Remakesploitation

I got this term from Brad Jones, the phenomenal Cinema Snob himself. Remakesploitation is the term used by him to describe the exploitation of previously successful ideas to spawn new films years later based on that idea, with or without the exact same premise. This practice is old, and by old I mean 70-80 years old. Famous movies like House of Wax starring Vincent Price in 1953 and Scarface starring Al Pacino in 1983 were also remakes! I have a couple of issues about exploitation of remakes.

Thought of this topic after watching the original Total Recall (1990) on the net.

1. What counts as a remake?
A remake is a method of making new production based on ideas and material from past movies, TV shows or cartoons. Remakes can be done to any form of media, but I am only addressing films.

Great movie, great remake... in StereoVision 3D

2. What do they remake?
Most of the producers and film makers would only remake films worth remaking, namely popular and famous ideas in films. There are some rare occasion when they remake previously unknown films, but that is really taking a huge risk. Almost every genre have remakes, for example, Psycho (1960 & 1998), King Kong (1933, 1976 & 2005) and Batman (way too many to count). There are various type of film remakes:

• Movies - movies: Planet of the Apes, The Fly, A Nightmare on Elm Street
• TV shows - movies: Mission: Impossible, The A Team, Charlie's Angels
• Cartoon movies - movies: Transformers series, 101 Dalmations
• Foreign movies - movies: The Ring, The Grudge, The Departed
• Movies - Cartoon movies: The Prince of Egypt, Star Wars: Clone Wars

Psycho (1998) was a lazy shot to shot remake of Hitchcock's Psycho (1960).

3. Why remake a movie when the original was already good?
There are many reasons to remake a movie. Some movies like Halloween (1978) created the craze for slasher films and spawned 7 sequels. By the time they got to Halloween: Resurrection (2002), the idea was getting stale and the films got too boringly repetitive. So in 2007, Rob Zombie tried to reboot the franchise by using the idea and characters from the first movie. Many people think this and other remakes are film maker's efforts to "milk the old cow" while some others inject totally new ideas into the concept. Not all remakes are of original film which are good like the coming Crazy Fat Ethel remake in 2013. James Rolfe, the Angry Video Game Nerd, once said that film makers should remake bad movies instead of good ones because there are many bad movies with good stories but were not narrated effectively.

The mentality is simple.
"When you got a good idea, make as much money out of it as possible"

4. Why would people go to watch a remake if it is the same thing?
Let me use Peter Jackson's King Kong as an example. Peter Jackson is an awesome director and he has always admired the Dynamation (stop motion photography) of Ray Harryhausen, especially those in King Kong (1933). His 2005 King Kong movie is an appreciation and homage to his favourite film. The Hammer film production company were also well known for their remakes of horror movies in the 1950s, 1960s and the 1970s. Dracula (1958), Frankenstein (1957) and The Mummy (1959) starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee were all remakes of the originals by Universal Studios in 1931. But they were in colour and had slightly different stories. So people watch remakes in hopes of a film with new and inventive plot, visual effects and even overall story line.

Every single live action Dracula so far... 1922-present
Total = 32 actors (as of 2012)

5. Are there any remakes that are better than the originals?
This depends very much on personal judgement. There are definitely many remakes which are better in my opinion. The recent movie The Amazing Spiderman is the first that came in my mind. The Sam Raimi version wasn't bad, but new one has much better character development, story line and visuals. The other two I remember are The Thing (1982) and The Fly (1986). These remakes and their originals are all fantastic classics. The only better point of these remakes is their vast improvement in visual effects. I haven't watched Dredd 3D yet, but I heard the story and visuals are good as well. Of course the general consensus that remakes are worst than their originals is accurate most of the time. I am still anticipating the upcoming Man of Steel and Robocop movie in hopes that it can be as good, if not better than the original.

the design looks nice enough, hopefully the movie doesn't disappoint.

**Update**

I just came back from watching Dredd. Although both this and the 1995 Stallone version were entertaining, Karl Urban's performance in this movie is too awesome to ignore. The effects for the Slo-Mo in this movie are nicely done and if you like action movies that depict actual killing and death, this is the movie for you, not the 1995 Judge Dredd. Be aware that this is an adult action movie, so there are many gory and realistic death scenes.

So that's what I think about remakes. Hope you enjoy the huge Dracula montage I made as well :P

lalanandaFRY
20/10/12

Uni-7-8-disaster all in one

This post may not be as long you may think it would be... I can summarise my final year in UK in 3 words.

FUN EXHILARATING STRESS

Celebrated my 21th birthday with a bunch of friends!

