In the age of remakes, reboots, re-imaginings & all that, can you name remakes that are actually great.
And no, you do not need to have seen the original. It needs to stand on its own. Comparisons aren't necessary.
Here are some of my faves
1. John Carpenter's The Thing (1982)
2. Ocean's 11 (2002)
3. True Grit (2010)
4. Scarface (1983)
5. The Fly (1986)
6. The Departed (2006)
7. Cape Fear (1991)
8. The Mummy 1999)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
shareI loved that one too. Though I’m not sure if i like it better than the original but was a great remake.
Both leads did great.
It’s just the bad guys were better chosen in the original. The bad uncle and the tutor of Salander were much more menacing in the original but the two leads were better in Fincher’s version.
Yes, Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara were amazing. It made me very sad that the rest of the trilogy wasn't made like planned with those two.
I've seen the original, but I didn't make a comparison with anyone beyond the two leads in each movie. You've made me want to rewatch it with an eye for the supporting characters.
Yees, it’s a shame Fincher at the end didn’t end the trilogy I bet he would have done a great job, maybe it was a failure at the box office and got scared to continue the whole thing.
shareThere's zero doubt they would have been amazing if Fincher had been able to finish the trilogy. I have read Rooney Mara really, really wanted to finish it, and she even emailed the head of Sony Pictures multiple times to inquire about it. This came out in the Sony email leaks scandal.
I think the movie was a box office disappointment. It was released at Christmas time, and some of the gorier, more brutal subject matter (serial killer, rape) might not have gone over well with movie goers at that time of year. I also read that the screenplay for the second movie was changed dramatically from the book causing problems. Sony decided to reboot the series with different actors.
I will always wonder what could have been. Craig and Mara's chemistry on-screen was tangible and hard to duplicate. Combine that with Fincher, and it's an unbeatable combination. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was the best movie of the 2010s decade in my opinion.
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)
Little Shop Of Horros (1986)
Scarface (1983)
And, obviously The Thing (1982), which might be the *best* remake.
"Little Shop of Horrors" is the best movie musical of the late 20th century! I LOVE it!
And I was going to nominate the stylish 1970s remake of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", which is far more disturbing than the original.
Oh, and the 1970s version of "The Three Musketeers", starring Michael York, Oliver Reed, and Faye Dunaway. It's about the 50th filmed version of that oft-filmed story, and is far and away the best! No version that came before or after can compare!
The '78 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a very good shout, and is arguably the film that kicked off the 80s horror remake trend (which resulted in some classics, like the aforementioned The Thing and The Fly).
Do The Three Musketeers films count as *remakes* or simply new adaptations of the same source material? In any case, I am inclined to agree that the 70s Musketeers films are among the best versions of the Dumas novel. I don't know whether they're definitively *the best* but certainly among the best.
And I think we might be in agreement on Little Shop of Horrors (1986) being the best late 20th century musical.
"3. True Grit (2010)"
I hate that movie (on the other hand, the 1969 one is hilarious and one of my all-time favorite movies), but it's not a remake. Both movies are adaptions of the 1968 novel True Grit by Charles Portis.
It's possible for a second movie adaption of a novel to be a remake of the first, but only if the first movie adaption changed some things around and the second adaption copied those changes. That didn't happen in this case. Another example is: The Shining (1997) is in no way a remake of The Shining (1980).
Genuinely had no idea that True Grit was even a book adaptation.
Anyways, I liked the John Wayne one. I thought it was entertaining but didn't leave much of an impression on me.
The Jeff Bridges one is one of my all time favorite films.
I never read the book either but I did really enjoy the Jeff Bridges remake quite a lot. Nothing against John Wayne but that Jeff Bridges really nailed the role, he was great!
shareI remember rewatching it while back & noticing the Matt Damon was actually in the film.
Jeff Bridges just steals the whole film that I genuinely forgot that Damon was in it.
He honestly got outshone by both Bridges & Hailee Steinfeld
I read the book back in the day, it's short and I think it was intended for "young adults".
It's a fine little book, but honestly, both movie adaptations were extremely faithful, the 2010-ish version slightly more so. But the 1969-ish version was more fun.
Originally it was a serial from The Saturday Evening Post, that's probably what gives it a tame feel.
shareThat’s a very good list.
I would add Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves (91) as a great one. It was a fun movie, they made quite a few Robin Hood movies over many decades but Kevin Costner’s is the best of them.
Hey, anything costarring Morgan Freeman is going to be excellent, gotta love that guy!
The Ring (2002)
Bedazzled (2000)
Point of No Return (1993)
The Uninvited (2009)
Willard (2003)
Insomnia (2002)
A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)
Rewatched Insomnia towards the end of last year with my lil brother. The film is honestly underappreciated. Wonderful film imo.
The writing is great. Al Pacino is absolutely fantastic in it. Robin Williams & Hilary Swank are pretty darn great.
Good list👌
I didn’t love the Nightmare On Elm Street remake, it was OK but it felt a bit ‘safe and corporate.’
I recall Freddy as being an evil pedophile and killer of kids, that 1984 movie scared the hell out of me!
I like the star of the remake, Jackie Earle Haley, he’s never been a looker, he’s actually sort of ugly as am I, but he’s an interesting actor.
He was excellent in The Watchmen, a crazy superhero movie in which he plays a paranoid vigilante nut. This dude can act! I like him.
invasion of the body snatchers
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