Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Worst remakes: 2011 edition

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 02-12-2011, 02:26 PM:

I am tempted to declare the race for worst remake of the year to be over already, based on the trailer for "Arthur" which looks positively amazingly awful. How anyone at WB could have put a stamp of approval on this remake of a truly wonderful movie is beyond imagination.

Watch this trailer if you dare.

Posted by Bernie Anderson Jr (Member # 410) on 02-12-2011, 04:57 PM:

Agreed

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 02-12-2011, 05:27 PM:

^^What he said.

^ What he said.

v What he says.

Posted by Jeremy Weigel (Member # 4208) on 02-12-2011, 05:37 PM:

[puke]

Posted by Mark Lensenmayer (Member # 134) on 02-12-2011, 07:04 PM:

Looks like a total waste of Helen Mirren.

Posted by Barry Floyd (Member # 385) on 02-14-2011, 09:27 AM:

While the title might be the same, it looks nothing like the original. We gotta remember - we're probably the only people who go to the movies now days who actually remember the original. I could probably ask all of my concessions staff about Dudley Moore's Arthur... and they'd all look back at me and go Huh? Who?

Posted by Damien Taylor (Member # 4255) on 02-14-2011, 10:23 AM:

No Christopher Cross. No sale. [thumbsdown]

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 02-14-2011, 10:39 AM:

It looks like they totally removed the Liza Minelli character from the story! At least that character isn't in the trailer (or did I just miss it?).

Posted by Greg Anderson (Member # 235) on 02-14-2011, 12:31 PM:

New York Times article about filming the new Arthur

According to the article I just found there is, in fact, someone playing the same role that Liza Minnelli played in the original movie. She's kind of an unknown actress so maybe the movie-makers wanted her to be kind of a surprise. Who knows?

It also appears that Bollywood already remade Arthur anyway, which means this new movie is completely unnecessary, right? Unfortunately, it seems that the whole "alcoholism is funny" idea was already a problem when they made the official Arthur sequel in the late 1980s.

Posted by Michael Brown (Member # 890) on 02-14-2011, 09:08 PM:

quote: Mike Blakesley
It looks like they totally removed the Liza Minelli character from the story! At least that character isn't in the trailer (or did I just miss it?).

She is there, but not used much in the trailer. It's the woman in the first shot in the blue shirt who says "Who are you people?"

She is played by a fairly new actress Greta Gerwig. Shw was last seen starring opposite Ben Stiller in Greenberg, and she was good in that so I think she'll suit the role.

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 02-16-2011, 04:33 PM:

Wait...it gets worse.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 02-16-2011, 07:09 PM:

They used the same logo, but in the original the "a" was tipped up against the r. This time, it's just a flat, lazy remake of the logo. Probably a metaphor for the whole film.

Jeez I usually try not to pre-judge a movie from its trailers but this one just keeps looking worse and worse.

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 02-16-2011, 07:54 PM:

Not that I ever want to see the trailer again, but didn't they tilt the 'a' in that?

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 02-17-2011, 01:30 PM:

No, in the trailer it's written like this:

aRTHUR

(but with all letters the same height)

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 02-17-2011, 02:12 PM:

Ah.

Posted by Mike Heenan (Member # 392) on 02-17-2011, 10:37 PM:

Coughcough

Posted by David E. Nedrow (Member # 4981) on 02-19-2011, 09:29 PM:

quote: Mike B
No, in the trailer it's written like this:

aRTHUR

At that point, why even bother to differentiate the "a"? I always took the sidewise "a" to be an allusion to Arthur's drunkenness. If I remember it correctly, a silhouette of Arthur is actually leaning against the R on the right, which gave balance to the title.

Oh, well. Another remake from filmmakers who think changing the sex of one of the original characters, and gutting the plot, will make the "new" version so much better.

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 02-22-2011, 05:24 PM:

quote: Mike Blakesley
It looks like they totally removed the Liza Minelli character from the story! At least that character isn't in the trailer (or did I just miss it?).

quote: Greg Anderson
According to the article I just found there is, in fact, someone playing the same role that Liza Minnelli played in the original movie. She's kind of an unknown actress so maybe the movie-makers wanted her to be kind of a surprise. Who knows?

quote: Michael Brown
She is there, but not used much in the trailer. It's the woman in the first shot in the blue shirt who says "Who are you people?"

She is played by a fairly new actress Greta Gerwig. Shw was last seen starring opposite Ben Stiller in Greenberg, and she was good in that so I think she'll suit the role.

It's alright. Everybody can stop looking. They found her...

(Note from Warner execs to art department: 'Make sure you make the duck more prominent in the new version. We like the duck. The robots...not so much but one is OK'.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 02-22-2011, 07:17 PM:

If they'd get redo it without Russell Brand and the chair (and Helen Mirren), they'd have a pretty good poster.