Simply Cinema 6/22/26

Hello! Greetings! And welcome to Simply Cinema. Welcome. We are your hosts Maximilian Simonelli and Dustin Braga. So Dustin, today we have a kind of an interesting episode. Actually, before we get into it, I think we have to do the proper opening. Let's do it. Go! That's right. It's TV time. That's right. It's TV time. We have kind of a hybrid episode. We do. Today we're looking at movies that have been subsequently turned into shows. Yes. Yes, and we can talk about whether the show is better than the film, whether it's not better than the film, how it holds up to the source material, yada yada. Yes, in this new age of television, it seems that TV is quite the way to go. This new invention, TV, I don't think it's going to last. No, probably not. Here today, gone tomorrow. Anywho, our first example today is a show that has just come out. Yes. And so I want to just tell... Like three weeks ago. Yes, three weeks ago. I want to tell a quick little story. I was reading this article about how they're just taking movies and turning them into TV shows. The example was Amadeus, a movie from the 80s. They've now made it into a limited series. And as I'm reading the article, no sooner do I see the trailer for the first example we're going to cover today. And it actually looks interesting. I do want to see it. It does. But I also thought, really? Go figure. The example in question is Cape Fear. So interesting. So this was originally a book, which I did not read because this is not basically books. Not yet. Not yet. The original movie stars Robert Mitchum and Gregory Peck. Loose story is Robert Mitchum is an ex-convict who is trying to prey on the family of Gregory Peck to get revenge because Gregory Peck, for one reason or another, is the reason Robert Mitchum went to jail. And it's kind of just a suspense thriller. Good little movie. It's tight. It is. Cape Fear is tight. And then eventually they remade the movie in the 90s. Yeah. It's a Scorsese film. Believe it or not. And it doesn't feel like one, but it's good. Yeah. You got Robert De Niro taking over the Robert Mitchum character. Go figure. And Nick Nolte taking over the Gregory Peck character. And same basic story. I feel this is a rare example where the remake was better than the original. Yeah. I think that's just Scorsese doing his thing. I think the original, like the whole movie is the fact that it's Robert Mitchum and Gregory Peck. Two of them are great actors. Yeah. Whereas the remake is a little more entertaining. I won't get away. They also changed the story as to how Nick Nolte is responsible for why Robert De Niro went to jail. Personally, I think it's a much better. It works a lot better. Yes. So now they're making a limited series show with Javier Bardem and Amy Adams taking over the Nick Nolte character. Correct. And it also seems like, again, I don't want to say too much, they're changing the story again as to how this time Javier Bardem goes to jail. And I thought, okay, I'll give this a whirl. This might be interesting. But it seems like it's the same basic plot of ex-convict preying on his family just for revenge. And so, like I said, initially I thought, really? They're turning this into a show? Are they really that strapped for ideas? They have nothing new. But at the same time, it also intrigued me. What do you think? Yeah. I don't know. For this one, I think it's been enough time that a show could be adapted from the book. Because, I mean, the last time this was even adapted was in 1991. Yes, that's true. So I think it's been quite some time before, you know, Cape Fear has been around. True. So I think it's all right. Scorsese is still involved in this one. Executive producer. Yeah, he's executive producer as well as Steven Spielberg. I mean, that's a good recipe right there. The two of them, you know, kind of guiding, being the guiding force of this. Yeah, it could work. Yeah. I hear a lot of good things about it. Unfortunately, I didn't get to do it, mostly because of Apple. Yes. It's our favorite snag. Yeah. It's on Apple TV. Yes. And I'm just going to modify rant. Sure. All right. Well, here's the thing is that I haven't used my Apple account in quite some time. So I try to log in. Can't remember my password. Max, let me ask you a question. Sure. What usually happens when you click on, I don't know, forget password, forget password. It's been a while since I've done that, but I usually get aggravated. Yes. Yes. Yes. Very good. But what does the company do for you when you hit forget password? They don't do it. Damn thing. Tell you that much. Yeah. Yeah. Let me help you out here. Sure. All right. They either they send you like an email to like reset your password, send you a text, not Apple. Now they say, hey, you need it on either iPhone, iPad or Mac. Yeah. I don't have anything. My Mac died years ago and I got Android for phone and I don't really use tablets. So I want to have an iPad. So fight this. Yeah. Yeah. So I was like, all right, am I just up with that battle? There's a little button that said I don't have any of these places hit it. I have to go to an Apple store. Yes. You can watch the show at the Apple store. Why not? Technically. Yeah. Have a watch party. Yeah. Everyone at the Apple store. I mean, they have like that big screen. Hey guys, can I commandeer the TV for like 10, for maybe 10 hours? Yeah. Like 10 hours, like longer than the store's open. Like 50 hours. Yeah. Yeah. That'd be fun. Yeah. But I mean, it does look like a good show. It does, but I just can't believe the, the, the runaround that I have to do to just retrieve my account so I can just watch the dang show. Exactly. It's they don't make it fun. No, they did not make it fun, but I hear it's wonderful. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm still waiting for it to be like fully done. And then I'm going to, I personally don't not a fan of the, like, you know, Oh, you got to wait the week, you know, wait the episode for the next episode. Um, in, in the past, my family was watching shows and it was like, it would be like a year and a half for the next season. That's all I can say is I got to wait a year and a half for the next season. I go, that's why I wait for the show to be done. And then I can watch it and not binge it in a night, but like watch it when I want to watch it. Right. Kind of like you do with a film. That's why I typically on the whole prefer film. Yeah. Anyhow, that's true enough. But anyway, get out there and watch all versions of Cape Fear. All of it. And then tell Dustin how it was. Cause you won't be able to watch the show. Especially the Apple version. I'm just going to be there just writing Apple a very strongly worded letter. I'll be in a few weeks. Oh my, the show was so good. Yes. Huh. That must be nice. Tell me all about it. Yes. Yeah. Uh, well let's move on to something that I can watch. Yes. Yes. So real quick, this next example we have follows like the same trajectory as the Cape Fear franchise. Yes. This next ironically, ironically, yeah, it was a book. It was a movie made, I mean, roughly maybe about 10 years after the first Cape Fear, but around the same time, the movie was then remade into a nineties movie. And now it's a limited series show. The question, the example in question is day of the Jackal. Yeah. I had, I actually had not heard about this one. Yeah. You introduced this one to me. So the rich, I guess I did not read the book. The original was a movie from the seventies. Uh, Edward Fox, I believe is in the, let's go. Let's go to the computer. Yes. Edward Fox, uh, plays the mysterious assassin who's only known as the Jackal, uh, hired to assassinate the, uh, I believe to gall the French president at the time. Yes. And it's just an interesting, it's kind of a slow burn, not very kind of a, you know, espionage thriller, you know, but it does feel realistic to an extent. Um, then they remade it in the nineties with, he's not in the picture Bruce Willis as the movie was just called the Jackal. And they, I don't know how it's, how accurate it is to the book, but they changed the story. It's still about an assassin. Yeah. It was pretty loosely based on the book. Yeah. I think they took a lot of liberties with it. They turned it into kind of a revenge, uh, justice situation. Cause Richard gear seen in the picture on the right here is the, uh, Irish are wrongfully imprisoned guy who has a vendetta against the Jackal. Right. And Sidney Poitier interesting role is I believe the FBI agent who says, Hey, we'll get you out of jail if you help us hunt down this ruthless killer. Right. And you know, there's a couple of moments that kind of hearken back to the original, but not really. Yeah. Not really. It's just kind of its own thing, honestly. It is. And then they made a limited series with Eddie Redmayne, which came out two years ago, which I couldn't believe the timestamp on that. It's already been two years and the, the remake is definitely trying to pay homage. The original you're not getting too far. For sure. There's a scene where Eddie Redmayne is practicing with his rifle on the target. And it almost feels like a shot for shot. We make of when in the original Edward Fox is practicing with his rifle and using the exploding bullets to shoot up, shoot a melon. Yeah. And it's, it was, you could tell that the creators were heavily inspired by the original, but still trying to do their own thing. Yeah. I think they're, they're definitely modernizing the story. Yes. Uh, quite a bit. Yeah. Um, for good reason. Yes. I liked the modern interpretation. I got to say, I felt that the first half of the show was good. And then I felt like it kind of fell apart after that. Yeah. It's just, I don't know. It's there were choices made that I didn't quite like it. It kind of spirals a little bit, I would say. Um, I think, um, Eddie Redmayne. Yes. Spirally. I think Eddie Redmayne's character kind of maybe goes off the deep end a little bit. A little bit. Yeah. They had to like change or add some stuff to his character because it's a I didn't mind at first, but overall I think it takes away from what made him, what made the Jackal a cool character. Here's the thing is that it's obviously a slow burner. Oh yeah. Um, a little more action