Random movie review: Manchurian Candidate redux (1 Viewer)

[Yatman]

Never saw Denzel's remake until tonight because, remakes. Worse than the original in every regard.

Streep couldn't carry Lansbury's jock, which she undoubtedly wore as Queen of Diamonds.

Hopefully this can preclude others wasting time on the Demme rehash; rent the Real MC instead.

That is all.

 

[RetroMcBananaFace]

This is one of those movies that has such bad word of mouth and I finally got around to watching it a couple years ago and thought "they said this was terrible, why?"

It's obviously not half as good as the original but it's a decent enough flick if you can take it on its own merits.

 

[SigFreudianSlip]

Hmmm. Have never seen either of them. I’ll try the first one.

 

[Brock Meaux]

I rewatched it recently as well. It's not a modern classic or anything, but it's competently made, and everyone gives good performances.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

When I first heard the decision to reconceive Manchurian Candidate as an immersive performance art piece and stage it in DC, I thought it was far fetched
Very questionable casting (it’s really hard to believe in he characters much of the time)
But the crazy plots are super compelling and it seems like there’s no idea too crazy for the writers room

 

[livefromDC]

Sometimes remake reviews are well deserved. Sometimes its nostalgia that gets the best of the remake and people dont like the remake simply because it's not the original. I saw the remake of True Grit before I saw the original and thought it was better in every way. We have originality bias. That can make it hard to compare movies because instead of judging it on its own merits, we compare it to the look and tonation of the original. Having said that...

As far as Manchurian Candidate, I haven't seen either one.

 

[Brad Mojo]

[Spoilers from the original]

Spoilers from original film

I'll never forget the first time I saw MC (original). The only thing I had ever seen Landsbury in was Murder She Wrote so I thought of her as a grandmother type. When she whipped out those cards and revealed her true nature my jaw hit the floor. FIlm at its best.

 

[SigFreudianSlip]

Sometimes remake reviews are well deserved. Sometimes its nostalgia that gets the best of the remake and people dont like the remake simply because it's not the original. I saw the remake of True Grit before I saw the original and thought it was better in every way. We have originality bias. That can make it hard to compare movies because instead of judging it on its own merits, we compare it to the look and tonation of the original. Having said that...

As far as Manchurian Candidate, I haven't seen either one.

I loved the True Grit remake so much I won’t even watch the original. Lol.

 

[MLU]

The second was only thought less of because the first one was so good. If the only one made had been the second one, people would have felt differently about it. Neither of them is bad, but Lansbury gives it the edge.

 

[Yatman]

Hollywood money grab, taking name and plot of the hit and rebooting with no connection to Manchuria other than a fictitious company name. Lazy, unimaginative, typical.

Would've rated a simple meh if they'd titled it something else and let me notice the similarity.

 

[Madmarsha]

I am rewatching this now and I cannot for the life of me ever remember seeing the very first scene before the title cards come up of the squad getting ambushed by the Russians in North Korea. Anyway, is this like what MK Ultra does?