Posts Tagged ‘remake’

Short Take: A rare remake with genuine inspiration beyond its predecessor, and the most impressive gore effects this side of Tom Savini

Director: Fede Alvarez

Screenwriters: Fede Alvarez and Rodo Sayagues

Cast: Jane Levy, Shiloh Fernandez, Lou Taylor Pucci, Jessica Lucas, Elizabeth Blackmore

Length: 1h 31m

Mia (Jane Levy), her brother David (Shiloh Fernandez), and a few of their friends are retreating to an old family-owned cabin deep in the woods in order to seclude Mia from everyday life. The reason for this is because Mia is trying desperately to force herself to kick her drug addiction, but needs the others’ help. Once at the cabin, however, evidence of an evil presence reveals itself in the form of a book with demonic incantations. After reading from the book the group begins suffering an onslaught of the foulest, most gruesome terrors they could ever imagine, until only one of them is left to survive the emergence of evil incarnate.

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Short Take: If you’re actually receptive of remakes, this one provides much that will pique your interest

Director: Len Wiseman

Screenwriters: Kurt Wimmer, Mark Bomback

Cast: Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, Bryan Cranston, Bill Nighy, Bokeem Woodbine

Length: 1h 58m

Synopsis: At the end of the twenty-first century, due to cataclysmic chemical war, the world’s only habitable landmasses are Western Europe (dubbed the United Federation of Britain) and Australia (dubbed The Colony). Douglas Quaid (Farrell) is a factory worker who on a daily basis travels from the prosperous UFB to the economically oppressed Colony via a shuttle that runs through the Earth’s core called The Fall, and life for him has recently become unbearably stagnant. Though happy with his wife Lori (Beckinsale), he nevertheless feels somehow held back. Enticed by a service called Rekall that claims to be able to implant extravagant memories into the brain, Quaid signs up for a fantasy about being a secret agent. Upon beginning the procedure, however, it’s discovered that Quaid already had this memory locked away in his mind, at which point Lori reveals herself to be part of a cover-up meant to keep Quaid from remembering his true identity as the leader of a resistance movement in The Colony against the politically corrupt UFB. Quaid manages to evade capture thanks to a faithful but only vaguely familiar contact named Melina (Biel), and together they try to restore Quaid’s memory and free The Colony once and for all.

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It sounds crazy, but the remedy for a so-so prequel just might in fact be a sequel

Dear Universal Pictures,

Just an idea, but maybe you should dare to follow your prequel of The Thing with a sequel to John Carpenter’s The Thing, and make it a follow-up reminiscent of James Cameron’s Aliens.

In my review of Heijningen Jr.’s recently released prequel I note how transparent it is that what he really made was actually more of a remake. And although there is still a rather large cultural resistance to horror remakes (I’m going by fan forums here, not box office numbers), such a fact should not really be held against Heijningen Jr. himself. More appropriately, any hostility towards this truth should be directed at you because it was you who insisted on making a “prequel” that in this particular case couldn’t have been anything else but a remake. One way you could redeem yourself of this misguided decision, though, is by seriously entertaining the above suggestion.

It sounds almost paradoxical for me to suggest that the way to make up for a poorly conceived remake is to base another related story on a film that so many – including myself – consider a classic of such status that to even joke about “tampering” with it might be tantamount to heresy, but hear me out.

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Short Take: Not without intrigue, but flawed in its invention

Director: Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.

Screenwriter: Eric Heisserer; John W. Campbell Jr. (Who Goes There? novella)

Cast: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Joel Edgerton, Eric Christian Olseen, Ulrich Thomsen

Length: 1h 43m

Synopsis: The following story takes place shortly before the events of John Carpenter’s 1982 film of the same title. A great scientific discovery has just been made in the wastelands of Antarctica, and top experts of various kinds are being assembled to research and document it. Paleontologists Kate (Winstead) and Adam (Olseen) are recruited by the venture’s director Dr. Halvorson (Thomsen), but exactly what their tasks will be remains a mystery to them until they’re shown what their dealing with. What the inexplicably curious discovery turns out to be is the remains of a giant alien spacecraft and a frozen specimen suspended in ancient ice. That specimen, they regret to find, is not as inanimate as one would assume. Incredibly, there is still cellular activity, and each cell is capable of imitating any foreign cell it comes into contact with. Before long, the abstraction is able to, after killing them, perfectly impersonate whole people. Kate, Adam, and the rest must determine which of their fellow researchers are “things,” and fight to make sure they don’t reach civilization to infect the rest of the world. With so dangerous and cunning a species, this is far easier said than done.

