3:10 to Yuma

So I finally saw this movie last night. It's the best western I've ever seen, though I don't like westerns so it's not saying much for it. The ending battle was awesome, and Russel Crowe's character was amazing.

Since the reactions in this thread have been generally positive, I'm going to have to check out the original.

My ex was fanatical about Westerns, and 3:10 to Yuma was one of his absolute favorites, yet somehow I escaped the relationship without being forced to watch it once. Hmm. I don't know if I'll bother with the remake, though. Maybe I'll give it a rent one day, if only out of morbid curiosity.

I mean, most of you liked it, so I'm sure it's O.K. an' all. But I just hate Russel Crowe, and I'm against remakes in general.

We need more Westerns, I think. It's a dying genre, and I'm not helping as I've only seen a handful of them. Silverado, Frisco Kid, err... Quigley Down Under. I should check out more *real* Westerns.

|ZiR| said:

I mean, most of you liked it, so I'm sure it's O.K. an' all. But I just hate Russel Crowe, and I'm against remakes in general.

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I hate Russel Crowe and remakes and I still liked it.

Worst remakes ever:
Psycho (Anne Heche)
Planet of the Apes (Marky Mark and the Junky Bunch)
Time Machine (Guy Pierce)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Tim Burton)
Parent Trap (Lindsay Lohan)
Freaky Friday (Lindsay Lohan one sucked, the Shelley Long one was ok)

Best remakes:
Oceans 11 (George Clooney)
Bedazzled (Brendan Fraser)
Scrooged (Bill Murray)
Count of Monte Cristo (Jim Caveziel)
The Mummy (Brendan Fraser)
Little Women (Winona Ryder)
The Three Musketeers (Disney Kiefer Sutherland version)
Sleepy Hollow (Johnny D)

Of course that's my own opinion and some of those aren't *technically* what people usually refer to as remakes. I think it's ok to remake a movie if 1) not a lot of people have heard of it or if 2) a re-imagining is unique enough to put a neat spin on it. (Like Taming of the Shrew=10 Things I Hate About You).

I'd love to see a Tim Burton version of my favorite movie, "The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao" (George Pal/Tony Randall). Mostly because the original has some neat 1960s stop-motion but it looks ridiculous by today's standards. I think Burton would be a good choice because he would remake the movie with updated stop-motion effects (instead of using the modern crutch of CGI effects). Plus I think Johnny Depp or Kevin Spacey would make an AWESOME Dr. Lao. (I mean one man playing 7 fantasy characters including Merlin, Pan, Medusa, and the Abominable Snowman--how great would that be???)

Also, even though I liked the remake to Bedazzled, I ALSO loved the original (Peter Cook and Dudley Moore). So there isn't really a rule saying that if you like one you have to dismiss or hate the other. After all, one would hope the intention of the director is to pay homage to the original in some fashion (like how Time Machine's director is a direct descendant of H.G. Wells--the author of the original story).

"Worst remakes ever:"
Don't forget that horrible remake of The Amityville Horror....

"Sleepy Hollow"
That movie sucked hard, out-loud, from start to finish.....

ClintonHammond said:

"Worst remakes ever:"
Don't forget that horrible remake of The Amityville Horror....

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Never saw the original.

ClintonHammond said:

"Sleepy Hollow"
That movie sucked hard, out-loud, from start to finish.....

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"Bully" for you.

Yet another progressive and insightful post from CH. [golf clap]

So, no bones about the others on the list? Any reason why Amityville was a bad remake?

Do you agree that one of the stupidest things about the Time Machine and Planet of the Apes remakes is the fact that they changed the people of the future into intelligent creatures therefore negating the respective premises of the original stories? (Honestly if the people are smart, then they could have avoided being taken over by a race of Apes or Morlocks in the first place... duh.)

nezobiwan said:

Never saw the original.


"Bully" for you.

Yet another progressive and insightful post from CH. [golf clap]

So, no bones about the others on the list? Any reason why Amityville was a bad remake?

Do you agree that one of the stupidest things about the Time Machine and Planet of the Apes remakes is the fact that they changed the people of the future into intelligent creatures therefore negating the respective premises of the original stories? (Honestly if the people are smart, then they could have avoided being taken over by a race of Apes or Morlocks in the first place... duh.)

