More of the same

I hate to push the same point twice - especially in the very first two posts of what was supposed to be a fresh and wide-ranging blog - but I can't let this piece of information I heard yesterday go unsaid.
For some unholy reason or another, Columbia Pictures has decided in their infinite wisdom that the one thing we really need to have in our multiplexes is......wait for it.......a remake (or should that be "re-imagining"?) of Total Recall.
Yes, that's right. A campy science fiction film that featured the now-Governor of California is going to be cranked up into a 21st Century blockbuster. More explosions! More special effects! A chick with three boobs! And it'll probably be in 3-D too.
It's frustrating and downright insulting that these studio twats think this is the way to promote a serious art and entertainment form. Of course, there's nothing wrong with blockbuster summer films. In fact many of them can be fun and enjoyable. But for Gods sake, make them have just a little tiny spark of originality.
It seems like the only way to get any kind of budget green-lit these days is by bringing in a long-dead franchise or piece of nostalgia and promising to appeal to the 20 and 30-something internet generation who were fans of the original. You can see the dead eyes of the exec as he grins over the twitching corpse of the A-Team or G.I Joe and goes: "You know what chaps? If we put in some tanks exploding and sprinkle all of the well-known catchphrases throughout this piece of shit, we'll make some serious money. Just think of all those world-weary internet types out there who will pay us £10 a go to watch it. Chuck, where's my chequebook?"
I can't be alone in remembering times where there was some proper originality in film. I'm praying for something to come along soon that has the same kind of bright potential as Clerks or Heathers did during the intellectual meltdown of the 1990s, but it doesn't look like happening in the near future.
Until then, we're stuck with sequels and re-makes. This year alone will see such masterpieces as Terminator 4, Transformers 2, Night at the Museum 2, St Trinian's 2, Alvin & the Chipmunks 2, Ice Age 3, Harry Potter 6, and remakes of the Taking of Pelham 123 and the Wolf Man. Next year, it's Nanny McPhee 2, Sex and the City 2 and remakes of Clash of the Titans and Robin Hood.
Pass me the Domestos and wake me up when 2011 gets here.