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What was the last 'good' movie you watched?

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newt_101 wrote: Very well said.
Off the top of my head, the only ones I can think of that were good are (and this is a very short list when you think of just how many remakes are made on the regular):

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (one from the 70s)
Insomnia
True Grit
The Departed (remake of HK's Infernal Affairs)
The Fly (from the 80s)
The Thing (from the 80s)
Let Me In (English version)
Cape Fear
Hairspray
Oceans 11 (not the female version, but the early 2000s remake of the Rat Pack version)
Scarface (80s version)
Scent of a Woman (remake of the Italian original)
Little did people know that John Woo's 1986 classic "A Better Tomorrow" was also a remake of an old black and white film. And Woo's version was so much awesome.
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Sep 21, 2010
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PlainDealer wrote: I get your point about there being a lot of good stuff in the original Horror Express, but again, that movie worked in spite of its complicated plot and had some major players (legends, in fact) to give it personality and credibility. It's hard enough to capture lightning in a bottle twice with the same creators never mind with a different team.

It's not impossible for a remake to be a good movie, but more often than not, we wind up with updates that didn't understand why the original worked. Just taking a look at the last couple of years, there was no shortage of remakes that came and went leaving moviegoers wondering why they were made to begin with:

  • Point Break (2015)
  • Ben Hur (2016)
  • Flatliners (2017)
  • Ghost in the Shell (2017)
  • Tomb Raider (2018)

YMMV, but I find that Hollywood's record for remakes is considerably less than stellar and something like Horror Express has too many ways it could go off the rails. The one good thing that comes out of most remakes is they draw some attention to the original films so some moviegoers will get to discover lesser known titles like the one we're discussing.
When I saw the film, I didn't care that there were many famous actors in it, it was just a great story.

It depends on the quality of ppl doing the remake. (Virtually) Nothing's impossible and I'm sure if the right ones did it it would be great.

Btw, some of those movies you quoted aren't that good in the first place and really don't deserve being remade. That's the prb w/ Hollywood these past few decades, lazy lazy lazy and remaking (already) junk. No imagination whatsoever.
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tranquility922 wrote: When I saw the film, I didn't care that there were many famous actors in it, it was just a great story.

It depends on the quality of ppl doing the remake. (Virtually) Nothing's impossible and I'm sure if the right ones did it it would be great.

Btw, some of those movies you quoted aren't that good in the first place and really don't deserve being remade. That's the prb w/ Hollywood these past few decades, lazy lazy lazy and remaking (already) junk. No imagination whatsoever.
But this has been going on for a long time. First, books and magazine stories, then to plays, then to silent film, then to talkies, then to colour. On and on again, It;s amazing the properties these big companies own. Stuff going back to the 19th century or earlier, Yeesh!
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Sep 21, 2010
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DougO wrote: But this has been going on for a long time. First, books and magazine stories, then to plays, then to silent film, then to talkies, then to colour. On and on again, It;s amazing the properties these big companies own. Stuff going back to the 19th century or earlier, Yeesh!
Sure, but there are good remakes and remakes that nobody wants and are obviously ridiculous, e.g. recent Spidermans and Supermans come to mind.
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Sep 16, 2018
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newt_101 wrote:

The Departed (remake of HK's Infernal Affairs)
Scarface (80s version)
Funny thing, I recently watched both of these movies and really liked them a lot. Al Pacino in Scarface was unbelievable. Both movies are nearly 3 hours, but it passed like minutes, highly recommended!
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SolarisPlanet wrote: Funny thing, I recently watched both of these movies and really liked them a lot. Al Pacino in Scarface was unbelievable. Both movies are nearly 3 hours, but it passed like minutes, highly recommended!
Yup, good remakes (although rare), are definitely possible. Hollywood is more polished than their HK counterpart, so liked how they just morphed the 2 female characters into 1 to cut out the fat and ofc the original Scarface definitely needed a makeover.
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tranquility922 wrote: Yup, good remakes (although rare), are definitely possible. Hollywood is more polished than their HK counterpart, so liked how they just morphed the 2 female characters into 1 to cut out the fat and ofc the original Scarface definitely needed a makeover.
It's a hit and miss, for example "The Eye" (2008)
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gontori wrote: It's a hit and miss, for example "The Eye" (2008)
I don't remember those 2 for comparison. However, Hollywood's production values are simply unmatched. They spare no expense.
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The Eye was boring. I never even saw the Hollywood remake. Pang Brothers are overrated. Their Stormriders sequel sucked balls. Only good that came outta that sequel was casting Kenny Ho as Nameless.
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tinlun wrote: The Eye was boring. I never even saw the Hollywood remake.
I vaguely remember either and thought that both were mediocre anyway.
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tranquility922 wrote: I vaguely remember either and thought that both were mediocre anyway.
The premise seemed interesting only to be plagued with a cheesy second half.
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tinlun wrote: The premise seemed interesting only to be plagued with a cheesy second half.
It's a shame. Not sure why it's so hard to make a decent horror film...What's so difficult vs other genres? Shouldn't it be easier? More formulaic, just check the boxes and I'm in.
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Sep 20, 2018
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I recently watched all movies by Duncan Jones. Moon and Source code were amazing in my opinion, his last one, Mute, is very strange, even chaotic I would say, but I liked it too.
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I liked Solo - surprised it did so poorly at the box office....

The story was simple but enjoyable and I liked how Han's background story was fleshed out. There was decent amount of action and visual effects were great! The movie ended with me wanting to see what happens with Kira and Darth Maul and Solo.....
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Eighth Grade



This flick rightfully got a lot of acclaim in the film fest circuit, esp. for an unlikely director. Very refreshing to be told a story of a girl transitioning from middle to high school and all the challenges that go with it without Hollywood taking away its realism. It's heartbreaking and very well told. The young girl playing the lead is solid.
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Upgrade ... 8/10. Basically Venom but instead of a symbiote it's a piece of tech. DAT ending though ...

Solo ... 7/10. It's not as bad as the box office numbers would suggest but it also isn't as good as Rogue One.
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I did see Upgrade, found it was too predictable. You can tell what was going to happen in the end, who the enemy was going to turn out to be.
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Just watched Thank You For Your Service.
Wow, what a gut-wrenching movie at times. I never got off the couch once and even when the credits were playing along with the song Freedom Cadence by Bruce Springsteen, I just stood there in awe, or was it shock.
Four letters describe this movie: PTSD.
It follows a number of Army buddies when they return from Iraq and the hell they go through, in some ways worse then what they encountered in Iraq.
Some great acting too. One actor that impressed me was Amy Schumer who normally is a foul mouth comedian. Not this time. Just a grieving widow.
While watching it there were times I wanted to shut it off, seeing what these guys go through, as well as their spouses. How you never know who will die and who will live, and if they live will they be better off dead.
Not a lot of war scenes, but enough to give you an idea what lead up to the hell they faced when they returned home.

I believe it was on The Movie Network.
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Last time I was in a theater was back in July 2014 and that is the last time I watched any movie (I believe it was planet of the apes or something like that.
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