This isn’t the first time a movie I very much enjoy has been remade recently. In fact, I took a quick glance at my most recent top movies list and within my top 200 (where I decided to stop looking) there are 8 others that have been remade, most of them in the past several years. 5 of them fall within my top 100 and 3 of them fall within my top 50 (where The Evil Dead also resides). All of them fall within two categories, horror and/or foreign. The foreign originals are all newer movies to begin with, where the non-foreign horror originals are all from the late 70’s and early 80’s. I’m having too much fun coming up with these stats. Anyway, Evil Dead is a remake of the Bruce Campbell classic The Evil Dead. If you don’t know what that is, you should watch it.
Here’s a fun challenge, try to guess what the other films are from my top 200 that have been remade. I’ll give you a hint: 1 is a foreign comedy, 5 are just horror and the other 2 are both foreign and horror. Please put your guesses in the comments section.
The Desolation of Smaug is the second installment in the new Hobbit trilogy. I may rank higher on my list had I seen The Hobbityet, but since I haven’t I don’t know too much about what this one is about. I have no doubt that it will be an enjoyable film though.
Nicholas Hoult will have a good beginning of the year as he stars in two films releasing within the first 60 days of the year. The first on my list is Jack the Giant Slayer, which was on my Most Anticipated List of 2012 at #25. So unlike many of the films that are on both the 2012 and 2013 lists, this one moved up in the rankings. The only other one to do that is actually Hoult’s other film. Jack brings the classic tale of Jack and the Beanstalk to life. The film co-stars Ewan McGregor, Ian McShane, Stanley Tucci Bill Nighy and more.
Don’t act like you’re not impressed. The legend continues as everyone’s favorite Anchorman Ron Burgundy returns nine years after the first film. It will certainly be interesting to see if this (and the nine other true sequel/prequels on my Top 25) will live up to expectations. Yikes, I just realized 8 of my top 12 are sequels. It’s hard to think it won’t succeed, especially when all of the main characters are returning. That includes two actors (Paul Rudd, Steve Carrell) who were still relatively unknown when the first film came out. What have the two of them accomplished in the last nine years? Rudd went on to star/co-star/feature in many films including hits Knocked Up, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, I Love You Man and This is 40. Following the first Anchorman, Carrell began his fame-making 140-episode run on The Office as well as starring/co-starring roles in films such as Little Miss Sunshine, Despicable Me and Crazy Stupid Love. Rudd and Carrell also co-starred in two films together (40 Year Old Virgin, Dinner for Schmucks). I think it’s safe to say the formula for Anchorman’s success works better than 60 percent of the time, every time.
It took me a long time to watch Iron Man 2. For some reason I didn't feel like I wanted to see it that badly even though I liked the first film. Then I watched it and remembered that I really enjoy Robert Downy Jr as Tony Stark, aka Iron Man. After having recently watched that and the Avengers, I am definitely looking forward to the new Iron Man, even though I'm not really sure what the storyline is going to be.