posted
Its really sad when you mention that "You've Got Mail" was really just a modern ripoff of "the shop around the corner" and the person you are talking to looks at you with a blank look. Whats even worse is when you say it was an old Jimmy Stewart movie and they still have that same look.
I guess I am a bit biased because Its a Wonderful life and Mr. Smith goes to Washington are two of my favorite movies...but how could someone not know who Stewart is.
Posts: 1901 | Registered: May 2004
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They've played Shop Around the Corner twice in the last two weeks. I like Jimmy better than Tom any day of the week. And the answer to your question is simple. They're young and ignorant of the past, and most everything else as well. It kills me too.
Posts: 1156 | Registered: Jan 2004
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posted
I have watched both, and I think calling the newer movie just a "rip off" of the latter is doing a disservice to each movie. Even if the one pays tribute to the other they are each unique and wonderful in their own right.
I feel the same way about the Thomas Crown Affair, liking the 2nd rendition far more than the first one.
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Oh, and the Italian Job? The second one is FAR, FAR BETTER. The first one has almost no plot and a car chase that lasted so long you might as well go to sleep, even if they are cute mini coopers being driven.
Not to mention the actors in the second are of a much higher caliber than the first.
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I disagree. Blatant ripoffage. One is unique, and the other is copying the uniquness of the original. Possibly making it less unique. The wonderful is subjective.
Posts: 1156 | Registered: Jan 2004
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posted
The problem with "remakes" is rather than coming up with an original idea, you simply take an old idea that worked really well and change it just a bit so you can make it seem original. I think many times writers and directors spend to much time worrying about the gimmick that makes their version special that they miss what made the original so good in the first place. It can be done right, but it seems that more often than not, you end up with an inferior product.
It is much better to simply let yourself be influenced by a genre that to take an idea and simply twist it a bit. Much of fantasy was inspired by Tolkien, but good fantasy doesn't try to tell Tolkien with a twist, it creates something completely new within the genre.
Posts: 1901 | Registered: May 2004
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I was stuck working in a video store at a mall one Christmas years back, with a short list of videos we could play (including Uncle Buck and the Sound of Music *shudder*).
It's a Wonderful Life was the only title I never got mortally sick of. It's still one of my favorite films.
Posts: 6316 | Registered: Jun 2003
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Remember Taxi with Queen Latifah? The original French version - and Taxi 2 - are by far and away supremely superior. Seriously. Loads and loads of fun, excellent action, great humour. Fantastic. Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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A few things: 1. I fell in love with young Jimmy Stewart when I saw The Philadelphia Story. 2. I liked the original Italian Job significantly more than the new one, but I can see why the new one is so appealing. They did a good job of making it marketable to this generation. 3. The way you feel about remakes is the same way I feel about sequels. Did you know they've made Bambi 2? That's practically sacrilege!
Posts: 866 | Registered: Aug 2005
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quote:Originally posted by quidscribis: I hear that Bambi's mom dies. I've never seen it, so I wasn't sure if that was true...
Uh, quid, shouldn't you post a spoiler warning? Now you've ruined the whole movie for me. Anyway, everyone knows that Bambi was just a rip-off of A Tale of Two Cities.
Posts: 10397 | Registered: Jun 2005
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Tante, I can't think of A Tale of Two Cities without always remembering the time our Lit teacher Spoonerismed it in a class discussion in 10th grade. I don't think I've ever seens a teacher more thoroughly lose control of a class. Posts: 6394 | Registered: Dec 1999
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I'm divided about remakes. The art of filmmaking has certainly grown by leaps and bounds (not that every modern movie is better than an oldie, cuse that's not the case).
If you can use the better technology to add to the story, to better tell it, then I'm all for remaking the classics. Plus there are a lot of my generation who are just not going to see the old movies unless they are remade.
The problem is, not all (or even half) of the remakes are an improvement, even with all the superior technology.
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I think the arguments about remakes being unoriginal is spurious. The originals, in almost all cases, are derivatives of something.
How many times have you seen a movie with the star crossed lovers plot (which Shakepeare didn't invent, btw)? How many different 'heist gone wrong' movies have you seen? Remember when Armageddon and Deep Impact came out within a month of each other with eerily similar plots?
There just aren't that many different stories out there. 98% of the movies that come out are easily quantifiable, and what makes people go see them are the little changes. Even if you tell the same story as someone else, if you tell it in an interesting way it's worth hearing.
