DVDs Why Not Remake Citizen Kane

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Michael Giltz: DVDs: Why Not Remake Citizen Kane? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/dvds-why-not-remake-_b_83278.html [4/5/2009 8:10:11 PM] APRIL 5, 2009 HOME POLITICS MEDIA BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT LIVING STYLE GREEN WORLD CHICAGO COMEDY 23/6 VIDEO BLOGGER INDEX ARCHIVE Make HuffPost Your HomePage Get Email Alerts Twitter: Follow Us BIG NEWS : Angelina Jolie | Madonna | Chris Brown & Rihanna | Paul McCartney | More... LOG IN | SIGN UP Michael Giltz BIO Become a Fan Get Email Alerts Similar Bloggers Email Print Be the First to Submit This Story to Digg DVDs: Why Not Remake Citizen Kane ? Posted January 25, 2008 | 01:49 PM (EST) Read More: Christian Bale , Dvds, Movies, Nicole Kidman , Remakes , Russell Crowe, Science Fiction , Sitcoms , Top Moves Of 2007 , TV Shows , Westerns , Breaking Entertainment News Like pornography, an unnecessary movie remake is hard to define - but you know it when you see it. A remake of Citizen Kane would be ludicrous. So would a remake of Casablanca . (Though that hasn't stopped them from trying to spin off not one but two TV series based on that classic wartimeromance.) On the other hand, no one is going to top Errol Flynn's The Adventures of Robin Hood, but that character is so iconic it seems perfectly natural for each generation to give it a shot. Same withSuperman, Sherlock Holmes and Tarzan - great figures in pop culture are just irresistible. If theoriginal had a clever premise but didn't really deliver - think Ocean's 11 or The Thomas Crown Affair - you've got another reason to green light a remake. Then there's the perfect little movie that resists anyidiotic idea to improve or update it. The classic, trimlittle western 3:10 To Yuma is a perfect example. The 1957 original ($19.94; Sony) is as tight as a drum,with Glenn Ford never better as the quietly menacingoutlaw and Van Helfin (never particularly good any other time) just perfect as the stolid rancher who steps in to guard the bad guy and shepherd himto the train station and eventual justice. Fifty years later, Russell Crowe and Christian Bale reprise those roles ($29.95; Lionsgate). The movie is beefed up with a little more travel, a little more violence and a little more unnecessarystabs at psychological depth. Anyone who hasn't seen the original might think it's fine. But thosewho have can't help but think it's utterly pointless. Why remake a brilliant, specific, nigh on perfectmovie that simply couldn't be improved on? Probably no one has defended The Invasion ($28.98; Warner Bros.), the Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig remake of Invasion Of The Body Snatchers out Tuesday. I have friends who really like the Popular Stories on HuffPost Fashion Face-Off! Michelle Obama And Carla Bruni-Sarkozy Finally Meet In France (VIDEO, PHOTOS, POLL) *Video, poll and slideshow (to... Levi Johnston TalksSafe Sex With Tyra Banks (VIDEO) ***UPDATE*** 8:30pm: People.com is reporting that Sarah Palin hasissued... Oscar de la RentaSlams Michelle Obama's Buckingham Outfit As MajorDesigners Feel Ignored While Michelle Obamahas made lesser... Verena von Pfetten 7 Lessons To BeLearned From Carla Bruni So here's the thing.There's no shortage ofarticles dedicated to that certain je ne... Huff TV Arianna Discusses MichelleObama's "Fantastic" 'Fast & Furious' HAUL: Rakes In $72.5M Madonna Tot's Dad Found: 'At Last I Can Be Part Of Mercy's Life' Farrah Fawcett's Son Arrested As She's In Hospital Michael Giltz: DVDs: Why Not Remake Citizen Kane? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/dvds-why-not-remake-_b_83278.html [4/5/2009 8:10:11 PM] SNL: Madonna And Angelina In Weekend Update... Reality Star Jade Goody Buried In Lavish... Robert De Niro Nanny Sues For $40,000 "HGTV's $250,000 Challenge": Families Vie For Mortgage...1978 remake by director Philip Kaufman. But even before I saw the original, I found that version a little slow and unconvincing, even though the premise of "pod people" appealed to my inner Twilight Zone geek. Then I saw the 1956 original, which I'd always heard was a great B movie, a great low budget sci-fi flick, a great metaphor for the McCarthy witch hunts and/or Communism itself, a great spin on Fifties conformity or take your pick. Forget all that. When I finally saw the original at a revival house, all I saw was a great, great movie. It's gripping, creepy, funny, utterly involving and with a dramatic ending that ranks among the most memorable in movie history. I'd gladly tackle a new Tarzan movie tomorrow and not worry in the least about comparisons with the past. But why would anyone want to remake a gem like this that's already perfect? Also out: some boxed sets, including 4 By Agnes Varda ($99.95; Criterion), featuring Vagabond and Cleo From 5 to 7 along with loads of extras; The John Frankenheimer Collection ($39.98; MGM), a grab bag with one masterpiece ( The Manchurian Candidate ), one blast of fun ( The Train ), one decent courtroom drama ( The Young Savages ) and one good car chase ( Ronin ); two celebrations of straight-to-DVD franchises American Pie - The Threesome Pack ($39.98; Universal) and Bring It On - The Cheerbook Collection ($44.98; Universal) and hey, if you weren't buying and renting them, they wouldn't keep making 'em; Monty Python's Life Of Brian: The Immaculate Edition ($24.96; Sony), out Tuesday, a silly romp through religion ("Blessed are the cheese makers?") that only sounds offensive to people who haven't bothered to see it; Swamp Thing: The Series ($39.98; Shout), the surprisingly durable DC comic chararacter's transfer to TV (though it's hard not to miss Adrienne Barbeau); Strindberg's Miss Julie ($39.95; Criterion), in a 1951 Swedish version I'd never heard of but which is renowned; The Odd Couple: The Third Season ($38.99; Paramount), a sitcom that balances perfectly on the edge of silliness and repetition without ever losing sight of the genuine characters at the heart of it all; Make Room ForDaddy Season 6 ($39.99; S'more), starring Danny Thomas in the tail-end of one of sitcoms's defining early hits; Lars Von Trier's The Kingdom Series Two ($29.99; Koch Lorber), a spooky,hospital-set supernatural drama (think Dark Shadows meets ER), which I find murky but some horror buffs absolutely love; The Rock's thoroughly unexpected switch to inoffensive familycomedy is complete with the box office hit The Game Plan ($29.99; Disney); Galactica 1980($29.98; Universal), the jaw-droppingly awful attempt to reboot the original series by findingEarth; and Barney Miller: Second Season ($29.95; Sony), a sterling TV series that for many yearswas the one TV show that cops insisted got it right - forget Hill Street Blues and Homicide and Adam-12 and NYPD Blue, for the day-to-day life of a cop this charmer nailed it. And here are my favorite movies of 2007: 1. The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford 2. Lars and the Real Girl 3. Zodiac 4. The Wind That Shakes The Barley 5. There Will Be Blood 6. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly 7. L'Iceberg 8. Michael Clayton 9. Ratatouille 10. Once 11. The Host 12. This Is England 13. Superbad 14. Control 15. The Bourne Ultimatum So what's your favorite remake? The most pointless? Comments for this post are now closed Email Print More in Entertainment... Style On CBS' "Washington Unplugged" Arianna was on CBS' "Washington... Huff TV Arianna Appears on ABC's "This Week" Roundtable With George Stephanopoulos(VIDEO) Arianna was a guest this morning on... "BRUNO" TRAILER!Calamity, African Babies, Chase Scenes And More (NSFW VIDEO) IT'S HERE! The trailer forthis July's Sacha Baron Cohen... NATO Leaders Focus On Afghanistan, ButMost Reject Obama's Plea For Troops (SLIDESHOW) STRASBOURG, France— On the eve of the NATO... 