{"id":3613,"date":"2013-10-30T00:00:33","date_gmt":"2013-10-30T04:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/smugfilm.com\/?p=3613"},"modified":"2013-11-08T02:05:38","modified_gmt":"2013-11-08T07:05:38","slug":"remakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/remakes\/","title":{"rendered":"Remakes: Everyone\u2019s Favorite Complaint"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"carrie\"
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\nWith the remake of Carrie<\/a> out, it’s that time again for everyone to make their favorite complaint: “Oh god, another remake!\u00a0 It’s like they’re raping my childhood!”<\/p>\n

If you’re going to put forth that Hollywood is in need some new ideas, I’ll listen.\u00a0 But it\u2019s not as though this is a new thing.\u00a0 Movies have always<\/i> mostly been sequels, remakes, or adaptations.\u00a0 Pick any random year since the dawn of cinema and I guarantee you’ll find as many as you do today.
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\nHollywood has always needed new ideas, because the majority of the best movies ever made are original ideas.\u00a0 The reason for this is simple: an original idea is tailor-made for the cinema, whereas in adapting a book, TV show, comic, etc., you’re gonna lose something from the original. Occasionally, adaptations can improve upon the idea (Jurassic Park<\/a>, Forrest Gump<\/a>, and The Shining<\/a> come to mind) but in general, \u201cThe book was better\u201d or \u201cThey changed it from the comic!?!?\u201d is a fair argument. (Incidentally, I think comic book movies should make a much stronger effort to deviate from \u2018the comic\u2019\u2014the movie needs to work like a movie, not try to work like a comic.)<\/p>\n

It’s also true that in literally every instance, the sequel, reboot, redux, remake, adaptation, etc., is an unabashed attempt to cash-in on the success of the original thing.\u00a0 But who cares?\u00a0 Movies are made in order to make money.\u00a0 All<\/i> art is only made to make money; there no such thing as anything else.<\/p>\n

In the case of sequels, I think it’s always a noble idea.\u00a0 Empire Strikes Back<\/a> and Back to the Future Part II<\/a> are proof positive that a sequel can work, and even be better than the original in some ways.\u00a0 In both these instances, even though the original is wrapped up very nicely at the end, the sequel continues the story, adds depth, and creates new obstacles for the characters.<\/p>\n

I was always bummed that they never made a sequel to\u00a0The Breakfast Club<\/a>.\u00a0 The characters actually discuss the idea in the movie: ”What happens on Monday?”\u00a0 The idea being that now that these characters are friends, what will happen on Monday morning when they interact with their peers in school?\u00a0 I think that’s great fodder for a sequel.\u00a0 It’s also a unique opportunity to do the same movie again, but in the inverse way\u2014now instead of being contained with each other, alone, they are forced to deal with each other amidst a sea of other kids. That added pressure changes their behavior and the stakes.\u00a0 It adds another dimension, as opposed to a movie like Home Alone 2<\/a> (not a terrible movie, but not great) where it’s just the same thing in a new location.<\/p>\n

Of all the many types of cash-ins, remakes get the most grief, and I think it’s because the idea is literally <\/i>used again\u2014they don’t even try to continue the story.\u00a0 But who cares?\u00a0 If you love<\/i> Friday the 13th<\/a>, what difference does it make if they remake it?\u00a0 They aren’t erasing the original from existence. (Which in a crazy way is a reference to both a line from Back to the Future and what George Lucas literally tried to do with the original Star Wars films!)<\/p>\n

The whole “they’re ruining my childhood” thing is so nonsensical it makes my head spin.\u00a0 I don’t even understand what those people are mad about.\u00a0 Let’s say you grew up loving Carrie, and then a fourteen year old sees this new one and they love it, and then they see the original and hate it\u2014what the fuck does that have to do with you?<\/i>\u00a0 Who cares?\u00a0 It’s just such a worthless, empty gesture of a complaint.<\/p>\n

If anything, the remake will spread cultural awareness of the original.\u00a0 What’s funny is, that shouldn’t matter either.\u00a0 I love The ‘Burbs<\/a>.\u00a0 If they remake it and twenty more people like the original as a byproduct, what the fuck does that have to do with me?<\/em><\/p>\n

However, one thing that is usually a dumb idea is when directors want to revisit their popular works decades later by making another one, for instance, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull<\/a>.\u00a0 But again, this doesn’t alter the original, so it really doesn’t matter.\u00a0 Ironically though, it doesn’t even alter them when they literally <\/i>alter them!\u00a0 There may be a version of E.T.<\/a> with walkie talkies in it, but the real one still exists, so as much as Spielberg wants to needlessly ruin his own genius, he can’t really.<\/p>\n

Similarly, the whole “Director\u2019s Cut” thing is pretty played out.\u00a0 If a movie is ripped from a director and drastically altered, I get it, but many times it\u2019s just an excuse to add more shit.\u00a0 It just goes to show that many directors are so in love with their own work they don’t know how to cut out the fat.<\/p>\n

