Good Remakes, Bad Remakes
The good: War of the Worlds, brought to you by Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise, off their success in Minority Report. Screenplay by David Koepp, whose credits include Jurassic Park, Panic Room, and Spider-Man. Generally, I wonder what's the point when the original is a classic, but with this team, the movie has great promise.
The bad: The Longest Yard. "What's the point?" is the apt question here. With Adam Sandler in the Burt Reynolds role, it's hard to envision the update having the same edge as the original.
Time will tell if I am being too hasty in my judgement of both.
Comments
Saw the trailer for Longest Yard yesterday and was baffled. Adam Sandler? He makes as much sense in that role as he would in Smokey and the Bear. Oddly, from what you could see in the trailer it has the same look and feel as the original right down to the 70's TV style cinimatography. Strange.
Posted by: Sluggo | February 7, 2005 11:05 AM
I HATE Adam Sandler- my wife 'loves' him. Go figure.
I sometimes wonder why Hollywood needs to remake classics. I loved the original "Planet of the Apes", and hated Tim Burtons 'remake'. I love Burtons style, but I'm dreading his remake of "Willy Wonka".
Biding my time for the opening of Frank Miller's "Sin City". Now THAT is going to rawk!!!
Posted by: Randy | February 7, 2005 04:53 PM
Randy - in the right role, Adam Sandler has shown himself to be a good actor. He was outstanding in Punch Drunk Love. I am looking forward to the Willy Wonka remake, esp. now that you mention Tim Burton is directing. Just like Johnny Depp should excel as Willy Wonka, Burton is the perfect director for a movie like this. He will make it dark, I am sure, but think Edward Scissorhands and A Nightmare Before Christmas. Then again, maybe you hated those movies.
Posted by: Jon | February 7, 2005 06:02 PM
"Edward Scissorhands" was OK, I really liked "A Nightmare Before Christmas" as well as "Sleepy Hollow". "Ed Wood" and "Mars Attacks" were good too...he's kinda 'hit-or-miss' on most films.
I doubt I'll ever take Sandler seriously, considering most of his comedies have that 3rd grade poopy humor in them.
Posted by: Randy | February 7, 2005 06:24 PM