you gotta be kidding me..... [Archive] - Audio & Video Forums

PDA

View Full Version : you gotta be kidding me.....



Kam
03-08-2007, 11:12 AM
Seriously? C'mon... Halloween remake?

http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1554005/20070306/story.jhtml

you know... i guess hollywood should also remake casablanca, citizen kane, the exorcist, psycho (again), gone with the wind, lawrence of arabia, and hell, why not remake the Lord of the Rings while they're at it, that made a lot of money the first time around. it's been a few years, bring 'em back with a whole new cast and even better special fx.

unbelievable. :(

GMichael
03-08-2007, 11:48 AM
Seriously? C'mon... Halloween remake?

http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1554005/20070306/story.jhtml

you know... i guess hollywood should also remake casablanca, citizen kane, the exorcist, psycho (again), gone with the wind, lawrence of arabia, and hell, why not remake the Lord of the Rings while they're at it, that made a lot of money the first time around. it's been a few years, bring 'em back with a whole new cast and even better special fx.

unbelievable. :(

After that, maybe they could make a new/remake TV series. The Simpson's Next Generation. Or Magilla Gorilla Strikes Again. How about, The Banana Splits' Golden Years.

Worf101
03-08-2007, 11:48 AM
As they once told Senator McCarthy and I paraphrase...

"In the end sir... after all you've said and done have you no shame? At long last have you no shame?"

Hollywood has no shame. I expect remakes of "Gone With the Wind", "Ben Hur", "Citizen Kane", "Casablanca", "The Maltese Falcon". You name it those talentless, brainless, clueless hacks will do copy it. Indeed, these are the conditions that pervail.

Da Worfster

kexodusc
03-08-2007, 11:50 AM
Huh?

This is one movie I wouldn't actually mind being remade. Putting Halloween in the same category as Casablanca, Gone With The Wind, and Citizen Kane is a bit of a stretch.

A little weird Rob Zombie's doing it. It'll be more of a "my version" ala Dawn of the Dead - the 2004 version was really good. The new "The Omen" wasn't bad either. I don't mind this at all. And I don't see this as a money grab. Some movies deserve to be told to new audience. One of my favorite movies is "Sunset Blvd"...there remaking that too, and I'm very hopeful it is a great tribute to a classic.
We can always revisit the original. Will this one be better? Probably not. But will it entertain a bunch of people for a few hours? I bet it does. If it gets them to check out the originals along the way, I can see nothing negative about this.

And if it totally sucks...well, no harm done. Lesson learned.

GMichael
03-08-2007, 12:08 PM
Huh?

This is one movie I wouldn't actually mind being remade. Putting Halloween in the same category as Casablanca, Gone With The Wind, and Citizen Kane is a bit of a stretch.

A little weird Rob Zombie's doing it. It'll be more of a "my version" ala Dawn of the Dead - the 2004 version was really good. The new "The Omen" wasn't bad either. I don't mind this at all. And I don't see this as a money grab. Some movies deserve to be told to new audience. One of my favorite movies is "Sunset Blvd"...there remaking that too, and I'm very hopeful it is a great tribute to a classic.
We can always revisit the original. Will this one be better? Probably not. But will it entertain a bunch of people for a few hours? I bet it does. If it gets them to check out the originals along the way, I can see nothing negative about this.

And if it totally sucks...well, no harm done. Lesson learned.

Do you always have to make sense?:incazzato:

Kam
03-08-2007, 12:34 PM
Huh?

This is one movie I wouldn't actually mind being remade. Putting Halloween in the same category as Casablanca, Gone With The Wind, and Citizen Kane is a bit of a stretch.

A little weird Rob Zombie's doing it. It'll be more of a "my version" ala Dawn of the Dead - the 2004 version was really good. The new "The Omen" wasn't bad either. I don't mind this at all. And I don't see this as a money grab. Some movies deserve to be told to new audience. One of my favorite movies is "Sunset Blvd"...there remaking that too, and I'm very hopeful it is a great tribute to a classic.
We can always revisit the original. Will this one be better? Probably not. But will it entertain a bunch of people for a few hours? I bet it does. If it gets them to check out the originals along the way, I can see nothing negative about this.

