A good remake, I thought, was Jonathan Demme's remake of a certified classic, John Frankenheimer's MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE. The original is flat out riveting with one of Frank Sinatra's best performances, a flat out great performance by Angela Lansbury and a good performance from Laurence Harvey.

I didn't think Demme's original is as good as the earlier version, but taken on its own merits it was pretty good. Liev Schreiber, reprising the role Harvey played in the original, and Denzel Washington was off-beat casting in the role originally played by Sinatra. Meryl Streep, also good, played the Lansbury role in the original.

Another remake I was thinking about was FINGERS & THE BEAT MY HEART SKIPPED.

FINGERS has a cult reputation and was directed by James Toback, a true whacko is there ever was one. Harvey Keitel starred as the concert pianist/thug. The two sides of his personality were at war.

THE BEAT MY HEART SKIPPED, which was released to good notices last year (though I didn't care for it) was the French-language remake that was directed by Jacques Audiard.

For some reason the film FUN WITH DICK & JANE popped into my head last night. The original, starring George Segal & Jane Fonda, was released in the late 70s. It is about a middle class couple that falls on hard times and robs banks. I didn't see it on original release, but later caught up with it on video and found it mediocre. I was surprised when a year or two ago there was a remake, this time starring Jim Carrey. I didn't see the remake because it was blasted by the critics, but thought it was an odd film to remake since I didn't think the original was so hot. Maybe they thought they could get it right the second time around.

And believe it or not, there was a mid 1960s remake of the John Ford classic STAGECOACH. The original, which propelled John Wayne to stardom as the "Ringo Kid," is rightly considered one of Ford's best films and one of the best films ever made. The mid 1960s remake was mediocre at best and is most memorable for the appearance of Bing Crosby playing the role Thomas Mitchell played in the original.

Undoubtedly for me the biggest surprise was the recent remake of The Italian Job.

Being a huge fan of the Michael Caine origional i was very sceptical of the Marky Mark remake. However i was stunned to find it was a fantastic film frought with suspense and true escapism and became a reputable film within its own right.

As a result i am very much looking forward to the sequel "The Brazilian Job" due out this year.... Please don't let it flop.

BEST

King Kong
Ocean's 11
Italian Job
The Thing
Anna And The King
Kamen Rider The First


WORST

Fun With Dick And Jane
Godzilla
More later........