Aren't you tried of remakes and biopics?

Movies Forum

For the past few years Hollywood has been re-making a lot of old movies from way back when such as All the king's men, Guess who's coming to dinner? and Alfie and even doing biographical pictures such as Walk the line, Ray, Monster , Factory girl , The pianist and that horribly boring movie, The Doors

I don't know about the rest of you guys but I want something new. I don't want to see another biopic starring some famous hollywood actress or actor. I enjoy some of the biopics and remakes, but the majority of the remakes, I just wish that they would have left the original alone.


For instance in All the King's men which was first filmed in 1949 and starred John Ireland and Broderick Crawford. The original was a classic. Broderick Crawford played the perfect "Willie Stark" and you knew it the moment you saw it. The way he acted in playing the poor good-old boy turned rich politician, was a stroke of genius. In my opinion, Crawford deserved the Oscar that he won.

However in 2006 when the movie was remade, I was disappointed. Penn looked like a fat amateur; a wanna be Elvis. He looked as if he were put in a fat suit and wore a wig. He had nothing on Crawford and never will. Jude Law should stick to what he does best instead of acting because he ruined what was special about the original and the book.

In other words, I think that Hollywood should stop pumping out all these stupid remakes and get original.

Some of the ones you mentioned are old, but your point's well taken. There's barely an original idea in Hollywood today, and it's really becoming quite tiresome, to be honest.

There are so many GREAT books out there, that could be adapted to movie.
Hollywood cops out, for the easier, cheaper, many times.

That's true, Lawless. I can think of many books that could be adapted into film such as A Confederacy of Dunces which I believe will never be made into film. The movie has been in talks for at least twenty years now; the main characters who were scheduled to play Ignatius have all died:

John Candy was going to play Ignatius at one time; he died

Chris Farley was scheduled to play Ignatius, he died as well

John Belushi was scheduled to play Ignatius in the early 1980s but he overdosed afterwards

Hollywood has tried, a lot of different ways, to adapt a great book, or a play/musical. They aren't always successful. I would like to see movies made that are like those in the 40's.

Great books don't necessarily make great movies, unfortunately. You need a good screen writer and a good director, and even then... I think the problem which occurs with movies that are made into books is that they become too relaxed on what they should include...

This isn't the best example, but The Bone Collector was a fantastic book that was made into an average movie. The change of the character's names and appearance wasn't a big deal, but the story was altered just enough to make it less interesting. Ah well.

Movies like Psycho, on the other hand, take the contents of the book and totally reworked it; and fortunately for Hitchcock in this case, it turned out brilliantly.

There aren't too many good book adaptions. Shawshank Redemption would be one. To Kill A Mockingbird was good. My personal favorite would be Rosemary's Baby which barely veered off from the book at all. Also brilliant. Gone With The Wind was great. Can't think of anymore right now...

Wizard of Oz was pretty cool.

You are onto something Hazel_Dragoneye!!!!

Hollywood has lost its creativity, pure and simple.

I mean how many soundtracks does John Williams need to make? His signature style is in practically every movie he makes. And I am getting tired of such score writers.

I focus more on indie films anymore, because there you at least get alot more creativity...
These folks do most of their films on lower budgets than these blockbuster remakes that 1)suck and 2)are a waste of investor's money.

Currently, an indie film is being shot in my location. And in September, I will be co-writing the soundtrack with a popular local band. It's an excellent story of the drama/suspense genre and I will be providing the score/incidental music with mostly synth and some guitar.

This is the first film of this director/screenwriter. He is hooking me up with an entertainment lawyer who when the big or even small production company's look for new talent (they are looking for new talent in all levels of production)...when they are looking for new talent...he can refer to this indie film and suggest my name.
Screw manager's and agents who take huge percentage cuts for a product...entertainment lawyers can broker deals far better and for less of a cut.

I suggest checking out the flicks at indie theatres.
For example, my favorite flick of last year was Ushpizin. It was an Israeli indie film that touched me in a way that hasn't happened with Hollywood movies of late.

I saw You, me and Dupree last week. It was a funny flick, but in several shots...you could see the boom mic at the top of the screen. Sloppy sloppy sloppy...this could have be reversed in the editing, but it wasn't.
And this was a hollywood flick. You'd think editor's and director's would have the eye for a boom mic in several shots.

I failed to mention that Siskel and Roper are saying the same thing as everyone here regarding the originality of Hollywood movies of late. No originality, tired of remakes and adapted screenplays.