Darren Aronofsky revives Robocop

Apparently to be a sequel set in Los Angeles 20 years after the original.

I've begun to wonder if there are creative types these days who are demanding contracts which safeguard their intellectual property from being remade like some shit twenty years after the fact. I certain hope so.

I've been repping Robocop IRL lately, here's hoping Aronofsky doesn't leave his usual simian-heavy ART FILM handprints all over it.

Road to Perdition is one of my favorite movies, so I'm optimistic there. Seem to recall a hatefest thread on here somewhere though.

BALD ROBOCYBORGS FLOATING IN TREEBUBBLES THRUOGH SPACE

road to perdition is one of your favourite movies??

and you're decrying heavy-handed art film-isms?

it would be better if it was still set in detroit, this nouveau-robocop.

Much as I don't care for Aronofsky or that they're doing this at all, it can't be worse than Robocop III.

road to perdition is one of your favourite movies??

-- s1ocki, Friday, July 25, 2008 4:56 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

and you're decrying heavy-handed art film-isms?

-- s1ocki, Friday, July 25, 2008 4:58 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

lol seriously

i dont really have an objection to this... it's not like the franchise is at a high point right now and i wouldnt mind seeing what aronofsky does with a straight genre pic. what do we have to lose

I like Aronofsky, but I really can't imagine him making a Robocop movie. Then again, he has shown a liking to high-concept science fiction, so maybe it'll be heavier on the sci-fi side and lighter on the action side (which of course could be bad for a Robocop flick).

Can he do the wonderful macabre humour? ("Somebody call a paramedic!")

seriously, i doubt it, considering how dreary and leaden his three films have been.

Yeah, humour doesn't seem to be his strong side. I think the "dreary and leaden" style fit Pi and The Fountain quite well though, since both of them are good movies. (Requiem for a Dream less so, that was were his overt seriousness and hyper-drama felt like too much.) But I don't think it would fit Robocop. Then again, he has made only three feature films so far, so maybe there's still time to evolve.

His new movie, which apparently is about a retired pro-wrestler (played by Mickey Rourke, maybe reprising his role from Sin City?) returning to the ring certainly sounds a bit different from the previous three.

road to perdition is one of your favourite movies??

-- s1ocki, Friday, July 25, 2008 4:56 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Link

and you're decrying heavy-handed art film-isms?

-- s1ocki, Friday, July 25, 2008 4:58 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Link

i mean i see rtp on the same level as 'the public enemy' or even beatty's 'dick tracy,' just a bit less openly cartoony. it's dark and stylized and has mob dudes with guns, i really enjoy that type of thing. granted its pretty humorless and self-serious, but the cinematography and the general noirish sensibility make it worth it for me.

i dont really have an objection to this... it's not like the franchise is at a high point right now and i wouldnt mind seeing what aronofsky does with a straight genre pic. what do we have to lose

-- s1ocki, Friday, 25 July 2008 06:29 (2 hours ago) Link

This is pretty much how I feel.

Also, I realise Aronofsky isn't just a director for hire, but this: "utilizing the latest filmmaking technology and spending accordingly, as much as $100 million on the budget. The tone and feel would be similar to the first movie."

I'm just hoping DA & Co. maintain the splatter standards set by their predecessors. Solely out of respect for the source material, of course. Long as they manage work in a few good exploding heads (bodies, limbs, whatever), I'm good.

Plus, I'd really like to see some more of ED-209.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb52/The_Playlist/movies/be-kind-rewind.jpg

http://blog.laptopmag.com/wpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/buyfordollar.jpg

^needs to feature this guy again

but the cinematography and the general noirish sensibility make it worth it for me.

So, HOOS, how do you feel about Miller's Crossing?

