It's the end of season 3, its Neal's choice and it's... not really a remake? Or is it? Rules being broken left, right and centre in this episode...
High Noon is considered a classic of the American West, one of the most significant Westerns ever made and an influence on an entire sub-genre. And none of the GBR crew have seen it before. No pressure then, High Noon.
Outland is a fondly remembered, if underseen, sci-fi appropriation, which everyone is quick to point is really stretching the definition of "remake". But it's got Sean Connery, exploding heads and an impressive, Jupiter moon-base set. And at the end of the day, isn't that all we really want?
Subscribe, follow and get in touch in these places: If you're interested in the team's views on non-remake properties, you can follow us on Letterboxd: Neal's profile - https://boxd.it/1EHhT/ Ben's profile - https://boxd.it/1lH3J/ We want your feedback, 3-word reviews and suggestions for any other films that have been remade, so find us in these places: Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Goodbadremake/ and on Twitter: twitter.com/GoodBadRemake/ And get in touch here: goodbadremake@gmail.com Music is 'Bring Me the West' by phlaala
Two of the greatest performers in martial arts history go head-to-head this week.
Firstly, one of the most iconic actors of all time, the inimitable, the game-changing, the one and only Bruce Lee. Before Enter the Dragon made him a worldwide star, Fist of Fury (AKA The Chinese Connection) displays Lee's furious speed and charisma in a barnstorming action adventure. Awesome fights, gorgeous cinematography and an early 20th century tale of honour and conspiracy.
Twenty years later, the equally incredible yet, stylistically, very different Jet Li took on the same role in Fist of Legend, teaming up with legendary choreographer Yuen Woo-ping in the process. The styles of fighting and film are massively different, but are the results? And who will come out on top?
FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!
Subscribe, follow and get in touch in these places: If you're interested in the team's views on non-remake properties, you can follow us on Letterboxd:
Neal's profile - https://boxd.it/1EHhT
Ben's profile - https://boxd.it/1lH3J
We want your feedback, 3-word reviews and suggestions for any other films that have been remade, so find us in these places: Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Goodbadremake/ and on Twitter: twitter.com/GoodBadRemake And get in touch here: goodbadremake@gmail.com Music is 'Bring Me the West' by phlaala
One of the most beloved Ealing comedies of all time takes on one of the most beloved filmmaking duos of our time.
Alexander Mackendrick's The Ladykillers has long endured, thanks to its brilliant concept, dark humour and excellent cast. So, why on earth did the Coen brothers, coming off of nearly two decades of critical adoration, choose to remake it? Well, we think we know and we've got some feelings about both films too. Join us.
Subscribe, follow and get in touch in these places: If you're interested in the team's views on non-remake properties, you can follow us on Letterboxd:
Neal's profile - https://boxd.it/1EHhT
Ben's profile - https://boxd.it/1lH3J
We want your feedback, 3-word reviews and suggestions for any other films that have been remade, so find us in these places: Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Goodbadremake/ and on Twitter: twitter.com/GoodBadRemake And get in touch here: goodbadremake@gmail.com Music is 'Bring Me the West' by phlaala
The grandaddy of all modern zombie films is our subject this week, as we take a look at the OG, George A Romero's black and white gamechanger, The Night of the Living Dead. The team all have varied history with it, but also all felt the impact of key scenes.
So when it comes to watching an all-colour remake by makeup maestro Tom Savini, working from a reworked script by Romero himself, does it have any chance of being Remazing, or was it always destined to be an also-ran?
Subscribe, follow and get in touch in these places: If you're interested in the team's views on non-remake properties, you can follow us on Letterboxd: Neal's profile - https://boxd.it/1EHhT Ben's profile - https://boxd.it/1lH3J We want your feedback, 3-word reviews and suggestions for any other films that have been remade, so find us in these places: Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Goodbadremake/ and on Twitter: twitter.com/GoodBadRemake And get in touch here: goodbadremake@gmail.com Music is 'Bring Me the West' by phlaala
This week, we're getting sweaty and clenching our buttocks tightly, because we've got two renowned movies filled with tight-fisted, white-knuckled tension.
