Actually Good Remakes/Reboots

[cojo965]

I watched The Evil Dead remake today, it made me so uncomfortable which marks it as a successful horror remake in my book. What good remakes/reboots can you think of?

 

[PsychicTaco115]

Dredd 2012 was definitely a better justice to its source material than the Stallone version

Rebooting Comment

It's just... Why?

Why reboot something that people like? Why not give it it's own identity?

I honestly can't see any reason other than brand recognition

*cynicism intensifies*

 

[DefunctTheory]

I watched The Evil Dead remake today, it made me so uncomfortable which marks it as a successful horror remake in my book. What good remakes/reboots can you think of?

The Evil Dead Reboot was, to me, pretty damn good. It kept the spirit of the original, but used modern techniques and a better budget to make a difference.

Robo-Cop is an example of a bad reboot - different tone, different story, different point, different everything. Basically, a completely new movie using an old title to make some money. it wouldn't have mattered if it was the best Action movie ever - it was still a bad reboot.

Dredd 2012 was definitely a better justice to its source material than the Stallone version

I loved Dredd 2012, but I don't really consider it a reboot, since the original movie was as faithful to the source material as most Firefly fanfics are.

 

[PsychicTaco115]

Because it offers a new take on an existing franchise. Don't like it? That's fine. It shouldn't impact how you view the originals. They aren't connected in any way, it's not hurting the originals at all.

If you can't disconnect between two separate franchises then that's your own problem. That still doesn't make reboots automatically shit. It's a shame really, we could of gotten an awesome sequel to Conan 2011 if people just viewed it as it's own movie rather then constantly comparing it to Arnies.

It won't effect how I see the originals but it will how younger generations see it

There are people who think anything older is inherently inferior to the new, sleek and modern reboot

Besides, people WILL compare things to each other; people do it with sequels so why not the remake/reboot?

 

[TheRiddler]

Well, let's see...
-Scarface was a remake of a film made in the 1930s.
-I loved the 1986 version of Little Shop of Horrors.
-Can't forget The Dark Knight (I was sort of cold on Batman Begins and The Dark Knight Rises, but The Dark Knight is undeniably excellent).

Nothing else comes to mind right now, but I'm sure there's others. Plenty of good remakes/reboots around.

 

[Ten Foot Bunny]

I watched The Evil Dead remake today, it made me so uncomfortable which marks it as a successful horror remake in my book. What good remakes/reboots can you think of?

Yes! Not only did I think that the new Evil Dead was of the best reboots ever, but also one of the best horror movies in many years. Since 2000, the only other films in the genre that blew me away were The Ring and V/H/S.

21 Jump Street was another fantastic reboot.

 

[RealRT]

The Thing is a remake, Batman (1989) is a reboot, and not the first one, but so far the last good one, Dredd was an awesome reboot (even though I love the Stallone movie because it's fun as hell). Of video games, Serious Sam HD was a good remake, Shadow Warrior and Rise of the Triad were great reboots.

 

[HardkorSB]

The Blob:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094761/?ref_=nv_sr_1

The Fly:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091064/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Invasion of the Body Snatchers:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077745/?ref_=nv_sr_2

Why reboot something that people like? Why not give it it's own identity?

I honestly can't see any reason other than brand recognition

*cynicism intensifies*

John Carpenter's The Thing is a remake.
People liked the original so when it came out, it was considered "the worst remake of all time" and was panned by most critics and movie goers.
Now, no one even remembers the original because the remake outclassed it in every way.

 

[Kolby Jack]

The 2010 Karate Kid is a fantastic movie. My only real beef with it is the title, but that's the studio's fault, not the director's. Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith both have some serious acting chops when they're allowed to show it, and, nothing against Pat Morita, but having someone who actually knows kung fu play a teacher of kung fu makes for a much more compelling and believable movie.

It's technically not a reboot or remake, but Real Steel is this generation's Rocky. AMAZING movie, lots of heart, and a kid who I didn't find annoying. Who even needs to watch Rocky anymore? This one is just plain better.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

I don't get the stigma with reboots. It seems like people just ***** about them from the start without actually seeing them or judging them as their own movie. Instead they're always compared to filsm from 20-30 years ago.