I, for one, could see Robocop being alright. It is a question as to which direction he'll go - remember, at that point Terminator loomed large in the technopocalyptic landscape, so I always figured that the dark, frequently corny humor came from wanting to move away from Arnold's futuristic cyborg. I hope they retain the jokiness - I still remember the first time I saw the dude who had just been hit by the Chrysler - awesome.

http://b3ta.cr3ation.co.uk/data/toxic.gif

haha, quality.

that mutant splattering is from Robocop? I must've seen that film a dozen times as a wee boy (yeah irresponsible parenting) and I don't remember ever seeing that.

Maybe it was the 'muddy funsters' censored and cut version.

"once...I even called him AN AIRHEAD"

Fuck dudes Robocop marked the beginning of my first super duper bad LSD trip. I dunno if this is gonna re-up me a flashback or no.

It is from a scene at the end of the film when Clarence Boddicker's (one of filmdom's most awesomely appropriate villain names) #1 henchman spills a bunch of radioactive waste on himself and then, well.. splat!

(xxxpost)

great, classic gratuitous gore scene

hell yes. Same goes for the Murphy shooting: "give the man a hand!"

i saw it the day i came home from summer camp, head looking like a pineapple from all deer fly bites. my sister took me to this and we snuck into jaws 4 iirc (it also has some awesome gratuitous bullshit)

ha jaws the revenge is like the worst movie ever

But it helped Michael Caine buy a house for his mum.

I'd rather seem them woo back Verhoeven.

Ropocop one of the best movies ever

what a score too

Does aranofsky have any skill at satire? I hope they keep that bit of the original

maybe not: http://www.riskybusinessblog.com/2009/07/will-darren-aronofsky-direct-robocop.html

Learned from that article: In addition to Robocop and Red Dawn, MGM is also rebooting Poltergeist. Why even bother pitching original ideas anymore? Just pick through old video tapes and see what '80s franchise might be a profitable revival and then pitch that.

Ferris Bueller's Even More Bitchin' Day Off

I'm imagining a really dark, gritty version of Turk 182 where Jimmy doesn't just spraypaint things or hack jumbotrons. He blows shit up and slices fingers off.

saw 182

still waiting for Innerer Space

Hello Once Again

Heartbleeps
Jeckyll And Hyde...Together Again...Again!
Zorro, The Gayer Blade
Working? Hardly!
Meatballs II, Part II

lmbobocop

Harderbodies

Three Men & A Teenage Girl Going Off To College.

One of the finer Skinemax staples.

wait, how do you "reboot" Red Dawn?

you reboot the russkies RIGHT IN THE ASS *high five*

Like this?

http://www.beyondhollywood.com/red-dawn-remake-continues-to-get-more-bourne-y/

Also:

The bad guys/invaders will now be the Red Chinese, who knocks off America in the first 20 pages, and gets help from those stinkin’ Russians later in the movie. The cause of the invasion? Oil, of course. There are hints that America is kinda to blame, too. In today’s PC environment, that’s not too much of a surprise.

- Our heroes: Jed is now a former Marine back from Iraq and Matt his high school star quarterback brother; Erica is now an Asian-American cheerleader; and Danny is the African-American star running back. Basically, all the original characters will return (including keeping the same names) but as different archetypes.

Yay.

uh from that article linked up there:

MGM has been cautious about the number of movies it's releasing, and is concentrating at the moment on projects such as the 80's reboot "Red Dawn," the male-centric comedy “Hot Tub Time Machine,” and a “Poltergeist” reboot.

“Hot Tub Time Machine,”

Oh right, the Wet Hot American Summer reboot.

hahaha thats the first thing i thought of too

Meatballs II, Part II

This make me laugh for at least 30 seconds.

Important hot tub information:

After a night of drinking Red Bull and vodkas, a group of guys travel back in time to when they were younger cads.

make=made

John Cusack, Crispin Glover, Chevy Chase and Lyndsy Fonseca?

Action Jackson and Everyone We Know

I get the feeling you guys aren't taking my thread totally seriously.