The Wages of Fear (AKA Le Salaire de la Peur), from director Henri-Georges Clouzot, is a proto-action thriller from the 1950s, which takes a while getting to its set-pieces and then doesn't let up until the final frame. Twenty-some years later, William Friedkin (The French Connection, The Exorcist) decided to (not) remake it as the poorly-titled Sorcerer, updating those incredible action scenes with a massive budget and a more socio-politicial undercurrent.
As always, we're here to weigh up the pros and cons of both approaches, before pitting them against one another.
Subscribe, follow and get in touch in these places: If you're interested in the team's views on non-remake properties, you can follow us on Letterboxd: Neal's profile - https://boxd.it/1EHhT Ben's profile - https://boxd.it/1lH3J We want your feedback, 3-word reviews and suggestions for any other films that have been remade, so find us in these places: Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Goodbadremake/ and on Twitter: twitter.com/GoodBadRemake And get in touch here: goodbadremake@gmail.com Music is 'Bring Me the West' by phlaala
Season 3 is here and we're kicking off with a much requested and somewhat controversial remake.
Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 horror-thriller Psycho changed the game. An iconic score, moody black and white photography, some of the most parodied sequences and dialogue in cinema history and the first ever appearance of a flushing toilet. So, naturally, Gus Van Sant followed up his biggest hit with a colour, shot-for-shot remake, taken from the exact same script.
Have we got another Point Break on our hands, or did Van Sant pull it off? Vince Vaughn certainly did...
Subscribe, follow and get in touch in these places:
If you're interested in the team's views on non-remake properties, you can follow us on Letterboxd:
Neal's profile - https://boxd.it/1EHhTBen's profile - https://boxd.it/1lH3J
We want your feedback, 3-word reviews and suggestions for any other films that have been remade, so find us in these places:
Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Goodbadremake/
and on Twitter: twitter.com/GoodBadRemake
And get in touch here: goodbadremake@gmail.com
Music is 'Bring Me the West' by phlaala
The GBR squad are back!
After a long break, we got together another list of 10 movies and their remakes, spanning the spectrum of Unmakes, Agreemakes and Remazing and we're here to tell you what's coming up over the next ten weeks.
As always, let us know your thoughts in these places:
If you're interested in the team's views on non-remake properties, you can follow us on Letterboxd:
Neal's profile - https://boxd.it/1EHhT
Ben's profile - https://boxd.it/1lH3J
We want your feedback, 3-word reviews and suggestions for any other films that have been remade, so find us in these places:
Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Goodbadremake/
and on Twitter: twitter.com/GoodBadRemake
And get in touch here: goodbadremake@gmail.com
Music is 'Bring Me the West' by phlaala
And thanks for listening. Tell your friends!
**CONTENT WARNING: In order to discuss the events of both films, we discuss scenes of sexual violence**
Back for a bonus episode, due to popular demand we've done what none of you should probably attempt and that is watching both adaptations of Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - back-to-back.
The 2009 film from Niels Arden Oplev marked the arrival of Noomi Rapace and Michael Nyqvist, both of whom would go on to fairly successful Hollywood careers. Its a relatively faithful adaptation of the novel, albeit on a budget that only just elevates it above its TV movie roots.
Just a couple of years later, the same story got the Hollywood treatment under the stewardship of David Fincher. With a budget close to $100m and James Bond in the lead, surely this had to smooth off some of the book's rough edges in order to see a wide release, right?
Catherine's read the books, Neal and Ben haven't. So how will that affect their opinions of these two films, which share so much in terms of narrative, but are wildly different in style and approach?
If you're interested in the team's views on non-remake properties, you can follow us on Letterboxd:
Neal's profile - https://boxd.it/1EHhTBen's profile - https://boxd.it/1lH3J
We want your feedback, 3-word reviews and suggestions for any other films that have been remade, so find us in these places:
Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Goodbadremake/
and on Twitter: twitter.com/GoodBadRemake
And get in touch here: goodbadremake@gmail.com
Music is 'Bring Me the West' by phlaala
Our penultimate episode of this run is the first time we're discussing a director remaking his own film.
