’90s Movies, Modern Remakes
We’re on the record as lovers of all things nineties. So when we hear about nineties movies being remade, that’s a guaranteed trip to the movie theatre for us. Sometimes they’re great, sometimes they’re not so great—but they’re always fun.
Total Recall
It isn’t Arnie’s most beloved flick, but Total Recall is a sci-fi gem thanks to a wide VHS release and dorms full of college kids re-watching it to figure out whether Arnie’s adventures on Mars were meant to be real or not.
The 2012 remake, by contrast, isn’t so well remembered. Why? It might be due to a severe lack of Arnold Schwarzenegger, or maybe it just wasn’t as meme-worthy.
Mortal Kombat
This 1995 adaptation of the video game your mom didn’t want you playing is famously terrible, but in a fun and campy way. They hired fighters who couldn’t act, actors who couldn’t fight, and some people who couldn’t do either. Also, the ending is claymation. And what’s up with the hamster balls?
Well, fans of the game finally got the movie they deserved with the 2021 remake. The fights are good, the plot makes more sense, and they finally gave our boy Sub-Zero something cool to do.
12 Monkeys
Terry Gilliam’s 1995 neo-noir time-travel movie is a masterpiece. So any remake was bound to fail, right?
Well, the 2015 TV series is actually very good and got better and better with each season. The time travel is a lot more interesting and the performances from Aaron Stanford and Amanda Schull are fantastic.
Point Break
Bodhi (Patrick Swayze) is the leader of a gang of surfers who rob banks wearing masks of presidents, so obviously FBI agent Johnny Utah (Keanu Reeves) needs to learn how to surf to break into their world. And if that premise sounds silly to you, then you must not be on board for the 100% pure adrenaline of this Kathryn Bigelow thrill ride.
The 2015 remake had Edgar Ramirez and Luke Bracey in it. They didn’t really have the same chemistry, so the film didn’t have the same energy.
She’s All That / He’s All That
Okay, in fairness, She’s All That is just My Fair Lady, which is just Pygmalion. But apparently we as a society love stories about popular guys who turn dorky, unpopular girls into the toast of society—or prom queen, in this case.
The Netflix remake swaps the genders though, and in doing so breathes new life into the formula. The real question is, who’s the better couple? Freddie Prinze Jr. and Rachael Leigh Cook or Addison Rae and Tanner Buchanan?
Power Rangers
If you were an elementary school student in 1994, there’s a good chance you wanted to grow up to be a Mighty Morphin Power Ranger. Here’s the thing about the 2017 remake of the TV series/films: it’s a lot better. The original was a pretty low-budget affair. The movie fixes that, and it also gives us a group of Power Rangers who are actually interesting to watch and seem like real people. Rumour has it there’s another remake in the works.