Caek II: You Won't Like It When Caek's Angry

ok crispin glover makes this project totally worthwhile

Dragnets
Another Razor's Edge
About The Night Before Last
Sixteen More Candles
Testament, Too!
Tender, Flaky, Melt-In-Your-Mouth Mercies

loltergeist

John, you might or might not appreciate this bit of Hot Tub backstory:

http://www.cinematical.com/2008/12/10/hot-tub-time-machine-writer-comes-forward-explains-himself/

'the supper club'

At a certain point, I hope that Hollywood takes eating its own tail to ridiculous extremes and focuses exclusively on remaking remakes. Isn't it about time for an updated House On Haunted Hill '99?

Don't they all need to be made into musicals first, and then movies made from the musicals?

Haunted!

"If you go up on the hill
Much against your will
You'll see a houuuuuuuuuuuse standing there..."

Now I want to see Coming Back To America - starring Eddie Murphy and Eddie Murphy in a fat suit as James Earl Jones.

Hush! Eddie Murphy might be reading!

if they remake the original die hard do they have to call it die slightly less hard now?

Die? Hardly

bruce willis in injured significantly

Wouldn't it go the other way to some Die Hard; EXTREME! nonsense?

Die Die My McClane

Dead Hard

they used that name for the UK version

it involved Graham Norton, eastern-European thieves, and a gym center

I Still Don't Know What I'm Doing This Summer

Still amazed at the idea of Hot Tub Time Machine. Although IMDB seems to have omitted Ashton Kutcher/Sean William Scott from the credits.

and maybe they missed a trick by notmaking it Hovercraft Hot Tub Time Machine.

imocop

Emocop, surely.

Never mind, already addressed:

http://emocop.ytmnd.com/

Withnail and Somebody Else

imagine they made a sequel to the ghostbusters movies and called it ghostbusters 3

you mean Ghostbusters: Legacies

Dune II: Spice World

best thread ever

brbcop

iircop

"if i recop"

cop iirc

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/29/42426138_9993112c3e.jpg

Please name remakes after bootleg toys and all is forgiven Hollywood kthanxbye

GoBots: Revenge of the Bargain Bin

Megafarce

Breakin 2: Electric Boogaloo II: The Quickening

who's being cast for clarence boddecker

boddicker

boddicker as boddecker is a genius move imo

or Wallace Shawn

Joe Vs. The Tornado
Short Circuit: Rebooted
Hannah And Her Sisters' Sisters
The Departure Of The Jedi
My 3 AM Diner Pancake Binge With Andre

Spaceballs II: The Search For More Money in the Prequel That Should Not Be

Ghostbusters: Rise of the Lycans

Joe Vs. The Tornado

^^ would see this; would make small donation to fund this

conveniently, Tom Hanks's Da Vinci Code hair seems to have returned to the same style Joe had as a sickly office worker, before getting a real haircut

Short Circuit: Rebooted

Hollywood's a step ahead of you. It's a work in progress.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_Circuit#Sequel_and_remake

As long as he actually kills people, like he's supposed to, I am totally cool with this.

"Johnny Five alive! You dead!"

Cocoon: The Rise of Cobra

xp

I can already sort of hear the aggro screamo cover of "Who's Johnny?" for the remake.

http://23.media.tumblr.com/9cyPFQbgCnazmounWabnmdffo1_500.jpg

Could work.

definitely got that aronofsky vibe.

hey who desecrated my handiwork

still kind of blows my mind that this pretentious little dude is married to rachel weisz

Pretentious little dudes worldwide need hope too. See also Napoleon, Nicolas Sarkozy, Dennis Kucinich (OK, Kucinich isn't that pretentious)

She once dated Neil Morrissey, now that really was mind-blowing.

So anyway, Robocop, remake, viral marketing, I think we've been down this road before, anyway:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dztELFt8uUU

RC 2000? What is this, the 2000s?