And if it totally sucks...well, no harm done. Lesson learned.

i didnt mean to put halloween on the same cinematic pedestal that the other movies are on. however, within the horror/scary movie genre, halloween is on my top 5 of all time movies as some of the others are in my top 5 of their own genres. i understand the idea behind remaking movies, there are several i would like to remake. but for me (and i guess me-alone) the idea behind remaking a movie is to remake something that had a flaw in it.

i have my own personal favorite movies that i would never remake because i enjoy them as is. it wouldn't be an 'homage' to that movie to remake it, i would put homages to that movie in a completely different movie, as many filmmakers do (lucas' constant homages to kurasawa, spielberg's homages to ford, ray, others). i also have a list of movie that ALMOST were enjoyable, but ended up being bad for xyz reason. THOSE are the movies i would love to see remade FIXING that xyz problem.

but i also understand that hollywood is a business. why remake something that failed in the first instance and take another risk at it failing again? they would rather remake a successful film that worked the first time and (theoretically) will work again.

hence my comments above as to some of the all time great, and all time successfull films. the omen remake, imo, was horrible. the dawn of the dead remake, however, i really enjoyed. the idea is irrelevant at this stage of the game (with very few exceptions) it all comes down to the execution of that idea.

take 300. that story is about what...2,500 some years old? nothing new there really... but the execution of that idea.... sure looks (at least from the trailer) like a well made movie.

kexodusc
03-08-2007, 01:55 PM
i didnt mean to put halloween on the same cinematic pedestal that the other movies are on. however, within the horror/scary movie genre, halloween is on my top 5 of all time movies as some of the others are in my top 5 of their own genres. i understand the idea behind remaking movies, there are several i would like to remake. but for me (and i guess me-alone) the idea behind remaking a movie is to remake something that had a flaw in it.

i have my own personal favorite movies that i would never remake because i enjoy them as is. it wouldn't be an 'homage' to that movie to remake it, i would put homages to that movie in a completely different movie, as many filmmakers do (lucas' constant homages to kurasawa, spielberg's homages to ford, ray, others). i also have a list of movie that ALMOST were enjoyable, but ended up being bad for xyz reason. THOSE are the movies i would love to see remade FIXING that xyz problem.

but i also understand that hollywood is a business. why remake something that failed in the first instance and take another risk at it failing again? they would rather remake a successful film that worked the first time and (theoretically) will work again.

hence my comments above as to some of the all time great, and all time successfull films. the omen remake, imo, was horrible. the dawn of the dead remake, however, i really enjoyed. the idea is irrelevant at this stage of the game (with very few exceptions) it all comes down to the execution of that idea.

take 300. that story is about what...2,500 some years old? nothing new there really... but the execution of that idea.... sure looks (at least from the trailer) like a well made movie.

Yeah, 300.."300 Spartans" is another of my favorite movies...as you said, yet another spin on that story. Looks interesting. For Halloween, it's one of my favorite films too, but I think it could have been better. I like what Rob Zombie had to say in the link you provided. He is sort of "fixing" things he thinks needed fixing. I never really microanalyzed Halloween at that level, but, power to him.
I suspect this is just gonna be a really poorly filmed gore-fest, but who knows.

Sometimes a remake is a good thing. I think Dylan wrote All Along the Watchtower, too, but I only think of Hendrix (and NEVER U2) when I think of this song.

I'll say one thing - it takes some guts to take a classic movie and "remake" it. The inevitable criticism alone should be a good enough deterrent.

Given the crap load of terrible new scripts I've seen hit the big screen, I'd sooner revisit the old scripts. Who knows, maybe it'll be good?

I think we should all be worried about why Fantastic 4 are ruining the Silver Surfer movie.

Dusty Chalk
03-08-2007, 02:42 PM
Rob Zombie is badass, and in my eyes, can do no wrong. I'll see it, and with high expectations.

PeruvianSkies
03-08-2007, 02:57 PM
These two films (and many others) are impossible to remake...IMPOSSIBLE. Not only is it flat-out-wrong to remake them, but it's impossible to remake them accurately. Here is at least a few reasons why...

The absolute beauty behind SUNSET BLVD is that there is a few moments in the film that could not be re-captured again in the same manner or effect. The first that comes to mind is when Joe Gillis (William Holden) is in Norma Desmond's (Gloria Swanson) screening room and Max (Erich von Stroheim) is playing an old film of hers. For this moment they are no longer actors, but they are playing themselves. Stroheim IS an old-time movie director who directed Gloria Swanson and her character Norma Desmond is simply coming out, but the real character here is the real life Gloria Swanson, who was once a huge movie star, but has been diminished through the sound-era of filmmaking. It is in this moment that the movie takes a bizarre twist into a reality that perhaps only a few people really appreciate, but it makes the moment all the more beautiful.