Case in point: a few years ago Tom Hanks released a Special Edition DVD of his directorial debut That Thing You Do!<\/a>, one of the best movies ever made.\u00a0 On the disc was an extra version with like 30 minutes of added footage.\u00a0 You could actually use the two to do an entire editing class on how to shape a rough cut into a movie.\u00a0 The original version of That Thing You Do! is an expertly designed comedy with great command over its tone and dramatic beats.\u00a0 The director\u2019s cut is an unwieldy, overlong mess.\u00a0 It\u2019s overly expository and dull and gives wholly unnecessary character information that ruins jokes and leads the audience on tangential forays that are structurally confusing.\u00a0 They even had more stuff with the fucking dentist that Charlize Theron runs away with. I get shooting that, but I’m glad they were smart enough to cut it out of the final cut.<\/p>\n

With the announcement of Dumb and Dumber To<\/a>, and the pictures they’ve released of Carey and Daniels in costume, my nostalgia heartstrings have been tugged, but more than that I’ve come to a realization that the original captured something in the culture.\u00a0 1994 is one of the best years for movies and Dumb and Dumber<\/a> is probably the best first film of all time.\u00a0 The Farrelly Brothers seemed to come out of nowhere and made one of the most original and hilarious comedies that has ever existed.<\/p>\n

Years later, somebody even made a prequel called Dumb and Dumberer<\/a> and we all know how that went.\u00a0 This new movie will probably be better than that, but it won’t be as good as the original.\u00a0 It can’t be, because it’s being made so many years later.<\/p>\n

This phenomena (the failure of things made years later) is commonly expressed by the Godfather<\/a> movies, but I’d rather use Indiana Jones.\u00a0 The three Indiana Jones movies are remarkable in that they get progressively better.\u00a0 They were each made four years apart: 1981, 1985, 1989.\u00a0 When distilled, each has an equal share of iconic moments, but as movies they tend to progress in character depth and action set pieces.\u00a0 Think of the truck chase in Raiders vs. the tank fight in Last Crusade\u2014the latter being just that much more fun and spectacular.<\/p>\n

When Kingdom of the Crystal Skull came out, I remember a lot of friends saying, \u201cIt’s great, it’s Indiana Jones”.\u00a0 But you don’t like Indiana Jones just because<\/i>, you like it because it’s literally the best thing ever.<\/i>\u00a0 That sets the bar very high, and if you’re going to make a new one, you gotta be at the bar or above.\u00a0 Any lower and it’s just wrong<\/em>. it just doesn’t feel right.\u00a0 Indiana Jones 4 doesn’t make me mad <\/i>(I still have the originals, I’m not stupid) but <\/i>it does suck<\/i>.\u00a0 And it’s why Dumb and Dumber To will suck too\u2014when lightning strikes, you should just respect it and move on.<\/p>\n

But I’m excited to see Dumb and Dumber To because I love everybody involved.\u00a0 I’ll go into it with the unbiased feelings I expressed in my essay The 50\/50 Rule<\/a>, because maybe it\u2019ll be good\u2014you never know until you see it.<\/p>\n

I’ll also see the Carrie remake, because I like the original and it might be fun and I can still watch the original whenever I want.\u00a0 And I\u2019m curious to see how they handle the opening scene, as compared to De Palma\u2019s version.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"carrie\"
\n

\nWith the remake of Carrie<\/a> out, it’s that time again for everyone to make their favorite complaint: “Oh god, another remake!\u00a0 It’s like they’re raping my childhood!”<\/p>\n

If you’re going to put forth that Hollywood is in need some new ideas, I’ll listen.\u00a0 But it\u2019s not as though this is a new thing.\u00a0 Movies have always<\/i> mostly been sequels, remakes, or adaptations.\u00a0 Pick any random year since the dawn of cinema and I guarantee you’ll find as many as you do today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,17],"tags":[3174,2677,987,1051,3171,1339,3178,3179,1914,1879,1915,2673,3176,37,3173,3175,576,3106,3180,66,3172,104,185,1744,3177,2830,409,833,811,1015],"class_list":["post-3613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-allposts","category-gregsessays","tag-back-to-the-future-2","tag-back-to-the-future-part-ii","tag-brian-de-palma","tag-carrie","tag-carrie-remake","tag-dumb-and-dumber","tag-dumb-and-dumber-to","tag-dumb-and-dumberer","tag-e-t","tag-empire-strikes-back","tag-et","tag-forrest-gump","tag-friday-the-13th","tag-greg-deliso","tag-hollywood-remakes","tag-home-alone-2","tag-indiana-jones","tag-indiana-jones-and-the-kingdom-of-the-crystal-skull","tag-indiana-jones-trilogy","tag-jurassic-park","tag-movie-remakes","tag-smug-film-2","tag-smugfilm","tag-that-thing-you-do","tag-that-thing-you-do-directors-cut","tag-the-breakfast-club","tag-the-burbs","tag-the-godfather","tag-the-shining","tag-tom-hanks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3613"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3613\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3624,"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3613\/revisions\/3624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}