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The impetus for this list came from simply re-watching Martin Scorsese’s 1995 film Casino, during which time I could not help but think of the number of movies which prominently feature the goings on of casinos – or at least the alleged goings on. And being that I didn’t quite agree with the listing of the Best Casino Movies at CasinoTop10, I decided to tackle the challenge of ranking them myself. Interestingly enough, though, casino movies aren’t even considered a subgenre, as few if any thematic or aesthetic similarities can be found amongst the movies which significantly feature a casino setting. Not to be discouraged, however, I took advantage of this leeway and simply considered any film which takes place in a casino or casino-like locale either for a substantial portion of the running time or during a particularly important or memorable scene. And now that we’re armed with these criteria let us get on with the rankings, which may contain a few surprises.

5. Casino Royale (2006) 

It seems almost too fitting that a James Bond movie be on this list considering how many times we’ve seen 007 sitting sharply dressed in a tuxedo at a green-felted table over the decades, and the question that immediately comes to mind is what separates Casino Royale from the lot. The answer is that, more than any other Bond flick, it made card games both a significant part of the plot and exceedingly exciting. Not only did James win his Aston Martin in a poker game, but he bested the film’s main villain by the same means. The scenes where the dapper double-o goes toe to toe with Le Chiffre demonstrate the full extent of the secret agent’s wit and savvy, successfully substantiating the notion that he is not just a physical force to be reckoned with but a cerebral one as well. No doubt, it’s as civilized a showdown as you’re likely to find in an action movie from any era, and that it’s as exciting as the film’s car chases speaks volumes about the writing quality.

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Short Take: Decidedly loyal, but not afraid to break new ground

Director: Nimr0d Antal (debut)

Screenwriters: Alex Litvak, Michael Finch

Cast: Adrien Brody (Splice), Alice Braga (Repo Men), Topher Grace (Spider-Man 3), Lawrence Fishburne (TV’s C.S.I.), Danny Trejo (Grindhouse), Walton Goggins (TV’s Justified)

Length: 1h 46m

Synopsis: After mysteriously arriving on an alien planet that resembles the jungles of our own, 8 random people find themselves confused and paranoid, reluctant to trust one another but determined to find answers. Before long they realize that their purpose on this strange world is to be prey to an advanced alien species that finds the idea of hunting synonymous with sport. Not coincidentally, all 8 members of the abducted group are killers themselves in one way or another (mercenary, Spetsnaz, serial killer, R.U.F., etc.), and so they must rely on their predatory instincts to survive. The only question is, which predators will come out on top?

Warning: This review contains information that some might consider spoiling Read the rest of this entry »

IGN.com visited the set of Predators, the Robert Rodriguez produced remake of 1987′s Predator, and got the chance to interview various persons tied to the project, from director Nimrod Antal to Gregory Nicotero of the KNB EFX Group who are responsible for bringing the classic and new Predator aliens to life.

Most of this Part 1 of the set visit talks about the aliens themselves and how they’re being realized on screen. The different kinds of Predator aliens are each given their own unique names, with the original being dubbed “classic” and a newer one, for example, being named Super Predator.

