Now I Really Want NATURE TRAIL TO HELL... in 3D

[filkertom]

Manos: The HD Restoration Of Fate.

What movie would you like either buffed up by digital restoration or just completely remade? For instance, I truly feel there's a good movie inside Independence Day. Somewhere.

ETA: You guys are right -- there are some good films, e.g., .Buckaroo Bonzai and The Last Starfighter, that deserve a reboot as well. That being the case, I nominate Superman for a reboot... BUT I GET TO WRITE IT DAMMIT.

Comments

[scifantasy.livejournal.com]

Is it cheating to say Star Wars I-III?

And does it have to be truly bad movies? I mean, Buckaroo Banzai would look great if buffed up.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Technically, Lucas already remade -- ohhhh. You mean the Prequel Trilogy. Fine, as long as Lucas has nothing to do with it except signing the checks.

[jeffr23.livejournal.com]

Considering that "Independence Day" was basically the result of applying this experiment to "Earth versus the Flying Saucers", I'm less sure.

Nonetheless, I nominate "The Last Starfighter".

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

That's a lovely fun flick, ain't it? Don't you just love the ending -- he gets the girl AND the spaceship. Yeah!

[saganth.livejournal.com]

Hmm.. why does nobody ever say that Independence Day is essentially a re-make or re-tooling of War of the Worlds? That's what it really is, right down to the "virus" that incapacitates the aliens (admittedly, a very different definition of virus) and the nuking of an American city in an effort to take down the enemy (ok, admittedly that's the 1953 movie, not Wells' original novel, but both predate Independence Day by a long time). I hear or read of people comparing the movie to all sorts of films, but they totally miss the real, original parallel.

[smparadox.livejournal.com]

Good point!

[wingus.livejournal.com]

But would a good Independence Day be as fun as the original?

I'd put forth the 1986 Transformers movie to get a shiny CGI facelift.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Point. It is an amazing popcorn flick, and so much fun to make fun of... and then they'll get you into it, and then kick you out of it with something dumb, rinse, repeat.

[saganth.livejournal.com]

I agree, that film could use a retooling, but mainly in terms of the dialogue. Despite all sorts of adult themes and visuals (death, dismemberment, threat of death and dismemberment, curse words), the dialogue (and some plot points and even a few visuals (the medieval circle dancing on Junk leaps to mind)) needs to be made much more sophisticated. There's something to be said for a kid's story or kid's move that doesn't oversimplify or talk down to the kids. There was sophisticated dialogue in the recent live-action TF films... unfortunately also heavily laden with its own brand of asshattery. IMHO, no Transformers movie has "nailed it" just yet. I don't need Transformers: Shakespeare, but seriously, they can't do better than they have already?

[wingus.livejournal.com]

Well, there's been various shows that have done fairly better at doing more mature things without talking down. Beast Wars, Beast Machines, Animated, and now TF: Prime looks like it could definitely go places. None are perfect all the time, but they've all done well at handling more mature themes well. (Dinobot's self sacrifice in BW, various instances of dealing with the consequences of your actions in BM, Ratchet's war days in Animated, and looking at the way Optimus deals with leadership burdens in TFP.)

Granted, while I do enjoy mature storytelling, I don't mind having the silly stuff along, too. Can't be 100% serious all the time. I'll always prefer goofy cartoon Grimlock to "Me badass" comic Grimlock, for one.

[smallship1.livejournal.com]

I've said it before, I'll say it again. Night[Curse] Of The Demon. And I think I'd like to see Geoffrey Rush as Holden (the protagonist, only British this time) and Depp as Karswell.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

I'd watch a Smurfs movie with Rush and Depp....

[siliconshaman.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to imagine a smurf Depp...and getting something like a Pictski!

[alverant.livejournal.com]

Which Rush? The music group or the blowhard on the radio?

[skully01.livejournal.com]

GEOFFREY Rush, porcupine!!

[skully01.livejournal.com]

(Though I could picture Mr Limbaugh as a cigar-smoking Windbag Smurf...)

[alverant.livejournal.com]

Sorry. Never heard of him. But I think Rush Limbaugh Smurf would be more amusing.

Brainy: Papa Smurf, Gargamel caught Rush Smurf and he's going to eat him!
Papa: Yes, I can see Rush Smurf eating Gargamel.
Brainy: No, Papa Smurf the other way around.
Papa: Rush Smurf called me a fascist communist with Satanic powers. If Gargamel eats Rush he will think all Smurfs taste rotten. Let Tea Smurf save him if he has the courage to risk his own life.
Brainy: You're right of course. Rush Smurf called me a lot of horrible names too. I'm going to go to Brewmeister Smurf for a keg. You want some too.
Papa: No, this formula has some complicated mathematics. One should never drink and derive.
Brainy: I can't believe you're ending this response with a bad pun.

