The Hollywood Reporter is writing that acclaimed director David Cronenberg is intalks with Fox to remake his own version of The Fly.
The 1986 sci-fi/horror movie, starring Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis, was a reimagining of the 1958 movie of the same name starring Vincent Price. The story involved a scientist named Seth Brundle (Goldblum) who falls in love with Veronica Quaife (Davis), a reporter studying his work. Brundle's DNA is fused with that of a fly when a teleportation experiment goes wrong.
As his body undergoes rapid changes, the movie turns surprisingly poignant: His relationship with Veronica deepens, and she must watch as the man she loves gradually loses his touch with humanity. The melodramatic nature of the script prompted Cronenberg and composer Howard Shore (who scored the movie) to create an opera, which premiered in Paris in July 2008.
Presumably, this remake would allow Cronenberg to make use of improved special-effects technology, but this sounds like a mixed blessing. We're confident that Cronenberg would use effects judiciously, with concern for artistic integrity. But part of the appeal of the original movie — and his other earlier effects-based movies like Videodrome, Scanners, and The Brood — was his use of raw materials to create consciously schlocky effects. Inexplicably, the artificial look felt more real and disturbing than it would have had Cronenberg gone for the most realistic effects possible.
On the other hand, Cronenberg has shown a remarkable ability to re-invent himself, most recently turning his attention from body-conscious horror to movies like Spider, History of Violence, and Eastern Promises, which focus on issues of identity and memory. So maybe he has something up his sleeve that we can't forsee. We'll just have to wait.
Posted 09.24.09 by reelz 
One of my favorite movies from the 80's, the Chevy Chase vehicle Fletch, is finally returning to DVD. The early bare bones DVD from the late 90's had been out of print for a few years and fetching surprising $$$'s on Ebay.
This new edition is titled "The Jane Doe Edition," which continues the recent inexplicable studio marketing trend of attempting to give original names to their dvd special editions such as "The Don't Call Me Shirly" edition of Airplane and the "Wild Thing" Edition of Major League amongst others.
Anywho, this new Fletch DVD offers up a vastly improved visual and audio transfer (ie, it looks and sounds much better). 
Unfortunately, this "Jane Doe Edition" is pretty skimpy on the extras. There's a mildly entertaining doc on remembering Fletch (the DVD producer tries to make his own Fletch story, but it doesn't really work), a short on the disguises of Fletch (just a few interviews on the disguises he used and some clips) and finally a pretty strange extra that compiles about two minutes of funny scenes from the movie (do I need this when I'm already holding the movie in my hand?). Sadly, the notoriously difficult Chevy Chase does not participate in the DVD at all. Guess he's not thrilled about discussing the years when he was still funny.
At least fans can get ahold of a nice version of this 80's comedy classic.
Posted 04.17.07 by reelz