Conan, Robocop, Total Recall, all of them were entertaining movies on their own right (hell I'd say Robocop 2014 is better than the original). People just need to stop losing their shit every time one is announced.

Because half (hell most) of the time the reboot is some cashgrab rather than an attempt to improve the source material and when they do 'attempt' to improve the source they inevitably miss, distort, or outright replace the very factors that made the original so good in the first place.

That said:

Dredd 2012 was definitely a better justice to its source material than the Stallone version

Oh hell yes.

 

[Blow_Pop]

I'm going to copy and paste a list I did similar to this topic on tumblr while I was watching films. This is my in flux list of movie/film adaptations of books (some of which are actual remakes/reboots of older films) that I feel are good in their own right.

Spoiler

I should mention I've read every single one of these books as well and because people are questioning ages, I'm almost 30

Hellraiser (1987) - The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker
Their Eyes Were Watching God (2005 tv movie) - Zora Neale Hurston
Fahrenheit 451 (1966) - Ray Bradbury
To Kill A Mockingbird (1962) - Harper Lee
Lord of the Flies (1963) - William Golding
Divergent (2014) - Veronica Roth
Holes (2003) - Louis Sachar
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2009) - Steig Larsson (I liked this more than I liked the one with Mara Rooney in it though that one was pretty good too)
Romeo + Juliet (1996) - William Shakespeare (fun fact, this is also the most accurate as far as lines said in the movie to lines in the play) (And I almost feel like Gnomeo and Juliet should be here too because it was hilarious and punny and all the references and shit but not a strong enough feeling)
The Hobbit (1977 tv movie) - J.R.R. Tolkien
Lord of the Rings (1978 tv movie) - J.R.R. Tolkien
Return of the King (1980 tv movie) - J.R.R. Tolkien
The Glass Menagerie (1976 tv movie) - Tennessee Williams
1408 (2007) - Stephen King (short story only availble on audiobook in Blood and Smoke)
Flowers in the Attic (1987) - V.C. Andrews
The Witches (1990) - Roald Dahl
Of Mice and Men (1992) - John Steinback
The Jungle Book (1994) - Rudyard Kipling
James and the Giant Peach (1996) - Roald Dahl
Matilda (1996) - Roald Dahl
10 Things I Hate About You (1999) - The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare
Chocolat (2000) - Joanne Harris

Things that aren't going on that list that I personally liked and technically count as reboots are the older Batman movies (batman, batman and robin, and the other two I can't remember right now from the 90s).

The Halloween reboot by Rob Zombie was pretty good too (the first one. I don't acknowledge the existence of the second). Especially comparing it to some of the sequel movies (dear fuck they were awful as were a lot of the Friday the 13th sequels good thing I was watching for the deaths).

The 2003 Freaky Friday was good as well. It wasn't better than the 1976 version I grew up on but it was good in it's own right.

Ocean's 11 was another good one as well. Not fond of all the sequels to it but comparatively to the original with the rat pack (which I love btw) I am more fond of the newer one.

And that's all I can think of right now. I'm sure there's more but I'm tired and going to go to sleep.

Also, I havent seen any of the movies listed by anyone else and I own the original Total Recall...I should get around to watching it sometime......

 

[Jingle Fett]

The Italian Job was pretty good, although to be fair I've never seen the original.

 

[Thaluikhain]

I don't count The Thing as a reboot of The Thing from Another World.

Yes, the story "Who goes there?" was the inspiration for both of them, but only very loosely in the case of The Thing from Another World. In that one, the alien was a plant, stayed in the same shape the whole movie (which was a big guy in a jumpsuit), didn't take anyone over or imitate anyone so there was no paranoia or suspicion, there was a love story etc. It was much more of a science fiction story that a horror story...it's notable though, in that all the characters acted fairly reasonably rather than just moving the plot around or getting pointlessly killed for the hell of it (which is rare enough to be notable), and the use of a Geiger counter. You had a character read out the numbers as the monster got close to them, which, IIRC, inspired the motion tracker from the Alien movies.

Saying The Thing is a reboot of The Thing from Another World sounds a lot like saying a modern version of Hamlet is a reboot of The Lion King.