Posts: 5462 | Registered: Apr 2005
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quote:Oh, and the Italian Job? The second one is FAR, FAR BETTER. The first one has almost no plot and a car chase that lasted so long you might as well go to sleep, even if they are cute mini coopers being driven.
Not to mention the actors in the second are of a much higher caliber than the first.
I think this one is a matter of culture or taste. The British one is one of my favourite movies ever and I wouldn't change a frame or an actor. It's nt a shoddily made or written film, it's supposed to be the way it is.
I find the car chase absolutely hilarious and I have the song that accompanies it on my computer.
I also think that it's a very British film that may exclude people who are not very familiar with the mindset/culture.
Posts: 8473 | Registered: Apr 2003
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I have to assume that people who dismiss all remakes as being unoriginal really, really hate live theatre. All those plays have been before!
Posts: 3243 | Registered: Apr 2002
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And Shop Around the Corner was based on a play named Parfumerie. Yup, it's all derivative. Ripoff? Not if it's acknowledged. I liked You've Got Mail and when I first saw it was completely unfamiliar w/ Shop Around the Corner. Is that a big sin? Oh well, guilty. When I later learned it was based on film starring Stewart, I did watch that and also enjoyed it, but it didn't make me want to write off You've Got Mail by any means.
I'm a huge James Stewart fan and The Philadelphia Story will always be on my top 5 movies list, I think--it's just magical with those performances from Grant, Hepburn, and Stewart.
Posts: 3149 | Registered: Jul 2005
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The existence of a modern remake isn't necessarily some director saying, "The old one sucked. We're going to fix it." I don't think You've Got Mail was meant to snub Jimmy Stewart in any way. It was just a new director riffing off of a great old movie. I'm always surprised when people take remakes as some kind of insult.
That's not saying that the remake always does the original justice. Personally, though, I thought You've Got Mail was a great movie. It was the first movie I took my future wife to, the second time we started dating.
Posts: 5957 | Registered: Oct 2001
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I don't think going from play to movie is quite the same thing as going from movie to movie. At least thats switching media. Taking one movie and then basing the plot completely upon another movie that had already been done is just dumb. The most egregious examples being "Charade", "Sabrina", and the upcoming "Pink Panther" movie.
In the case of the Pink Panther I understand that they're trying to continue the series, but at this point its impossible. Peter sellers created possibly one of the funniest characters in comedic history and Steve Martin is nowhere near up to the challenge. This is usually the case with actors just not being able to handle true innovators like Bogart, Stewart, and Carey Grant.
Posts: 1156 | Registered: Jan 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Uprooted: And Shop Around the Corner was based on a play named Parfumerie.
Yep. And the musical She Loves Me was based on both Parfumerie and The Shop Around the Corner. It's one of those stories that works really well, which is probably why there are so many popular variations of it.
Posts: 952 | Registered: Jun 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Bob the Lawyer: I have to assume that people who dismiss all remakes as being unoriginal really, really hate live theatre. All those plays have been before!
That's a really excellent point. I wish I had thought of it. Posts: 6394 | Registered: Dec 1999
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posted
In keeping with the topic "people can be sad". I find it much sadder, that someone can't figure out that 500 hours equals 20.8 days of testing time and expects a test to be done in two weeks, than I do anyone who doesn't remember a random bit of movie trivia, particularly if they were born after Jimmy Stewart's death (My bad, he died in 1997... wow, didn't realize that!)
quote:Originally posted by BannaOj: I have watched both, and I think calling the newer movie just a "rip off" of the latter is doing a disservice to each movie. Even if the one pays tribute to the other they are each unique and wonderful in their own right.
Agreed. But not knowing the genius that was Jimmy Stewart is just WRONG.
Anyway, they absolutely must have seen It's a Wonderful Life a time or dozen, neh? How could anyone who has ever owned a TV not have seen it? (With luck, at least they were never subjected to the colorized atrocity.)
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
I've seen bits and peices, but I didn't know for a long time that that actor was Jimmy Stewart.... a bunch of those old time actors all kind of have the same look.
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AJ - I used to have problems with Clark Gable, Cary Grant, Gene Kelley, Gregory Peck and a couple other actors. It wasn't that I didn't know which was which, it was that I'd get their names all confused - I always blamed it on them having a first or last name that started with 'g'.
And now I want to watch a good old classic movie. *wonders what's on TCM tonight*
Posts: 959 | Registered: Jan 2002
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Seriously. Loads and loads of fun, excellent action, great humour. Fantastic. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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Now you've ruined the whole movie for me. Anyway, everyone knows that Bambi was just a rip-off of A Tale of Two Cities.
