Most of the movies we see today are remakes from old movies.  A lot of those movies weren’t what you’d call popular so a lot of the movies may not seem like remakes.  I truly consider this time era of movies to be the dark ages because of Hollywood’s lack of imagination.  The technical advances are epic and the acting quality is MUCH better but an original movie these days is rare at best.

I have to admit I usually like the remakes better than the originals in some cases.  Some people are so nostalgic about movies it’s unreal, they’ll whine and complain about the original being so much better and how they’re ruining a classic.  I’m not that guy, that’s not my gripe at all. My gripe is the lack of vision and originality.  It’s simpler to remake something to make it better than it is to write an original script and run with it.

Let’s have a look at some of the fairly recent remakes.

The Wolfman (2010),  3:10 to Yuma (2007), Alfie (2004), The Amityville Horror (2005), Bangkok Dangerous (2007), The Birds (2009), The Bourne Identity (2002), The Karate Kid (2010), Charlotte’s Web (2006), Clash of the Titans (2010), Dawn of the Dead (2004), Day of the Dead (2008), The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008),  Death at a Funeral (2010), The Firm (2009), Flight of the Phoenix (2004), Friday the 13^th (2009), A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010), Ocean’s Eleven (2001), Fun with Dick and Jane (2005), Gone in 60 seconds (2000), Halloween (2007), Hairspray (2007), The Omen (2006), The Hills Have Eyes (2006), The Hitcher (2007), House of Wax (2005), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), My Bloody Valentine (2009)…. The list goes on and on.

There are movie remakes you don’t even know are remakes because they have different titles.  For instance, ‘I am legend’ (2007) was remade from ‘The Omega Man’ (1971) and ‘The last man on Earth’ (1964) which were both made from the same book by Richard Matheson titled ‘I am Legend’.

Some movies are remade from foreign films of different titles but are the same movie which might make it harder for people to be aware it’s a remake.  Movies like ‘The Grudge’ (2004), The Departed (2006), Brothers (2009), Pathfinder (2007), Quarantine (2008), The Ring (2002).   Even ‘True Lies’ (1994) starring Arnold Schwarzenegger is a remake of a foreign film called ‘La Totale!’ (1991).

Don’t get me wrong I think it’s awesome that film has progressed the way it has, but I think there should be equal focus between what the films are about and how pretty they will look.  I hope Hollywood will start showing us their creativity in original ideas and stop with the remakes and ‘franchise reboots’. At the end of the day it doesn’t stop me from seeing a movie, I love movies, and it’s just one of those things that always bugged me.

What are your thoughts on movies today?