral dilemma of the natural mother. The movie basically started at the quarry, which was more than a third of the way into the book, IIRC. But I thought Casey Affleck did a good job with the Patrick character and the film did have Amy Ryan with the best Southie accent in cinematic history.

The book was a great read and one of my fave Lehanes, probably best of the Angie & Patrick series.

Btw, you sure you're not thinking of "Gone Girl"?

Now that I think about it, GBG would be in my top 10 "most depressing" list. That scene at the end was just heartbreaking.
 
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storrsroars said:
Gone Baby Gone was a disappointment to me in that it left out huge swaths of stuff that happened in the book, especially dealing with the moral dilemma of the natural mother. The movie basically started at the quarry, which was more than a third of the way into the book, IIRC. But I thought Casey Affleck did a good job with the Patrick character and the film did have Amy Ryan with the best Southie accent in cinematic history.

The book was a great read and one of my fave Lehanes, probably best of the Angie & Patrick series.

Btw, you sure you're not thinking of "Gone Girl"?

Now that I think about it, GBG would be in my top 10 "most depressing" list. That scene at the end was just heartbreaking.
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I am thinking of Gone Girl.
 
Deepster said:
I don't know that I've ever met anyone who's seen both versions of "Arthur".
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I didn't even know there was a remake. Chalk this up to an incredibly dated movie, Gielgud's sarcasm was appropriate and funny. Somehow at the time Dudley Moore was also funny - I think in an aspirational way, he could say or do things that everyone wishes they could if they had the money or balls to not give a crap.
I agree with the analysis of Liza, in terms of why he picked her (& did think of that way back when watching the movie)...nevertheless.... ummm ... HE WAS DRUNK!!

In a related story, I think A Star is Born can't help but be better than the Kristofferson-Streisand pairing. Kris was the perfect self-sabotaging drunk & Babs a great voice ugly duckling (but mostly a look at me presence in films ala Liza), yet somehow the movie itself is un-watchable. However it was a huge hit, probably one of the most successful soundtracks ever at the time. I think Lady Gaga is perfect/better for the role and it'll be interesting to see if Bradley Cooper can direct.
 
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Dogdeacon said:
I didn't even know there was a remake. Chalk this up to an incredibly dated movie, Gielgud's sarcasm was appropriate and funny. Somehow at the time Dudley Moore was also funny - I think in an aspirational way, he could say or do things that everyone wishes they could if they had the money or balls to not give a crap.
I agree with the analysis of Liza, in terms of why he picked her (& did think of that way back when watching the movie)...nevertheless.... ummm ... HE WAS DRUNK!!

In a related story, I think A Star is Born can't help but be better than the Kristofferson-Streisand pairing. Kris was the perfect self-sabotaging drunk & Babs a great voice ugly duckling (but mostly a look at me presence in films ala Liza), yet somehow the movie itself is un-watchable. However it was a huge hit, probably one of the most successful soundtracks ever at the time. I think Lady Gaga is perfect/better for the role and it'll be interesting to see if Bradley Cooper can direct.
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The Kristofferson-Streisand version of "A Star is Born" is itself a remake. There were versions of this movie with the same name made in the 1930's (starring Fredric March & Janet Gaynor) and the 1950's (with James Mason and Judy Garland). I haven't seen either of them, but both are well regarded. My wife has seen the Mason-Garland version, and she says it is very good.
 
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Casino Royale (2007). Not just a great Bond movie, but a great movie.

Daniel Craig is a fantastic Bond and his character is much more true to the character in the books. The original movie was more of a spy spoof comedy with David Niven as James Bond.
 
Not actually a remake, just a scene, but figured I'd throw it out there as I don't recall a specific instance where the same actors have basically done the same thing in different movies...

Was watching Raging Bull for first time in ages. When it got to the part where Frank Vincent dissed Joe Pesci and then Pesci blindsided him outside and beat the crap out of him, I couldn't help but think, "Pesci did it better in Goodfellas, as Vincent didn't come back from that one."

And I'm thinking of poor Frank Vincent pleading to Scorcese after reading the Goodfellas script, "Marty, c'mon, not again! I could take that shrimp with one hand tied behind my back..."
 
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nelsonmuntz said:
Count of Monte Cristo - I was never a big Richard Chamberlain fan, and thought he chewed the scenery in the original. This story is so good it is almost impossible to screw up.
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Caviezel version might be my favorite movie.