The other moment that comes to mind is the famous ending scene with these lines

"And I promise you I'll never desert you again because after 'Salome' we'll make another picture and another picture. You see, this is my life! It always will be! Nothing else! Just us, the cameras, and those wonderful people out there in the dark!... All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up. "

How is someone able to remake the beauty of this moment? Cecil DeMille is a real director who is in the movie and also directed both silent and talking movies. The entire film is a bridge between the old Hollywood and the New Hollywood that was emerging in 1950, which is what gives the film it's punch.

As for CITIZEN KANE, there are many obvious reasons why a remake would not work, basically two big reasons NO WELLES and NO WILLIAM RANDOLF HEARST. This is the impetus behind the power of CITIZEN KANE, it's the battle going on behind the context of the film and more importantly the technical achievements of the film during this period that set this film apart as one of the truest masterpieces of Cinema. A remake of this film would not make any sense.

PeruvianSkies
03-08-2007, 03:02 PM
Rob Zombie is badass, and in my eyes, can do no wrong. I'll see it, and with high expectations.

I don't think anyone good can come from someone who copies from George Romero and Stanley Kubrick in blantant, ignorant form. I guess he can go down as just another hack who can desecrate classics with the best of them, put him down next to Johnathan Demme, Gus van Sant, and John Moore (he's on a superb role with 3 remakes in a row!!!).

Dusty Chalk
03-08-2007, 03:58 PM
There's a fine line between homage and hack, and I agree Zombie plays it pretty close to that line, but the way I look at it, if I want to see a good rendition of an homage (as opposed to another one of these paint-by-numbers slasher flicks), then I'll see his. I won't deny that there's blatant references, but then, Kill Bill was basically an A-to-Z of homages, and it still turned into a pretty decent flick. Half the fun of that one was playing "spot the reference".

nightflier
03-08-2007, 04:46 PM
How about a remake of the last three Star Wars movies, w/o all the kiddy stuff? I was a fan of the first three movies, wookie warts and all, but I think the JarJar cutsy kiddy dregs oozed all over the last three. Oh yeah, and hire some actors who can act, especially for the role of Darth Vader, duh!

Seriously, though, looking at the way things are going, we probably will see a remake of Star Wars in a decade or two. And that will probably get the same criticism posted on this thread. But I also think that Hollywood is crapping remakes left and right because they lack any real imagination. Fact is, there are plenty of historical /sci-fi / literary subjects that have yet to be well made into movies: the story of Hannibal (not the cannibal), comes to mind, or how about something from of Gogol? Or are these just too intellectual for the average American? Fact is there are millions of stories yet to be told, but it seems that Hollywood is hell bent on dumbing everything down to repeats and simple subjects.

I applaud 300 for breaking the mold, although it does look more like a video game than a movie. I haven't seen it yet so I won't judge, but I'm a big fan of classical history, so I'll definitely spend the money for it, including the disk if it turns out to be that good.

bobsticks
03-08-2007, 05:00 PM
Huh?

This is one movie I wouldn't actually mind being remade. Putting Halloween in the same category as Casablanca, Gone With The Wind, and Citizen Kane is a bit of a stretch.

A little weird Rob Zombie's doing it. It'll be more of a "my version" ala Dawn of the Dead - the 2004 version was really good. The new "The Omen" wasn't bad either. I don't mind this at all. And I don't see this as a money grab. Some movies deserve to be told to new audience. One of my favorite movies is "Sunset Blvd"...there remaking that too, and I'm very hopeful it is a great tribute to a classic.
We can always revisit the original. Will this one be better? Probably not. But will it entertain a bunch of people for a few hours? I bet it does. If it gets them to check out the originals along the way, I can see nothing negative about this.

And if it totally sucks...well, no harm done. Lesson learned.


...it's a muthaeffa killin' some mutheffa on muthaeffin Halloween.

Amen brother kex. I'll be in the row behind you with the spikey hair munchin' on the kettle corn.

kexodusc
03-08-2007, 05:24 PM
...it's a muthaeffa killin' some mutheffa on muthaeffin Halloween.

Amen brother kex. I'll be in the row behind you with the spikey hair munchin' on the kettle corn.

muthaeffa....you shoulda been the guy writing the dialogue...:cornut:
I love White Zombie, and like Rob Zombie. I feel his movies have lacked, well, a good story. Just not appealing to me. I kinda think their popularity is more a result of Mr. Zombie being popular and cheese ball horror flicks made by rock stars being cool. I know he's just making the kind of stuff he wants to watch, so I guess in that regard he's spot on.