Semester 7 was the fun and exhilarating part. The timetable had only 2-3 columns filled, mostly Thursday and Friday mornings and sometimes Monday workshops. That's it! Some of my friends had to attend their lab practicals for their research project during the other days but for me, it was HOLIDAY!!!

I had my own research project which required me to collect data from NHS pharmacists who also act as assessors in our final year OSCE examination. This means that I had to travel to several different pharmacies around and outside of Glasgow, like a field trip. Sadly my only trip outside of Glasgow was Hartfield Clinic in Dumbarton, the others were within Glasgow like the Royal Infirmary and Western Infirmary.

Dumbarton Central train station at 9am in December.

Walked around University of Glasgow after my assignment in Western Infirmary.

Winter is quite a depressing season. The weather got really inconsistent, sometimes hailing, sometimes snowing and sometimes the sun appears when the day and night temperature difference can be up to 15C. Many people in my house went for holiday, leaving only 3-4 of us at home doing nothing.

One day we got bored and I decided we should visit Glasgow Necropolis near our hostel.

On New Year's Eve I went on a solo trip to Edinburgh to attend the Hogmanay street party and met up with a bunch of other friends there. Although the party was a total rip-off, the fireworks and atmosphere was fun, especially singing Auld Lang Syne with everyone where the song was actually made. My friends went back to Glasgow after the party while I stayed for another 2 days to explore Edinburgh. Fortunately I didn't get lost this time and didn't need to use a map anymore since I was familiar with the roads already.

Group photo shortly before the street party

Let me think, what else happened? Semester 8 was much tougher than any other semester since we already enjoyed ourselves too much during the previous semester *my bad*. Projects, presentations, tests and OSCE were coming at us endlessly. Somehow we still managed to plan a Malaysian Night and celebrate Chinese New Year before that nightmare started.

Muhibbah in Glasgow!

All you need during CNY, cookies by Chei Wan, Mandarin oranges, Bak kwa by me and

the awesome-st CNY reunion dinner away from home!!!

After that, life gets really crazy and stressful. That's the best description I can make, staying at home most of the time studying and working on projects, that's all for until study break. Ironically "study break" was the time we stopped studying for a short while to take a breath of fresh air although the final exam was just weeks away because we were so exhausted finishing and submitting our research project. Many of my friends went for trips during that time. I personally didn't go anywhere outside Glasgow.

We did visit Celtic Park

and St Andrews, home of Golf.

I think that's about all for semester 7 and 8. OH ya, before I forget, I went to another self planned solo budget trip to London. Being alone in trips like these were tough. I did all the bookings and itinery myself long before I knew what to expect in London. It was a true challenge and really made it a better experience than just following a tour group. Can anyone believe I only spent around 170pounds for the whole 4 days 3 night trip *150pounds if I didn't miss my bus back to Glasgow*. It was still a fantastic achievement to me.

This is just a summary of what I did in London. 

More posts to come very soon, so stay tuned!

lalanandaFRY
19/10/12

Summer Holiday in Italy #5

Let me just bombard this post with pictures to awe you!!! I saw all these things within the first 24 hours reaching Rome. So just enjoy them first before I elaborate...

The nearest landmark to our hostel was Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, the largest RC Marian cathedral in Rome.

Saw this in the TVB drama 冲上云霄 and tossed a coin to make a wish like the character in the show.

Fun fact about the Pantheon, the building has a large hole in the roof, I entered when it rained and the sight of the light and water combination created a rainbow indoors... so magical!

Piazza Navona was one of the settings of Angels and Demons. I don't remember which fountain but one of the clues symbolised water led Langdon there.

My first time seeing the Colosseum was in the evening and it looks way better this way.

If you have been reading my last 4 posts, you should know that our travelling style is the same everywhere:
1. Find hostel and check in.
2. Get map and find landmarks in it.
3. Cross fingers and start walking there.

When we first arrived at Rome, it was already around evening time and we were all tired and hungry. So after placing our luggage and resting for a short while, we left immediately for dinner. I have nothing much to shout about Rome's food, much like KL food, it is just the fusion of all the stuff you can get in other parts of the country merged together.

Just look at the number of people in the Colosseum, it was difficult to just walk around at many places.

The next day was the regular city tour. The planner and I got help from the hostel receptionist to find a path from the hostel that leads us to all the major landmarks on their map after breakfast. Rome is such a crowded city during the daytime. When reaching our first destination the Trevi Fountain, we found ourselves surrounded by hundreds, maybe thousands of tourists. The surrounding was really chaotic since everyone was fighting for a nice place to stand and pose for photographs. This would set the mood for the entire tour in Rome, the HERD CHALLENGE.

