I'm a little embarrassed to post this, but I didn't think Meet Joe Black was that bad.  Alright, I admit it, I was too fixated on enjoying every moment of Claire Forlani to even notice how long it was.

I think you could create a whole new list to accompany this one: Bad Movies Inspired by TV Shows that Should Have Been Left Alone.

 Start with a dash of Eye Spy, a sprinkle of The Avengers, a large helping of The Dukes of Hazzard, bake till extra crispy and drizzle with a healthy dose of gooey cheesy melodrama and I believe you get....Charlie's Angels Full Throttle.

Barbarella isn't the only remake we'll have to live through. Bullitt, for Brad Pitt this time around, has also been greenlit.

 

a bad idea. They never live up to the original, and what's the point if the remake isn't better than the first one.

Remakes of foreign language films are usually pointless too. Such as No Reservations, which was a horrible version of the German film Mostly Martha (Bella Martha). Subtitles aren't soooo bad.

I'd have to agree though that Victor/Victoria was an excellent remake, if only because of Julie Andrews.

Usually remakes are nothing more than attempts to make money without working too hard, or hardly at all. Every once and awhile you get one that is truly better than it antecedent, but those are so rare they are to be treasured.

One such gem is the remake of "The Thomas Crown Affair" with Pierce Brosnan & Rene Russo (sorry if I misspelled the names). The orginal starred Steve McQueen and having seen it recently, I was stunned at how incredibly dull it was. As in really, really dull ... and this from someone who grew up watching "All Creatures Great and Small" thus developing a huge tolerance for dull.

The remake is 4/5 of a terrific movie with a nicely convulted plot, a slinky femme fatale-ish dame, and a killer soundtrack. It would have been great except for cloying ending that felt slapped on at the last minute. Oh well, watching Ms. Russo slink around almost erases the memory of "Yours, Mine and Ours."

Almost.

 

The only good thing to come out of Planet of the Apes was Tim and Helena hooking up. To be fair, though, Burton was not involved in the initial planning and staging of the movie, and was only hired much later down the line, which is why it doesn't really feel like a Tim Burton movie and thus not as good as his other works.

I happen to like that movie. It's the only one I like from this list =/

most of the time I would say remakes are bad...I can only think of maybe one at the moment that was good and that's victor/ Victoria...I can't help but to love Julie andrews take on that classic tale.

I have to completely agree with you. Loved this movie. Rene Russo and Pierce Brosnan are so smokin hot ,they nearly exploded my VCR when I first rented it.

 What's a shame is that even when they get it right, they get greedy and get it wrong. One Charlie's Angels, great...two, a disaster of Spelling proportions.

Now, who wants to bet that Get Smart is going to be a disappointment? 

okay, i've never seen the tv version, but comparing the anne parillaud original with the bridget fonda version of the film is, for me, an exercise in WTF!

i agree with Paige -- subtitles, not so bad.

WTF? How do you top Gene Wilder? Rapping oompa loompas? I think not. I still wonder how a Burton/Depp movie could blow so thoroughly. Remaking a classic like this isn't like cribbing from some obscure french film. If you're gonna step up to a classic, you'd better bring something amazing, and this wasn't it.

Oy, I have read "somewhere" that there is a current attempt to do a sequel of the remake of "The Thomas Crown Affair." I really hope this doesn't happen; the fact that the remake was pretty good was a "lightening in a bottle" type mini-miracle, which I doubt would happen a second time.

As for the "Get Smart" movie, I'm only tempted because of Bill Murray and Terrance Stamp, 'cause despite the fact she has aged out of the role - Barbara Felton will always be Agent 99 to me. It's that voice ... ; )

 

I watched the original of No Reservations as Making Martha in the orginal german, I would not say it was much better. Although interesting just because it was in german.

"So put me on a plane, and fly me to anywhere...with you"-Augustana

I actually think Nicole Kidman is a fine actor, but she should be shot for remaking and completely screwing up two great pieces of pop culture - The Stepford Wives and Bewitched (probably not on your list because it was originally a TV series, not a movie).  Not only was the Stepford remake a complete travesty of the original's strong feminist message, but Nic compounded that error by taking all the strong feminist elements out of Bewitched as well. My favourite TV witch and her wonderfully bitchy mother called all the shots in that show, but I don't even know what Nic was trying to do in the film!  It was awful.

When it comes down to is...people don't seem to want to take the time and effort to create something new and invest in it. So they do remakes that are basically pointless. I think audiences are getting sick of remakes and hopefully they'll die out soon, but you never know people could become more lazy and fail to think of new ideas. Also it seems that many sequals came out and I will not understand why. I've never been into Harry Potter and I think at some point in the next movie Harry will divorce, Ron will go bald, blah blah. Really I don't care for blockbusters and I refuse to see Pirates 3 or Spiderman because my girlfriend says the acting is bland and it seems true. The fact that Rush Hour 3 made a lot of money baffles me.

Makes you wonder why there is a writer's strike when they don't need to write anything... ; )

Many remakes do, indeed, demonstrate a lack of imagination and drive on the part of the movie industry. However, some remakes can be quite good.

• The Departed, which I haven't seen but everybody seems to agree on its quality, is a remake of a B-grade Chinese movie, Infernal Affairs.
• I wouldn't say that the 1995 remake of Sabrina is better than the original, but it's a solid, enjoyable film in its own right.
• While not a strict remake, The Italian Job is a fun, entertaining caper movie.
• Made when Lindsay Lohan wasn't regularly appearing in tabloids, the Freaky Friday remake is cute, light family entertainment and offers more plot and substance than the Jodie Foster original.
• The In-Laws with Albert Brooks and Michael Douglas is actually quite a good update of what is considered a comedy classic.

Those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head. I'm sure there are more remakes that match or best the originals.

I am wracking my brain trying to figure out if there's a remake I actually liked...Yes, The Ring. I also liked various Frankenstein and Dracula remakes. Of course not all horror remakes make the cut, so to speak. Some, like Psycho and House of Wax just, well, suck.

A sequel to the remake is definitely in the works. Pierce Brosnan's production company announced they were working on it.

The bad news, no Rene Russo. That is confirmed.

I love remakes. I'm apparently in the minority(other than studio execs) but I love seeing source material reimagined, modernized, or just seeing what different actors, directors, etc... are going to bring to the table.  And remakes have been around pretty much since film has been. And yeah, some suck, but then so do a lot of original movies.

Good or at least decent remakes, off the top of my head.

His Girl Friday/The Frontpage/Switching Channels-which were remakes of the original the Front Page.

Ben Hur

No Way Out-which was pretty much the Big Clock

Sharkey's Machine(don't know if it counts, but it basically took Laura and added a cop drama to it)

Ocean's 11 and the Thomas Crown Affair. Both a hell of a lot better than the originals

King Kong(the 80's version) and for that matter The Postman Always Rings Twice(80's version)Not classy/classic like the originals, but still fun and campy with a hot, hot Jessica Lang in both.

Ransom, and Payback, were both fine

Carmen Jones/The Loves of Carmen

And since I have no attachment to the original Willy Wonka, I thought the remake was very well done.  With thought I could go on. Basically remakes require the same skills and luck that make original pics good. The only difference is, you already have a story there, and hell, so did Shakespeare...which, oh yeah, Baz Luhrman's Romeo and Juliet, and West Side Story.