Untitled

Wednesday February 25th 2004 12:14 AM PST

Its always a bad idea to remake a movie. Thats my opinion. The movie studios think something completely different. They figure, if something has already been proven to work, why not make it all over again and make a few more $$$. Its not rocket science. So now i feel conflicted. The lady killers is a great old movie. The Coen brothers (ethan & joel) are a pair of my favorite movie makers. So when i started seeing advertisements for the remake of the Ladykillers i really didn't know which way to go. Should i hate it cause its just another remake, or should i love it cause i know the Coens are going to do a great job. we'll see. I know i'll at least get sucked into the studios plan on a remake on this one.

Comments:

Remakes aren't always bad, IMO (John Carpenter's The Thing comes to mind as an example of a great remake). However, in most cases I think you're right, and that studios don't remake a movie because they have a great idea of how to inject something new into a movie from long ago, but instead remake movies because they just think it's a shortcut to a success at the box office because there will probably already be a built in audience (or because they're out of good ideas and are just "going back to the well"). That said, as far as I'm concerned anyway, I would trust the Coen brothers to do anything when it comes to moviemaking: those guys are just incredible.

Posted by: Yams

I usually cringe when I hear a remake is in the pipeline. Although, I also agree with Mr. Yams. Sometimes the planets are aligned and it turns out well. Case in point, Cronenberg's "The Fly". Where would the world be without Seth Brundle? For the most part studios look at remakes from a marketing perspective because they figure it's a safer route to seeing some return on their intial investment rather than risk it on an original idea that may not sit well with audiences. Most remakes do have a built in audience, as well as a somewhat predetermined litmus test. The ironic thing is that despite this logic they're forgetting that in a lot of cases it is a remake, and people will remember the original. Especially since it seems like a lot of the current remakes are from films only 10 to 20 years ago. In the case of a lot of the 70s filmmakers there was more risk intially, and hence more reward. Star Wars, Jaws, The Godfather, Close Encounters.... they all were risky propositions in their day. I don't think we'll see an era that will allow that much opportunity for experimentation again for some time. In the meantime we'll still be bracing for the Casablanca remake.

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