Thursday Movie Picks: Movies Adapted from Movies of a Different Language


Hello and welcome to Thursday Movie Picksa weekly series hosted by Wandering Through the Shelves where you share three movies to fit the theme of the week each Thursday.

This week's theme is foreign adaptations aka movies adapted from one language to another. It's not difficult to find such a film, but finding a great one is a whole different story. For that reason my picks for this week are one great and two bad.

The Departed (2006)

Adapted from the Japanese film "Infernal Affairs", it is the story of two different yet similar men: a young undercover cop who infiltrates the mob syndicate, and a young criminal who infiltrates the state police as an informer for the syndicate. The film is engaging, filled with action and suspense, and not only it lives up to the original, but it's slightly better thanks to more depth of the characters and better dialogue.

Dinner for Schmucks (2010)

Remake of the French comedy "Le dîner de cons", it follows a man invited by his superiors at a dinner celebrating the idiocy of their guests. For this reason he befriends an idiot because he would make the perfect guest. While the original is an hilarious and witty comedy help up by two great actors, this American version starring Paul Rudd and Steve Carrell is silly and not funny, a quite embarrassing film.


Oldboy (2013)

Adapted from the Korean film "Oldboy", it tells of a man kidnapped on the day of her daughter's birthday and imprisoned for 20 years. After his release, he will try anything possible to find the man who did this to him, but things don't go as planned. The brutal, disturbing yet sweet and moving story of vengeance has been transformed into a shallow and disappointing film by Spike Lee - I actually can't believe he did this. At least Josh Brolin did a pretty good job and Samuel L. Jackson was great.

So there they are. What three films would make your list? 

19 comments :

  1. Departed and Oldboy are popular today! I haven't seen the remake of Oldboy...and I have no desire to, considering the awful reputation.

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    1. Don't bother watching the remake, you'll save money and time!

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  2. The Departed is awesome! Great call on that. Agree the other two needed to be avoided. As you know, we share one of those picks. Great job!

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    1. I'm not a Scorsese fan but he sure did a wonderful job there.

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  3. I even refuse to watch the remake of Oldboy - the original is way to good to be ruined (sorry..)

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    1. To be honest the awful remake made me love the original even more.

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  4. Ohh I really need to watch The Departed! I've heard of Dinner for Schmucks, I actually wanted to watch it for the cast, but I think I'll be missing that now!
    - Allie

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    1. Go with the French version instead, it's fantastic!

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  5. The trend seems to be for bad remakes today, I've seen that pop up alot. The only one of these I've seen is The Departed and I'm afraid I'm going against the tide. I hated that movie! Oldboy is everywhere, it's never appealed to me but it seems so well thought of I may have to give it a go.

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    1. That was quite popular yesterday. It's way easier to find bad remakes than good ones. I'm sorry to hear you didn't enjoy The Departed, maybe you should give the original a try, and definitely watch Oldboy, the Korean version, simply spectacular.

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  6. I enjoyed The Departed-thought it was a great movie. I will miss Dinner for Schmucks but I wanted to see Oldboy but now, not so sure

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    1. If you enjoyed the original Oldboy, the American version will make you love the Korean one even more!

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  7. I had to avoid choosing The Departed myself, since I've beat it to death in the past. Great pick! Never could bring myself to see the Oldboy remake. And just never caught Dinner for Schmucks.

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    1. To avoid those two is the right choice, they are a huge no.

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  8. I didn't really like The Departed all that much. It was fine but I don't get the love for it. So glad to see another fan of Le diner de cons! One of my favorite films and of COURSE Hollywood had to absolutely butcher it in a remake. So, so sad.

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    1. Le diner de cons is French comedy at its best!

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  9. Dinner for Schmucks and the Oldboy remake are SO BAD. Ugh. I love the Departed though.

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  10. The Departed was nice. I haven't seen the other two.

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  11. Oh I do love The Departed, sucha great movie!

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