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After Keanu Reeves starred in that remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still, we thought we'd seen the bottom of the barrel. What idiots we are. Courtesy of Variety we've just learned of something even worse. Much, much worse.
Chicago native Robert Zemeckis, who hasn't made a decent movie since 1992 (and that was Death Becomes Her by the way!), is negotiating the necessary rights to remake the 1968 animated classic Yellow Submarine.
In 3-D.
With the same craptastic motion capture system he used in The Polar Express. Oh--and it's being bankrolled by Disney, with the hopeful goal of adapting the remake for Broadway and/or Cirque du Soleil.
Yellow Submarine is one of the last remaining undesecrated landmarks of our childhood. Seeing it is what made us fall in love with the Beatles, and to this day it remains a pinnacle of the animated art form. So congratulations, Mr. Zemeckis: you've just made our shitlist.
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Did you see that ABORTION "Across the Universe"?
I think this is just an idea being floated because the Beatles Rock Band comes out in a couple weeks. Nothing says love revolution like a video game.
I wonder if George Harrison was holding back the floodgates on all this cash-in? Paul McCartney is a complete whore and Ringo is like a lottery winner who could keep time.
If I'm not mistaken, it is Dhani Harrison, George's son, that's the mastermind behind Beatles Rock Band.
You know, of course, that none of the surviving Beatles own publishing rights to most of the Beatles catalog. I believe they're still the property of the Michael Jackson estate.
And like most Beatle-related ventures, Yellow Submarine sucked. Boomer types have been trying to cram this crap down my generation's throat as long as I've been alive.
Agreed. I'm 29 and hearing boomers, and older gen X types, wax on about the Beatles for ever. They broke up a decade before I was born and John Lennon died when I was in the womb. They had some great songs, and kind of acted as avatars of the era (going from polite young mods to whatever the hell John and Yoko were doing at the end) but that's not my era.
No, my era was George Bush and terrorism and the music of fucking American Idol
Ah hell.
Just an FYI: I wrote this post, love the movie and was born in 1975. Generalizations about what age groups like/don't The Beatles are silly.
eeewwww... maybe it's a generational thing but, as a 31 year old with extensive exposure to the Beatles catalog, I can't imagine what you saw in this pile of shit movie. Yes, there are a couple good songs in the film, ("Hey Bulldog" and "All Together Now" are my faves) but it seems to me to be the single worst possible way to enjoy their music, and that's including that ridiculous cirque de soleil fiasco.
I have a very early childhood memory of seeing Yellow Submarine in the theaters. The experience is forever in my memory, because I puked in the car on the drive home (too much candy and I always did get car sick). Now, I have the chance to relive all that, although I'll probably puke in the theater instead of the car.
i think remaking nightmare on elm street is worse. but i didnt grow up in the 60s.
At least Zemeckis beat Tim Burton to it. That way Johnny Depp won't be playing the Nowhere Man.
Yellow Submarine is one of those movies that people have nostalgia for and remember it as amazing but the film is actually terrible. I remember watching this on TV when I was a pre-teen (I am 35 now) and hating it. I have seen parts of it since then and still hate it. Let Zemekis remake it, maybe it'll be watchable.
As for Zemekis himself, Contact is an amazing movie. CastAway was very good, albeit slow, and Polar Express was fairly entertaining despite the creepy kids. Also, What Lies Beneath is a great Hitchcock-ian thriller.
"What Lies Beneath" is one of the biggest pieces of excrement I have ever seen in a theatre. Hitchcock would be appalled. The world's slowest draining bathtub, five different endings, and vengeance from beyond the grave? Give me a break.
That's fine, the film isn't the best in the world but it's far better than Yellow Submarine.
Gawd, I hate the Beatles. And I'm a Boomer.
I can hardly blame Paul McCartney should he want to cash in even more. He was far and away the most talented musician/songwriter in that group. George Harrison is a not bad guitarist and Ringo plays drums.
Most of Lennon's later stuff was shit, but was considered "brilliant" simply because it was by John Lennon. To his credit, Lennon acknowledged a lot of this and dismissed his own importance. The phenomenon only increased after he was murdered.
Eh, I have no problem with remakes. While I think the vast majority are unnecessary, if they have the cash, do whatever you want. If it sucks to high heaven, then Zemmekis has to live with that on his resume. Who knows, it might be good. Maybe they can actually pull a story out of the damn thing and not just make it an excuse to link Beatles songs and for Peter Max to splooge all over the camera.
Besides, wasn't this just a movie to get high and watch? I saw it as a kid and other than the bright colors it was pretty effin dumb. I didn't know WHAT the hell was going on and that whole "Free Sgt. Pepper (I almost wrote Dr. Pepper)" story line was flimsy at best.
I thought all the Beatles' "movies" were really just long music videos, anyway. They weren't supposed to have a plot, right? Who remakes a music video?
Help! most certainly has a plot. It's thin and preposterous as hell. By all accounts the Beatles were stoned off of their asses the entire time. Any which way, it's a fucking amazing movie.
I watched them all as a kid and they all have places in my heart no matter how goofy and convoluted they may be.