Rebooting the Field

I've made my general distaste for reboots and remakes known, but they are unavoidable in the current pop culture climate. With the news of the casting in Baz Luhrman's version of The Great Gatsby coming to light. (Toby Maguire as Nick Carraway? Yes please! Leo as Jay Gatsby? GOD YES!) Not to mention the I'm ignoring it news that Jennifer Garner is going to be playing Miss Marple (seriously, I'm pretending it's not there) I've been thinking about remakes and reboots I would be OK with, depending entirely on the casting I outline here:

Guys And Dolls:

This one gets special mention, based on the fact that the original film is subpar to the brilliant Broadway Musical it inspired. Also the fact that between the rise of Gleekers, Apatow friends and well, NPH the time is right for a second look. Acceptable Casting: Neil Patrick Harris as Nathan Detroit, Mark Salling as Sky Masterson (Seriously, watch the man sing Lady is a Tramp in season 1), Anne Hathaway as Sarah, Mila Kunis as Miss Adelaide, Jason Segel as Nicely Nicely Johnson, and the rest of the gang taking on the minor gangster roles (Jonah Hill as Big Jule especially.)

The Thin Man Series


Nick and Norah Charles are two of my all time favorite old school film characters. Basically they exchanged witty banter while drinking martinis in fancy hotel suites. They also occasionally solved murders. You know who needs to do those things? Ed Westwick and Leighton Meester. They already do it once a week, but without the murders. And really, it's only a matter of time.

The Vampire Chronicles

Let's face facts, we live in a Post Twilight, Mid True Blood world. The time might be right to resurrect Lestat, Louis, and Claudia and get another, more accurate look at Anne Rice's version of the blood suckers, with all of their gay innuendo bi contintental, rule defying behavior. I'm not touching cast for this one, because while the film Interview With A Vampire has some flaws, casting was not one of them, Brad, Tom and Kirsten rocked. Queen of The Damned on the other hand...


Buffy The Vampire Slayer
OK, so this one has already been announced, it's more about the casting for me. Apparently the new film version is going to be a Scooby free zone, but I'm not sold on that, or well, just about anything about the movie except for the fact that Joss seems to think it's a good idea. However, there are only two acceptable actresses to step into the chosen one's shoes. Emma Stone if they want to stick to teenage Buffy, or Kaley Cuoco if they want someone a little older.

Those are just a few of the possibilities. Any reboot ideas you would be OK with, readers?

Alert The Media

Last night I checked out the remake of Arthur, starring Russell Brand in the title role. The original is one of those movies that is so intertwined with my childhood and my general consciousness that I don't remember when I saw it for the first time. (Others like this include The Indiana Jones movies, The Star Wars Trilogy, Field of Dreams) And I've been charmed by Brand, due to his appearances on Conan and SNL, and his marriage to Katy Perry and the way they relate to each other, plus Helen Mirren is fantastic, so I had middling hopes that I'd at least enjoy myself.

I laughed a lot, and the movie definitely has a lot of heart. It has it's own story to tell, and tells it in a different way, so it feels a little bit more like Ocean's 11 in the remake way, rather than something like Sabrina.

However, unlike Ocean's 11, it doesn't actually improve upon the original. A preachy soul searching ending kills a lot of the fun. For Dudley Moore and Liza Minelli, having each other in the end was enough, bu Russell Brand and the adorable Greta Gerwig, they must be self actualized as well. (She becomes a children's book author, and he joins AA and stops running around New York in a top hat!)

The movie still has a lot of quotable moments, and I didn't mention Jennifer Garner, who does a good job of updating the role of Susan, Arthur's socialite fiance, (instead of a dippy social climbing ice queen, she's a tough as nails corporate ladder climbing ice queen), but I somehow doubt that in thirty years there will be grown ups who quote this movie to their children when they announce that they're going to use the potty.

Nothing makes you quit announcing that faster than ten adults saying in a snooty British accent, "I'll alert the media!" And then laughing for ten minutes.