[saganth.livejournal.com]

Not heard of Geoffrey Rush? Well, ok, he's not exactly a Hollywood superstar doing tons of action movies. He admittedly is mainly known for being in mundane "art" films (he played the Marquis de Sade in "Quills" for example. But you've probably seen him in some genre films that are well known. He was "Captain Barbossa" in all four Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and "Casanova Frankenstein" in Mystery Men. He was also the voice of "Tomar Re" in the recent Green Lantern movie (the nice alien who got Hal Jordan to fly via ring-power).

[capplor.livejournal.com]

I'm wondering what more CGI & a complete rewrite (with a real scientist on the rewrite team) could do for "Water World," or "Attack of the 50 Foot Woman" (make the latter in metric to avoid further confusion?)

Then there's Star Trek V: Please captain, not behind the camera.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

I thought about Trek V, but I barely survived it the first time.

[siliconshaman.livejournal.com]

How about star trek the reboot...?

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Love the reboot. Wish that J. J. Abrams could write as well as he thinks he can. It is vitally important for the future of humanity that Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, and Karl Urban stay with the franchise as long as possible.

[siliconshaman.livejournal.com]

Umm... ok, the acting was great, as was the cinematography. The plot however was a mess and needed a heavy dose of trek-ology and real science added.

Hmmm maybe J.J should stick to filming and get someone else to write it. [Imagine a plot by Joss and Niven!]

Or hey, how about just asking Nimoy to make the damn thing.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I didn't really make my point -- I agree with you completely re: the plot. That's what I meant by Abrams' writing. He's got dialogue, but story? Not so much.

[siliconshaman.livejournal.com]

Oh, right I got you... and agreed, he direly needs a real writer to fill in the plot. Hmm, imagine if you will, Larry Niven writing the plot, Joss collaborating on the writing and doing the directing, with JJ providing dialogue and cinematography.

[saganth.livejournal.com]

I loved the reboot, too, tho it took me three viewings to make that determination, I was so thrown by the timeline changes. It had strong characterization and strong performances, which ultimately sold it for me. However, I will briefly get on my soapbox about one thing. I know that Trek does not have the best track record when it comes to scientific accuracy. They generate enough technobabble to choke Hephaestus. They also sometimes get real-world science wrong, especially (it seems to me) in finer areas of physics and biology that the general public is unaware of (like the TNG episode with the de-evolution plague involved a fundamental error in genetics I had to have explained to me; before that I didn't know an error had been made to invalidate the plot). But the reboot film had a BIGGIE:

You've got a star going to go supernova. Somehow its effects will be propogated far beyond a normal supernova's range, and you don't explain how or why. But let's ignore that. You want to stop it and save entire worlds, including one of the closest. Fine. You want to use an artificial black hole to do it? Ok, I can kinda maybe see that working, maybe. But you don't employ it until AFTER THE STAR BLOWS UP. The super-supernova expands in all directions for lightyears, and you think a little black hole in one little spot will stop the whole thing? It's not a frickin' soap bubble that will collapse. It's like expecting to trap the horses that have escaped by closing the door AFTER they've escaped. IT JUST AIN'T GONNA WORK. *sigh* Maybe if you throw in a couple quick technobable lines about subspace propogation (which would explain both a super-supernova and how Spock saved all the galaxy except Romulus), but they did not even do that (no doubt in an understandable attempt to *avoid* technobabble... Never mind a black hole that acts also as a wormhole when convenient for the plot. Oy. Ok, end of rant. Sorry all.

[siliconshaman.livejournal.com]

Avatar, the last Airbender. I think between better casting and getting in someone to rewrite who'd actually seen the animated series, it could be good.

Mind you...there's a bunch of bad moves that could be improved with a heavy dose of science and a total rewrite; The Core, Sunshine, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Solaris, Event Horizon, Sphere, and 2012.

ok, maybe some of those might be salvageable.

[ericcoleman]

The Day the Earth Stood Still? Do you mean the remake? Because the original is one of the great SF films.

[siliconshaman.livejournal.com]

Of course I meant the remake !! Geeze what do you think I am? A Philistine?!

Although, one way of improving the film would be to get rid of 'can't act' Reeves. Some parts call for a dead-pan delivery and poker faced lack of expression throughout...this wasn't one of them.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

And the remake is a dreary mess with Keanu Reeves trying to be important or somethin'.

2012 is actually a beautiful, perfect movie. It is so very well designed and so very badly written and acted that its entertainment value is limitless. Seriously, the best riffing movie since The Room.

[siliconshaman.livejournal.com]

Well.. you have a point there....if the aim of the film was to be so dreadfully bad it's good.

Umm.. one could remake those on my list that way too...some are just dull after all, and could be redone to make them a modern day Plan 9.

Not sure if that would be a wise idea though, I think that sort of unintentional humour falls down if you try to do it deliberately.