It’s also a book/story that is so good that you can miss the mark from the book and still make a great movie. Simply incredible.
 
CL82 said:
Kim Darby was too old for the role, but she does a great job with the quirky cadence of the dialog. After seeing Steinfeld's admittedly good performance, I came to appreciate Darby's performance.

I suggest you have your daughter the book. It was high school assigned reading prior to the original movie. It really embraces the coming age aspect of the story from the opening two lines foward:
“People do not give it credence that a fourteen-year-old girl could leave home and go off in the wintertime to avenge her father's blood but it did not seem so strange then, although I will say it did not happen every day. I was just fourteen years of age when a coward going by the name Tom Chaney shot my father down in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and robbed him of his life and his horse and $150 in cash money plus two California gold pieces that he carried in his trouser band.”​


Yep, Again after seeing Matt Damon's performance, I appreciate Campbell's more so.
Agreed
Same. The remake wasn't bad, but the original was better.
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On the drive into Telluride last week we passed through Ridgeway, CO, where our driver reminded us that the original True Grit was filmed. The condo we were staying in had no wifi and no TV other than a Blu-ray player, so we took movies out of the library, including the original True Grit because we were inspired by being in the area. Darby was amazing in that role; better than I had remembered.

100% coincidentally, the next night we watched Better Off Dead, starring John Cusak...and Kim Darby as his mother some 15+ years after True Grit. Had no idea.
 
8893 said:
On the drive into Telluride last week we passed through Ridgeway, CO, where our driver reminded us that the original True Grit was filmed. The condo we were staying in had no wifi and no TV other than a Blu-ray player, so we took movies out of the library, including the original True Grit because we were inspired by being in the area. Darby was amazing in that role; better than I had remembered.

100% coincidentally, the next night we watched Better Off Dead, starring John Cusak...and Kim Darby as his mother some 15+ years after True Grit. Had no idea.
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Damn this thread is old.

I said this earlier, I don’t consider the latest True Grit to be a remake but another adaptation.

Both movies are fantastic.

I don’t even consider the new Dune to be a remake. It’s just another adaptation.

The Magnificent 7 is just a reimagined 7 Samurai. Same with Fistfull of Dollars which is a reimagined Yojimbo. There was also poor reimagine of Yojimbo with Bruce Willis “last man standing”?

Watch Kurosawa’s “The Hidden Fortress” and then read “Dune”. You’ll be cured of Star Wars for the rest of your life.

The best remake of all time is also the greatest movie of all time and that would be Michael Mann’s “Heat”.

Heat was a remake of Mann’s TV Movie, LA Takedown. Which is also a pretty decent movie.
 
ZooCougar said:
I said this earlier, I don’t consider the latest True Grit to be a remake but another adaptation.

Both movies are fantastic.
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No question both True Grit movies are good. The difference in the adaptation of both films is that their primary focus is on different characters.

If you have John Wayne in a movie late in his career, most likely you want the story focused on him. So that is what happens in this version of the story.

In the Coen Brothers version of the movie, the focus is more on the girl and how her actions drive the story. While I have never read the source the material, I have an odd feeling that in this way this movie is a bit closer to the original story as it was written.
 
I wouldn't say better, just different. I haven't seen some of the originals but different time, different technology. I recently saw the newer Magnificent 7 which was, what, magnificent. But different. I remember watching the new King Kong but the original was classic.

kong.gif
 
ZooCougar said:
Damn this thread is old.

I said this earlier, I don’t consider the latest True Grit to be a remake but another adaptation.

Both movies are fantastic.

I don’t even consider the new Dune to be a remake. It’s just another adaptation.

The Magnificent 7 is just a reimagined 7 Samurai. Same with Fistfull of Dollars which is a reimagined Yojimbo. There was also poor reimagine of Yojimbo with Bruce Willis “last man standing”?

Watch Kurosawa’s “The Hidden Fortress” and then read “Dune”. You’ll be cured of Star Wars for the rest of your life.

The best remake of all time is also the greatest movie of all time and that would be Michael Mann’s “Heat”.

Heat was a remake of Mann’s TV Movie, LA Takedown. Which is also a pretty decent movie.
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How do you distinguish a “remake”from “another adaption”? Is it as simple as following the original script? I kind of view it as if you are remaking the same property, , e.g., the same novel, even if you were highlighting different elements of it, it’s a remake.
 
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