We went on to visit the places above and returned in time for dinner at a Chinese food restaurant. This is the first and last time we had non Italian food in Italy. As a Chinese from a country with unlimited Chinese food, the restaurant was way overpriced and the food was @#$%, but it was still nice to have non Italian food after the past 2 weeks of overdose.

I know they look good but they really are just mediocre.

By the time we finished our dinner, the sky was dark and we had no idea where to go. So I whipped out the map and guided out group through some dark streets and long roads to see the night view of the Colosseum. It was so terrifying and challenging but once we got to see the majestic structure, it was worth the trouble.

I don't have anything to say here, just WOW!!!

The next day was all about old Rome, namely the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. My knowledge of Roman history is very limited, so if you want to know more, just go search the net, then come back here for pictures. We just bought 1 ticket which grants entry to both structures next to each other with no time limit, so it was really convenient.

The inside is crowded just to get in, but the inside is just huge and amazing.

Gorgeous view of the Arch of Constantine and the Colosseum behind.

The ancient palace stadium for the high profile people only.

Got a good view of the whole forum from the Palatine hill.

Squeezed myself through the massive amounts of people to get a shot of the Arch of Septimius Severus with Santi Luca e Martina behind.

Throughout that day, I was starving and thirsty with no restaurants or cafes to be found nearby. Not until we travelled to Trastevere area for dinner. The restaurant, La Taverna de' Mercanti was recommended in 食尚玩家's Rome tour for their classical atmosphere and delicious steaks.

We walked across Tiber Island to get to this restaurant.

My saliva is dripping just as I'm typing now.

And now we reach the final parts of our tour. The Vatican City... *drumroll*

When we were entering one of the smallest countries in the world, we noticed a weird phenomenon of a long line of people queuing up along the streets. At that moment we were actually looking for the Vatican Museum because we booked our tickets online. After walking for more than 2km, we found that the queue leads to the museum. Are people so desperate to enter the museum? BTW, take this as a tip if you are planning a trip to the museum, book online to avoid that ridiculous queue.

This is roughly 300m away from the entrance, when I still didn't understand what was happening.

The museum is awesome for those who like Roman and Christian history. Personally, I have no idea what I am looking at most of my time. I only get amazed by those large courtyards, golden ceilings, huge maps of walls and the Sistine Chapel. Speaking about the Sistine Chapel, the labels leading there are also ridiculous since they start pointing to it since the entrance but you will not reach it until almost the end. But it was quite rewarding to stand in the Sistine Chapel admiring the wall and ceiling paintings while the crowd is pushing like a river tide.

With such a high ceiling, many people didn't even notice it... I can hear a children's choir singing  ahhhhhh in my head just looking at this.

FYI, people are not actually allowed to take photos in this room, so you are currently looking at illegal art... muahahaha!!!

With so many tourist in the museum, our group got separated and only 3 of us met at the front door while the rest were waiting for us at the cafeteria (product of miscommunication). We ended up meeting in front of the St Peter's Basilica. The biggest church in the world also had a queue and we were all lazy to wait to enter, so we had some sort of sunbathing/picnic/doingnothing at Piazza San Pietro. We even recorded a video of us singing Negaraku there for fun.

This was where we sat, on the hot hot stone floor.

Looks really like a picnic right?

We had no idea what to do after Vatican City and on our way back to the hostel, some of us decided to return to the Pantheon to have gelato. Before I forget, the first time I visited the Pantheon, there was a famous cafe just around the corner which boasts to be the best coffee in Italy. Of all places, coffee seems to be a big drink in Italy and being the best means a lot. *Where you thing the word "espresso" was invented?*
The shop is called La Cassa dell Caffe and they sell an espresso shot for 60cents.

It looks small but the taste you get in your mouth lasts longer than any tall Starbucks.

So on our final day in Rome we visited the Spanish steps and the Via Condotti at the bottom. Nothing much to say about the steps since there were just so many tourist sitting around doing nothing *and some kissing a lot* and it is wide and big, that's it. However Via Condotti is the street that has the largest number of branded goods I've ever seen, even after coming from Milan. Just imagine yourself looking out of a Burberry store window to a Jimmy Choo shop, Giogio Armani shop, Versace shop and D&G shop while a lady beside you is paying with a platinum card for her 1000 euro dog tag... then a shopkeeper ask you not to touch watches from the Rolex showcase and chase you out of their shop. Yes, we were in fat-rich-aunty heaven.

Last meal in Italy!!! Ciao!!!

For the third time, we visited the Pantheon *we love that place* for dinner before we left Italy for Glasgow. I had one of the best seafood risottos ever there but I remembered it being quite slow and we ended up rushing to get our luggage from the hostel to catch the airport bus.

