And, if you've already picked up a copy, by all means rate or review it (either at Lulu or Amazon) should you have a spare moment. So far, it's received Lulu's highest rating from two customers, which is not only encouraging, but also great advertising.
Sorry for the radio silence around these parts of late, it's been a particularly chaotic month. As of Thursday, I'll be away covering the Toronto International Film Festival; of the handful of this year's festpix I've seen thus far, I kind of dug a French riff on Leave Her to Heaven called The Page Turner, starring Déborah François, late of L'Enfant. (She sure cleans up good.) Anyway, keep an eye on the mothersite for capsule reviews of TIFF selections, and be sure to check out Walter's (scathing) review of The Wicker Man--he's one of the only critics who bothered. Any movies you're deathly afraid they'll remake next?
8 comments:
We've both had our shudders on the potential Straw Dogs remake in blogs past, Bill, but here's a few other titles:
Although I'm sure that the producers have other ideas, I just hope that the new Bond reboot Casino Royale will result in a new slew of scripts, instead of all-new remakes of Flemings past. I'm just glad that the necessary Cold War setting has rendered a new From Russia with Love into a moot point. Goldfinger is a stickier prospect, though.
Even with last year's surprisingly excellent remake of Assault on Precinct 13 and surprisingly excellent filmmaker Rob Zombie getting some new version of Halloween, I'm still a little wary about John Carpenter's filmography. This particularly considering his inactivity as of late; I don't think I could take some new pretender's version of Escape from New York. Come on, John; Kurt's not too old, just make Escape from Earth already.
Hollywood's been threatening The Third Man for years now... whaddaya think, Holly Martins as the undisputed hero, come to teach the Europeans how to love, American style?
Let's hope that Keenen Ivory Wayans' The Incredible Shrinking Man never gets off the ground, though it may be incentive enough for a DVD of the original, finally. And let's not forget Notorious as directed by Sylvester Stallone. Thankfully, it's not what it seems to be at first glance, but for the longest time this movie didn't have a plot outline on IMDb and scared movie lovers shitless.
They'll remake everything, I fear. But I think that's still better than "updating" classics (Star Wars as offender #1), because with remakes, the original doesn't go away.
My biggest gripe with remakes is that they seem to be made purely to tap into an existing audience, not because someone thought he or she had something to add or improve upon (one exception being Peter Jackson's "King Kong"), so they cast teenie magnets and throw away anything the producer's dog might have trouble understanding. If the only answer to "why remake this" is "money", then I'll pass.
I'm dreading a remake of Pulp Fiction, and a sequel to Casablanca, to answer the question more succinctly.
Agreed, Patrick, but I do wonder: hasn't Pulp Fiction sort of been honorarily remade a dozen times by now?
I'm still fearing the long-threatened Seconds remake, which I imagine will end not unlike the Bruce Willis/Julia Roberts movie within The Player. Let's hope Keenan got that Incredible Shrinking Man remake out of his system, Ian, with Little Man.
Tarantino is still toying with an update of Fulci's The Psychic, and that's probably the kind of remake I'm least opposed to: a cover version of a B-movie with a nifty premise rather than something so good it's almost self-critiquing.
That is true, Bill; Wayans doesn't seem to make movies anymore unless he's got a race/minority/age group/body type/disability to mock. Perhaps Incredible Shrinking Man will be put on the backburner for Fat Motherfuckers, or, maybe a Carlos Mencia concert film. Like two peas in a pod, they are.
Funny thing about Little Man: knowing everything that you do about Keenen Ivory Wayans, he being such a hateful peon, it kind of rolls off your back. In terms of sheer horror in that mold, the trophy belongs to Material Girls, which pretends to perform the schadenfreude shuffle over the likes of Paris and Nicky Hilton, but it really just supports their behavior and keeps the supporting cast at the Duffs' beck and call. Don't worry, even when you're poor, your immigrated Mexican houseslave will still be willing to do all the work for you, Louise Beavers/Imitation of Life style!
The most terrifying sight of the year must surely be Hilary Duff, mouth agape and leaning in for her final kiss with her beau, a chemist who works for her company but also parks her car "because I'm nice." Of course, I have yet to see the apparent Lindsay Lohan Bizarro version of the film, Just My Luck. Great review, by the by, Bill, and belated congratulations all around on book number two.
Dude, I can't believe they've remade Leave Her to Heaven, which I adore because it's one of the few times Gene Tierney got to be evil! There was some room for improvement, though, so I'll keep a lookout for the new one.
They never should've remade Planet of the Apes, the original, cheesy as it was, is still awesome. In fact, I'm hard pressed to think of a remake that was worthy -- ok, I'll give you Knightley's Pride and Prejudice, but other than that? They generally leave me cold.
I see from this list that there's a 2008 remake of the Three Stooges pending. Man, that is just so wrong in so many ways. Also, The Incredible Shrinking Man should not be remade by a Wayans brother, or anyone else, for that matter.
Whoa, reading your "Wicker Man" review... you are giving that movie much too much credit, Walter. If, say, Iain Softley directed that movie (and he could have), I'm betting you would have just written that it's a shitty movie and left it that, which is about all it deserves.
Just to clarify, Joan, it's not a straightforward remake of Leave Her to Heaven by any means, just an homage in places. (You'll know 'em when you see 'em.) I suspect the pic will be most often compared to All About Eve, but even that's not exactly right.
I love Leave Her to Heaven, too, by the by. First serious film debate I ever had was over that one--my teacher resented that so much of it took place in the daytime, but I thought that made it so much more perverse!
I fear a remake of Infernal Affairs.
What? The Departed? Ooohh, shit.
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