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It's frustrating too because Wells' great-grandson or whatever directed the film and he claimed to want to maintain accuracy to the book.

Well... I've only seen some of the remake... but as far as I can tell after having just read the book, the original is infinitely more inline with the novel than the remake.

And the Apes remake... a travesty in every way. Utterly unfortunate.

nezobiwan said:

Best remakes:
The Mummy (Brendan Fraser)

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I would like to know how ResidentAlien feels about that one. I mean, it was a whole new take on the original. It wasn't trying to be a horror yet still retained much of the original elements. I for one love it!

nezobiwan said:

I hate Russel Crowe and remakes and I still liked it.

Worst remakes ever:
Psycho (Anne Heche)
Planet of the Apes (Marky Mark and the Junky Bunch)
Time Machine (Guy Pierce)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Tim Burton)
Parent Trap (Lindsay Lohan)
Freaky Friday (Lindsay Lohan one sucked, the Shelley Long one was ok)

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I agree with you on the Psycho remake. That may quite possibly be the WORST movie in the history of film. And I absolutely HATE the argument that people make that it is "the same as the first one, so you must hate the first one too." No I don't hate the first one too! The first one has good acting and is suspenseful, an eerie setting, and a "mother" that doesn't look like someone from the 1980's! The remake is complete crap. None of the actors really seem to care about the film at all. And the little things that the director adds to the film are far more distracting (the cloud in the shower scene, a sheep when Arbogast is killed, wtf was up with that?).

I actually liked The Parent Trap as a kid, and I thought that the Freaky Friday remake was fun to watch. I'm not a fan of Lindsay Lohan, but it was enjoyable to watch in my opinion.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory wasn't a great movie, but I don't really consider it as a remake exactly because it is based on a book, and the Johnny Depp one did follow the book a bit more closely. I still don't view it as a great movie or even that enjoyable, but I'm not sure I would classify it as a "remake."*

*Yes, Psycho is also based on a book, but the remake literally was a shot for shot remake of the original.

Those are the only ones on your list I have seen.

nezobiwan said:

Best remakes:
Oceans 11 (George Clooney)
Bedazzled (Brendan Fraser)
Scrooged (Bill Murray)
Count of Monte Cristo (Jim Caveziel)
The Mummy (Brendan Fraser)
Little Women (Winona Ryder)
The Three Musketeers (Disney Kiefer Sutherland version)
Sleepy Hollow (Johnny D)

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Ocean's Eleven is a great film, and a good example of remakes actually working. Scrooged is more of a modern retelling, so I guess technically it would count as a remake, but again, it's based on a story, so not entirely sure about how I feel about that. Count of Monte Cristo is again book-based, and I felt that it really wasn't a great film. The book is far better (although far less happy). The Mummy is another good example of remakes working. Those are the only ones on your list I've seen, but I would add Body Heat, A Perfect Murder, The Maltese Falcon (although again, book-based, hard to qualify it as an actual remake), and The Man Who Knew Too Much as well.

Katarn07 said:

I would like to know how ResidentAlien feels about that one. I mean, it was a whole new take on the original. It wasn't trying to be a horror yet still retained much of the original elements. I for one love it!

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I disliked it... you're right, it's nothing really like the original. It's just a lame Hollywood Brendan Fraiser vehicle. That said... it's good brainless late-night fair. Kinda thing that I'd be likely to put on when I'm too tired for something meaningful.

ResidentAlien said:

That said... it's good brainless late-night fair.

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And that's all it's meant to be.... so I'd say it did its purpose for you!

As for the original Yuma, it's gotta be a whole lot different. What's with all these R-rated westerns anyways? I didn't feel the f-word was really necessary in this film, and a lot of the bloodier scenes could have been edited for a PG-13 rating. Is it because all of those old school westerns were so toned down due to censorship back in the day that they make these things so gritty? Just curious....

And all you Russel Crowe haters out there, I'm gonna have to reiterate how great he was in this. He's menacing from the get-go, and he's a more complex character than Bale's was.

I'm not a big fan of Russell Crowe, but I do like some of his work (L.A. Confidential being my favorite).

Have not seen a western in the longest. They're a rare breed. I'll catch this one on DVD as I didn't get to see it in theaters.

On remakes. The remake of "The Haunting" manged to take the good, understated, horror elements of the original and overdo them to hell and gone, but I still generally enjoyed it.