Nah but bring it on, whatevs, if there's one genre that can stand pointless remakification it's scifi. Redo the classics every 20 years, keep 'em looking fresh till reality overtakes.

too lazy to search, we've already made the "Aronovsky revives Padilha" joke, right

i'd rather wes anderson redo 2001 with bill murray as HAL than anyone redo robocop with anybody

...uh.

http://io9.com/5934194/rebooted-robocop-script-reveals-alex-murphy-is-now-a-transformer

at least this sounds a little more interesting than say, the total recall remake

Sounds even worse

most of that sounds right in line w the comic sensibility of the original

rolling eyes a bit at "drones"

X-post if the original had consisted of groaning wink-wink nods to itself, sure

"I wouldn't buy that for a dollar" FUCK YOU

yeah, that's dumb, but stuff like "made in china" hardly dishonors the original

can we do a kickstarter for a statue in detroit of "please no robocop remakes, thanks"

I'm not even really opposed to an updated Robocop movie, it's just that this sounds like every other recent remake: a bland, defanged rehash with some cutesy references to the original thrown in.

to be fair, it could be pretty good, but that doesn't absolve the crime.

How about just come up with a new fucking idea for a movie. It's Robocop, not Othello.

omg

what if it was Othello...?

Robocop was supposed to be based off Joesph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamboat so I have no problem with anyone taking elements from Robocop but really you need to make it as different from Robocop as Robocop is from Joseph.

it was grey and silver and pewter and gunmetal blue

Dan, when are you free to work with me on the screenplay for Robothello

talk to me after Labor Day

Robothello: "DEAD OR ALIVE, YOU'RE COMING WITH ME"
Iago: "Circumsised dog! I killed you!"

http://home.earthlink.net/~mountfuturama/Calculon-2.jpg

oh wait it was jesus christ superstar that robocop was inspired by. not joseph.

citation needed

imagine if it had been Cats

it was airwolf that was inspired by joseph

Knight Rider is a reimagining of the Phantom of the Opera. K.I.T.T. is the phantom.

The first trailer is out and it doesn't bode well at all. :-(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuVphAuRo7Q

"Dead or alive <pause> you're coming with me"

Pete Burns is a wanted man in the future.

haha.

'This Film Is Not Yet Rated' so i'm guessing it'll be a 12 like the last Die Hard. these guys..

Looks lame, also now I have the original music in my head.
He's a robot
He's a cop
He's a Robocop

I can see Samuel L. Jackson becoming like Christopher Walken, ie, that actor who features heavily in the trailer but is only in one scene for about three minutes.

At least its nice to see Michael Keaton getting some work

didnt expect i'd think "fuck off" literally within the first two seconds but hey whaddaya know

lolol "fourth degree burns"

robocop looks like judge dredd now

lolol "fourth degree burns"

The remake looks like a shit sandwich, but to be fair, that's an actual thing (burns where the underlying tissues like muscle or bone are damaged as well)

oh man they only ever taught us about third degree burns in school

Well the treatment for fourth degree burns is you get turned into Robocops, so must schools don't really bring it up.

uh unless i've misunderstood is the lol not rather that they changed it to that from being shot to bits by giggling punks

YOU SAY YOU CAN SAVE HIM BUT WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?????

"He'll be unable to use his legs ... he'll be in a wheelchair."

Yep, that's pretty much how it works. But thanks for explaining!

"He'll be unable to use his legs... he'll have to drag himself around on his arms everywhere he goes. It will be painful and humiliating but it's the only option."

Wait, this is the director who did "Elite Squad?" I really did not like that.

robocop looks like judge dredd now

Said it on the Netflix thread, but the recent "Dredd" movie was pretty much how I envisioned a new RoboCop.

Man, this looks even worse than I expected :-/

At least its nice to see Michael Keaton getting some work

― Old Boy In Network (Michael B), Friday, September 6, 2013 7:17 AM (9 hours ago) Bookmark

yeah thats the main thing i got from this

This looks even worse than the Total Recall remake, somehow.

Way to over-complicate things with some free will bullshit.

