Genejoke
that way they don't have to live up to the nolan ones so much and can do a more child friendly take.

Child-friendliness is the devil.

DAJB
Not to turn this into a Superman thread but the Luthor I'd like to see on screen is Luthor as US President. I missed it when it happened in the comics and, when I did learn about it later, I couldn't help but think how stupid an idea that was. Having an arch mega-criminal guilty of countless murders elected to the White House? To me, it just emphasized how ridiculous comic book plotting had become.

Er... aren't these key competencies? You didn't post this on April 1st, so I'll have to assume you're serious. Oh, and speaking of cynicism...

DAJB
When I think about it in these increasingly cynical times, however, I think it would could work really well on screen. By setting Superman up as the enemy of the leader of the country he's sworn to protect, he'd be forced to question the values that normally make him seem so 1950s!

I think that worked extremely well with Brubaker's Captain America. Not sure I'd want to see Superman in that role. I don't see Superman as a super-patriot. (That's only what Frank Miller saw in him.) Superman is the ultimate do-gooder, and if the US does wrong, he'll stand against it. From the POV of a super-patriot, the US can do no wrong, that would be an oxymoron. Then the question would rather turn into: What are the US really? The decision of its president? Its people? The Constitution and the founding fathers? It's a question of national identity. Again, I think Captain America is the right character for that, not Superman. How should Superman define the true identity of the US, or even have any say in the matter?

I don't think that Frank Miller's Superman was a super-patriot to the USA. He allied himself with the US Gov't mainly because to him it's the best way to deal with a bad situation. Superheroes were outlawed (or went out of vogue). In order to keep doing it without turning himself into a vigilante, he had to get in good with the government. I think he implied as much in his monologue when he was lifting up that tank in the battlefield.

Although the USA had turned into a de facto dictatorship under an immortal Reagan, what Superman was doing in the comic wasn't blind patriotism. He genuinely felt that Batman had gone too far.

As for Capt. America... yes his movie should definitely be about that theme. The US people are pretty sick and tired of the gov't these days.

Haven't seen the American re-do, but really liked the Swedish - real horror, imo

The reboot that has me going Really? is Arthur. Geilgud made the first time around, and as much as I like Helen Mirren, this is one of her films I plan to miss.

ayesinback
Haven't seen the American re-do, but really liked the Swedish - real horror, imo

The reboot that has me going Really? is Arthur. Geilgud made the first time around, and as much as I like Helen Mirren, this is one of her films I plan to miss.

Hang on... wasn't that with Dudley Moore? WTF? That's what that film with that F**&$&^$ imbecile Brand is?
Oh jebus. When did Hollywood movies start to turn as shit as TV and the music industry?

We need someone to blame for this arsehollery.

hhmmm.... it depends for me. But mostly I view remakes with distain, but then again, I am a little bias towards the original films because I grew up on them. Some remakes can be good, IE. The current remake of True Grit is pretty good, where as the remake of Karate Kid with Will Smith's bratty little spawn wasn't.

Hollywood just looks for easy ways to make money, its far easier to remake something than to create something completely new. There's heaps of American Remakes of overseas films, like, as everyone was mentioning the Swedish Let the Right One In (WHICH WAS AWESOME. AND FREAKY, BUT AWESOME.)

Its not a new thing, the Ring is based off a Japanese film I think, same with Shutter and the Grudge. Even Disney's the Lion King was based off a Japanese anime movie/show called Kimba the White Lion.

But... the flip side is, them youngin's in the latest generation probably haven't seen the older (and by large, better) versions of films, simply beacuse they're not interested or they haven't been exposed to it. Many of my friends (ages ranging from 15-17) have never even SEEN the original Karate Kid or the original Star Wars movies, and the only time they ARE exposed to them is in current remakes.

God I have no idea where I stand now on this issue hahaha

OnlyFoolsAndVikings
Its not a new thing, the Ring is based off a Japanese film I think, same with Shutter and the Grudge. Even Disney's the Lion King was based off a Japanese anime movie/show called Kimba the White Lion.

Good point. I actually don't have too much against film adaptions like this. You can even throw The Departed up on that list which I found to be an excellent film.

Overall, I feel that adapting a film to an entirely different culture does take some creativity to pull off.