So that's it for Italy. I'm not sure how I will be blogging later after these 5 continuous posts on history *1 year ago* stuff. Most probably I will be going to fast forward a little later on so that everything isn't so stale. So stay tuned!!!

lalanandaFRY
16/10/12

Summer Holiday in Italy #4

Capri is a tourist island. I think that is all you need to know in brief since the implication is that everything is inflated for tourists. When I heard we were going to Capri, the first thing that came to mind was the Caligula film where his great uncle Emperor Tiberius had a villa filled with unusual 18SX activities. Although not shown in the film, he would also execute people he didn't like by throwing them of the many cliffs of the island. Sounds bad? That was just history, now Capri is very similar to Langkawi island, a luxurious island paradise attracting celebrities like Mariah Carey to make Capri their vacation home.

There is no surprise, this place as close to paradise as anyone can get.

After having breakfast at the hotel, we were supposed to take a bus to Marina Grande to meet up with a boat driver who was going to bring us around the island. Unfortunately he had our booking delayed to afternoon and we were left with nothing to do until then. The girls spontaneously decided to swim in the hotel swimming pool while the boys explore Anacapri town. Unlike Capri town, Anacapri town is much smaller and has fewer tourist sights.

Instead of the front of Chiesa di Santa Sofia, I prefer its 16th century portion of the building.

The Cassa Rosa used to be home to an American colonel. Now it is a museum which preserved all his belongings and the buildings distinctive red exterior.

We didn't visit the Punta Carena lighthouse, so here are the souvenirs sold at the shops in Anacapri town.

After having lunch in the town center, we took a bus down to Marina Grande to meet the boat driver. I don't remember the fare for the ride but I seem to remember that it is sort of a rip-off because we were brought back to Marina Grande much earlier than we were supposed to. But on the bright side, he was quite friendly despite not speaking English very well. I heard that other groups who visited Capri hired a boat to drive around the island on their own. Personally I prefer having a boat driver because none of us have driven a boat before and we had no idea where we were supposed to find all those tourist landmarks. So here are some pictures taken from the boat.

Many tourist queue up along the stairs and on individial boats outside Grotta Azzura (Blue Cave), one of the most popular sites in Capri which I didn't enter.

Punta Carena seen from the boat.

The driver also drove skillfully into the narrow Grotta Verde (green cave) where some of us could actually swim there (I was scared because it was really deep).

Marina Piccola used to be the main port until Marina Grande on the other side of the island was built.

Faraglioni is a group of 3 natural rock formations, 1 attached and 2 other stacks lined up side by side. The boat driver even took us through the center stack (Mezzo) several times.

Before returning to Marina Grande, the driver pointed out a perculiar statue known as the Scugnizzo Napoletena aka statue of a Neapolitan street child which welcomes guests to Capri island.

After going round the island, I still feel Marina Grande is the most beautiful.

By the time we got back to where we started, we stopped at a restaurant for dinner before returning to Anacapri. Like the previous night, most of us had fresh seafood in all our meals and they were kinda expensive. My friend also tried out a lemon alcohol beverage called Limoncello which is popular in southern Italy because their lemon are just delicious to begin with. Yes, lemons there are sweet and tasty. I had basic lemonade, which was one huge lemon squeezed in water with only a teaspoon of sugar and it was fantastic!!! Can't say the same for the limoncello since my friends say it tastes like vodka with only a hint of lemon... thanks to its 31% ethanol content.

Grain alcohol is used to extract the lemon flavous from the zest.

The next day we visited the look out point of Monte Solaro which is one of the highest points in Capri. The ride up to the top is probably special for it was my first chairlift ride. For those who have the fear of heights, just try not to look down or you will have a heart attack!

There are only two safety features, a flimsy bar and tilting the seat backwards slightly, that's it!

The view from the top is nice, but pale in comparison to the boat ride (I know, not a very fair comparison).

To me those are just lots of white buildings, nothing much really! I got to see them get smaller as we ascended to the peak...

To me most sides look almost the same, but this side is the most phenomenal to me.

There is a cafe there with this Roman Caligula feel to it.

Oh yes, before I forget, the owner of the hotel actually caught us having the additional 2 in our group sneaking in and out and charged us the full 11 person price just as we were checking out (really a cunning old man!!!). To be honest, I didn't agree with this 11 people in 9 beds plan from the beginning and I was glad this experience taught the planners a lesson... or at least I hope they learnt their lesson.

Our next and final stop is the greatest, the biggest, the uber-fantas-aweso-licious ROMA!!! To be continued...

lalanandaFRY
13/10/12