The Good, The Bad and The Remake: Movie Podcast

It's the end of season 3, its Neal's choice and it's... not really a remake? Or is it? Rules being broken left, right and centre in this episode... High Noon is considered a classic of the American West, one of the most significant Westerns ever made and an influence on an entire sub-genre. And none of the GBR crew have seen it before. No pressure then, High Noon. Outland is a fondly r...

It's Ben's turn to get a pick in, so he's gone for the 1962 paranoid, political thriller The Manchurian Candidate starring Frank Sinatra and Angela Lansbury, followed up by the Denzel Washington-led remake from 2004, with a supporting cast to die for. Both films are uniquely disturbing, commenting on the times in which they were produced and dealing with some difficult ideas. But can the powerhous...

It's the one we've been waiting for. After watching Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Thing, The Fly was the natural third part of the sci-fi/horror remake trilogy. An original that has its own fair share of iconic moments, not least a genuinely unsettling climax (even to this day), it's something rather special: a glossy, technicolor studio film with some radical ideas and a fractured narrat...

Two of the greatest performers in martial arts history go head-to-head this week. Firstly, one of the most iconic actors of all time, the inimitable, the game-changing, the one and only Bruce Lee. Before Enter the Dragon made him a worldwide star, Fist of Fury (AKA The Chinese Connection) displays Lee's furious speed and charisma in a barnstorming action adventure. Awesome fights, gorgeous cin...

One of the most beloved Ealing comedies of all time takes on one of the most beloved filmmaking duos of our time. Alexander Mackendrick's The Ladykillers has long endured, thanks to its brilliant concept, dark humour and excellent cast. So, why on earth did the Coen brothers, coming off of nearly two decades of critical adoration, choose to remake it? Well, we think we know and we've got s...

The grandaddy of all modern zombie films is our subject this week, as we take a look at the OG, George A Romero's black and white gamechanger, The Night of the Living Dead. The team all have varied history with it, but also all felt the impact of key scenes. So when it comes to watching an all-colour remake by makeup maestro Tom Savini, working from a reworked script by Romero himself, does it...

This week, we're getting sweaty and clenching our buttocks tightly, because we've got two renowned movies filled with tight-fisted, white-knuckled tension. The Wages of Fear (AKA Le Salaire de la Peur), from director Henri-Georges Clouzot, is a proto-action thriller from the 1950s, which takes a while getting to its set-pieces and then doesn't let up until the final frame. Twenty-some...

We're sticking with the season 3 theme of "tricky relationships" this week, with the 1942 and 1982 versions of Cat People. The original starts out like a noir film and gradually turns into a psycho-sexual thriller, quite different and risque for its time. Catherine is a big fan of this one and its producer, Val Lewton, so the discussion is chockful of tidbits for all you nerds out there. The remak...

We've been described as being too niche with some of our picks, so we've sold out and gone mainstream for this week's pick. Solaris is a ponderous, nearly 3-hour, Russian science fiction from 1972. If just reading that gives you pause, there's at least one member of the GBR crew that agrees with you. However, revered as an influential masterwork, Andrei Tarkovsky's difficult film was remade by Ame...

Season 3 is here and we're kicking off with a much requested and somewhat controversial remake. Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 horror-thriller Psycho changed the game. An iconic score, moody black and white photography, some of the most parodied sequences and dialogue in cinema history and the first ever appearance of a flushing toilet. So, naturally, Gus Van Sant followed up his biggest hit with...

The GBR squad are back! After a long break, we got together another list of 10 movies and their remakes, spanning the spectrum of Unmakes, Agreemakes and Remazing and we're here to tell you what's coming up over the next ten weeks. As always, let us know your thoughts in these places: If you're interested in the team's views on non-remake properties, you can follow us on Letterboxd...

**CONTENT WARNING: In order to discuss the events of both films, we discuss scenes of sexual violence** Back for a bonus episode, due to popular demand we've done what none of you should probably attempt and that is watching both adaptations of Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - back-to-back. The 2009 film from Niels Arden Oplev marked the arrival of Noomi Rapace and Michael Nyqvist...

It's the season finale, which means two things: it's the last episode for a little while (stay tuned to the very end for more on how long that might be) and we've got to go out with a bang. Few people are aware that Heat, Michael Mann's epic crime drama, is itself a remake of an earlier Michael Mann film: LA Takedown, which was originally shot to be a TV pilot and was released as a TV movie. Even...

