Defenestrator

Generally remakes do not bother me if:

1) They are well made.
2) The don't poop all over the original.
3) They bring something maybe a little different.

At least with "True Grit," they weren't trying to remake the original film...they were adapting the book. Yes, there are going to be many similarities and many of the best lines from the original film made their way into the new one ("That's mighty big talk for a one-eyed fat man!") because they were in the book.

Of all the recent remakes, a remake of "True Grit" surprised me because this was one of Wayne's more iconic roles. My initial thought was, "How dare they!" When I heard talented filmmakers like the Coen Brothers were involved, I thought the material would be in good hands. When I saw the first trailer, I was convinced and they got my $10 last night (well worth the trip to the theater).

For the most part, movies due for remakes should follow the basic rules:
1) The original was a decent movie but has been largely forgotten ("3:10 to Yuma").
2) The original is well-known but has aged poorly due to changing times ("The Bad News Bears").
3) The new filmmaker can bring a different perspective to the source material ("True Grit").

Films that are considered classics ("Casablanca") should not be touched for any reason, though "True Grit" kind of broke this rule. It's kind of the exception to remakes so far, as I believe it surpassed the original in quality. (This is not to take anything away from the original John Wayne version of "True Grit," which is certainly a fine film in its own right.)

PREDICTIONS: you're going to be seeing more old TV show mined to be made into movies. The Equalizer, Magnum PI, maybe even Simon & Simon (would make a great non-buddy buddy cop/detective movie if done right). This doesn't mean I'll be lining up at the theater to see them, but I'm sure someone will get them made.

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/12/16...-edwards-dies/

Writer/Director Blake Edwards passed away yesterday. The guy's body of work, most notably The Pink Panther movies he did with Peter Sellers, stand out. He was 88, so he definitely had a very long and full life (he was also married to Julie Andrews), and though he hasn't made a film in years I feel like another icon of my youth is gone.

And if you've never seen it, The Party is one of the greatest comedies ever made, and not too many people have heard of it.

I hear Brett Ratner is available.

Well, the mission was clear.

I'll have to say this...tech support was great in getting back to me and the situation is resolved (finally).

I don't know if this had anything to do with it, but my contact list was open with a completed mission from Television showing. I logged in with Safe Mode, moved a few steps and closed the Contact List window. There could be some sort of loading or graphics hang up on something in that window. Dunno.

Logged back out and logged in normally and everything worked fine. Even got to run a rather difficult morality mission, so my brute can now hit Paragon City in style.

Got the character moved (standing in Mercy now) but it still won't log in and the game crashes when I try. Again, other characters are okay.

Hopefully this can be fixed...would hate to lose a tricked out level 50.

I logged out at the finish of a Tip Mission without leaving the mission in Grandville. Trying to log the character back in, the game freezes at what appears to be 50% loading screen and 50% in game screen (with the end of the Tip Mission dialogue visible).

Other characters log in just fine.

Suggestions?

My fire/kin controller, which I started long before they became flavor of the month.

Just got really sick of:

1) SB PLZ! SB PLZ! SB PLZ! SB PLZ!

and

2) Tells from complete strangers asking for PLing.

If anyone really needs a Stooges fix, Sony Pictures has (finally) done them justice on DVD. They've spent the last few years restoring the shorts as best as they could and releasing everything in chronological order. Well worth the money if you're a fan.

Vol. 1 contains the first 3 years of their work.

Here's the thing. "Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus" was a bad movie. And I really don't mean in a "so bad it's enjoyable" kind of way that other dreck like "Mansquito" or "Ice Spiders" was. It was bad in a "Manos the Hands of Fate" kind of way in which it would only be enjoyable (maybe) if being made fun of by a guy and robot puppets.

Believe me when I say I can actually sit down and enjoy some of these awful movies. "Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus" had nothing even remotely enjoyable to it at all. The trailer for this looks even worse. "Sharktopus," on the other hand...horrid but fun.

I really wish this project had stayed dead.

I probably enjoyed this movie more than I should have.

Yeah, De Niro was pretty good, but Michelle Pfeiffer was full of scenery-chewing AWESOMENESS. Loved her in this movie.

And, yes, the voodoo doll sword fight was all sorts of cool.