Best and Worst Movies Blogfest and Celebrate the Small Things

Hosted by Alex J. Cavanaugh, Stephen Tremp, Livia Peterson, and Father Dragon Al.

When Hollywood runs out of ideas, they remake older films. Sometimes this works, and sometimes it fails miserably.
List the best remake you’ve ever seen and the worst.
Added bonus – list the worst and/or best song remake you’ve ever heard!


Best remake:
Sherlock Holmes with Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law. Out of all the Sherlock movies ever made, this is my favorite. Robert Downey, Jr. captures the arrogance and the cleverness of Holmes in a thoroughly enjoyable way.

 

However, I'm also a big fan of the BBC show, Sherlock.

 

If I had to choose between these two, it would be a tough toss up. Both productions are awesome in their own way.

If we are just looking at old movie versus new movie, and not looking at the myriad of different takes on a similar character (Sherlock), then I would have to say the new Total Recall is a cool remake of the older movie.

 

And then, I like the new take on Star Trek too . . . . but is that a remake or a different timeline continuation?

Worst remake:
I'm going to go a different direction with this one . . . I had a tough time thinking of just movies here.
I loved the Nickelodeon show, Avatar: The Last Airbender. It was fun, clever, had great character development, and a redemption theme with one of the villains. In short, it was just awesome, and my family and I have watched it over and over again.

 

So, we were super excited, and then super disappointed when the movie came out.

It sucked beyond belief . . . they even changed the pronunciation of main character's names. Aagh! I've heard that people like this movie if they've never seen the show. But if you liked the show, don't watch the movie, ever.

 

I know I should be able to think of just a worst movie remake here, but I just couldn't get the Airbender travesty out of my head.

 

Best Song Remake (maybe): Killing Me Softly by the Fugees

 

The story: I was sitting in traffic when this remake came on the radio. I could sing every word, and it was the first time I had heard it .  .or so I thought at first. Turns out, that one of my aunts used to play this song repetitively back to 1973 when it first came out by Roberta Flack.(I was two years old, how in the world was I able to remember all those lyrics so many years later?) 

I'm not sure the new version is really better than the first one, but I loved that it was remade and I was able to rediscover it. It's hard to describe the feelings that it brings up, like I'm transported back 40 years just hearing it. My aunt didn't have an easy life back then, but she had a poetic soul .  . . and this song just captures that.

 

Worst Song Remake: A rock song I heard remade into a slow, folk song . . .I was in a coffee shop, and I wanted to plug my ears. I have nothing against folk music. I used to listen to my Dad's Kingston Trio records as a kid, but Bon Jovi made folk music . . .Nooooooooooo!

 

 

Anyway, I loved this fest, even if I didn't quite follow the rules . . .

 

 

Oh, Almost forgot to celebrate the small stuff:

1. My beagle dog is on meds for major nerve pain. (We have some tough decisions ahead, but for now, the medicine is working, so we have a bit more time with our Jumper buddy.)

2. Had a breakthrough idea moment for my story and poetry collection. It's now two projects. Dragonfold might be ready for release in late June, the other one (working title: Poetry's Taste) might be ready in August.

3. Slow, steady progress on Champion in Flight revision.

4. This awesome commercial that made me smile, and laugh, and laugh again.

 

 

 

If you don't know why Nimoy is singing about Bilbo Baggins, check this hilariously bad video out.

Have a great week! Hope you have small things or big things to celebrate! And tell me, what's the best, or worst remake ever?