This is gonna be the 6000 SUX of movies

i thought keaton was keifer sutherland for the first half of the preview

I feel like someone is not getting that Verhoeven movies are ONLY good because they are made by Verhoeven. They're not timeless, brilliant concepts/stories that can be remade, they're just movies that work because he does them.

what are you talking about, a robotic cop is totally a timeless concept

$6 million dollar man

the aforementioned judge dredd

They're all derived from the ancient greek story "Lever-using Cop"

what are you talking about, a robotic cop is totally a timeless concept

― congratulations (n/a), Friday, September 6, 2013 5:36 PM (19 minutes ago) Bookmark

http://i.imgur.com/S44aqIc.jpg

Steamcop

i dont really have an objection to this... it's not like the franchise is at a high point right now and i wouldnt mind seeing what aronofsky does with a straight genre pic. what do we have to lose

― s1ocki, Friday, July 25, 2008 2:29 AM (5 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

;_;

this is going to be siiiick haha

hey james if you were in a film who would play you?

honestly, i would want to see cate blanchett take on that challenge

darren aronofsky would cast jared leto

Way to over-complicate things with some free will bullshit.

― PRISON WARDEN CONSCIOUSNESS (4th Dimension) (Viceroy), Friday, September 6, 2013 5:08 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This looks like a dumb movie but tbh I at least sort of get the idea of doing this. The original film was part of that long wave of genre pictures that got their juice from the anxieties and general dark-humor zone surrounding the perceived crime crisis of the American city. So the ridiculous premises of Robocop (or Escape From New York, or the Warriors, Running Man, etc. etc.) are funny in part because you could totally see the situation going so off the rails this kinda could happen. In 2013 it's just not the same issue it once was, and nobody's going to make a dark-comedy action joint out of school shootings or terrorism, so, huh, what can we put in this script so it'll be "thematic"? Ehhh, go with man vs. machine, it can be the Google Glasses paranoia movie. Obviously that's going to end up really watered down and by-the-numbers but there's the potential for an OK movie there in the hands of someone else.

The sad thing is that a Robocop movie in 2013 could be a great, funny, action-packed vehicle for some more compelling stuff; it's not like corporate greed or the police state have gone away. Robocop should be a liberal cop trapped in a robot body that's just a blatant hired security guard for the 1%, or a racial-profiling stop-and-frisk agent going into neighborhoods to "clean them up" for Etsy-tumblr yuppies, or doing damage control spin stuff on the next oil spill or mine disaster, while the audience at home is told that this somehow makes our streets safer and demonstrates the American can-do technological spirit. So yeah, doing it as just generic man-versus-machine is totally the laziest, safest, and least interesting way they could write this thing.

and nobody's going to make a dark-comedy action joint out of school shootings or terrorism

But why not? Isn't that what somebody should do?

ahem Four Lions

eephus - I agree! I suppose I should be more precise - if it's going to happen it'd have to be in some new, out-of-the-blue B-movie property that gets into the hands of a scriptwriter & director with Ideas. The whole cash-grab blockbuster-by-numbers remake thing is jut going to resist it hardcore, IMO.

(have not seen Four Lions)

just looks bland--probably the worst crime of all.

The sad thing is that a Robocop movie in 2013 could be a great, funny, action-packed vehicle for some more compelling stuff; it's not like corporate greed or the police state have gone away.

otm. nothing wrong in principle with a robocop remake but the currently hollywood reality would never let it happen the way it should

There's no universe where a good robot cop movie in 2013 is going to be improved by being a licensed robocop movie even if it stars Peter weller as a robot cop
from the trailer this looks more like iron man than robocop anyway

The RedLetterMedia guys posted this, as probably the best possible response. It's of Rich Evans, the biggest Robocop fan they know and most boisterous personality of anybody affiliated with them:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yE-YWGuOlas

http://i.imgur.com/amDC62Q.jpg

only just occurred to me that there's neither a "20 seconds to comply" or a "your move, creep".

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18mkzdvkkinc8jpg/original.jpg

"20 seconds to comply"

Even the "Dredd" movie had this.

