View from the Cheap Seats is kind of an extension of the newsroom. Whenever our three regular reporters, Calvin Daniels, Thom Barker and Randy Brenzen are in the building together, it is frequently a site of heated debate. This week: Have Hollywood remakes gone to far?
Dos and don’ts
I am not dogmatically opposed to film franchises, sequels, remakes and reboots.
There have been very successful versions of all of these.
Some classics simply need to be remade because of advancements in technology. Planet of the Apes comes to mind. The original 1968 classic with Charlton Heston rightfully earned John Chambers the Academy Award for achievement in makeup. The story still stands the test of time, but the apes are laughable by today’s standards.
In the 2011 version, thanks to advancements in CGI, the apes are almost believable. Also, advancements in the real world of science allowed the filmmakers to come up with a much more plausible origin story for the turning of the tables between man and beast.
There are some things that should never be attempted, however. I cringed when I heard someone was remaking Vacation. The first time I saw the trailer, my suspicion that it would be convoluted and just plain bad was confirmed. Subsequent reviews by professionals and the general public alike seem to back me up.
The 1983 version of Vacation was perfect for its era. Chevy Chase as the lovable buffoon Clark Griswold was spot on. Beverly D’Angelo as the sexy, long-suffering wife Ellen Griswold was inspired.
It has become a venerated classic that should be left alone. A reprise in 2015 simply does not make sense unless it is an attempt at cashing in on the nostalgia for all things 1980s these days.
The filmmakers did make an attempt at relevance using a generational gimmick. In this movie it is Clark and Ellen’s son Rusty who decides to pack his family into the car and head off on a cross-country trek to Wally World… ugh. The original vacation was an unmitigated disaster, what makes Rusty think it will be any different this time around?
It is probably unfair to pan a movie without actually watching it, so I will simply say I will not be going to see it.
-Thom Barker
Lazy
The dirge of Hollywood is the movie remake.
They should be banned by some upper echelon of power, and I say that for some very good reasons.
To begin with it the effort and finances going into remakes would be far better invested in something new. Now I will grant that many ‘new’ movies are plainly … well for lack of a better word; terrible.
An example is the release of Pixels, a movie that from the trailers alone may be the worst storyline for a movie since the first talkie hit the screen.
But at least someone was in Hollywood trying something new.
Remakes are pure laziness by everyone involved.
And, when Hollywood opts for the easy path to another remake, they generally fail in miraculous ways.
Take The Longest Yard. It was actually a quite fine football-themed movie from 1974 starring Burt Reynolds. I might not rate it the best gridiron film I’ve seen, We Are Marshall would top my list, but Reynolds and cast would make my top-10.
Flash forward to 2005 when Adam Sandler headlined a Longest Yard remake.
The question is why?
The ’74 movie was set in a prison so not exactly dated in its look, and Sandler stinks up any movie he’s in, so the remake was a waste.
Great movies, yes as a football flick The Longest Yard was great, should be left as they were originally released to be watched as classics.
Of course Hollywood also has a propensity for remaking bad movies too.
Point Blank 1991 might have had the girl’s eye candy of Patrick Swayze, but also suffered from the acting skills, or lack thereof, of Keanu Reeves, and ended up as a so-so movie at best.
But it is a movie that was far from worthy of a remake, yet it’s set for release this summer. That is a nap night not a must-see movie night in the making.
Really Hollywood try harder and burn every remake script in your vaults. You do a disservice to the industry and movie fans when you opt for such releases.
- Calvin Daniels