though, than the very original, which I did kind of like. Yeah. Yeah. Um, but I don't know, for me, it was writing a very thin line between being slow burn for like creatively and just kind of plotting you along. Yes. Yes. Just padding the runtime a little bit. Yeah. So maybe if it tightened it up itself up a little bit and maybe got a little more focused a little bit. Um, I'd say I'd probably like this a little bit more, but as it is, it, it's still intrigued me as a series. Um, I know it is getting a second season. It is okay. Mark my words. First of all, I didn't think that we're going to get a second season. They end the season with, Oh, they're trying to get a second one. And I thought, well, the reviews aren't that good. It's probably not going to happen as I'm watching. And I go, gee, I won't give it away. Is this particular character going to be the twist villain or like the secret he actually wanted this other person to be assassinated. So you marked my words. If they make a second season, we're going to find out one of the characters wanted another character to get killed and was secretly rooting for the Jackal or set it up in the first place. That is my prediction. Yeah. So you mark that down. Thank you. We will mark it. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. And the ending was, it was okay. It definitely subverted my expectations a little bit. Um, but it, it left off with the whole, it wasn't a cliffhanger, but it was definitely like, Hey, we're leaving the door open for more. And I go, that's not a finale, you know, I don't, he does what he set out to do, but it ends with there's room for more, but not in a good way. Not like a, this could be the end. It could not be right. You know, when a show does that, I feel, well, that's not the end. And then if it doesn't get the season, then you're just on a left exact hanging. Exactly. Yeah. So I don't like that. Yeah. Well, at least we are getting a psych season. That's true. So get out there and watch the original, the remake, if you have time and watch the new show. Cause again, up to a point, I liked it. Yeah. I think it's a, I think it's a pretty cool thriller. Yes. Again, very slow burn. Yes. So you're going to have to kind of really be about it if you want to watch it. Yes. Um, it's not like Yeah. Um, but, uh, I'd say it's, it's worth it. Okay. For me. Nice. Yeah. That's good. Yeah. Well, let's take a quick break. Sure thing. And when we come back, uh, more totally TV. Oh yeah. Stay tuned. And welcome back. Oh, Hey. So before we took a break, we'll be looking at some of our favorite movies that have been turned into shows. We covered Cape Fear and Day of the Jackal. And now we're going to shift gears a little bit, a little bit. Yeah. To, uh, to the funny, the whimsical side. Yeah. We have our next example scene here. What we do in the shadows. It's so hilarious. So this was, this was a quite a funny movie made by Taika Waititi about three vampires that are just roommates and basically their lives in that, despite being alive for like hundreds of years, just living in modern day, trying like trying to adjust probably adjust, but fit into the modern world, even though they still have this like pseudo Gothic, you know, classic traditional vampire aesthetic. Yeah. And it does not clash. Right. Right. And they eventually turned it into a TV show, which I gotta say, I liked that. It was, it was a different bunch of characters, you know? Cause it wasn't like, Oh, the character, uh, of Taika Waititi, let me see it in the movie here. Taika Waititi plays Viago and Jermaine Clement plays Vladislav. So it wasn't just two new actors playing those two characters, but it was the same feel of, okay, we have, we have vampires living in a house. They added the concept of there's a familiar. Yeah. There's like a human Guillermo, uh, scene. Let me see a second from the right on the bottom. He's like the human that has to take care of their day-to-day needs and whatnot, wants to become a vampire himself. And he also introduced the, there's an energy vampire. Yeah. This guy, uh, the, the, the bald man in glasses. I know the office. Yeah. His name is Yeah. Yeah. So he plays Colin and he's just this everyday looking guy, but his, his power is that he can like talk to you and just utterly bore you and drain you of your energy, thus sustaining him. It's so good. It's hilarious. Like I'll come up and just talk about like, yeah, to see there was a, it was a car crash. Yeah. A lot of people died. It's really sad. And just like, you get so, so sad and so bored and it gives him his self monotonous. Yeah. It's quite good. But so it was the same level of humor and it worked. It works incredibly well. Yeah. And the show did phenomenal. Yeah. Um, ended, I think not too long ago, I think a couple of years ago, uh, ran for six seasons. Yeah. Ran for six seasons. Pretty good run. Yeah. Um, didn't over say it's welcome, but I, I think the show, I want to say kind of eclipsed the movie. Okay. Um, as just kind of jokes per minute and also just format wise, I think the TV show works better. Okay. Um, and the film, yeah. Cause you have