I consider movies based on books to essentially be re-makes, and should be included in this type of discussion. Even if the latter one isn't a remake of a previous movie, they still go up against each other when compared critically, sucessfully, or which ever.Sure, but when has any movie been better than the book it was based on?Bladerunner was better than Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Carrie the movie was better than Carrie the novel.
Even King himself admitted the movie was better than the book for Carrie.
I love Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series, it is the best series Whedon has ever done.
Even King himself admitted the movie was better than the book for Carrie.I consider movies based on books to essentially be re-makes, and should be included in this type of discussion. Even if the latter one isn't a remake of a previous movie, they still go up against each other when compared critically, sucessfully, or which ever.Sure, but when has any movie been better than the book it was based on?Bladerunner was better than Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Carrie the movie was better than Carrie the novel.King's opinion means no more than any other viewer's.
I do, however, agree with him.
I don't think I've ever seen Death of the Author invoked for a movie adaptation before. Well played.
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Captain Harlock? Though I'm not sure I ever saw the original in more than outtakes.
As for non-movie remakes - Planet Earth. This version is waaaaaay better than what was going on before the Flood. ;)
Paul McGann was in Disney-teers and Doctor Who.
The Sci-Fi Channel Dune was better than the David Lynch Dune. Or at least the director's cut DVD version is, I haven't ever seen the broadcast cut.
I actually liked the Broadcast cut better. The Directors cut added in the nudity they cut from the broadcast version, and a few unneeded items that drew out a few conversations longer than they needed to be (at least comparatively to the broadcast cut).
That said, it's still an awesome miniseries and I own both the Directors and Broadcast cuts.
I also own the Children of Dune miniseries.
I wish they had come out with the God Emperor and following books in a miniseries...
but they didn't (at least as far as I know)
:(
I'd say the recent RoboCop remake was better than the original. I was not expecting that going in.
I can't agree with that one myself.
Nor I.I'd say the recent RoboCop remake was better than the original. I was not expecting that going in.I can't agree with that one myself.
Thirded
Although my gut suspicion is that the robocop script started out as another script, and was jury-rigged into Robocop reboot. There were elements of the movie I rather enjoyed, but they seemed compromised by having to incorporate plot elements from the original movies, that didn't gell with the rest of the script.
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Some more good remakes:
The Parent Trap (1961). The original novel had already been adapted to film three times between 1949 and 1961.
The Maltese Falcon (1941).
The Truth about Charlie (2002). (I like the remake anyway. I don't think its universally popular.)
The Italian Job (2003).
The Man who Knew too Much (1956).
The Ten Commandments (1956).
I've got to disagree with you about "The Man Who Knew Too Much." I admire Alfred Hitchcock's 1934 version more; at that point in his career he was really innovating in his approach to directing and editing, and the script is zippier (75 min. vs. 120 min run-time). The sound track was crap, but the pacing was great. Also, I hate the Doris Day/Jimmy Stewart pairing. They have no chemistry. My 2 cp.
The Maltese Falcon was a remake?
I also liked the remake version of Hairspray better then the original.
The Sci-Fi Channel Dune was better than the David Lynch Dune. Or at least the director's cut DVD version is, I haven't ever seen the broadcast cut.
I actually like them both.
The David Lynch version is an interesting take on the book, but really goes in it's own direction and kind of becomes it's own story. You don't need to know the book or be a fan of the book to appreciate it.
The Sci-Fi series is truer to the book. If you like the book, the series is a great visualization of it. You don't need to be a fan of the book to appreciate it, but I think it resonates best with people who have read it.
Anecdotal information: My theory is that the order of experience influences preference.
(no book) -> David Lynch -> Sci-Fi = David Lynch
book -> Sci-Fi -> David Lynch = Sci-Fi
book -> David Lynch -> Sci-Fi = either/both
All I know is I saw the 4 hr version on TV and it made very little sense at all.
I eventually read the book a few years ago, I actually found it somewhat dissapointing.I had assumed the movie had made a complete mashup of things, but no, the book was meh.
I have to remember the standard of writting in sci fi has gotten better since Dune came out.
Someone like Lois Bujolds Vorkosian saga, which has won several Hugos, would make a better set of movies than the Dune series ever could.