1) the original was made in 1980s when urban crime really was hitting its highest levels; today crime levels in general (although not in certain cities) are about where they were in the kennedy era. any responsible satire would deal with the gulf between impression and reality that exists; this movie won't.

2) in general, neumaier and verhoeven's gleeful satire is kind of the _point_ of robocop, or at least what lifts it from routine thriller to one of the best genre movies of the decade. it's the _tone_ that makes robocop so memorable, not just the basic premise.

i should be more specific: it's the combination of genre smarts, great storytelling, _and_ that gleeful satirical tone that makes the original robocop (and the other neumaier-verhoeven film, starship troopers). without that unique combination it's... well, robocop 2 I guess.

also there should totally be stuff about drones in this new one

i don't think just being a good movie made robocop great. being able to build and flesh out an iconic world and character that is uniquely its own is key to what made it valuable. i don't see why anyone would need to invoke robocop in order to do that kind of satire. wall-e seemed to do ok.

wall-e 2: the drones of navarone

Thanks, amateurist for getting more clearly at what I was groping towards above. Would buy, for a dollar, a Robocop movie about a world that's already free of violent crime but uses the symbol of the awesome crime-fighting robot to distract people from who the real criminals are! Like, the cackling evil guy should specifically be concerned that news crews, out of sheer boredom and desperation, are starting to do coverage on institutionalized poverty, Wall Street shenanigans, and the prison-industrial complex. Cue Robocop!

I thought that was plot of demolition man

it's a situation not of my picking

Thanks, amateurist for getting more clearly at what I was groping towards above. Would buy, for a dollar, a Robocop movie about a world that's already free of violent crime but uses the symbol of the awesome crime-fighting robot to distract people from who the real criminals are! Like, the cackling evil guy should specifically be concerned that news crews, out of sheer boredom and desperation, are starting to do coverage on institutionalized poverty, Wall Street shenanigans, and the prison-industrial complex. Cue Robocop!

― Doctor Casino, Sunday, September 8, 2013 1:56 PM (32 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

that already is kinda what the 1987 movie is about, no? well at least the part about white-collar crime being even more onerous than street crime.

also the total schlocky glee with which verhoeven depicts, e.g. robocop shooting a would-be rapist in the balls is not likely to carry through to this one. it looks too tasetful

also: keys to the executive bathroom

that already is kinda what the 1987 movie is about, no? well at least the part about white-collar crime being even more onerous than street crime.

― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Sunday, September 8, 2013 3:31 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

well, except street crime does seem to actually be a problem in that movie (and the world where it was received), but other than that yeah - i would say this is the 'core concept' that could be revived and adapted to a new time.

I'm also reminded of how some dumb conservative macro in either "powerful conservative images" or the artist thread brought up CARJACKING and someone was like, wow, haven't heard that one in a while. Maybe we're due for some kind of retro trend of paranoid conserva-fears, that would be an okay basis for a RoboCop movie too. Like, twenty years after the original RoboCop, the Tea Party finds and revives this piece of machinery that's been in a warehouse all this time because people stopped being terrified of crime.

Also, they should get some miscellaneous Twin Peaks actors to fill out the cast.

They can fix Lara Flynn Boyle they can fix everything

oof - I know they're just trailers, but gah, everything about them looks wrong. I really don't think this is going to be a terrible movie, but rather sterile and generic future dystopian action flick, like the Colin Farrell "Total Recall" film.

I think the RebootCop trailers look like a made for TV movie, and make the CF 'TR' look rather decent by comparison.

fuck, if they would re-release the original to theaters i would go watch it right now

Or just watch this (NSFW)

http://vimeo.com/85903713

Further to which

http://io9.com/this-two-hour-fan-made-robocop-remake-is-the-robocop-re-1517709249

this is wonderful, thanks!!