a lot more room for more hijinks, more situations. Yeah. Um, you feel that this is a thing that like the, the style of the writing lent itself to a show versus a film. Correct. I like that. Yeah. Yeah. I definitely had the much like, you know, again, as I've granted before shows that I prefer it, it dealt more with like the problem of the week versus like an overarching story. Right. You know, like there are moments that like, I mean, every show has moments of like, you have to see this at the end or it builds to this conclusion. Sure. But for the most part, it's okay. You could watch nearly any episode in any order and you'll enjoy it. That to me is what a show should be. Yeah. That's pretty much what we'll be doing the shadows is. Yeah. You can watch any episode that you want. And my start with episode four, my favorite is how the, the, at one point there's a, uh, a meeting, a gathering of vampires. Yes. The original cast members show up playing their parts. It was very good. And they also had other vamp, other actors who played vampires and you had Danny Trejo show up from dusk till dawn. You had till the Swinton show up from, I think the last lovers on earth. And then you even had, they even joked like, is Kiefer coming is Kiefer Sutherland coming? The lost boys is, um, oh, there was, I forget the last one. They might, maybe it was David Bowie, but don't quote me. But it was like, they were, they were referencing other vampire movies that weren't even in the same canon. It was like, okay, this is, this is funny. Yeah. It's fun. Just movie buffs out there. Oh yeah. It's quite funny. That's great. Yeah. Um, and just the show in general, it's just a hilarious, hilarious time. Yeah. So many good one-liners. I think Matt Barry just steals the show a lot. Yep. Yep. He was my dad's favorite character. Oh my God. Laszlo. Good show. Funny stuff. Yes. If you get the opportunity to absolutely watch what we do in the shadows. Yeah. It is very, very funny sitcom. Indeed. Indeed. Well, let's take another quick break. Sure thing. Suspense. I know we'll be back with our very last choice. Stay tuned. Welcome back. Thank you for joining us. Oh my God. So we were looking at shows that have been, I mean, our movies that have been made into shows as I was ranting before about how I prefer a show that is episodic and not told as an overarching story. Right. Our next example is the exact opposite of that. Correct. We have, so you wanted to talk about this example. I did. We have snow piercer. So I saw the original movie, uh, Bong Joon-ho. He also directed parasite, which won best picture for years. And that was brilliant. And this movie was pretty, pretty good stars, Chris Evans and Tilda Swinton. I just mentioned yeah. And they made, then they made a TV show and this show, again, I think because it's a drama, it's told in an overarching story that has to be watched from beginning to end. It builds, but they're on season. Are they on season three? Um, the entire show has ended. It had four seasons. Gotcha. Four seasons. Nice. Yeah. Um, it, uh, lasted, you know, it was a fine length, 10 episodes per season. Basic story is that the, the world has, uh, become a total frozen wasteland and there's this train called snow piercer that just continuously runs on tracks. And it's where all the people left alive live. But of course there is a class system where the really poor people have to eat, just gruel and live day to day. And the really rich people, uh, unbeknownst to the poor people, like the, the level of extravagance they have, they have like dentists and like fine, like fine dining and, you know, fine dining and breathing. And they have just, so it's about like, you know, like 1984 overthrowing the, the tyrannical government that keeps you, keeps you down. And, uh, you know, you, you travel with these characters. Chris Evans is the main character and, uh, you learn a few things along the way. So how similar do you feel is the show to the film? Um, in some ways it's, it's fairly similar. Um, I would say that the character archetypes are still there. Okay. Um, like the leader and overthrowing. Yeah. Yeah. It's still the same themes. Um, but I would say the show does a lot more heavy lifting and visually, um, separates the classes. Okay. I like that because I would say the movie is, um, the movie is a lot more because it's only two hours. Yes. So you can't really show everything that the train has to offer. Yes. Uh, so the separation between classes isn't extreme. Yeah. But the show, you go from the tail, which they call it the tailings, uh, to kind of the middle class or working class. And then you go up to a middle class and then you have first class and it's this super stark difference from the caboose to the engine. Exactly. Nice. Yeah. And it is, um, I think it drives home the class and overthrowing system a lot better than the movie did. Okay. So you feel like it, this story is, is better told through like multiple seasons of a show versus a two hour window. Yeah. Cause you have, um, it is based off of a graphic novel and the train itself is, I think like what they say, a thousand and