Remake Watch: Japan, The Eye, Chinese Odyssey and Cellular

It's a slow day today, so here are some old news that I never got round to addressing.

It seems in Japan, there's currently a trend in remaking classic films shot-for-shot. Here's the Asahi Shimbun article if you read Japanese, and here's a translation if you don't. The recent remake of Sanjuro used the same script as Kurosawa's. I wonder what it looks like though, and I wonder about the Seven Samurai remake (which had already given us a few nasty surprises in the form of weird casting such as George Clooney and Zhang Ziyi!). Somehow, the horror of Gus Van Sant's Psycho remake echoes in my mind whenever I think of this issue.

Then there's the horror of People Unclear On The Concept in the trailer for The Eye remake. This second and final trailer GIVES AWAY THE CRUCIAL TWIST IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STORY. It seems not only can Hollywood not do it good, it can't even do it right. OK, let the age-old argument about spoilers begin. I'm staying out of it.

The good news is, Stephen Chow says he wants to remake his Chinese Odyssey films. Why? Because he can. Why? Because there's better CGI now. Ya, sure, here's more Journey To The West movies, but I'm not complaining.

The bad news is, Benny Chan's remaking Cellular (can't say I recall the film), which had starred Kim Basinger (can't say I care about her work anymore), and now will star Barbie Hsu.