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/12/movies/robocop-remake-arrives-starring-joel-kinnaman.html?_r=0

the movie has been pumped up, cautiously updated and cleaned up, with fewer expletives

lame

http://www.unemployednegativity.com/2014/02/we-can-remake-him-robocop-redux.html

It is from this angle that we can approach the film's largest departure from the original. In the first film robocop is a machine that eventually discovers the man underneath, recovering his memory, and with the help of his partner, his identity. In the remake this is reversed, robocop emerges from surgery aware that he is Detective Alex Murphy, horrified that an attempt on his life has left him little more than a head, a bit of a torso, and a hand. He is eventually made a machine, first by drugs which relieve the substantial anxiety he is dealing with as a man made into a machine. Then later, in the film's most interesting bit of scientific speculation, he is reprogrammed as a machine which thinks that it is free. This is because consciousness proves to be too slow, too riddled with indecision, to function effectively tactically. When put up against an actual robot, robocop fails to respond fast enough, or decisively enough. As Dr. Dennett Norton (Gary Oldman) says, "The human element will always be present! Compassion, fear, instinct, they will always interfere with the system!" The solution that Dr. Norton comes up with is to make robocop's combat functions automatic, a series of highly complex reflexes that kick in whenever he is threatened, but to program him to think that he chooses these actions. Robocop is a machine programmed to think that it is free. Aware of his desires and decisions, but unaware of the programming which has produced them, as Spinoza would say.

Robocop's ideological interpellation is matched in the film by the picture it paints of contemporary life. Robocop is entirely integrated within the circuits of the corporate surveillance state, able to tap into every security camera and cellphone call in pursuit of accused criminals. He is surveillance personified. What is perhaps interesting, and slightly amusing, is the surprise on the face of the individual that he tracks down. They have forgotten that every call is monitored, every action filmed. They are too programmed to think that they are free, in that way they are just like us.

http://www.digitaltrends.com/movies/robocop-statue-unveiled-today-detroit-part-robocop-day/#!T4err

i forgot it's gonna be actually IN FRONT OF THE POLICE STATION

The reboot was a tiny bit better than what I had expected it to be

It wasn't very good but I have to give it some credit for not trying to slavishly recreate the original.

http://www.unemployednegativity.com/2014/02/we-can-remake-him-robocop-redux.html

It is from this angle that we can approach the film's largest departure from the original. In the first film robocop is a machine that eventually discovers the man underneath, recovering his memory, and with the help of his partner, his identity. In the remake this is reversed, robocop emerges from surgery aware that he is Detective Alex Murphy, horrified that an attempt on his life has left him little more than a head, a bit of a torso, and a hand. He is eventually made a machine, first by drugs which relieve the substantial anxiety he is dealing with as a man made into a machine. Then later, in the film's most interesting bit of scientific speculation, he is reprogrammed as a machine which thinks that it is free. This is because consciousness proves to be too slow, too riddled with indecision, to function effectively tactically. When put up against an actual robot, robocop fails to respond fast enough, or decisively enough. As Dr. Dennett Norton (Gary Oldman) says, "The human element will always be present! Compassion, fear, instinct, they will always interfere with the system!" The solution that Dr. Norton comes up with is to make robocop's combat functions automatic, a series of highly complex reflexes that kick in whenever he is threatened, but to program him to think that he chooses these actions. Robocop is a machine programmed to think that it is free. Aware of his desires and decisions, but unaware of the programming which has produced them, as Spinoza would say.

Robocop's ideological interpellation is matched in the film by the picture it paints of contemporary life. Robocop is entirely integrated within the circuits of the corporate surveillance state, able to tap into every security camera and cellphone call in pursuit of accused criminals. He is surveillance personified. What is perhaps interesting, and slightly amusing, is the surprise on the face of the individual that he tracks down. They have forgotten that every call is monitored, every action filmed. They are too programmed to think that they are free, in that way they are just like us.

― j., Thursday, 13 February 2014 20:24 (3 months ago) Permalink

Sounds like it might make a good philosophy lecture but probably not a very good movie.

Even the shittiest products of pop culture can have interesting things to say!