[his-spiffyness.livejournal.com]

Well...there is a Plan 9 remake in the works (http://plan9movie.com/)

[sexybass.livejournal.com]

Thank you all for such a wonderful send off to such a wonderful man.

[sexybass.livejournal.com]

Sorry I posted this to the wrong place

[alverant.livejournal.com]

I would like to see a less hokey version of Pumaman. It's one of my favorite MST3K episodes, but it seems like a lot of the jokes were about how bad the effects were.

"He can rear-project major cities!"
"It looks like the gods are carrying him through the air by his BVDs."
"Help I'm falling at a 45 degree angle defying all the laws of physics!"

[misterseth.livejournal.com]

How about a remake of Captain Invincible?

(Christopher Lee singing. Nuff said)

[smparadox.livejournal.com]

I don't know, the bad special effects were part of the charm of the movie. And I'm not sure who you could get to play Mr Midnight that could fill Christopher Lee's shoes...

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Maybe this time have a Native American protagonist discover the Pumaman abilities. As I said in a previous rant, I am really done with White Dude Acquires Mystical-Brown-People Powers.

[alverant.livejournal.com]

What do you mean? A Native American was the protagonist! Pumaman was the sidekick. And did you see the Pumaman's costume? If they put a minority into that outfit the movie makers would be accused of trying to make minorities look like dorks. It's a no-win situation.

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Simple solution - have BOTH characters played by Native American/Hispanic actors.

[stevemb.livejournal.com]

I have a mental image of Robot Monster with modern high-budget SFX... but with the guy in the gorilla suit and diving helmet left just like the original.

[misterseth.livejournal.com]

I'm awaiting the sequel to The Dark Crystal, which has been in dev hell for 6 years.

[saganth.livejournal.com]

One movie leaps to mind - and I admit, I usually hate remakes. But this one, carefully done, and with VERY FEW CHANGES, I would very much like to see.

Forbidden Planet. Now before you all yell and scream, just gimme a moment to explain. Yes, I know this film is a classic, and I agree. A very progressive and englightened film for its era. A work of art even. I love watching it and have seen it many times and am proud to own it on dvd.

That being said, every time I watch it there are a few little details that irk me, mainly because I'm a product of our modern era and not the Golden Age. The biggest thing I'd change are the gender attitudes. I'd want a remake to include a ship crewed by men *and* women. A crew who don't have to be quite so monitored by their captain because Dr. Morbius has a comely legal-age daughter who's never seen any other humans before and has never experienced pleasures of the flesh (beyond herself, and I'm not going into that here). A crew that doesn't automatically drool over the girl because They're Guys In The Service And That's What Guys In The Service Do. Not to mention a romance with the captain that, to me, seems to come out of left field for the sole sake of it being expected that the hero gets the girl,

I'd also make Dr. Morbius's long expository presentations a little more animated. He's supposed to be so in love with the Krell civilizaton and its legacy, and the importance of not misusing their legacy, passionate enough about protecting it all that his mind generates the Id Monster that slew anyone that threatened that legacy (or threatened to tear the good doctor away from his study of it).... and yet he sounds like he's giving lectures in a school room. There was little passion to the man in Walter Pigeon's performance, except in rare moments. Maybe this is a deliberate aspect of the character. Maybe it was just how the scriptwriter and director thought all the science stuff should be presented to the audience. I don't blame Pigeon himself, I'm sure he was good and I didn't *dislike* his performance. But I felt it could still be better. There are very few clues, very little foreshadowing, that Morbius is indirectly responsible for the Id Monster. Granted, one doesn't want it given away too easily or too soon, but a little more would have been better.

I'd also clarify the Krell brain-boosting process. I've watched the film a dozen times, and I still don't get how the process boosted Morbius' brain enough for him to create the Id Monster, but killed the ship's doctor when he tried to use it. Maybe I am missing something.

Lastly, a quibble about the spaceship. Now way does that saucer contain 18 people and all the machinery we see, even with some things cannibalized to make other things. Ship should have been at least twice as big.

Again, lots of subtle little things. Otherwise I wouldn't change a thing (except maybe the statement of when we reached the moon, as real life conflicts with the opening narrative's predictions about spaceflight). I'd even have Robby the Robot look the same, delightfully retro.

[smparadox.livejournal.com]

It wasn't exactly a brain-boosting device, so much as a kindergartener's calisthenics for the mind device, but it affected humans similarly to being strapped into a nautilus and forced to work out until your heart exploded. Except the stronger you started off the longer and harder it worked you. Morbius was the least intelligent individual to use it, the closest to the intellectual capacity of Krell infants, so he survived it - barely. The workout it gave him made him one of the smartest humans ever. Everyone else who tried it, including the ship's doctor, melted their brains which couldn't handle the boost.

Or at least, that's how I always interpreted the pared down explanation from the movie.

[acelightning.livejournal.com]