Okay, I hope you can stand one more post about remakes because Michael Adams at The Wrap makes a really good point:
Anyway, as I’ve said before, why not focus more on flicks with good ideas that weren’t done right the first time around, rather than simply retelling already brilliantly told stories simply to make a buck?To that end, a modest proposal.
Before plundering the likes of “The Silence of the Lambs.” “Reservoir Dogs,” “The Piano,” “Groundhog Day” or “GoodFellas,” how about retooling these 13 movie misses from the 1990s into something audiences might see and enjoy in the 20-tweens?
Here’s Adams’ list:
“Memoirs of an Invisible Man”
“Quick Change”
“Joe Versus The Volcano”
“Darkman”
“Arachnophobia”
“King Ralph”
“Clean Slate”
“Drop Dead Fred”
“Airheads”
“Candyman”
“Innocent Blood”
“Jetsons: The Movie”
“Life Stinks!”
Any other 90s movies come to mind? I can think of one. Great script. Horrible directing. A little rom-com called Trojan War (1997).
I saw “Drop Dead Fred” on the Open Writing Assignments list. Supposedly Russell Brand is/was attached.
Wow… some of my all time faves are on that list, esp. Joe vs. the Volcano and Life Stinks!
Shows how damn outta’ touch I am, eh?
If it weren’t for it’s somewhat unsatisfying final reel, I would submit that Joe Vs. the Volcano is one of the best films of its decade. There is a small but very vocal cult attached to that film and I consider myself a card carrying member, to be sure.
Unless they pull out some Battlestar Galactica brilliance to the remakes then I’ll pass on those listed.
But there are some bad movies with great concepts I’d like to see redone with better actors/directors. I can’t think of any though.
Ha, I was wondering if you were going to mention “Trojan War” before I scrolled down to the bottom of the post.
Flatliners had a good premise and a great title. Joel Schumacher changed Peter Filardi’s script and made it into a forgettable movie.
It’d be cool if they went back to the original script and hired a competent director.
Good call on Flatliners. It should have been an awesome movie, but it was a mess.
On the other hand, I kind of liked Airheads.
Scotty, I've got an odd bit of an intersection with Flatliners. It sold as a pretty hot spec script and, as you note, Joel Schumacher was the director. Siegel & Myers (my first writing partnership) was up to write The Lost Boys 2, so Steve and I drove up into the Hwood Hills to Schumacher's house for a meeting. As we were cooling our heels, out walks Valeria Golino. She was all excited and asked us if either of us had a cigarette. After she bustled away, Schumacher emerges with a big smile. He introduces himself and, nodding in Golino’s direction, says that she just read for Flatliners. “She’s a very excited young woman because it looks like she’ll get the part.” Well, evidently something happened because the part ended up going to Julia Roberts. Golino went on to star in the Hot Shots! movies and is now mostly making movies in Europe.