Friday Fivers

From thefridayfive:

1. If you were going to remake a movie, what would it be and who would you cast in the roles?

I Walked with a Zombie would be an awful lot of fun (a quick search on IMDb.com shows a remake is already in pre-production. Sigh, is nothing sacred?!). I think I'd put Rosamund Pike or Bryce Dallas Howard as Betsy. Depending on which of those two I'd pick, my romantic lead Pauls would be very different: Josh Lucas for Bryce Dallas Howard (more swagger), and Aaron Eckhart for Rosamund Pike (more sublety, though Bryce could be with Aaron as well). For alcoholic brother Wesley, I'm thinking Nick Stahl (who'd suit both Pauls), and Mrs. Holland would have to be one of those grand English actresses, leaning towards Dame Judi Dench. For catatonic, sort-of erstwhile wife Jessica, how about the ethereally beautiful Vera Farmiga. Or Saffron Burrows, who I've just seen play a put upon, sort of cracked wife. Yes, yes I have given this a lot of thought.

2. If you could turn a book into a movie, what would it be and who would you cast in the roles?

Beat to Quarters! But all my Horatian friends knew I'd say that, and it's the predictable answer. Cast: All the existing roles to the actors who played them in the A&E series, and Jessica Brooks for Lady Barbara. And how about Sir Anthony Hopkins as El Supremo. Okay, odd casting, I know, but it'd be fun!

3. If you were going to turn a video game into a movie, what would it be? Would it be animated or live-action?

Most of my favorite games already have been, and crappily so I might add. I'd love to see Tomb Raider done right; same with Resident Evil. Maybe I'll go with Resident Evil 4 in particular, 'cause Leon hasn't made it onto the big screen yet and the game is awesome. A straight adaptation of Code: Veronica would be great, too. Live action all the way.

4. You're going to turn a book into a TV series. What is it? Why would it make a good TV show?

Many of the fantasy franchises would do well as series. Tamora Pierce's Song of the Lioness or McCaffrey's Dragon Riders of Pern. Fantasy stories are just so long and involving, they have trouble getting adapted into movies; a show would be allowed to explore more. They usually have their own universes that are barely even touched upon in other adaptations, and could be worked in a series without even using the storylines from the books, but their general ideas and worlds.

5. Do you generally prefer the movie versions or the novel versions of works?

Um, not sure what that means, but if it's do I prefer adaptations to their source material, the answer would be depends on the adaptation and the source material.

From fannish5:

Name 5 remakes that never should have been made.

Now, I'm usually very easy going when it comes to remakes; I enjoy seeing what they'll do differently, how they'll interpret characters etc. Hell, I love the Dark Castle movies, especially House on Haunted Hill and Thir13en Ghosts. I thought The Hills Have Eyes was actually an improvement! I actually liked the Psycho remake for God's sake! (Mmm, Viggo.) Some cross the line. Some weren't good movies to begin with. These cross one line or another.

1- Dawn of the Dead. Oh, where to start. Anyone reading my journal has seen me go off on this movie more than once. Dislikable characters (played by actors I like, so no bias there!), so-so direction, nothing innovative, original or particularly shocking or touching. The fast zombies seem hilarious if you think how long they're in the mall and how grotty they should be by the end of the movie; if they attempted a sprint, bits would be falling off left and right. Not to mention that they didn't even invent the fast zombie, so it's just more lifting and ripping off other innovative ideas. And the ideas behind it stagger me occasionally; lost is most of the social commentary, except for an odd litte bit with a tele-preacher saying it's the loss of America's moral dignity that's causing zombies, with no other ideas presented to counter so am I supposed to believe the dead are walking because of gays?! And that 'You want every last second'? No, you don't. Trust me on this. Okay, take a deep breath now, Jean. And to think Romero's own Land of the Dead was put down critically in favor of this drek.

2- The Haunting. Dear Lord, where to start. Okay, so, when you're doing another adaptation of a book, it's best to go back to the source material instead of looking at what you could change from the original movie. That's one of my biggest pet peeves. It shouldn't be a remake, but a new adaptation. It's not. Now, this is the movie that introduced me to Owen Wilson, Lily Taylor's performance is fab, and Liam Neeson's hot as always, and it's (barely) watchable, but as a fan of the book who was even dissatisfied with the original classic movie, yeah. It shtinks.

3- King Kong. Just don't go there with me. First hour, excellent. The rest, OMG, where are my cyanide capsules?!

4- Black Christmas. Why, Glen Morgan and James Wong? Why do you hurt when you used to love? Remember the totally awesome season of Millennium you did? The short-lived but excellent The Others? The movie was meh, but watching the specials and seeing how very seriously they took themselves just left me scratching my head with a bad taste in my mouth. How can these be the same people who produced such excellent hours of TV as Jose Chung's Doomsday Device and Somehow, Satan Gor Behind Me? Come to think of it, both of those were written by Darin Morgan. Let your brother write, Glen! And, you know, they also did the Willard remake, so two strikes against 'em!

5- Halloween. Okay, it hasn't even come out yet, but Rob Zombie is one of the absolute worst director's in the history of the world and the original is one of the scariest, perfectly done horror movies ever. As someone on IMDb.com put it, quiet simply: "Hell, no!" Rob Zombie sucks.

And special raspberries to Wes Craven for the remake of Carnival of Souls. It's only saving grace is that so few people know it exists.

Peace, Ghani