Peter Sellers is so deeply identified with monumentally bumbling Inspector Clouseau that one wonders why Steve Martin would want to take a crack at the character with a remake of THE PINK PANTHER. Others, including the character’s co-creator, Blake Edwards, have taken their shot and failed miserably. Martin, who co-wrote the script, at least makes… Read More »
THE INVASION
The original INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS was the product of a particular time, place, and mentality. Those would be the 50s, the United States, and the paranoia rampant at the time over the Communist Menace. Or the 50s, the United States, and the suffocation of conformity. Either way, it was a potent message at… Read More »
THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (2008)
There are many reasons for the temptation to remake a classic. There is the one about updating the theme to make it relevant to current events. There is the one about being able to do thematically or visually what one couldn’t have done in a previous era. There is the one about taking a known… Read More »
3:10 TO YUMA
Stark, intelligent, and supremely suspenseful, 3:10 TO YUMA is a masterpiece of psychological drama coupled with a darn fine action flick that uses the classic western as its idiom. And then turns it on its head. Though a remake of the film of the same name from 1957, there is a freshness and an edginess… Read More »
Edward Norton Remakes THE PAINTED VEIL
Edward Norton doesn’t seem to have just coped with the added headaches that come with being a producer as well as an actor in THE PAINTED VEIL, he seems to have thrived with the challenge of dealing with them. Norton spent years trying to bring M. Somerset Maugham’s novel to the screen for a second time, including the… Read More »
Charles Shyer Rethinks ALFIE
It takes a lot of moxie to make re-make a classic, and it takes a certain flair to do it successfully. Charles Shyer demonstrated both as the director and co-writer (with Elaine Pope) of the iconic 60s classic about a charismatic cad. Rethinking the story to reflect a 21st century sensibility and casting Jude Law… Read More »
John C Reilly is No CRIMINAL
John C Reilly has made a career out of playing the everyman, both the good and the bad. With his cherubic face and burly build, he can be cuddly, forlorn, or menacing with equal aplomb, a talent he displays as a con man in CRIMINAL. When we talked on August 25, 2004, it was obvious that he… Read More »