But working on a project like this, I dunno, I think he might surprise people. My only worry is that people will go see this because it's another Rob Zombie movie, not because it's worth seeing.

And if Bono ever starts making movies...

Gerald Cooperberg
03-08-2007, 07:28 PM
Another unthinkable remake that has just popped up on my radar is an upcoming feature-length version of The Red Balloon involving Juliette Binoche and Three Times helmer Hou Hsiao-Hsien.

Here's the IMDb page for the new movie: http://imdb.com/title/tt0826711/

And the classic 1956 original: http://imdb.com/title/tt0048980/

Mystifying.

-Coop

PeruvianSkies
03-08-2007, 07:30 PM
As they once told Senator McCarthy and I paraphrase...

"In the end sir... after all you've said and done have you no shame? At long last have you no shame?"

Hollywood has no shame. I expect remakes of "Gone With the Wind", "Ben Hur", "Citizen Kane", "Casablanca", "The Maltese Falcon". You name it those talentless, brainless, clueless hacks will do copy it. Indeed, these are the conditions that pervail.

Da Worfster

Worf,

Imagine if they spent the money on actually preserving and restoring these GREAT films and presenting them to the public, rather than wasting that money on unecessary remake after remake. I remember the first time I caught VERTIGO in a restored print....I thought I was watching a movie made 2 weeks ago it was that glorious! I hate when they use that same ole mantra that they are 'making movies accessible to a new audience". What utter non-sense is that!! I can understand updating a film, but timeless films don't need updated, they need preserved!!!!!!!

While HALLOWEEN may not be "Shakespeare" it certainly was and is a groundbreaking horror-genre film that has been copied ever since, that and BLACK CHRISTMAS, also remade recently. These two films hardly need any updating as they are perfectly fine the way they are...."if it ain't broken, why fix it?"

SlumpBuster
03-08-2007, 08:18 PM
Gus van Sant

I thought Van Sant's cameo in Jay and Silent Bob was pretty funny... counting his money while shooting Good Will Hunting 2.

Troy
03-08-2007, 09:50 PM
A remake of "Halloween?" As already mentioned, it's no untouchable classic. It's indicative of the lack of imagination in Hollywood, but a remake will probably be better than the original.

That "Sabrina" remake sure sucked tho, huh? Talk about a movie that should have never been remade. Then you got your "Psycho" remake. WTF was the point of that? Did any of you ever see the mid-70s musical version of "Lost Horizon?" Probably THE worst remake ever made. Train wreck.

But I could see an update of "Sunset Boulevard" done in say 20 years with Meryl Streep and Sidney Pollack as her butler . . . no, wait . . . I'll just shut up now.

PeruvianSkies
03-09-2007, 12:20 AM
But I could see an update of "Sunset Boulevard" done in say 20 years with Meryl Streep and Sidney Pollack as her butler . . . no, wait . . . I'll just shut up now.

Good idea.

Worf101
03-09-2007, 04:27 AM
That "Sabrina" remake sure sucked tho, huh? Talk about a movie that should have never been remade. Then you got your "Psycho" remake. WTF was the point of that? Did any of you ever see the mid-70s musical version of "Lost Horizon?" Probably THE worst remake ever made. Train wreck.

If ever three projects were filmed that could be held up as absolute wastes of money these three would qualify. My worst remake, simply cause I sat through it, was "The Omen". Why, what for, how? I'd rather give that money to a 1000 film students and let them try to make something new, original or of their own, than have the world endure those turds. I won't even discuss the TV show to bad movie trend.

Da Worfster

kexodusc
03-09-2007, 05:36 AM
Hmm, it appears there's lots of hate on for the new "The Omen"? I didnt' think it was terrible - mind you I could care less if I ever saw it again. And I didn't think the original was anything spectacular, but whatever. I can't believe all you guys have such poor appreciation for movies...j/k...Seriously, Kam and Worf have forgotten more movie knowledge than I'll ever know. But I'm gonna ask Mr. Worfster and Kam for some help on this one:


I'd rather give that money to a 1000 film students and let them try to make something new, original or of their own, than have the world endure those turds. I won't even discuss the TV show to bad movie trend.

Ya know, I keep hearing this - but I just don't know if that'll solve anything.

