1. Let Me In (2010) / Låt den rätte komma in (2008)



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Fans of Swedish coming-of-age teen-vampire movie (and if a film ever defied categorization, it's this one) Let the Right One In passionately swear by it and would likely swear at the people behind its Hollywood remake, Let Me In.

But the truth is that Hollywood hasn't let them down.



Director Matt Reeves (best known for helming Cloverfield) cannily co-wrote Let Me In's screenplay with John Ajvide Lindqvist, who penned the original Swedish novel.

The update casts Chloë Grace Moretz in the lead role of Abby, and neither she nor the always reliable Richard Jenkins (the father) disappoint, with the action moving from Stockholm to New Mexico (both locations appear equally cold).



It'll inevitably be called "the thinking man's Twilight," and with good reason. The right movie is indeed being let in to theaters.














2. Some Like it Hot (1959) / Fanfaren der Liebe (1952)



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You may not know much about the German film Fanfaren der Liebe (Fanfares of Love), but know this: it provided the inspiration for Billy Wilder's Some Like it Hot.

And it can't compete with the wonderful Wilder's wild reimagining, as his power-packed cast, featuring the late Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon — musicians who turn to drag to escape the Mob — along with Marilyn Monroe, lit up the screen.


And while Monroe seemed to have a touch of the Lohans about her ("very tough to work with," Wilder would later tell Cameron Crowe), the film remains one of the greatest comedies ever made. "Nobody's perfect," is, of course, what the famous last line tells us.

Perhaps so. But Some Like it Hot comes pretty close.














3. 12 Monkeys (1996) / La Jetée (1962)



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Strictly speaking, La Jetée is a short, clocking in at 28 minutes. And so the remake feels bigger (and better) in every way, fleshing out the original theme of time travel in the aftermath of war.

Swapping Paris for the slightly less glamorous locations of Baltimore and Philadelphia, director Terry Gilliam — of Brazil and Time Bandits fame — coaxes stellar performances out of Brad Pitt and Bruce Willis.

Credit too must be given to Janet and David Peoples, whose screenplay sits proudly alongside their equally haunting Blade Runner and Unforgiven.














4. The Magnificent Seven (1960) / Seven Samurai (1954)



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It's nigh on impossible to pick between Akira Kurosawa's and John Sturges' epics. But what a pleasure it is trying to work it out.

The original's plot, of a 16th century Japanese village hiring a band of samurai to ward off marauding bandits, was arguably Kurosawa's paean to the work of John Ford in his early westerns.

Sturges decided to load his version with star names, each one bigger than the last (Yul Brynner! James Coburn! Robert Vaughn! Charles Bronson! Steve McQueen!), and their considerable charisma, along with stunning set pieces and a truly memorable score, may just tip the balance in its favor.

But there's no dishonor in disagreeing.














5. Scent of a Woman (1992) / Profumo di Donna (1974)



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Inspired by the original Italian film from the mid-'70s, Scent of a Woman is all Al Pacino, all the time, and you'd have to be blind not to see it.

Pacino plays the blind (and bitter) former Vietnam army officer Frank Slade, who has a misguided teenager with a heart of gold named Charlie Simms (Chris O'Donnell, who never received the praise he deserved) look after him.

Slade plans a final weekend before ending it all — one can view his trip to New York as kicking the bucket list — and thus we're treated to the Pacino playbook at its finest: the dancing of a mean tango, the barking of orders ("Just call me Frank. Call me Mr. Slade. Call me ... Colonel, if you must. Just don't call me 'Sir.' "), the charming of the fairer sex and that catchphrase ("Wooh-ha!").

It was a calling card good enough to win him that elusive Oscar.

6. Solaris (2002) / Solyaris (1972)


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There's nothing for Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky to be ashamed of in Solyaris, which was essentially his response to what he perceived to be the problem with Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey: an unhealthy obsession with technology

("Kubrick is intoxicated with all this, and he forgets about man, about his moral problems," said Tarkovsky).



