Open Thread Tuesday

I just noticed a straight to DVD Snakes on a Submarine maybe the next hollywood transportation thriller will be Snakes on a Train.

I didn't know the new one was a remake. What is with the dirth of new material? There have got to be some new ideas out there.
If you are going to do a remake, you can't just throw in some new effects and change a couple of character's race or gender.
There are several films that i think could use an update (fx included) but a subway heist? what can you really do any differently?

isn't that what this new version is?

The original was cool and tight and believable. I saw it again just a couple of years ago and it really holds up well – mainly due to a simple straightforward story and outstanding, realistic acting.

This one looks like just another formula action/suspenser. The trailers look terrible with Travolta in his way-way-over-the-top mode. Denzel Washington looks like he's playing the same guy he's played a dozen times before.

I watched the original when I was a kid also and when I saw that a remake was out I thought, why. It's hard to improve on a so so movie with the same script/storyline. Hollywood is too busy worrying about the ecosystem, gay and abortion rights and what conservatives are doing, to have time to write decent movies anymore so they have to resort to already mades…

You know, I'd like to work in the biz one day but every time I read news of a remake (they just hired someone to write a sequel/remake/whatever for Short Circuit!), I lose just a little more interest.

It's like every exec thinks if it isn't an existing property, people won't go see it. They could at least be adapting novels that have never made it to the screen before. Or true stories that haven't been made into movies or TV movies. We've got sequels, prequels, remakes, and movies based on every kind of media (toys, games, etc.) What's next, food? Oreo Cookie: The Movie?

Just wondering…how hard is it to steal a train?

Well they are doing battleship.
Short Circuit? Really?

What's next, food? Oreo Cookie: The Movie?

Psst! Don't give them ideas!

I was so p*ssed off when I saw they were remaking this movie. The original was great!

Hollywood is so scared to try anything new, all they are doing is recycling… oops, I'm sorry, "reimagining" (whoever came up with that word should be beaten to within an inch of his life) old movies, and turning old TV shows into movies that usually crap out.

There can't be a lack of scripts, so I'm chalking it up to a lack of b*lls.

Add me to the list of people who feel the original was great. Why can't Hollywood come up with new ideas instead of retreads of successful movies from the 1970s?

Like many others here, I'll pass on remake. Tough to top original with Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw, Martin Balsam and Hector Elizondo. Great actors indeed.

I must admit, I've never seen the above artwork for the film. In an odd way kind of looks like the work of the guys @ Mad Magazine back in the day.

Avoid the new woody allen movie, Whatever it Takes. The first reel and a half is just a George Carlin-esqe rant on how terrible and racist america is. The rest is an overt attack on marriage. (and the nra)

I dunno, I get a kick out of Travolta when he plays a 'villanous" character.. just because he makes the bad guys a little more 'likable" then they should be.. (face-off [when he's telling the daughter who to fend off the "monsters"], or "Swordfish" when he goes into the whole good guy/bad guy spiel about his actions.)

{and I didnt' even know this movie was a remake… I miight have to go find a copy of the original to watch it now…}

Sure, two legged snakes.

That cracks me up, too. I'm guessing the Japanese transit officials won't be showing up in the remake. Matthau's treatment of them was hysterical and I can't imagine they want to duplicate that little bit of political incorrectness in the remake (even though Matthau was ultimately the butt of that joke).

How about the undercover cop that Matthau mistakenly thought was a woman?

If Hollywood is into remakes, they should revamp Rainbow Brite as an adult porn star/stripper on hard times. Her rainbow got broken due to a magickal spell or something. It can't be any worse than the new Land of the Lost. Will Farrell can play the sissy villain.

Why is it, that when Hollywood goes into 'remake mode' they always have to botch up the original story line ? Lt. Zack Garber was white, not black. Denzel Washington is a fine actor and a fine man, but he just doesn't have the New York ,sardonic ,edginess that Walter Mathau brought to the part. Moreover, the sarcastic toned constant reparte between Garber and Lt. Rico Petrone, I doubt will ever be equaled in the new version. The original just had that gritty, grimy, edge to it. Just like a ride on the New York City Subway System. And anybody who has ever rode on the NY City Subway System can relate to that. And the cast was just too damn good as well. Robert Shaw as ,the out of war crazed,mercenary, Hector Elizondo as the trigger happy killer and Martin Balsam as the former motorman. Also, don't forget the fourth guy Earl Hindeman who later went on to be Tim Allen's backyard, through the fence, neighbor in Home Improvement. Nice try Hollywood, but sometimes it's best to leave an original masterpiece alone. What are they going to try next … a remake (or different version ,as they now like to call it) of The Bridge On The River Kwai ? Good God I hope not !

I saw the original at what was once the Spreckles Theater on Broadway in San Diego, Ca the year it came out.

John Travolta is no Robert Shaw

I liked that, too. Also when the mayor asks what he gets for paying $1 million in ransom for the 18 hostages, and his wife says it's 18 sure votes on election day.

I think Joel McHale and The Soup beat you to it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofRF5vpFpl0

Why can't they make movies like this anymore? I will pass on the remake. Mainly because of the Liberal politics of the stars. I do not support these people. They show no respect for me so why would I pay them.