Any time I've seen some, shall we say amateur or "Film Festival" quality movies from the film-student types, they've sucked Donkey Balls far worse than a Jar Jar Binks spinoff movie trilogy ever could. I don't blame Hollywood for not wanting to waste money on them. Where's the good stuff at?

I can't help but wonder if Film schools are the problem??? Maybe their failing us? I don't think we can just blame Hollywood for holding them back and not giving the good scripts a chance. Someone gave Richard Kelly a chance when he wrote Donnie Darko. I gotta believe if there was another Donnie Darko out there, history would repeat itself, and it would be made. There's lots of bad scripts getting a chance. Back in the 60's and 70's the Lucas/Spielberg/Scorcese/Coppola types couldn't get their stuff supported by the studios, but they all managed to find a way. Ya can't hold talent down. Kevin Smith is another off the top of my head that did it in the early 90's. Those f'n Blair Witch screw-ups pulled it off too. If the quality was there, these film-makers should find a way to push it through. That's half the job isn't it? It's not like the movie industry use to be about substance more than money way back when. It's always been greedy. Except early on it had an abundance of new ideas to deliver - 40 years to go through mankind's finest literary works and stage performances and adapt those to the big screen. Seems we've exhausted a great portion of the reserve.

As an average-joe movie-goer who wholly admits he doesn't know the first thing about making a movie (other than the few amateur ones he'd like to forget he did in College) it seems to me that the film schools are producing 2 types of movie-makers. The first are the class that is turning the movies into something like classical music, a form of art reserved for, and appreciated only by, the elite educated in-the-know types. Zzzzzzzzzzz....Kinda like modern fiction, as Stephen King argued, anything that enjoys popular success is dismissed by the critics. God forbid something appeal to the idiot masses. The second, is the group that just wants to recycle other ideas, like TV shows, Japanese Horror adaptations, remakes, historic tales, comics, etc..There seems to be an endless supply of people willing to work on these.

So if we have to choose between bad and worse, I guess we pick bad?

I dunno, I hated the Fantastic 4 movie, and cringe when I see stuff like Dukes of Hazzard being made, but where are the good ideas? I don't think there's much out there, so we have to accept remakes, and sequels and other dispossable films that we'll spend 2 hours watching once, then forget.

Anyhoo, all this to say if the odd remake of a good idea comes along, people choose to watch it only if they've got nothing better to do. Nobody forces them. Seems Mr. Zombie has some healthy support for his efforts. I don't know what film school he attended or even if he did. Maybe we need to see more uneducated people making movies. The status quo doesn't seem to be thrilling anyone.

Worf101
03-09-2007, 05:42 AM
Did you just say "donkey balls"? Did he just say... Can he say donkey balls on national T.V.? Hey Kam!!? Did you hear what Kex said?!!!??

Yeah somthin about mule manhood or sumthin or other...

LOL, sorry Kex.... I was too busy laffin' to read the rest of your post. When I compose myself... I'll compose a response..

Da Worfster

Kam
03-09-2007, 11:37 AM
I can't help but wonder if Film schools are the problem??? Maybe their failing us? I don't think we can just blame Hollywood for holding them back and not giving the good scripts a chance. Someone gave Richard Kelly a chance when he wrote Donnie Darko. I gotta believe if there was another Donnie Darko out there, history would repeat itself, and it would be made. There's lots of bad scripts getting a chance. Back in the 60's and 70's the Lucas/Spielberg/Scorcese/Coppola types couldn't get their stuff supported by the studios, but they all managed to find a way. Ya can't hold talent down. Kevin Smith is another off the top of my head that did it in the early 90's. Those f'n Blair Witch screw-ups pulled it off too. If the quality was there, these film-makers should find a way to push it through. That's half the job isn't it? It's not like the movie industry use to be about substance more than money way back when. It's always been greedy. Except early on it had an abundance of new ideas to deliver - 40 years to go through mankind's finest literary works and stage performances and adapt those to the big screen. Seems we've exhausted a great portion of the reserve. ......
......
Maybe we need to see more uneducated people making movies. The status quo doesn't seem to be thrilling anyone.

you bring up a good point about film schools kex, and i dont think giving the money to a thousand film students rather than one hollywood blockbuster is the answer either. at least in terms of finding a lot of good work, i think you'd only find 1 in that 1,000. i can't speak for the west coast schools (although just given the faculty that shows up to teach at usc i would imagine there's some solid practical learning going on). but as far as my experience with the ny film schools... i do have a lot of experience.

