Jump to content

DVDs and Films You Have Watched Recently 3 - The Final Insult


Devon Malcolm

Recommended Posts

  • Paid Members

My film module lecturer for my BA said that, as of 2001, the legend of the 47 ronin had been remade about 97 times, and about half of those were either lost or mostly gone from the sheer number of showings they had in pre-war Japanese cinemas. We only know of their existence from studio records and newspaper clippings.

I don't know for certain, but given the popularity of the Mahabharata, I'd venture to guess that's been remade a lot too. And lord knows how many Shakespeare remakes there've been.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Paid Members
12 minutes ago, Carbomb said:

My film module lecturer for my BA said that, as of 2001, the legend of the 47 ronin had been remade about 97 times, and about half of those were either lost or mostly gone from the sheer number of showings they had in pre-war Japanese cinemas. We only know of their existence from studio records and newspaper clippings.

I don't know for certain, but given the popularity of the Mahabharata, I'd venture to guess that's been remade a lot too. And lord knows how many Shakespeare remakes there've been.

I’d argue a remake of an adaptation of a story or folklore isn’t the same as remaking an original film

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Paid Members
Just now, Hannibal Scorch said:

I’d argue a remake of an adaptation of a story or folklore isn’t the same as remaking an original film

Possibly, but I'd say that depends on how general and relaxed your interpretation is of cultural texts (i.e. film, television, theatre, music, literature, art, etc.) as carriers of narrative, and how they relate to each other over the course of history. The story of the Mahabharata, for example, is believed to be around 10,000 years old - would it have been made immediately into a film from its source text if films had been around then? No way to know, but we do know that the various Sherlock Holmes books are much newer, and have been remade many times - what would differentiate them from adaptations of folklore, other than their respective ages, and the fact that we know the author of the latter, but not of the former?

The 47 ronin is loosely based on an actual historical incident, so I can understand the position on that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Paid Members

Eighth Grade was indeed wonderful, as advertised. I hope this means Bo Burnham's going to retire his awful stand-up as a bonus.

Pet Sematary was the usual jump scare obsessed, mediocre studio horror film. 

Edited by Devon Malcolm
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My favourite period of comedies & action movies is the 1980’s, but there are still a fair few films considered 80’s classics which I haven’t seen.

 

One of these is ‘Big Trouble In Little China’.

 

I started watching it one night last year and switched off after 30 minutes because I didn’t get into it.

Tried it again last night and I was so bored after an hour I switched off again.

 

Usually beloved films from childhood have a memorable action scene or cool lines by the main character, what are the parts of this film which people really love?

@Egg Shen ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Paid Members
53 minutes ago, dopper said:

My favourite period of comedies & action movies is the 1980’s, but there are still a fair few films considered 80’s classics which I haven’t seen.

 

One of these is ‘Big Trouble In Little China’.

 

I started watching it one night last year and switched off after 30 minutes because I didn’t get into it.

Tried it again last night and I was so bored after an hour I switched off again.

 

Usually beloved films from childhood have a memorable action scene or cool lines by the main character, what are the parts of this film which people really love?

@Egg Shen ?

I’m with you. I only watched it for the first time a few years back and couldn’t understand the hype

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mrs Loki and I watched Sicario 2 last night.

Big fan of the original, very taut and lean.  Well, this was nothing like that, this was a big old right-wing Republican wet dream about blowing away wetbacks south of the border.   Just the most appalling political bullshit.  It was also full of odd continuity errors and really unlikely elements just there to further the narrative. And it very much missed any real central sympathetic character like Emily Blunt from the first one.

Del Toro was amazing, as he always is, and the music was excellent but overall I found it a profoundly depressing film that felt like a reflection of how fucked morally the US is under Trump, more than a piece of entertainment.

 

Edited by Loki
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Paid Members

Watched K-19: The Widowmaker last night. Solid submarine film, much the same as loads of others. Kathryn Bigelow is a much better director when she's not making Serious Cinema.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, dopper said:

My favourite period of comedies & action movies is the 1980’s, but there are still a fair few films considered 80’s classics which I haven’t seen.

One of these is ‘Big Trouble In Little China’.

I started watching it one night last year and switched off after 30 minutes because I didn’t get into it.

Tried it again last night and I was so bored after an hour I switched off again.

Usually beloved films from childhood have a memorable action scene or cool lines by the main character, what are the parts of this film which people really love?

@Egg Shen ?

Kurt Russell and his mullet, all the campy martial arts and magic stuff, good ol’ USA boy Jack Burton clashing with the ancient mystical world of the Far East at a time when mainstream action films were all about guns and punching. Plus it gets an extra two stars because it happens in Little China. I rewatched it a couple of months ago and it’s not a great story, nor is it well told. The same ingredients could produce a much better result.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Paid Members

Big Trouble is basically carried on the back of Kurt Russell's awesomeness. It's a daft but fun little movie with a goliath of charisma in the lead to keep it afloat. I suspect it plays much better to a ten year old than grown ups on first viewing because it plays like an old Saturday morning cartoon. It's so well regarded because most fans saw it as kids. I know I did. Im pretty sure it bombed at the cinema because it wasnt until it got to VHS that kids could get to it. Also Jack Burton has a ton of cool lines.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...