Five Movie Re-Make’s Better Than The Original

The Nostalgia Critic was talking about movie remake’s the other day and it got me thinking about the remake’s I’ve seen. Most remake’s are just pale versions of the original (a shot by shot remake of Psycho?). Others make no sense at all (did we need another Point Break?). But some are really good, almost better than the original! For  instance Cape Fear is a remake. It’s so good that who even remembers the original? Other examples include Little Shop of Horrors, Karate Kid, True Grit, and The Departed.

So I decided to list a few of those that I’ve seen and enjoyed as proof that a re-make can work just fine.







Hairspray
   
While I’m not that familiar with the movie this was remaking, I did enjoy the musical version which hit theaters awhile back. I didn’t see the NBC version.

Five Comic Book Stories Everyone Loves…Except Me

Comic books are just like any other medium, it’s all subjective. Just because something is loved and even critically praised doesn’t mean everyone has to love it. Now of course many classic stories I have read I also loved. “The Killing Joke”, “The Judas Contract”, and even “The Great Darkness Saga” though I am not a huge Legion fan. I never read Watchmen, which is a sad thing for a good comic fan to admit.

It’s easy to not like something that is generally considered bad. How about not liking something which is praised as amazing? Here are five classic comic book stories that most people love, but I never did. And I am not saying that “everyone” loved them except me, this is all opinion and if you loved it then great.



Batman:Year One

I always thought DC regretted not making this a special graphic novel rather than just presenting it in four stand alone issues of the regular run of Batman at the time. Either way, this is considered one Frank Miller’s best works and is considered a classic, even being the basis for the Nolan Batman movies. And while I loved The Killing Joke, this one never did it for me. I have never liked it. Not because the story is bad, but because of the choppy artwork and the way it’s written in that Miller style. It just wasn’t what I used to in 1987 and even today I can’t quite get into it. Speaking of that…

Top 10 Creepiest Commercial Mascots

I’ve talked a lot recently about commercials. And while a lot of commercials mascots are memorable and very well done, some make you tilt your head a bit. Some are so odd you wonder what the hell the company behind them was even thinking! Since I talked about my favorite mascots waayyy back in 2013, it’s way overdue to discuss the one’s that I don’t like very much. In this case, because they're creepy or just plain weird!

Ok couple rules. I only wanted characters that had reached some kind of iconic status, not a lame gimmick that disappeared and was forgotten. And they had to be some sort of three dimensional character, not just a picture on a box. And as always, this is all opinion.


Here are ten commercial mascots that are just creepy.



#10.The Green Giant
The Green Giant brand has been around for ages and a big Green Giant being the mascot makes sense. Except for one thing. The Giant has ZERO personality. All he does is stand there and shout HO HO HO. Why? The company must hare figured this out to but rather than try to develop the giants character they gave us a new one; Spout who was a kid version of the giant. I never got it. And to be fair the giant was more animated in the old days..and even creepier! By the way Mr.Clean almost made this list for the same reason, but at least he has a cute jingle.

Ten Commercial Jingles I love, for Products I Hate

So I was talking about cereals the other day and as I went through the various ad’s for them it got me thinking. I talked awhile back about ads which were so memorable we can’t forget them, and not so long ago about ad campaigns that aggravate us. But some commercials are nothing more than a song or jingle. And it’s a true sign of a great jingle when you remember and even love it- even if you have no use for the product being advertised.

For example, who never heard of this one:

Yeah it’s a great little jingle which we all know and love. Even though I can’t stand Almond Joy or Mounds. But damn that ad is memorable. Here are ten more examples of what I mean. Most of these are ear worms which I talked a lot about before. And let me be clear about one thing, there is nothing wrong with these products. I’m sure many people enjoy them it’s just that I do not.




Sprite
I hate sprite, it’s like a half ass version of 7-Up and i can barely stand that. But this jingle from the 80’s is fantastic. It’s catchy, it’s simple, and it’s well done.

Top 10 Craziest Breakfast Cereals

Ah, cereals. We all know the mascots that have been around for ages. Tony the Tiger, Captain Crunch, that crazy Cocoa Puffs bird,,,. But what’s really fun is when a breakfast cereal comes out just to be part of a craze. It exists because something is popular a the time, usually a movie or cartoon, and we eat it up because we were stupid kids. No, just kidding we tried because it was on based on a character or franchise we couldn’t get enough of. Usually these were awful and never lasted long, but some were just so out there I decided it was worth discussing them.



Now to be fair, most of these novelty cereals were really just typical cereal with funny marshmallows in them (Pac-Man for instance which kind of worked actually, Ghostbusters which was just fruit loops with marshmallows). Some just simply threw a face on the box which had zero to do with the cereal and that was it (Wheaties may be the worst offender of this, Casper appeared on Chex boxes for some reason, Yogi Bear on OK’s in the olden days). And other cereals were named after the character or property but they did nothing special with the cereal at all (Mr.T and GI Joe is just Honey Combs in different shapes, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was Chex with marshmallows, Rainbow Brite was just a Lucky Charms rip off, and the two Simpsons themes cereals were nothing special).

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So here are ten crazy cereals from the 80’s and 90’s which either just make no sense or was such a lame cash grab that it’s just amazing!



#10.Wonder

Why would anyone come out with this? Ok I suppose cereal isn’t that far from bread, it is just grain, but Wonder Bread is a pretty bland product (heck the term “Wonder Bread” is often used as an insult) so who thought making a cereal out of it would interest people? At least Dunkin Donuts Cereal sounds like it could be tasty. Yeah Rice Krispies is just as boring but that had a brilliant marketing campaign "Snap, Crackle, Pop!"

Underrated Trek:Lonely Among Us (TNG)

Welcome back to Underrated Trek, where I take a special look at Star Trek episodes that I love…which may not be the most popular or even liked by most. We all have guilty pleasures, things we know are lame but for some reason we love anyway. While it’s true most of these episodes I’ve discussed here qualifies, this one really qualifies as I have no good reason to like this. But I do. This is:

Ah, season one TNG. It’s so hard to believe we liked this stuff in 1987. So if this episode is another sub par season one episode, why do I like it?? Let’s see:

 

My Five Favorite Versions of “Wonder Woman”

 

So the big movie this weekend is Wonder Woman. And it looks like it’s actually pretty good! Gal Gadot seems to be pitch perfect in the role. I haven’t seen it yet. But it got to me thinking about Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman has been around for 75 years and has seen many changes. The embodiment of truth has had changes in her history and as many different variations as Superman and Batman. Even her costume always seems to flux (I was happy when they swapped out the eagle chest symbol for the much cooler double W). Some of these were great and lasted for years, others were not as perfect. Some just miss the point of the character (Dennis O’Neil, Frank Miller WTF) and others don’t even come close (Cathy Lee Crosby?? And do I even have to mention that atrocious pilot that was never picked up?). But when the character is done right she is pretty damn awesome.






    
She has such a long history that I’m not about to try to get into it here. There are others out there more qualified than I. What I want to do is go over the five versions that I have always loved, and for me stand out as the best versions of the character in print or other media.





TV Series

The truth is that I never really watched this show. I have no real excuse to be honest with you. But even from the little bits I have seen, man did Lynda Carter just personify Wonder Woman! She was pitch perfect and its no wonder why to this day people see her as the one and only bearer of the name. She was simply perfect.