I wish ppl would boycott stupid, unnecessary remakes (and sequels) so the studios would be forced to get off their lazy ar$e$ and pay some decent scriptwriters to produce something original rather than cashing in.

What's the most pointless remake you've seen? One that does nothing but molests the memory of the original, a la "Get Carter", "The Italian Job", "Planet of the Apes", "King Kong", etc.

Seen? I wouldn't even watch any of those on Sky.

I hate almost all remakes. Did see the new King Kong cause my 14-year-old wanted to. Awful. Don't forget the other King Kong remake with Jessica lange. Also awful.
Then there's Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Featuring Kiefer's dad) Cape Fear (DeNiro's worst), The Longest Yard, Flight of the Pheonix and to me the worst. The U.S remake of The Vanishing, a Dutch horror film in which the movie ends up with a guy buried alive. In the Yank version he escapes.
The only time for a remake is when you have a tremendous story that was botched the first time. The screen classic, The Maltese Falcon, was the third shot at Hammett's brilliant book. It would make no sense to make another MF however.

3 posts so far and no one has mentioned "Mean Machine"

YOU just did

As for Cape Fear and the Longest Yard, I enjoyed them, i dont think they were worthless at all.

And if we werent having sequels, we wouldnt have hundreds of great films (excluding trioliogy's etc), such as Oceans 12, which was a cracker

I enjoyed the De Niro (and Simpsons) version(s) of Cape Fear but then again I knew very little about the original.

I presume Jezster is joking about Oceans 12 as I've avoided it due to dire reviews.....

Not a movie but the first thing I thought of was Ant and Dec's version of the Likely Lads.

Truly painful.

Isnt there an arguement that runs 'you cant write a book that hasnt been written'?

If it brings a story to a generation that would have otherwise not heard it is it a waste? De caprio in Romeo and Juliet helped loads of kids get gcse that otherwise wouldnt have.

charlie and the chocolate factory was appalling

I am really looking forward to 300. Is a retelling of history considered a remake?

http://300themovie.warnerbros.com/

I liked The Italian Job - not really a remake as the story was different.

I also liked the BBC's adaption of Pride and Predjudice. The original film is a classic of course, but the TV version is now my favourite.

Sorry to buck the trend, but there is a place for some remakes imo.

Pearl Harbour

Utter Utter Garbage.

Tora Tora Tora was far superior.

Historical films should be as accurate as possible as far as I'm concerned, or if they are fictional, then as true to the time as possible.

Is it not poddible that we are confusing sentimentality with film critisism? Or is the 1928 Dracula the best ever?

Have you got a cold?

Daughter learning touch typing. Letters on keys covered.

Getting back to your original point, I think some remakes are great.

I think the 1928 dracula film was actually a very good film for it's time, and is still pretty good today, but obviously some films need remaking to bring them up too date.

Some films lend themselves to being vastly improved by modern technology, whilst others are far better in their original state.

Two of my favourite science fiction films are `Forbidden Planet' and `Quadermass and the Pitt'. Very old and creaky now, but I don't think either could be improved through modern day special effects.

Whereas something like `Saving Private Ryan' or `The Thin Red Line' gave a much more gritty and realistic impression of the horrors of war, something many of the old classics missed out on.

What I hate is Hollywoods obsession with `action' and explosions totally beyond the realms of reality, such as Kevin Costners Robin Hood, or the opening scenes from Gladiator, although otherwise they're good films.

For a terrible film remake of a tv series, i nominate 'Lost in Space'. I watched for an hour, in the vain hope it would get better, it did'nt.

There is actually an old movie called 300 Spartans about the same battle (back in the Hollywood Sword & Sandals era). Only saw a few minutes of it in passing once but it looked ok. New one does look good, as it's based on a comic rather than the original film reckon it avoids the dreaded remake category.

They remade Rollerball - totally unforgiveable.

One of the all time great remakes is His Girl Friday with Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell. Much better than original version, The Front Page, which was pretty good. Of course the goofs had to remake The Front Page a few years ago and it was a real stinker.

The Whicker Man. Why? How can you better the original

Wasn't Scarface a remake? Now many people's favourite film.

I also thought the US version of The Ring was surprisingly good, not as good as the original, but still very good.

The Fly I thought was better than the original.

Although I am playing devil's advocate here, as I also hate most remakes

Got me thinking about other good remakes.

Seven Samurai Magnificent 7
Yojimbo A Fistful of Dollars
Dangerours Liasons Cruel Intentions (Was Dangerous Liasons itself a remake?)
El Mariachi Desperado (Was a remake, a sequal or a bit of both )

There's probably a few other Japanese remakes I can't think of just now.

I've not seen The Departed but its got good reviews