The occasional remake doesn't bother me that much(and much as I liked the original Arthur, I think I'd be amused by the latest one,) but I do sometimes think it's getting to be too much of a crutch and/or I'm worried that people old enough to be my kids will only see my old childhood crap in a new package. Which really strikes me as wrong, somehow, in a way I'm having trouble describing. TV is SO MUCH better than most movies right now.

The musical doesn't count as a remake?

I've never seen it, and I refuse to believe it exists. Rosalind Russel is the only possible Auntie Mame. (I may be a touch irrational about this, I admit it.)

On the other hand, I want as many remakes and versions of Dracula as possible, because then someday SOMEONE may get it right.

TV is SO MUCH better than most movies right now.

I would concur. Hell, Justified pretty much gives us what I would've called movie-quality show every week.

what I would've called movie-quality show every week

Do people just ignore Plan 9 from Outer Space when they say movie-quality? And its ilk, I mean. I guess I remain unconvinced movies are worse than they ever were.

I don't think I am, and I can only speak for myself. I mean, I sat (most of the way) through Mixed Nuts.

I think tv shows are getting more nuanced and complex and movies are getting more formulaic. Not across the board, but trending.

Still haven't seen it yet. Bad media geek, no biscuit. Must conflict with Maddow, because otherwise? Olyphant+ Leonard=swooning But as Rachel Maddow goes, so goes my nation.

You can watch it (late) on Hulu.

Barry Levinson said some time ago that if you want stories about people, you want television.

I do get annoyed when a derivation pisses on the source material. For instant the key to Constantine's character a principled rebel and a selfish bastard. And the "principled rebel" bit is opposition to kings and parliaments, gods, devils and angels alike. So when the movie has as a subplot Constantine fighting to save his soul from damnatation and get back into God's grace, that pretty much does piss on the central premise. Not enough of the "selfish bastard" either, though to be fair the source Constantine has a huge noble "defy risks for the greater good, or for the good of friends and family" streak too. Part of the interest of Constantine is seeing the genuinely altruistic side and the selfish bastard coexisting in the same person. (Some of the worst things Constantine does is sacrificing OTHER people for the greater good, and to be fair, we do get a glimpse of that in the film.) One place the bastard and the altruistic reconcile in Constantine is that both halves of his personality are anarchists, and both haves will take huge risks, and go to great trouble, to say "screw you" to cause trouble for authority.

IMO opinion, the film pisses on its Hellblazer source pretty throughly. And its not deconstruction, not satire. Could have called the character "Julian" and not tied it to "Hellblazer" at all.