i've worked with student filmmakers from nyu, the new school, columbia, nyfa (ny film academy), and yale (playwrites). to be fair, i haven't worked with that many people from columbia/nyfa, but the ones i have... well... in the 'dont-say-anything-if-you-have-nothing-good-to-say' spirit of things, i won't say anything. NYU and the new school, however, is at a different level. the new school has an extremely practical approach to film making. you learn to make a movie by making a movie. nyu is the same way, and the two schools are pretty closely unofficially affiliated, as well as proximity wise right next to each other.

but within these confines of academia, like any other institution, an indoctrination is occurring. It happens everywhere else in every other field and makes thinking outside the box difficult. What makes this such a perplexing problem, is that you're taking art, and breaking it down into an indoctrinable (?) state of learning. aside from the technical stand point of filmmaking, there is a lot to the 'art' that cannot be taught. you either have a vision or you don't. no amount of technical know-how can make up for that. which is why you have so many beautifully shot, beautifully put together pieces of turd out there right now.

technical filmmaking, imo, is at its highest level right now. no matter how bad the story is or anything else, technically speaking, its tough to find a flaw in movies nowadays. and a lot of that has to do with pairing younger filmmakers with older cinematographer's and older editors who know their craft.

i think filmmaking is kind of the same as its always been. i think the ratio of bad-to-good movies is increasing, but i don't think the number of good movies is decreasing. it just makes it harder to find the good ones amidst all the drek out there. the indie movement has completely shifted. i'd liken it to the organic food industry. what was a small market that catered to a few, has grown with buzz words that the big companies can now use and market and sell en masse, changing entirely what those buzz words originally meant. "Organic" doesn't mean what it used to. "range free" "cage free" etc. all now have technical definitions that don't really mean what their common appearance claims.

similarly, are Warner Independent and Sony Classics "independent" movie makers? syriana is an "independent" movie. little miss sunshine was an "independent" movie. compare those with Clerks and el mariachi, also "independent" movies. dont get me wrong, it's something! it's a slight move by the studios to try and cash in, and in the process, movies they would never make are being made under their "independent" label. and i'm not taking away the difficulty those filmmakers had in getting their movies made, but it is a leeeetle bit different fighting for your movie within the AOL/Time Warner empire, versus maxing your cash out on credit cards to make $25,000.00 and make a movie based only one one thing, your vision.

And that is my roundabout way to get back to the vision of the filmmakers out there. you're right in saying more uneducated people need to make movies. people who don't know that everyone would say 'that's the wrong way to do it' end up making clerks, mariachi, and others. the biggest problem now, is the 'democracy' of filmmaking from digital. Digital itself has nothing inherently wrong with it, it's a medium. that's it. its up to the filmmaker to find a way to use that medium to tell his/her story. the problem is 99% of digital films suck, because 99% of the people making them shouldn't be.

the film in filmmaking was a barrier to entry. now the barrier to entry, imo, is vision. however it is harder to find that vision when it is hidden in 99% of crap. but it's there. so if you gave 1,000 filmstudents the budget of The Omen. You'd get ONE unbelievably kick ass short, and 999 other's you'd get bored of in 2 mins.

just some more ramblings, but a great discussion! :)

GMichael
03-09-2007, 12:10 PM
Lots of great points from Kex and Kam. Worf? Done laughing yet?

I think "they" should make a movie about how many bad movie there are out there.
Or at least, a game show about it.

Gerald Cooperberg
03-09-2007, 12:54 PM
Those are some fascinating ramblings, Kam.

There was an article in the last issue of Film Comment about how it's really a "filmmaker's world" right now... no matter how much the studio system still dominates the industry, independent filmmakers definitely aren't getting shut out. The article points to several factors-- the raw materials are cheaper (digital video vs film, as you mentioned), DVD and in particular NetFlix have given lots of films a market on home video that wouldn't have been able to recoup their budget in a theatrical run, and there has been an increasing 'allure' to producing movies to wealthy people from outside the industry-- the chance to bankroll something and get that credit or perhaps stand on stage for thirty seconds at some award ceremony or festival. Still, you're right, quantity doesn't always equal quality... but it's those diamonds in the rough that keep us obsessively spending beautiful afternoons in the multiplex, the art house, or our living rooms, right?

Oh, and to add one more to this "remake complaint" thread: I just read today that the Weinstein Co. plans to make an English-language remake of The Lives of Others. (http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117960314.html?categoryid=2479&cs=1)

-Coop