Fresh Baked

Yes, this blog still has that brand-new-just-rolled-out-of-the-factory smell and I am warming up to it.

Thought of the day: Re-make vs Sequel vs Re-launch

Just when I thought things were getting out of hand - here comes Hollywood with the newest trend. Now when people say there is nothing new around, I don't agree. There is plenty new. You just don't bother to look most of the time and thus have to eat what you are being catered.

Re-makes have been done for a very long time. I don't have much against them - HOWEVER - there are rules. For example, a certain amount of time must have passed. You can argue about how many years, but in my opinion, the longer the better. The second rule is - bring something new to the table. If a re-make is nothing but the same story told over again then what is the point. Just to introduce the awesomeness to the next generation - you are basically saying people are too lazy to go to the video rental and pick up the old one.

Example: Nightmare on Elmstreet. Now a re-make will soon be released. After watching the trailer and being familiar with the original I noticed they had at least two exactly same shots as the original. And this just from the trailer. So what is new?

Sequels are a whole different subject. They were mostly frowned upon until...Aliens. Damn you James! With one brilliant movie he proved sequels don't have to suck and so followed a new era of ...let's continue this and see how much we can milk it. Best thing I heard recently will be or has been made is Lost Boys II.

Returning to the new invention of Hollywood, the re-launch. It would seem Hollywood is in a crisis. They would rather chop off their right hand than do an original new movie. So when a series has been stretched as painfully far and finally snapped its spine they simply re-launch it. That means, they do the whole thing over again. Nightmare on Elmstreet can be seen both as a re-make as well as a re-launch because depending on its success they will continue it. So ladies and gentlemen, we have reached the circle of death. We will now have to watch the same things over- and over- and over- again. Add a little new special effects here, a new face there - voila! (they won't even notice it's the same thing).

But aren't you forgetting something? Indeed. There is a fourth category - the prequels!
Oh man, if this isn't going to blow your mind. Now we get the story before the story.
I recently heard Ridley Scott will be directing a prequel to Alien. A story set before the first one. They have to come up with a oscar-award plot to make this one interesting. Or make sense for that matter. And Ridley taking the project is adding salt to the wound. But then again, when I heard Batman was going to be re-done by a guy named Christopher Nolan I thought "what can he possibly do to make it interesting again?". So should I dare to hope...