one cars long. Yeah. Something like that. So it's showing all of that in a two hour movie is kind of, they had to gloss over possible. Yeah. Yeah. I got you. So having a show to just stretch it out is phenomenal. So you feel that they utilize the time versus trying to like pad the runtime? Yes. They, they definitely utilize their time. I think, um, it does lose some subtlety that Bong Joon-ho had. He's good. Yeah. I gotta say he, um, I gotta say he's definitely a good driver watching parasite and thinking this, this with the exception of old boy, I think this is like my favorite like foreign film that was up there. Yeah. Yeah. He's good. Oh yeah. Um, also visually. Oh, beautiful. Yeah. It's uh, I think the movie is, is really grimy. Um, it's, it's kind of hard to look at at some point. You feel like the film. Yeah. You can, yeah. Yeah. Um, the, um, the show cleaner. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Did they spend a little more time with the high class people? Cause that would obviously have to be like, well, look at this. It's clean and decadent. Yeah. It was a good like 50, 50 split I'd say. Okay. Um, so yeah, you do get the differentiation between high class and low class and what they all have to go through. Um, I think it's done pretty darn well. Okay. Uh, some spots are a little, but, um, I'm so far enjoying it. Nice. Uh, haven't completed it yet. Only on season three. That's okay. But quick little thing about the story. I noticed how, so like we were saying with, um, or with what we do in the shadows, how they're, the show is the same concept, but it's different characters. Yes. Whereas in this show, I see that I'll say the villain, Mr. Wilford in the movie played by Ed Harris and in the show played by Sean Bean. So another version of the character. Yes. But it looks like the main characters aren't like, it doesn't look like Chris Evans was he, he plays Curtis. I don't see a Curtis in the show. So again, different characters, but fulfilling the same role. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, the Chris Evans character is, um, and this one's played by Daveed Diggs. Uh, but he's playing Andre Layton. Yes. So different character, but again, doing the, doing the same job. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and Jennifer Connelly's in it too. Yeah, she is. Um, she's pretty darn good at it. Yeah. She's good. Uh, yeah. This show actually fun fact, um, it's a lot different than what it originally was. Okay. They shot an entire pilot. Um, and it was directed by Scott Derrickson, Josh Friedman and, uh, Scott Derrickson, who was like the director of, Oh, Dr. Strange. Yes. Um, he said it was the best pilot, uh, he ever read. So he directed it. They did their thing. TNT, who was the network that this was on, it was just like, eh, I don't know. Yep. Story as old as time. How was that be changing the art? Yep. So they, they let them go out of creative differences and then politely asked to leave. Yes. And then they made, uh, another pilot that, uh, was kind of similar. Um, but you can actually read the entire script to that original pilot online. Uh, very, very different. It's funny. We're in this era now where like, again, you can, you can read what could have been, you can watch videos about like what could have been, you can even see footage of like that was edited out, like deleted scenes, extended cuts, the original idea. And I do like that that exists because it gives every artist like, you know, this is what I want it to do. But at the same time, I also hate it because it's like, I don't know. I just think that like, it saddens me when I go like the film should just be the film. Yeah. I granted I like older movies where that stuff isn't available, but it probably still exists. It's just, we just don't know what's there, but out of sight, out of mind. Right. So, well, maybe some, at some point the pilot will just reappear. Maybe someday. Maybe. No. But anyhow, uh, get out there and watch these examples. We're going to do a Cape Fear day of the Jackal. What we do in the shadows and snow piercer. Yes. Really quick. Uh, definitely watch the movie because there are those who theorize that the film, that the film is in fact a sequel to the gene Wilder Willy Wonka. I don't know about that. It's very far fetched. I'm watching a video and some of the stuff they brought up. I thought, all right, I don't buy it, but there's stuff there that I go. There's some connection. There's some, I could, I could go with it. It's like, it's very far fetched, but it's like, Hey, why not? It's fun. Yeah. You know, it's nice to theorize. Yeah. It's a fun little conspiracy theory. Well, thank you guys for so much for tuning in. Yes. And, uh, we will see you next week where we're going to have a great another topic. Happy, uh, belated Juneteenth happy early fathers. Well, when we're recording this early father's day, happy father's day by the time this airs and, uh, yeah. Watch some movies, watch some TV shows. Right. Yeah. And right. Strongly word letter to Apple. Indeed. Get this man some support. Yes. Why Apple? Why? Why? Uh, see you later. Bye.