what version was better.

Discussion in 'In the Media' started by goodlove, Feb 25, 2015.

  1. goodlove

    goodlove New Member

    here in this thread...lets put remakes or different versions of songs, movies or tv shows out here for the determination....which was better?

    was the new version of robocop better than the original.
     
  2. goodlove

    goodlove New Member

    [YOUTUBE]8NQ-Bk63Hs8&feature=youtube_gdata_player [/YOUTUBE]the original bobby caldwell- what u wont do for love

    [YOUTUBE]TpCqRTG7ckg&feature=youtube_gdata_player[/YOUTUBE]
    go west's version

    [YOUTUBE]qNbYbxS_nS8&feature=youtube_gdata_player[/YOUTUBE]

    or phyllis hyman's version
     
  3. Gorath

    Gorath Well-Known Member

    After seeing Robocop(2014), I wondered why didn't the 1987 version allow Alex Murphy the ability to run as fast as the 2014 version. Visually, the 2014 version was impressive. But, in 1987, the point that I think Ed Neumeier was trying to make was that this Robocop was big, perfect and didn't have to run to or from anyone. He was a machine(who resembled a Ford Taurus, the safest car on the road at the time) who had feelings and it turns out to be an advantage that worked in his favor. Which is what was explored in the 2014 film. However, unlike the 2014 version, Murphy had to move on without his family(he had to move on even in the animated series). Murphy did meet his family again in the tv series. It is a hard call in my opinion regarding Robocop. I look at the classic anime 8-Man After. It is believed that Robocop originated from that story. And then there were shows on ABC Future Cop and a sitcom called Holmes And Yoyo in the 1970's.
     
  4. archangel

    archangel Well-Known Member

    You stole this from me!!!!! it's ok. the 1987 was better because the ideology. I don't care about violence.
     
  5. goodlove

    goodlove New Member

    lol
     
  6. Gorath

    Gorath Well-Known Member

    The ideology that I saw in 1987's Robocop was that Omni Consumer Products was becoming the big fish in the corporate world and that since crime is a big problem everywhere, OCP had the resources to control it. But OCP was also the biggest criminal menace the world would ever see. And when something has that kind of power and no one to stop them, they can become a blessing and a threat to anyone who encounters them. OCP was opportunistic and greedy to the point that they believe the end justifies the means. "Good business is where you find it."
    Therefore, the corporate world was worse than the criminals on the streets.
     
  7. Ra

    Ra Well-Known Member

    Biggest difference between the original Robocop and the remake is that the original was deliberately over the top and didn't try to be a serious movie. It was first and foremost entertainment. Even the social commentary was delivered in a mostly humorous poke in the eye way, particularly in the form of the on screen news reports and TV commercials.
     
  8. pettyofficerj

    pettyofficerj New Member

    Dick jones forever, bitches
     
  9. andreboba

    andreboba Well-Known Member

  10. Gorath

    Gorath Well-Known Member

    Mass consumerism and media outlets before the advent of the internet. Leeza Gibbons(her first film and was still working for Entertainment Tonight) and Mario Machado(who also was an anchor man in Blue Thunder) were excellent as the anchors of Media Break If email was shown in the 1987 version, it would have taken off like it did with the personal computer did after the popularity of the film War Games, which had a lot of young computer geniuses trying to play video games with NORAD's computers. One kid played Space Invaders with NASA's computer. The original was over the top as it was the intention. In the 80's, violence on television and on film was in demand. How else can one defeat evil onscreen? Mass firepower and other weapons and a hero or heroine willing/skilled enough to use them. Like it was said in the John Woo film Hard- Boiled, "Give the guy a gun and he's Superman. Give him two and he is God." On television, screen violence was condensed and watered down. In the show The A-Team, which had gunfights, fist fights, vehicular crashes(car, aircraft, boat) that were very over the top and no one got killed, and it was NBC's top show at the time. As was CHIPs which had violent car crashes a majority of the time. Violence sold as much as sex. And it still does to this day.
     
  11. Gorath

    Gorath Well-Known Member

    What is your opinion(s) on the film Mighty Joe Young with Terry Moore, Robert Armstrong and Ben Johnson and the remake with Charlize Theron and Bill Paxton? I have to say that the first film from 1949 it all. More than the remake(even though it had interesting visuals and Terry Moore and Ray Harryhausen make a cameo). The first one had spectacle, comedy, pathos, drama and suspense. And Ray Harryhausen never disappoints with his stop-motion effects artistry. Mighty Joe Young was known as King Kong's grandson.

    The remake had a detailed story of Jill and Joe's relationship and even played on Joe's fear of capture by the use of jangling metal as a trigger. It was a sound that tormented him. While the first film dealt with show biz, the remake dealt with animal preservation and Joe being used as a mascot(exploitation).

    The escape and the fire at the orphanage were the most suspenseful scenes in the first film and were very memorable.

    The Ferris wheel fire scene was okay. But Joe ended up killing the man who tormented him.

    If I had to choose, it would have to be the first film being better because of the simplicity and thematic elements in the story. The remake had some of those elements, but in my humble opinion, the remake kind of fell short.
     
  12. Ra

    Ra Well-Known Member



    I like the original better. The remake of course had the better visuals/EFX and updated story/themes but when all said and done sometimes simple and straight forward is better.

    Same with the classic King Kong compared to Peter Jackson's remake. I Liked Peter Jackson's mainly due to the updated creatures and all of the events on Skull Island, but everything that took place in New York before and after I could live without. In the remake too much effort went into trying to make Kong more human and relatable for his inevitable demise IMO. You automatically felt sympathy for Kong in the original because he was an animal who was brought to civilization for human greed and entertainment purposes, so his escape and actions afterward leading to his death were simply him being what he was.
     
