Thursday, November 11, 2021

Being Called a Cocksucker Isn't Personal


I hate it when big news breaks late in the day when I'm already home ensconced in pajama pants with my Reporter's Hat tossed on the top of the coat rack just so askew -- there's no getting me off the couch for anything really, not even something as seismic as Deadline reporting that one Jake Gyllenhaal, noted MNPP presence, is in talks to star in a remake of one of my all-time favorite pieces of trash 80s cinema called Road House. Doug Liman, who made Go but hasn't made anything as good as Go ever since, is possibly directing. There aren't a ton of movies that have their own tags here on the site but Road House is one of them -- this tells you this movie's formative round these parts. I've seen it as many times as I've seen any of my Most Seen Movies -- it's comfort trash, perfect in all of its sleaze and spunk. 

Remaking Road House is probably folly, full stop. And yet... and yet. As I've said over the past few years, Luca Guadagnino's Suspiria really opened me up to the possibility of remakes not always being garbage. There were of course earlier examples -- The Thing or the Body Snatchers re-dos pop to mind -- but Luca's film felt special in a way, in how instead of just trying to do the same thing the original did but better and more modern it totally re-thought the original. I don't have any idea what it could be that would work for me here, but if Liman & Co do figure out something new... well I am just keeping an open mind for now. As I've also said time and again -- if it doesn't work we still have the original! Wise words, but not nearly this wise:



3 comments:

Rosa Moline said...

Pity that it overshadows 1948's Road House with Ida Lupino.

Shawny said...

I think Dune is one of the better remakes of 80's films. And still it pulls a lot from the original, even using some of the same shot compositions.

Shawny said...

But Roadhouse? The only good thing to come out of that flick was a cute joke in Fever Pitch.