Our penultimate episode of this run is the first time we're discussing a director remaking his own film. The Vanishing 1988 (AKA Spoorloos) is a meticulously structured, detail-driven psychological thriller, centred around a young couple who come into contact with a fiercely intelligent sociopath. Years after one of them goes missing, the other two meet up and the events that led to the titular va...

Two westerns separated by five decades, but connected by a short story from Elmore Leonard and lead actors who are real cutey pies. First up, Glenn Ford and Van Heflin are at odds, as the former tries to convince the latter to spare him from the eponymous prison train. It's light on action, heavy on charm and presents a fairly believable vision of the old west in Van Heflin's simple farmer. Then,...

CONTENT WARNING: The films discussed this week contain scenes of sexual assault, which we felt we had to address. A brace of violent psychological thrillers this week, starting with the 1962 J. Lee Thompson classic, Cape Fear, starring Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum. Shockingly edgy for when it came out, it was a new experience for 2/3rds of the GBR team, so the big question is, can a film that's...

This week, something completely different to anything we've done before, as a 1950's B-movie is turned into a comedy for all time, while sticking surprisingly close to the original's story, script and even performances. Zero Hour! is a straightforward slice of mid-budget disaster movie, as a former military pilot has to use his long-dormant skills to save a flight beleagured by food poinsoning and...

The two films under review today - one from 1974 directed by Joseph Sargent, the other from 2009 and directed by Tony Scott - have something in common, beyond them sharing a plot and title. Both, in very distinct ways, act as monuments to the cinematic styles of the period they come from. Sargent's film is grimy and unglamorous, with an unmistakably '70s score. Scott's film is full of rolling cars...

An 80s classic that none of the team had seen this week, the arrival of Mr Kevin Bacon (and his six degrees of separation) in a foot-stomping, illegal dancing, modern musical. Does it still stand on its loose two feet 35 years on, or is it just fondly remembered by the generation that grew up with it? Following it up, the 2011 remake from Craig 'Hustle & Flow' Brewer, this time populated with...

We're dishing up some more horror this week, with George A Romero's seminal 70s classic, Dawn of the Dead ('78) and the big budget feature debut of the sometimes controversial Zack Snyder, Dawn of the Dead ('04). They both partly take place in malls and feature gore and the undead. That's pretty much where the comparisons end. So when there's no more room in DVD Hell, which film will walk the Eart...

Here at GoodBadRemake, we're conscious of getting up ourselves and using this podcast as an excuse to talk only about prestige pictures. Which is why this week, we're watching two dyed-in-the-wool B-movies. Death Race 2000 - starring David Carradine and Sylvester Stallone - was made in the mid-70s for a pittance and went on to become a cult favourite. Its remake Death Race - starring Jason Statham...

Season two kicks off with two awards big-hitters, winning dozens of international awards between them. Firstly, the smash hit Hong Kong crime film Infernal Affairs, starring megastar actors Tony Chiu-Wai Leung and Andy Lau. This is a fast-paced, slick, exciting cops and robbers thriller, with a uniquely complex hook. It's so good, in fact, that less than five years after it's release, Martin Scors...

The GBR squad are back with 20 more films - 10 originals, 10 remakes. Want to know what we're going to be watching and talking about over the next 10 weeks? Have a listen to this. If you're interested in the team's views on non-remake properties, you can follow us on Letterboxd: Neal's profile - https://boxd.it/1EHhT Ben's profile - https://boxd.it/1lH3J We want your feedback, 3-word reviews and s...

Happy New Year from the GBR team! To ease you into 2021, we've got a brace of action movies to enjoy from the comfort of your sofa. 1995's Sudden Death was one of the last big theatrical outings for Jean-Clause Van Damme and a notable entry in the Die Hard rip-off sub-genre. So it's Die Hard in a Hockey Stadium, with Powers Boothe eating large chunks of the scenery as the Hans Gruber-alike. But ho...

Christmas arrives at The Good, The Bad and The Remake offices for real this time, as we watch the two Miracle on 34th Street films. The original, directed in 1947 by George Seaton, is something of a classic, brimming with festive wonder and cheer, as well as getting properly stuck in to questions of mental health, commercialism and politics. There are also thoroughly endearing turns from Edmund Gw...