No more movies? Remakes I wouldn't mind seeing someday

I had a depressing moment today, I just got to thinking about how I so badly miss going to the movies and feel genuine anxiety if I ever will be able to again. I get it -- sitting next to a bunch of people in an enclosed space would be the WORST thing right now.

But, God knows, I miss it more than any activity I can't participate anymore besides being able to hug my friends.

Streaming services were already presenting the biggest threat to the movie theater industry since perhaps the advent of television, but now somehow this unexpected coronavirus has hastened what some might say is the inevitable.

This week brought yet another delay for Christopher Nolan's highly anticipated Tenet, and Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch is now being shelved "indefinitely." I know these films will see the light of day eventually, especially since there is too much money invested in these movies for the public to never see them -- but I fear they will never get the audience they deserve or be seen in the format they were meant to be seen in.

As an amateur movie blogger  I'm struggling to find material to even write about. There haven't been many new films worth talking about. So here I am, fantasizing again theoretical movies that don't exist. Clearly because so little in production right now there is going to be a huge glut of no new content. So, we know Hollywood loves a remake since there's often a guaranteed audience and it requires a little less creativity.

If I were a studio exec, here are ten movies I really enjoy that I'd love to see rebooted.

The Swimmer - This very unusual drama about an aging ladies man with a devastating secret who is going from pool to pool in his upscale, sunny California neighborhood would be THE perfect vehicle for George Clooney. It's one of Burt Lancaster's best roles and part of the enjoyment of this movie is its strange shifting tone. It starts of as a quirky character study but grows increasingly stranger and darker as it goes along. The original is very '60s but a modern telling could still work.

Cutter's Way - This cult classic from 1981 is sort of the last great 1970s neo noir. It has two fantastic leads in a laconic Jeff Bridges and a livewire John Heard (in a performance that would have made him a star if the movie had been a hit) and a murder mystery with some subtle political undertones that are still relevant today. I could see Ryan Gosling paired opposite Joaquin Phoenix in this one, a real actor's two-hander piece. Just don't change this movie's uncompromising ending.

Mommie Dearest - The original is a hilarious camp classic -- but it might be interesting to see a serious, high quality version of this salacious story. Perhaps this isn't possible since the source material is so inherently trashy -- but a truly scary and disturbing movie could be made about a batshit crazy Joan Crawford. A bit of an outside the box casting idea: Tilda Swinton as Crawford.

Leave Her to Heaven - A great technicolor noir that was way ahead of its time -- tells the story of a gorgeous but also certifiably nuts woman (played to perfection by Gene Tierney) who will stop at nothing to maintain the total devotion of the man she loves. This could be great comeback role for a Jennifer Lawrence and it would still work as a period movie set during the time of the original film's release in the 1940s.

The Big Heat - Another shockingly dark and brooding noir from Hollywood's golden age -- with a dose of body horror -- had Fritz Lang's cynical voice all over it. Today, it could be a David Cronenberg or Brian De Palma directorial tour de force. The Gloria Grahame role (as a gangster moll who gets disfigured) would be a perfect return to acting role for -- wait for it -- Lady Gaga, who showed so much promise in A Star As Born and who could be credible in a genre picture like this.

The Long Kiss Goodnight - This Geena Davis-Samuel L. Jackson 1996 action film has a decent, fond following. I myself am one of the few people who went to see it in theaters. Some of the speculation about its failure (including from screenwriter Shane Black) was that audiences may not have wanted to see a woman in an action lead. I think nearly 25 years later audiences could handle it -- and it would be a terrific vehicle for Charlize Theron and maybe Lakeith Stanfield in the Sam Jackson part.

Prince of the City - With America re-evaluating its relationship with policing, the time might be right for a revisit of Sidney Lumet's epic exploration of police corruption. The lead performance from Treat Williams was probably the highlight of his career and it could work for any young actor regardless of race - in fact putting an actor of color in the center might give the story an added layer of complexity.

The Landlord - This 1970 is surprisingly prescient on issues like gentrification and white privilege, and it turns out -- 50 years later -- that the themes this movie explores are still totally relevant today, if not more so. It doesn't have to be heavy handed -- in fact it could use the original's light touch. I'd love to see a Spike Lee remake of this film, since his own Do the Right Thing explored similar terrain.

Soylent Green - This wacky 1970s sci-fi film is oft-parodied because of Charlton Heston's characteristically mannered lead performance and its unforgettable twist ending but at its core the film accurately predicts the fallout of unchecked climate change and the continued degradation of the food industry. Any remake would have to play with folks expectations of the ending but otherwise there's a lot there to play with.

The Parallax View - One of my favorite paranoid 70s thrillers has a little bit of everything -- conspiracy theories, assassination plots, slow motion barfights -- in this Trump era of police state overreach a movie that seriously looks at corruption and chaos in the federal government would be a welcome and maybe even a cathartic reprieve for progressive filmgoers.