Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
Harry and I have decided to institute a new column here at AICN to deal with all the remakes being announced. Of course, remakes are nothing new, but it seems like we're on a runaway train lately, with a dozen new remakes announced each week. Only a few of these will actually make it to the bigscreen, and there's even a chance some of them might be decent films. Still, there's no way to deny that it seems to be out of control as a trend. Want some proof?
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Benecio Del Toro in a remake of BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA? It seems like madness to me. Part of what makes that film work (and many would debate whether it does at all) is the undeniably deranged hand of Sam Peckinpah. This was a labor of love by the maverick filmmaker, and every moment in the film seems fuelled not only by the dementia of the characters onscreen, but also by that of those behind the camera as well.
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Why would Paramount want to remake THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE? Here's another one of those films that is pretty much revered as a classic of its type, something that is a miracle of casting and writing and direction, one of those examples of everything being done right all at once. Harry had some valid points about how the material could be made relevant for today's audiences, but I can't help it; this one makes me feel woozy.
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Well, we knew this was happening. The Michael Bay-produced TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE has been in the works since the beginning of the year. New Line has signed on as distributor for the film, though, bringing it one step closer to actually happening. The strangest part of this story is the vow by the studio to make the film nowhere near as graphic as the original. Considering how there is essentially no onscreen violence in the first film, I'm not sure what they're talking about. One of the real strokes of genius of the original TCM was how that insane, unbearable level of intensity results from showing very little and suggesting so much.
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I see Scott Frank's name attached as a writer, and I have to think he knows what he's doing. Still, FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX is beloved by many film fans, and it'll take something very special to win them over to a remake, especially if it feels like it's all about making it more of an "event." Nothing seems more offensive than suggesting that today's technology is reason enough to retell these stories. Some of them, no matter when they were made, seem state of the art today.
That's all the madness for the moment. We'll try to turn one of these columns out anytime we have to. Please, Hollywood... slow down a little. Prove us wrong, and show us there's no reason to start a column like this. I'd be thrilled to be incorrect in this particular case.
"Moriarty" out.
