> > October 18 - Carrie
> >
> > Also not for me is this retread of Carrie. The remake is trading on good will
> > over the 1976 Brian De Palma version, but the original wasn't actually a great
> > movie in the first place. The movie might get a little mileage in updating the
> > story to include cyberbullying,
>
> Hahahaha, what? And you think that's a good thing? Yikes.

Not particularly. It seems like a gimmick, honestly -- the most obvious way to update a story that doesn't need (deserve?) updating. But if I'm looking for a reason for a remake to exist at all, this is the only thing I can come up with that even has the potential.

> > October 18 - 12 Years a Slave
> >
> > Steve McQueen (not the Bullitt actor, the British director) takes on American
> > slavery as the topic of his third film. All evidence suggests this is going to
> > be tough to watch, as befitting the subject matter. What I don't know is
> > whether it'll be rewarding to slog through it. I mean, we already know slavery
> > is bad, right?
>
> I feel this might be liiiiittle bit like dismissing Schindler's List sight unseen. We already know the Holocaust is bad, right?

There is so much more to Schindler's List than that I wouldn't know how to enumerate it all. Which is exactly your point, right? But I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's too easy for me to envision this as two and a half hours of dwelling on cruelty, and then the credits roll. I may be wrong -- in fact, I *expect* I'm wrong -- but I don't think the people already raving in anticipation of this Important Event Movie are any more justified. Ultimately I'm not dismissing so much as suggesting a possibility that a lot of people don't seem to be considering.