Nicotero had this to say about the new Super Predator:

“They are a lot taller and, as you can see, a lot leaner. Robert Rodriguez and Nimrod, when we first started the project, they used a really great analogy. [They] said the Classic Predator is a cassette tape and the new Predators are the iPod version. So that kind of triggered a lot of visual things in my head, in terms of making them taller, making them sleek and keeping the armor really close to the body so that they are not bulky, because we wanted to get the idea that they are fast and that they’re elegant and that they are efficient. Even in terms of the dreadlocks and stuff … [we wanted] that kind of Rasta look, but we swept all the dreadlocks back. We made the face a lot longer. We just wanted everything about them to look more elegant, like a black widow. We wanted it to just be really deadly looking.” – IGN

Here's a glimpse of the new Predator

Elaborating further, Nicotero explains how very on board he was with director Nimrod’s vision for the film – specifically regarding the special effects. Aside from when the aliens are camouflaged with an invisibility cloak, all of the Predators are realized using practical effects and not CGI. There are however Predator dogs that, with the way they were designed, had to be done using computer animation.

Read the full article to discover even more interesting details about the upcoming Predators, and keep an eye out for Part 2 of the set visit.

Short Take: What's different shouldn't be different, and what's familiar should have been original. An overall wasted opportunity.

Director: Samuel Bayer (feature debut)

Screenwriters: Wesley Strick (Wolf, Doom), Eric Heisserer

Cast: Jackie Earle Haley (Watchmen, Little Children), Kyle Gallner (Jennifer’s Body), Rooney Mara (Youth in Revolt), Katie Cassidy (Black Christmas (2006))

Length: 1h 35m

Synopsis: In an unsuspecting suburban town various teens begin to experience frightening nightmares that are dangerously real. And in those nightmares they all come across the same evil man named Fred Krueger who continually tries to viciously murder them. Some teens fall victim to his assaults, the rest try to find a way to stop him – and keep from falling asleep. Pieces of the puzzle begin to fit together, which lead the surviving few to a final confrontation with their supernatural terror. To come out on top, they’ll have to literally fight their fears. Read the rest of this entry »

Freddy's back April 30th

ShockTillYouDrop.com published their findings of when they visited the set of the new Nightmare on Elm Street remake. The film is meant to reboot what had become a tired franchise, which was launched with Wes Craven’s career-defining 1984 film of the same title. Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes production studio is the creative entity behind the movie, which also helped create The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake back in 2003 as well as the recent Friday the 13th remake.

The set visit documents various aspects of the new film, from the look of the actors, the attitude of the creative minds behind the project, and the differences between this picture and its original. One feature of the film that its director Samuel Bayer stresses was how it’s trying to be legitimately scary, not “fun horror” like the remake of Friday the 13th.

The article includes many quotes from director Bayer and producer Bradley Fuller, which do well to explain exactly what their aims are with this film. According to the article, Bayer was pursued feverishly by Platinum Dunes and Newline Cinema because of his knack for being a visual storyteller (almost all of his credits are for directing numerous music videos). As Spike Jonze has proven (Where the Wild Things Are, Adaptation, Being John Malkovich), a background in directing music videos is not a bad one.

The article overall proves very revealing – so much so that if you’re not one for spoilers then you might want to avoid it. Likewise, if you can’t get enough information about this remake (which opens April 30th) then you’ll want to check it out ASAP.

Also See…

ComingSoon.net interviews Johnny Depp about his role as the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, as well as some other upcoming roles. The film opens March 5th.

Short Take: It's main message is nothing new, but at least the plot varries from the original 1941 version.

Director: Joe Johnston (The Rocketeer, Jurassic Park III)

Screenwriters: Andrew Kevin Walker (Seven, Sleepy Hollow) and David Self (The Haunting)

Cast: Benicio Del Toro (Che: Parts 1 and2), Anthony Hopkins (Beowulf), Emily Blunt (The Young Victoria), Hugo Weaving (V for Vendetta)

Length: 1h 42m

Synopsis: It is 1892. Lawrence (Del Toro), a well off American thespian, is beseeched to come home to Wales after his brother had been mauled by a mysterious creature. His brother’s fiancé, Gwen (Blunt), seems inconsolable, and his father (Hopkins) appears abnormally composed. Nearby gypsies are being blamed for the horrible incident, but soon everyone is forced to deal with the truth that no human of any level of insanity could do or be what they witness. They are cursed with an unnatural beast, with an insatiable thirst for blood.

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