The Vanishing 1988 (AKA Spoorloos) is a meticulously structured, detail-driven psychological thriller, centred around a young couple who come into contact with a fiercely intelligent sociopath. Years after one of them goes missing, the other two meet up and the events that led to the titular vanishing will be revealed in the most twisted way imaginable. A classic foreign-language thriller, this is renowned for its thematic richness and brilliant, tension-inducing editing and excellent performances.
The remake (1993) teams the same director with Jeff Bridges, Kiefer Sutherland, Nancy Travis and a pre-stardom Sandra Bullock. And... we had some thoughts about it.
More than probably any film we've discussed yet, the original is a film you need to see before listening to this episode. We've done our best to avoid spoilers until they're clearly marked, but if you want to experience The Vanishing the way it was intended, get the 1988 film watched.
If you're interested in the team's views on non-remake properties, you can follow us on Letterboxd:
Neal's profile - https://boxd.it/1EHhT
Ben's profile - https://boxd.it/1lH3J
We want your feedback, 3-word reviews and suggestions for any other films that have been remade, so find us in these places:
Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Goodbadremake/
and on Twitter: twitter.com/GoodBadRemake
And get in touch here: goodbadremake@gmail.com
Music is 'Bring Me the West' by phlaala
Two westerns separated by five decades, but connected by a short story from Elmore Leonard and lead actors who are real cutey pies.
First up, Glenn Ford and Van Heflin are at odds, as the former tries to convince the latter to spare him from the eponymous prison train. It's light on action, heavy on charm and presents a fairly believable vision of the old west in Van Heflin's simple farmer.
Then, 50 years later, we got the big budget remake from James "Logan" Mangold, with Russell Crowe and Christian Bale stepping into the shoes of Ben Wade and Dan Evans. This time, Mangold adds in half an hour of runtime - mostly in action scenes that are quite spectacular - and he changes the ending.
So which is going to fare better: the simple, straightforward semi-classic; or the bombastic, big budget update?
If you're interested in the team's views on non-remake properties, you can follow us on Letterboxd:
Neal's profile - https://boxd.it/1EHhT
Ben's profile - https://boxd.it/1lH3J
We want your feedback, 3-word reviews and suggestions for any other films that have been remade, so find us in these places:
Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Goodbadremake/
and on Twitter: twitter.com/GoodBadRemake
And get in touch here: goodbadremake@gmail.com
Music is 'Bring Me the West' by phlaala
CONTENT WARNING: The films discussed this week contain scenes of sexual assault, which we felt we had to address.
A brace of violent psychological thrillers this week, starting with the 1962 J. Lee Thompson classic, Cape Fear, starring Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum. Shockingly edgy for when it came out, it was a new experience for 2/3rds of the GBR team, so the big question is, can a film that's pushing 60 still retain the power to genuinely unnerve, or have cinematic boundaries of taste and propriety moved on too far for it still to work?
Almost 30 years later, Martin Scorsese celebrated one of his highest grossing films with the remake, starring Nick Nolte, Robert De Niro, Jessica Lange and Juliette Lewis. Given the time in which it was made and coming straight after Goodfellas, the remake is immeasurably more graphic and explicit in its violence and malevolence, but with Scorsese throwing every cinematic trick in the book at it as well, is it just all too much?
If you're interested in the team's views on non-remake properties, you can follow us on Letterboxd:
Neal's profile - https://boxd.it/1EHhT
Ben's profile - https://boxd.it/1lH3J
We want your feedback, 3-word reviews and suggestions for any other films that have been remade, so find us in these places:
Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Goodbadremake/
and on Twitter: twitter.com/GoodBadRemake
And get in touch here: goodbadremake@gmail.com
Music is 'Bring Me the West' by phlaala
This week, something completely different to anything we've done before, as a 1950's B-movie is turned into a comedy for all time, while sticking surprisingly close to the original's story, script and even performances.
