10 Films Hollywood Should Actually Remake
A Barb Wire remake in a post-John Wick world? YES!
Hollywood, it seems, is stuck in a rut of recycling films we've all come to know and love in a desperate attempt to modernise them and make them a bit more relevant: this has backfired many times over the last couple of years, with box office flops such as Dark Phoenix (2019), Total Recall (2012) and The Wicker Man (2006), although perhaps you secretly love to hate that last one.
So, this begs the question: should we stop making remakes? Or is it simply down to the fact that Hollywood are remaking the wrong movies? It seems that the films they're churning out are ones that nobody asked for, that arguably have no need to be remade: there is an old saying, 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'.
There a plenty of films sitting on the shelf that have aged poorly, contain non-PC material and godawful dialogue that we could be administering new life to.
10. Electric Dreams (1984)
This strange, quirky little film first found its footing in the early 80s, weaving the story of a lonely man named Miles (played by Von Dohlen) who buys a computer that gains sentience after champagne is spilt on it (bit of an oddball descriptor but hey, it was the 80s).
The computer, Edgar (voiced by Bud Court), goes on to "fall in love" with Miles' neighbour and the story progresses with both man and machine trying to woo the beautiful cellist (played by Virginia Madsen) upstairs.
Electric Dreams (1984) is a weird film, much like Her (2013), but it demonstrates the modern dilemma of being too codependent on technology and looks through an introspective lens at what loneliness means to us as human beings. At surface level, it masquerades as a niche, sci-fi rom-com: underneath the aged graphics and 80s nostalgia, though, it's very much a narrative that follows personal reflection and growth.
A director who is hot off the heels of such themes is Greta Gerwig. She has demonstrated with Lady Bird (2017) an eye for beautiful cinematography, structured yet believable dialogue and flawed characters rooted in the mumblecore genre (wherein natural speech and relationships between characters are emphasised and focused on).
No doubt a modernisation of Electric Dreams by Gerwig would not only explore how dependent we are on big corporations now but how this affects our human connections as well.