Humm, as you say it may be a matter of taste. I think I had Dune built up in my head to be the Lord of the Rings of Sci-fi, but did not find it so.
But just checking my facts, Dune did win the Hugo in 1966, so obviously it impressed a lot of people.
Let me amend my statement to say not the quality of writing has improved, but the sheer breadth of writing styles has. Which means that I find more enjoyment from more recent fiction.
Of course, just thinking about it some more, taste changes as we get older. I ate up Star Wars EU novels when they first came out, rereading them now I find some of them extremely painful.
But yes, someone in Hollywood get a clue and make some Vorkosian movies. Almost every book in the series has been nominated for a Hugo and at least 3 of them won one.
RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4; Contributor; Publisher, Legendary Games
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Herbert was a very good world-builder, but he also invested a great deal of story and depth into the core characters and the initial world-set. So much so, actually, that I gave up 100 pages or so into God Emperor and found I just didn't care about an entirely different universe and characters thousands of years in the future that bore almost no relation to what had gone before.
More Ayn Rand!The mild stroke I just had is on your head.
Only a parasitic taker would expect another to assume responsibility for their health. The true man is bold, handsome, intelligent, self-reliant, and above all rich. There is no place in such a man for charity. Charity is, after all, the tyranny of the masses upon the smallest minority, the individual.
At least that's what I was told by a Ms. Rosenbaum.
The Maltese Falcon was a remake?
Yeah, it's actually the third version. As I said upthread back before it was necro-ed, Hollywood has been remaking stuff from the get-go.
Humm, as you say it may be a matter of taste. I think I had Dune built up in my head to be the Lord of the Rings of Sci-fi, but did not find it so.
I think the first one, Dune, is up at that level. It's fantastic.
But I never made it very far into Dune Messiah.
Speaking of Dune and movies...
Jodorowsky's Dune
Alejandro Jodorowsky had originally planned on filming Dune in the early-'70s, and had enlisted the help of Jean Giraud and H.R. Giger to create the movie's visual style. Salvador Dalí was enlisted to play the part of the Emperor, and Jodorowsky also intended to cast his own son Brontis Jodorowsky as Paul, David Carradine as Duke Leto, Orson Welles as the Baron, and Gloria Swanson as the Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother. The soundtrack was to be done by Pink Floyd, whose compositions would represent the progressive House of Atreides, and influential 70s French progressive rock band Magma, whose compositions would represent the evil House of Harkonnen.
Speaking of Dune and movies...
Jodorowsky's Dune
Alejandro Jodorowsky had originally planned on filming Dune in the early-'70s, and had enlisted the help of Jean Giraud and H.R. Giger to create the movie's visual style. Salvador Dalí was enlisted to play the part of the Emperor, and Jodorowsky also intended to cast his own son Brontis Jodorowsky as Paul, David Carradine as Duke Leto, Orson Welles as the Baron, and Gloria Swanson as the Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother. The soundtrack was to be done by Pink Floyd, whose compositions would represent the progressive House of Atreides, and influential 70s French progressive rock band Magma, whose compositions would represent the evil House of Harkonnen.
I saw that documentary. Very fascinating and inspiring. I think the Dune that came out actually appealed to the general audiences more (even though it was a little artsy in and of itself and wasn't really all that successful, it probably still has more appeal overall). Jodorowsky's Dune would have been a completely awesome artistic experience and perhaps hated by everyone but cinemaphiles to this day (most likely).
I think I may have loved it!
I consider Dune to be a masterpiece.
I also like Dune Messiah and Children of Dune.
God Emperor of Dune is where the series started to fall apart, in my opinion.
Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse: Dune, I found better than God Emperor, but nowhere near as good at the original three.
I can agree. In Junior English, the Dune books were the only thing on our potential reading list that didn't sound exceedingly boring, so I read them to review for class, and the first three were the better.
Sadly, I was unable to review the fourth for class, as the teacher insisted I pick something else. The Bell Jar was not as engaging.
Certainly not a remake... and I KNOW about the previous "attempt" to film it... and I know there are reasons why it would be problematic... but I SO much want a Lord of Light movie.
Actually, I couldn't finish Lords of Light -it was more readable than Dacre Stoker's & Ian Holt's abominable "sequel' to Dracula (which i stopped reading at page 2!!!!!!!)