Don't forget to check out what
Wandering Through the Shelves picked, the blog that started Thursday Movie Picks.
All my picks are or have been remade. My guess is that heist films are timeless and can easily be remade. But when films are remade across the pond, its 9 times out of 10 been bad. A suggestion is - just don't remake British classics in modern US.
The Ladykillers
As much as I love the Coen brothers, they're remake is just not good and in no way a match for the towering brilliance of the Ealing Comedy original. The Ladykillers is absurd when you think about it but at the same time pure genius on all fronts. A literal band of misfit robbers plan to rob a security van at Kings Cross station, part of the play is an alibi in the form of Mrs Wilberforce, a kindly old lady who has a room to rent. The robbers pretend they are am amateur string quintet and 'practice' while making their plans. The robbery goes off without a hitch but it is the fallout afterwards that is trips them up as one by one their greed gets the better of them. A true original.
The Italian Job
Going with the car colours which happen to work for the UK and US. I've only ever seen the end of the original, which is rather annoying as it gives it all away, sort of. My Dad loves the original Italian job
and thought this wasn't too bad. I can't even remember what they're stealing, why they were stealing or what was happening. Whatever, I only watched it because Edward Norton was in it. I recall this film came out near to the time when Jason Statham started to ruin his career and there was the car chase but thats it. Ocean's Eleven
This is a remake so slick I can't be angry with anything that happens in the film. Clooney, Pitt and Damon, now a power trio. The cast actually boasts some brilliant talent here as well as having Soderbergh directing. I confess I've never seen the original film and I really should see it as I love this one very much. I didn't like the franchise tha followed, those were unnecessary. A heist that takes a team of 11 to complete and isn't just about the money but for something more, with a very entertaining Vegas background and Don Cheadle trying his hardest to convince us he's cockney, what more could you want.