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Ice Bridge Ruptures In Antarctic (VIDEO) An ice bridge linking ashelf of ice the size of Jamaica to two islands in Antarctica has Scientists FindRocket Fuel Chemical In Infant Formula ATLANTA — Traces of aMichael Giltz: DVDs: Why Not Remake Citizen Kane? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/dvds-why-not-remake-_b_83278.html [4/5/2009 8:10:11 PM] Michelle Obama's Clothing Has Sean Hannity All Out OfSorts Cenk Uygur: Have WeReached the Tipping Pointon Guns? RICHARD POPLAWSKI,Pittsburgh Gunman, Kills 3Police Officers Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld: DoesIran Harbor Osama binLaden? Comments 18 Pending Comments 0 HuffPost Stories Surging Right Now Buy a link here Sponsored Links "My Teeth Are so White" Read the trick, discovered by a mom, to turn yellow teeth white. CathysTeeth.com Spine Surgery Advancement NO Hospital, NO Gen Anesthesia. Get Your Life Back NOW! www.LaserSpineInstitute.com I'm Happy I Lost My Job After I got laid off, I found a easy way to make $7k a month online... http://coreyhasmoney.com/ca Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to View Comments: Newest First Expand All 3fingerbrown See Profile I'm a Fan of 3fingerbrown permalink The greatest remake of all time? Easy. It's "The Maltese Falcon." Hammett's novel was shot not once but twice before John Huston's 1941 remake. Huston's version so completely overshadows the first twothat people don't even think of it as a remake. (When "The Maltese Falcon" comes up in a discussionof great films, no one asks "Which version?") All these years later, it still sparkles. It's the film equivalent to Hammett's prose (detective story as art), but there isn't a dull or self-indulgent frame in the entire picture. Truly the third time was the charm. As for the worst: I'll second, or third, the motion: Burton's "Planet of the Apes" was the most inept major motion picture I ever paid money to see. It wasn't released, it escaped. AlexRemington See Profile I'm a Fan of AlexRemington permalink My least favorite movie of all time is Michael Almereyda's Hamlet, with Ethan Hawke, Julia Stiles, andBill Murray all falling flat on their faces trying to pull of Gen-X Shakespeare and failing more miserablythan I can possibly describe. I guess you'd call it a remake. TheWesternBreed See Profile I'm a Fan of TheWesternBreed permalink I like old film noir movies. I made the mistake of seeing the remake of "D.O.A." some years ago. Thathelped to avoid the mistake of seeing the remake of "Gun Crazy" during the five minutes it was inmovie theaters. By all accounts I made the right choice. Computers India Barack Obama Michelle Obama Sports Olympics Housing Crisis Fox News Cars MORE BIG NEWS PAGES » Books by this author A cabin of one's own: New England's MacDowellColony celebrates 100years of artistic utopia.And the gay and lesbianartists who prosperedthere celebrate ... (Thenational gay & lesbiannewsmagazine) by Michael Giltz Affairs to remember:Farley Granger beddedAva Gardner, ShelleyWinters, and LeonardBernstein. In hisautobiography, IncludeMe Out, Hitchcock's muse... (The national gay &lesbian newsmagazine) by Michael Giltz Christian Bale DvdsMoviesNicole KidmanRemakesRussell CroweScience FictionSitcomsTop Moves Of 2007TV Showschemical used in rocket fuel were found in samples of... HUFFPOST'S BIG NEWS PAGES Bloggers Index Read All Posts by Michael Giltz Related Tags Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 07:20 AM on 01/29/2008 Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 06:41 PM on 01/28/2008This Blogger's Books from Michael Giltz: DVDs: Why Not Remake Citizen Kane? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/dvds-why-not-remake-_b_83278.html [4/5/2009 8:10:11 PM] Comments are closed for this entryrektruax See Profile I'm a Fan of rektruax permalink You appear to know more about this than I Michael, but I find the Scorsese Cape Fear a little more suspenseful and interesting to watch than the original. I feel Psycho should have been left alone though. Too perfect to mess with. mbafromharvard See Profile I'm a Fan of mbafromharvard permalink favorite: Scorsese's version of "Cape Fear". most pointless: Gus Van Sant's do-over of "Psycho". JustAnotherJoe See Profile I'm a Fan of JustAnotherJoe permalink Most pointless I've recently heard about but hasn't yet been released (Phew!): The Day the Earth StoodStill - another 50's classic sci-fi movie Favorite Remake: 12 Monkeys (a remake of a French film "La Jetee") The original was a classic, shot except for maybe one scene as a slideshow. The classic status alone makes a whole lot of critics cringe at Terry Gillam's remake, but I think he updated the film nicely. It's still a mess, but an enjoyable one with Bruce Willis cast as the reluctant anti-hero and a Brad Pitt as his psychotic antagonist. grendl See Profile I'm a Fan of grendl permalink " Planet of the Apes", and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"( Willy Wonka was the original's title )were both pointless exercises in narcissim for Tim Burton. Why he felt the need to invade suchsacrosanct territory, whilst removing the best moments from each film is, well, typical. One of the greatest moments in the original " Planet of the Apes" happened when Taylor, the astronaut played by Charlton Heston is finally caught, netted and strung up. Hampered by strained vocal chords up until that point he utters the words which shock the monkeys into silence. " Get your stinking paws off me you damned dirty ape." A fine fine cinematic moment, which Tim Burton sought to ignore, as well as the appearance of the Statue of Liberty on the beach. Why remake a story and remove the best parts? So too with " Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". Although Burton's version adheres to the Dahl story in some instances, like the reveal that Charlie has won the Chocolate factory which in the book is not avery dramatic moment. He simply looks down and sees that all the other children have been weededout, fallen into chocolate rivers, or turned into fruit, then says...oh, you're left. okay, the factory's yours. The brilliance of the screenplay and movie version was in Charlie's returning of the gobstopper to the desk of Willy Wonka, a redemptive even heroic moment which sets him apart from the rest of hisgreedy selfish gluttonous ilk, earning him the keys to the factory. Burton's adherence to the book, whileaccurate fell flat onscreen. Plus he added a bunch on nonsense with Willy Wonka's backstory,something entirely unnecessary as Charlie Bucket was the protagonist, and Wonka the bit of cinematicinvention who needs no explanation. hapkidokid See Profile I'm a Fan of hapkidokid permalink Because of the high probability it would suck? You must be logged in to reply to this comment. Log in or Ads by Google B-Movie Books Westerns Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 04:05 PM on 01/28/2008 Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 04:01 PM on 01/25/2008 Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 03:43 PM on 01/25/2008 Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 03:34 PM on 01/25/2008 Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 02:21 PM on 01/25/2008 Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 02:11 PM on 01/25/2008Michael Giltz: DVDs: Why Not Remake Citizen Kane? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/dvds-why-not-remake-_b_83278.html [4/5/2009 8:10:11 PM] HOME POLITICS MEDIA BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT LIVING GREEN STYLE WORLD CHICAGO COMEDY FUNDRACE ARCHIVE Advertise | Login | Make HuffPost your Home Page | RSS | Jobs | FAQ: Comments & Moderation | FAQ: Huffpost Accounts | Contact Us Copyright © 2009 HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. | Archive | User Agreement | Privacy | Comment Policy | About Us | Powered by Movable Type Untamed pulp fiction, as over the top as a vintage drive-in movie stores.lulu.com

DVDs Why Not Remake Citizen Kane

📄 DVDs Why Not Remake Citizen Kane

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