Zero Hour! is a straightforward slice of mid-budget disaster movie, as a former military pilot has to use his long-dormant skills to save a flight beleagured by food poinsoning and a storm, while carrying his estranged wife and son as passengers. None of the team had seen this before, so the question going in was: would it stand a chance of still working on its own terms, or would it become laughable...
...because the second film we're discussing needs little introduction. Considered by many to be the funniest film ever made, Airplane! is a Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker classic. It's also more than forty years old now so, returning to it, has the comedy aged, fallen out of favour, or is it still as relentlessly hilarious as we all remember it to be?
Along the way, we get a bit sidetracked into a discussion of what became of the big budget spoof in the years after AIrplane!, from the Naked Gun and Hot Shots films, through to today.
If you're interested in the team's views on non-remake properties, you can follow us on Letterboxd:
Neal's profile - https://boxd.it/1EHhT
Ben's profile - https://boxd.it/1lH3J
We want your feedback, 3-word reviews and suggestions for any other films that have been remade, so find us in these places:
Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Goodbadremake/
and on Twitter: twitter.com/GoodBadRemake
And get in touch here: goodbadremake@gmail.com
Music is 'Bring Me the West' by phlaala
The two films under review today - one from 1974 directed by Joseph Sargent, the other from 2009 and directed by Tony Scott - have something in common, beyond them sharing a plot and title. Both, in very distinct ways, act as monuments to the cinematic styles of the period they come from. Sargent's film is grimy and unglamorous, with an unmistakably '70s score. Scott's film is full of rolling cars, hyperactive editing and John Travolta.
Which one will come out on top and can Tony Scott enter the rarefied ranks of the Remazing?
If you're interested in the team's views on non-remake properties, you can follow us on Letterboxd:
Neal's profile - https://boxd.it/1EHhT
Ben's profile - https://boxd.it/1lH3J
We want your feedback, 3-word reviews and suggestions for any other films that have been remade, so find us in these places:
Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Goodbadremake/
and on Twitter: twitter.com/GoodBadRemake
And get in touch here: goodbadremake@gmail.com
Music is 'Bring Me the West' by phlaala
An 80s classic that none of the team had seen this week, the arrival of Mr Kevin Bacon (and his six degrees of separation) in a foot-stomping, illegal dancing, modern musical. Does it still stand on its loose two feet 35 years on, or is it just fondly remembered by the generation that grew up with it?
Following it up, the 2011 remake from Craig 'Hustle & Flow' Brewer, this time populated with professional dancers instead of scrappy, up-and-coming actors. The wrinkle is that Ben has seen this one (possibly four separate times) and has a real fondness for it. How will this impact on seeing the original for the first time?
And, inspired by the film's plot, we take a little detour around the world to find some other odd, illegal activities.
If you're interested in the team's views on non-remake properties, you can follow us on Letterboxd:
Neal's profile - https://boxd.it/1EHhT
Ben's profile - https://boxd.it/1lH3J
We want your feedback, 3-word reviews and suggestions for any other films that have been remade, so find us in these places:
Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Goodbadremake/
and on Twitter: twitter.com/GoodBadRemake
And get in touch here: goodbadremake@gmail.com
Music is 'Bring Me the West' by phlaala
We're dishing up some more horror this week, with George A Romero's seminal 70s classic, Dawn of the Dead ('78) and the big budget feature debut of the sometimes controversial Zack Snyder, Dawn of the Dead ('04).
They both partly take place in malls and feature gore and the undead. That's pretty much where the comparisons end. So when there's no more room in DVD Hell, which film will walk the Earth?
If you're interested in the team's views on non-remake properties, you can follow us on Letterboxd:
Neal's profile - https://boxd.it/1EHhT
Ben's profile - https://boxd.it/1lH3J
We want your feedback, 3-word reviews and suggestions for any other films that have been remade, so find us in these places:
Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Goodbadremake/
and on Twitter: twitter.com/GoodBadRemake
And get in touch here: goodbadremake@gmail.com
Music is 'Bring Me the West' by phlaala
