Topic: Short Circuit (2013)

[samuelrichardscott]

To be written/directed by Tim Hill. The character played by Ally Sheedy will be a pre-teen this time according to some sites...
Quote from 24 Frames:

The thing that makes it so relevant is that we live in this age of robots, particularly when it comes to war. We have drones that do our fighting for us, do all these jobs men and women don’t want to do. And that’s what makes this so interesting — things like this moment in the story when Johnny realizes he’s going to be disassembled and contemplates death, and whether it’s right to terminate someone else.

Fpor the look:

I’m tempted to go back and grab the original. But I think it has to be closer to what modern design actually is. There are computer models and labs developing real machines like this. We want to do something like that. You’ve got to find the balance between something fierce and something endearing. The original was cute. But no one was threatened by it.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/movies/2012/04/short-circuit-tim-hill-remake-director-american-reunion.html?_r=true

I love the first but the fact Ally Sheedy was of a reasonable age definately helped the story. And to make Johnny 5 menacing? Hmmm, not sure I like these ideas.

[Najemikon]

Yeah, but he was menacing at the end of Short Circuit 2. That was my favourite movie line when I was a kid: "Oscar! You will not get away! I am really pissed off!" 

I'd be more interested in this if they used the original robot.

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

It's just like Jimmy frequently says: Instead of ruining great movies by attempting a remake, they should try to make great movies out of the junk.
Battlefield Earth would be a good start with this premise.

[samuelrichardscott]

Yeah, but he was menacing at the end of Short Circuit 2. That was my favourite movie line when I was a kid: "Oscar! You will not get away! I am really pissed off!" 

I'd be more interested in this if they used the original robot.

 

I used to get a bollocking off my mam for reciting this a lot after watching it repeatedly on VHS... It's from the second when he helps unlock all the cars:
Los locos kick your ass. Los locos kick your face. Los locos kick your balls INTO OUTER SPACE!

[Najemikon]

 

These movies were just great. Even the dreadful not-an-Indian.

[Jimmy]

Battlefield Earth would be a good start with this premise.

Or like I said back in october

"Probably the only time you will read this coming from me, but a remake of this one (Time Walker) would be a good idea."

[Blair]

Yeah, but he was menacing at the end of Short Circuit 2. That was my favourite movie line when I was a kid: "Oscar! You will not get away! I am really pissed off!"  

Probably not my favorite, but yea. That got a huge laugh when I saw it the first time.

But also, another line around that same time. The bad guys are speaking in pig Latin to communicate so that Johnny doesn't understand. Eventually he catches on: "Ewscray, ouyay, ozzobay."

 


All that I can hope for is that this movie is remade in a way that marches today far more than anything from the 80s. Just like War Games, for instance, the newness of home-computer technology made us innocent enough to think something like Short Circuit was possible (maybe not having real emotions, but being programmed to behave in such a way.)

Kids are no longer innocent to technology, and the cheeziness from the original wouldn't fit in this decade. Simultaneously, we have already experienced amazing robotic realism in films like Transforners, so there isn't really anything new that they could bring to the table in terms of, "OMG! Is that really possible?!"


Then again, I was wrong about the recent Karate Kid film (I haven't seem it; I'm speaking only of ratings,) so who knows.

[Jimmy]

Then again, I was wrong about the recent Karate Kid film (I haven't seem it; I'm speaking only of ratings,) so who knows.

Not really... It isn't that hard to get good rating with a big marketing machine and the boxoffice means nothing anymore as any Hollywood films is force fed to the public... Usually it isn't long that people forgot and don't give a damn about those highly marketed unsubstantial film. I know some here don't like it when I use the term but most actual movie goers are dumb and don't really care of what they watch as long as something move on the screen...

[Najemikon]

Jimmy, it's fine to criticise the idea of remaking a film because that's an idiot lazy producer calling the shots. However it's wrong to say the audience is "dumb" or that they are being "force fed". I wish you'd realise how insulting that is! I mean, I watched the new Karate Kid and gave it a decent rating. Logically, that clearly makes me one of them. 