  13. Bliss

    Bliss Well-Known Member

    When you say classic/original King Kong, are you referring to the original 1930's Fay Wray movie, or the 70's Jessica Lange / Jeff Bridges remake? The latter is one of my all time favorites...frikkin loved that movie.
     
  14. Ra

    Ra Well-Known Member


    The Original 1930's.
     
  15. Bliss

    Bliss Well-Known Member

    Ah. Well your description of it is exactly how l feel about the 70's remake (and not Jackson's remake which was awful) - that Kong was so much more emotional to me, so l say in this instance the remake was better for me.
     
  16. Gorath

    Gorath Well-Known Member

    Merian C. Cooper's King Kong is one of the best films in the world. When I first saw it on tv, I was a kid and I was riveted. Willis O'Brien's stop-motion effects were excellent as was the score by Max Steiner. It was said that King Kong was sort of an "homage" to champion boxer Jack Johnson who was the heavyweight champion of the world. In the ring, Johnson was tough and fierce and no one could beat him. And the fact that he dated white women without fear made him a threat to a lot of white men. Though the screenplay and story was inspired by Beauty And The Beast, and co-written by a woman, I guess it was a slight recrimination about slavery and racism. Not so much about the facts related to gorillas and the Brontosaurus, which doesn't eat people but plants. It was a film that showed the fear and fascination of things greater than ourselves.

    Peter Jackson's version was great because of the visuals. But it was a story told from the points of view of Anne Darrow, Carl Denham and Jack Driscoll. Kong was central figure in the lives of these characters. To Carl, Kong is an exploitable object to gain a profit. To Anne, Kong was her protector because she wouldn't last long in Skull Island alone. Jack was the guy who takes it upon himself to rescue Anne no matter what the cost because she is worth it. Jack, in turn, becomes Kong's rival.

    Anne Darrow's introduction was better explained in Jackson's version. However, it becomes Anne's story most of all. In Cooper's version, Anne appears out of nowhere to steal an apple and later tells Carl about her situation.

    Composer James Newton-Howard's score even does musical shout outs to Max Steiner. But the rest is Newton-Howard and it was a well crafted score.

    I do not think the intention in Jackson's film was to see Kong as human, more as to show that Kong was a giant animal that was worshipped as a god and feared by all who would ever see him. Andy Serkis(who also played the cook Lumpy) played a gorilla in the wild and in captivity. Gorillas are not predatory but they are protective. So, it is easy to sympathize with Kong because he does not belong in our world. He is brought to our world in bondage, he escapes into a world not his own and he dies there. And that is Kong's tragedy.
     
  17. Gorath

    Gorath Well-Known Member

    John Guillerman's King Kong was presented as part love story and adventure story, with a nod to the fuel crisis of the mid-70's. I loved Rick Baker's portrayal of Kong. I saw it with a boyhood friend of mine. I fell in love with Jessica Lange. She was the anchor that didn't let the film lose it's starch at the time. She almost died in the hand of Kong during the making of the film. Carlo Rambaldi built the giant hand and had an all Italian speaking crew working on it. Because of this oversight, Jessica was unable to communicate to the crew that she was in trouble. Actor Jeff Bridges rushed in and tried stop the crew because the hand was hydraulically operated and it was crushing her. I remember liking the film so much(I was 11) I wrote to producer Dino De Laurentiis to share my enjoyment of that film. I was surprised to find a reply from him when I came home from school. He thanked me for the letter and enclosed still photo of Jessica Lange. If I had kept it, that letter and photo would be very valuable. When the direct sequel King Kong Lives came out, my boyhood friend and I saw it. There was n amusing coincidence regarding our viewing of King Kong Lives. When we saw King Kong, it was on a Sunday evening at around 6:30 pm. Ten years later, we saw King Kong Lives at almost the same time, but at a different theater.
     
    Last edited: Mar 7, 2015
  18. Ra

    Ra Well-Known Member


    Once Kong escapes and finds Ann Darrow in New York, it came across to me as Jackson trying to make Kong human IMO. Especially the whole ice skating/dancing scene. That kind of bordered on trying to be a romantic moment between Kong and Darrow. Ann Darrow should have been & was sympathetic to Kong as she should be after bonding with him on Skull Island and discovering he wasn't a savage beast or monster god. That's the only thing about the original King Kong I would gripe about. Ann Darrow still viewed Kong as a monster even after he did nothing remotely harmful to her the whole time she was with him. But I chalk that up as a sign of the era in which the movie was made.
     
  19. Gorath

    Gorath Well-Known Member

    Like I had mentioned before, gorillas are protective. Kong could've killed Anne without a thought, but he kept her anyway. Ann would never survive on Skull Island without Kong. So she stayed with him and even entertained him. Kong even showed her the sunset. Their relationship developed there. Ann's discovery of what Captain Engelmann and Carl Denham was original because she knew it would be wrong to bring Kong to civilation. The scene where Kong is snatching up any blonde woman in the streets was an extension of a scene from the first film that involved Kong searching for Ann in a building and he climbs up it to find her. Kong snatches a woman from her bed and when Kong learns that it was not Ann, he drops the woman to her death.
    Peter Jackson was a very big fan of King Kong. His film was his vision of Kong. In the special edition disc the original film, Jackson's production team recreated the spider pit scene as it was written in the original script. Everything from wardrobe of the doomed crew members to the creatures themselves. The whole scene is in that disc.
     

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