Remakes

Send us Fan MailIt is too easy to suggest that remakes are a bad idea and yes, there are some pointless stinkers to pick from. But if you look properly you will find there are some absolute classics which are remakes, possibly many films that you had no idea were remakes, either from a film with a different name, a film made long ago, or a foreign language film. Remakes are tricky, get it wrong and everyone asks what was the point of making it in the first place (apart from money)? Some remake choices are baffling, for example, why remake Psycho shot for shot? Why remake Ben-Hur and what on earth was the point in remaking The Wicker Man, apart from the bees scene? The Disney live action remakes don’t escape scrutiny either, and nor should they. Matt and Lewis also share their thoughts on the same film watched in preparation and they are not good thoughts.We decide on which original and remake have the biggest gulf in quality either way and we discuss our favourite cover version songs.There are some occasions where the original and remake can peacefully coexist, such as The Seven Samurai and the Magnificent Seven. Do TV shows count? TV movies? How we answer that determines which films get in our top 10 lists.The difference between a remake and a reboot? Lewis suggests a film that can be seen as both. There are quizzes and the usual silliness and wildly off topic discussions too. This episode has the longest runtime that we have recorded to date. Please don’t ask us to remake it. We would only be doing it for the money.