But the remake, expertly and exquisitely executed by Steven Soderbergh, has no such preoccupation. Indeed, he's said that he didn't intend Solaris to be a remake of Tarkovsky's film but rather a new version of Stanislaw Lem's novel.

What's more, it manages to extract that all too rare achievement from a sci-fi film: emotion. Both George Clooney, playing a psychologist sent to investigate a troubled space mission, and Natasha McElhone as his character's (late) wife Rheya give real gravitas to Solaris.

The movie is also mercifully short for the genre, clocking in at barely over 90 minutes. (Tarkovsky took 165.)














7. The Departed (2006) / Infernal Affairs (2002)



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Al Pacino isn't the only person to finally nab an Oscar thanks to a Hollywood remake: Martin Scorsese managed it too.

His retelling of the Hong Kong cult favorite Infernal Affairs finally earned him that Best Director statue.


He moved the action to Boston — and the sound track to the Rolling Stones — as we find a cop played by Leonardo DiCaprio pretending to be a bad guy in Frank Costello's (Jack Nicholson) gang while Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) acts as Leo's mirror image in the police.

For those keeping score, Damon edges DiCaprio in the acting stakes, but they're both overshadowed by Nicholson's manic Costello ("Hey — heavy lies the crown!")

It's as if the veteran knew he was unlikely to get a part of this stature again — and you can read as much into that title of The Departed as you please. When told that an elderly lady is "on the way out," Nicholson seems to perk up. "We all are!" he booms. "Act accordingly!"














8. A Fistful of Dollars (1964) / Yojimbo (1961)



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Akira Kurosawa was at it again with his riffing off John Ford westerns (and film noir in general) with Yojimbo, his tale of a mercenary samurai selling his services to two rivals before settling down to witness the inevitable destruction.

So it's probably a tad hypocritical to accuse Sergio Leone of lacking originality with his fairly faithful remake.


And yes, while strictly speaking, A Fistful of Dollars is an Italian-German-Spanish spaghetti western, it does star Clint Eastwood and was released in the U.S. (indeed, it was a United Artists publicity campaign that referred to Eastwood's character as the "Man with No Name.")

Throw in that score, along with violence that lingers long after the end credits have rolled, and you just have enough time to catch your breath to learn that the Man with No Name actually did have one in the original script.

And it was as American as they come: Joe.














9. The Birdcage (1996) / La Cage aux Folles (1978)



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Robin Williams and Nathan Lane — clearly having the time of his life — star in this mid-'90s remake of a French farce. The pitch sells itself: it's the movie about a gay man whose son wants him to play it straight for a few days!


What lifts The Birdcage over La Cage aux Folles is the devilish screenplay by Elaine May ("Live on Fisher Island and get buried in Palm Beach — that way you'll get the best of Florida!") and canny casting by director Mike Nichols.

His most inspired decision was to cast Gene Hackman as the conservative Senator Keeley. Hackman shows his sadly underused comedic talent, encapsulated in the scene in which he's in a lather over which clergyman should officiate at his daughter's wedding.

The Pope? "Too controversial." Billy Graham? "Too liberal."














10. Funny Games (2008) / Funny Games (1997)



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And just to prove that you can be too clever for your own good, the mercurial Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke actually remade his own movie.

Ten years separated Funny Games — Haneke's English-language debut — from its 1997 original.


Language and recognizable names (Naomi Watts, Tim Roth) aside, it's almost a shot-for-shot retelling, delving into the emotional and physical effects of violence while questioning the viewer's need to watch it unfold in the first place.

And that makes the following bit of advice all the more apt: disregard both versions, and watch the director's undoubted masterpiece, Caché (Hidden), instead.

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2022318_2022320_2022324,00.html

Very good list. I didn't know that Scent of a Woman was remake of a foreign film.

I like The Magnificent Seven but The Seven Samuri is much better.

Reservoir Dogs should be on there.