You need to give people more respect because most of the time the system works. Bad films fail, good films succeed. Whether a film is a remake or not has no impact on how well it plays. It's either made well (at least sufficiently so) or made badly. Audiences aren't idiots and sort the worst out themselves by ignoring them. The truth is, they are there for a good time and don't need to know or care whether the film is a remake. And anyway, the target audience of Karate Kid and what will be Short Circuit will be far too young to even know about the originals. So what?

As someone who loves film, I wish cinema was more ambitious and original in general, mainly because I trust that audiences will still want to watch it (Inception proved that) and if it's truly deserving of praise they will demand a higher standard. But any criticism I have is aimed right at the studio, not the people watching the product. When an independent film fails, it isn't because an audience rejected it, but because the distributor couldn't afford to advertise it. Or the cinema didn't dare play it against the hyped up blockbuster.

So please, rail against the studios who commission this stuff as much as you want. Mourn the potential loss of the original films to modern audiences all you like (even if they don't want to watch them anyway). Just stop dismissing them (us) as idiots.

[Jimmy]

However it's wrong to say the audience is "dumb" or that they are being "force fed".

Sorry but the majority of the movie goers are dumb sheeps whatever you like it or not (BTW I've never said all of them are). How can you explain, if they are that interested by what is on the screen, why they can't STFU and watch a film silently? or why they can't turn off their cellular or any portable devices for 1h30?

By forced fed I mean that a choice isn't available. You watch the movies the studio want you to watch, there are no alternative as those movies take 99.9% of the cinema screens. It's just a return at the time when the studio were the owners of the theatres and shown what they wanted to....

[Najemikon]

However it's wrong to say the audience is "dumb" or that they are being "force fed".

Sorry but the majority of the movie goers are dumb sheeps whatever you like it or not (BTW I've never said all of them are). How can you explain, if they are that interested by what is on the screen, why they can't STFU and watch a film silently? or why they can't turn off their cellular or any portable devices for 1h30?

Yeah, but that's not the majority. They're just arseholes and are probably arseholes in every walk of their life.

[Jimmy]

And this is what I have always said Jon. I really don't understand why you think that my "dumb" comment refer to every single person going at the movie theatre.

[Najemikon]

Simply because that's how your original comment comes over. You implied that Karate Kid was only successful because people are dumb sheep who don't care what they are watching and there's nothing else available anyway.

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

However it's wrong to say the audience is "dumb" or that they are being "force fed". I wish you'd realise how insulting that is! I mean, I watched the new Karate Kid and gave it a decent rating. Logically, that clearly makes me one of them. 

  (Start)
First of all Jimmy didn't speak of "All", but of "Most".
Second he didn't say that you have automatically to be considered as mentally challenged when liking a certain film. But obviously that it's possible to like a good film for the false reasons.
You will always find people that like Kill Bill for the mass of film-blood shed, others will like it because they were able to find 1005 kowtows to other historically more or less important films, many will dislike it because it has nothing originally new, but is merely plagiarizing. Guess in which of these three groups you will find the most members of the group Jimmy so graphically described as "dumb".

What he criticised was the way that many people in the audience are nowadays consuming movies. The word "dumb" describes these people very well in my experience (even though "arseholes" might be even more fitting), but as long as you go to the cinema to actually watch a movie it is very unlikely that you will belong to this group.

  (End)

[Jimmy]

What he criticised was the way that many people in the audience are nowadays consuming movies. The word "dumb" describes these people very well in my experience (even though "arseholes" might be even more fitting), but as long as you go to the cinema to actually watch a movie it is very unlikely that you will belong to this group.

Exactly what I meant when I wrote "the majority of the movie goers are dumb sheeps". They don't care about what they watch as long as something move on the screen. Of course if somebody care about what happen on the screen, not for an explosion but for the story, that somebody isn't a "dumb sheep" anymore in my book. The fact I like or not what that somebody like is irrevelent...

But I know Jon like to pull my leg to get a reaction out of me and he succeed everytime

Now do you think they will make a transformer or a Robocop of Johnny 5