Thomas Kinkade paintings probably tell you more about the culture that produced them than say, a Johnathan Franzen novel or something.

oh no a franzen novel speaks multitudes.

in much the way a kinkade painting does, even

the remake wasn't very good. instead of kind of lacing the whole movie with satire like verhoeven did they pound us over the head with the samuel l jackson interludes, and they're about as subtle as his acting. i hate these types of movies where you can tell they decide to make certain characters villains about two thirds of the way through the writing process, after hemming and hawing about whether they might make them good guys instead.

i thought kinnaman was really good, keaton was good in a kind of incoherent role that seemed to be trying to combine three roles from the original (and i'm still not sure why he was pulling those nefarious moves in act 3, seemed dumb and unnecessary, and tied in to the whole "we just decided to make him a villain" thing.)

the clarence boddicker equivalent (vallon) was a complete non-entity, he registered a big zero on the kurtwood smith sliminess scale, he was like a slumming soap opera reject who grew out his hair a couple inches and didn't wash it for a day and we were supposed to buy him as a detroit crime lord.

michael k williams was sorely underutilized, gary oldman was mailing it in, etc. basically everything that made the original great was just flattened into this PG-13 competence.

Hey, remember that innocent and unblemished world we once enjoyed, the one where Neil Blomkamp never directed a Robocop sequel no one asked for thirty years after the original was released? Well, you might want to sit down...

the only heartening thing is that Neumeier and Miner actually wrote this one.

i love the original Robocop, but i also feel like any remakes can't be much worse than 2 and 3

This appears to be a sequel? I can't imagine they'd try another straight up remake so close to the Joel Kinnaman one

the remake was so boring, i can't remember a thing about it.

i did catch Robocop 3 on TV recently. it was cheesy as hell and a whole lot of fun. the Robocop vs. Ninja Terminator scenes were great. he pretty much only shoot dirty cops in it. plus there's this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5l4IrCBLzTI

i guess after his abandoned aliens followup blomkamp's thing now is developing direct sequels to beloved 80s action movies?

if it does ever get made i guess it'll be like all his other movies in that it'll have super-cool-looking tech and weapons but otherwise be worthless

just leave robocop alone folks - it's every bit as relevant today as it was in 1987 if not more so, it doesn't need any more tinkering

the only heartening thing is that Neumeier and Miner actually wrote this one.

STEEL FEET
walking along the street.

BLUE METAL
flash past us. Robo's coming.

https://i.gifer.com/NUWX.gif

Robo’s coming?

https://goo.gl/images/Tr52N3

Oh well, didn’t work

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REItHTPjCF4

its time to bring back the jetpack

its crazy i used to go to a 3D Sculpture class on that same street

oh my god that script

good to see that despite the strain of robo's daredevil barrel-rolls, his lipgloss remains impeccable

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5fr1s15eng

Ha, not that, though that's cool. This:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCYF7eOlrJo&feature=emb_logo

There are a few of these posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCYF7eOlrJo

https://letterboxd.com/film/why-im-running-andrew-yang/

I assume this has been posted before, but it's new to me:

https://vimeo.com/85903713

A more or less scene for scene crowdsourced remake, with at least one particular scene so over the top and very NSFW that it careens into the absurd.

shit like this makes me hate pop culture addiction

I just finished the four-part, 4+ hour "RoboDoc" and ... it's OK. Very thorough. I was most impressed with some of the behind the scenes stunts and effects stories, things I'd never considered, like how the targeting system was just an animated optical, or how the RoboCop POV shots were also optical effects designed to look like video, or how the heat vision shot was not heat vision but people dressed in leotards painted to *look* like heat vision. Also, I think Peter Weller must think of himself as sort of an acting equivalent of Miles Davis.

that "Our Robocop Remake" thing is brilliant. I just love the idea behind it. though that particular NSFW scene does kind of dominate the entire thing, I almost feel bad for everyone else involved because anyone who sees this is only gonna remember one thing

Weller’s voices the character again in the new Robocop game that’s releasing soon-ish https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nutwkk18DSQ