So many remakes! That never happened before, and nothing good can ever come of it. No one ever made a movie or TV show or song off a spuriously slight initial concept and just ran with some shit and ended up with anything entertaining--before it used to be hours and hours of research and collation and correlation before an idea was even raised.

I hate newfangled everything. Everything sucks.

I saw that Lionsgate (I think) is remaking Rebecca. THERE IS NO NEED FOR THIS. I don't get it.

I KNOW! I totally want to grab Hollywood by its lapels and shout, "Have an idea!"

I see at least one Hollywood movie in the theatre a month. Call me a slut without discretion, but I enjoy at least half of those, and I know that there are movies I don't see in the cinema that were worth watching too.

Let's not talk about the amount of TV I enjoy. Or that Shakespeare used other people's ideas. Flat out: the amount of fiction I find to consume and enjoy is not insufficient in any way in 2012. So I don't care.

If someone makes a really good Rebecca movie, then great! I hope plenty of people enjoy and appreciate both making and watching it.

I guess I'm a husk like Sean. rosenbaum doesn't hit my buttons.

A new version of Rebecca certainly won't tarnish the old one, but there are so many new books out there that could be adapted, and screenwriters writing original scripts, I can't see the point in remaking something that was done nearly perfectly the first time around. It's a great story, but there are a lot of those if you know where to look.

And it's not to say that I won't see a remake, because curiosity alone would demand it. I watched the remake of Psycho, but that seems like a great case in point -- it was supposed to be almost identical shot for shot, unless I'm remembering wrong, but it was in color. And the point of that was ...?

I know what you mean. But sometimes they work out...Ocean's Eleven, for instance.

And the point of that was ...?

The Psycho remake was a thought experiment - an experimental film masquerading as a commercial remake. (Which is to say, it was never meant to be viewed in isolation. It only makes sense in relation to the original.)

I can't see the point in remaking something that was done nearly perfectly the first time around

What if the people remaking it don't think the first time was perfect? What if they think they have something to add in how they'll tell the story?

They may be wrong, in your eyes, but if they can pull together the resources, why shouldn't they try?

I think the idea of "adapting" the game Battleship into a movie is incredibly ludicrous, but, on the flip side, they can tell any damn story they want. From reading the script, I don't like the story they told, so I won't go see it. But I don't feel some arbitrary standard is compromised by them trying--it's just a shame if they fail.

And, seriously, as much as I think the Transformers movies have been deeply stupid, it's not because they were an adaptation. Or that Pirates II sucked because it was a sequel to something based on a theme park ride. Plenty of original ideas suck too.

There's a point at which it's just a thing. Retelling stories isn't new--are we supposed to suddenly stop what's been happening since about the third story was told? Is it because there's more and more money in it that it becomes a worse offense?

A new version of Rebecca certainly won't tarnish the old one, but there are so many new books out there that could be adapted, and screenwriters writing original scripts, I can't see the point in remaking something that was done nearly perfectly the first time around. It's a great story, but there are a lot of those if you know where to look.

Wasn't Rebecca itself a conscious attempt to create a Jane Eyre type story, though?