Hot Takes

I also thought it was kind of weak as an action movies, at least when compared to most other modern superhero movies, and also that the villains in the movie were kind of wack.  

Origins would have been great if they just made the opening credits into the movie.

End of Days might be the biggest pile of shit that Arnold Schwarzenegger ever made. I was gonna "review" it for Halloween, but I have to cross it off my list. First off, I wouldn't even call this a horror movie. Secondly, why is Schwarzenegger trying to act? He gets paid to be a badass, not a suicidal alcoholic. That's what we have Mel Gibson for. Thirdly, how did Rod Steiger end up in this movie? Did he have gambling debt to pay? Fourthly, 1999 = 666? Get the fuck out of here. And, finally, I've never seen the devil struggle so much to get some pussy. This movie takes itself so damn seriously and the plot is just: the devil needs to knock up a girl before Y2K.

Man of the Year is a very misguided film. I understand the context. It was made after the shenanigans of the 2000 election and the reported issues with the 2004 one. But telling the story of a Jon Stewart type running for President brings up a lot of things that the movie chooses to ignore. If Barry Levison wanted to tackle voter fraud then he should have just stuck to that. We didn't need Robin Williams trying to be funny.

Doomsday , Dracula hasn't seen Head of State. Rectify that at the Film Club.

It's an election year. Make Head of State a priority.

Sam Jackson's version of Shaft must have had a great deal of studio meddling. I still remember when the movie was in development. Quentin Tarantino was actually in discussion. Wesley Snipes, post Blade, was attached at some point. But it ended up being Sam Jackson with John Singleton behind the camera. I saw it in theaters. I liked it. I even bought the fucking soundtrack. But I hadn't watched it in 15 years. Most of it holds up. Sam Jackson is Sam Jackson. Christian Bale plays a great villain. Busta Rhymes isn't laughable like Ja Rule in Fast & Furious. The racial commentary is well-done and would resonate in today's climate. But for whatever reason, they added Jeffrey Wright as an additional villain, possibly to add more action scenes, and the whole fucking movie falls apart. If they ever make a new Shaft, I hope they watch this movie again and learn from its mistakes.

Scarface, The Fly, and The Thing are all amazing remakes. As far as being products of the 80s, Scarface is the only one that screams that decade, but the excess depicted still seems relevant. As for The Fly and The Thing, apart from a few outdated hair styles and tech, also don't feel too 80s to me.

You misunderstood.

Take the Fly. The original is about a scientist who switches places with a fly. You can't update that story and expect people to take it seriously. That's why Cronenberg took the plot and told a different story. That's my point. Remakes that simply use the plot tend to be successful while remakes that update the story tend to fail.

Why? Because movies are products of their time. Right now, you couldn't remake Cronenberg's remake of The Fly without radically changing the story. You'd have to find themes that would connect with people today. The 50's Fly had that fear of science shit. The 80's Fly was in the middle of the AIDS epidemic.

Which Planets of the Apes?

www.cracked.com/photoplasty_2216_recent-reboots-remakes-that-missed-point-entirely/

Pretty ironic this list is about "missing the point."