Originality is overrated
These homages/ripoffs are (in my opinion) nearly as good as, as good as, or better than the originals.
If you don't see the connections, watch the movies back to back. Have a theme night.
Twelve Monkeys does acknowledge Le Jetee in the opening credits.
If you don't see the connections, watch the movies back to back. Have a theme night.
Twelve Monkeys does acknowledge Le Jetee in the opening credits.
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- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsBibi AnderssonLiv UllmannMargaretha KrookA nurse is put in charge of a mute actress and finds that their personae are melding together.
- DirectorRobert AltmanStarsShelley DuvallSissy SpacekJanice RuleTwo roommates/physical therapists, one a vain woman and the other an awkward teenager, share an increasingly bizarre relationship.I like it better. There, I said it.
- StarsLiv UllmannErland JosephsonBibi AnderssonTen years within the marriage of Marianne and Johan.I admit that much of this list is about Woody Allen being in love with Ingmar Bergman.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsWoody AllenMia FarrowSydney PollackWhen their best friends announce that they're separating, a professor and his wife discover the faults in their own marriage.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsVictor SjöströmBibi AnderssonIngrid ThulinAfter living a life marked by coldness, an aging professor is forced to confront the emptiness of his existence.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsGena RowlandsMia FarrowIan HolmFacing a mid-life crisis, a woman rents an apartment next to a psychiatrist's office to write a new book, only to become drawn to the plight of a pregnant woman seeking that doctor's help.Woody loves Wild Strawberries.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsWoody AllenJudy DavisJulia Louis-DreyfusSuffering from writer's block and eagerly awaiting his writing award, Harry Block remembers events from his past and scenes from his best-selling books as characters, real and fictional, come back to haunt him.Woody loves other aspects of Wild Strawberries.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsIngrid BergmanLiv UllmannLena NymanA devoted wife is visited by her mother, a successful concert pianist who had little time for her when she was young.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsElaine StritchDenholm ElliottMia FarrowAt a summer house in Vermont, neighbor Howard falls in love with Lane, who's in a relationship with Peter, who's falling for Stephanie, who's married with children.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsHarriet AnderssonLiv UllmannKari SylwanWhen a woman dying of cancer in early twentieth-century Sweden is visited by her two sisters, long-repressed feelings between the siblings rise to the surface.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsDiane KeatonGeraldine PageKristin GriffithThree sisters find their lives spinning out of control in the wake of their parents' sudden, unexpected divorce.
- DirectorElia KazanStarsVivien LeighMarlon BrandoKim HunterDisturbed Blanche DuBois moves in with her sister in New Orleans and is tormented by her brutish brother-in-law while her reality crumbles around her.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsCate BlanchettAlec BaldwinPeter SarsgaardA New York socialite, deeply troubled and in denial, arrives in San Francisco to impose upon her sister. She looks like a million dollars but isn't bringing money, peace or love.
- DirectorFederico FelliniStarsMarcello MastroianniAnita EkbergAnouk AiméeA series of stories following a week in the life of a philandering tabloid journalist living in Rome.I didn't like La Dolce Vita
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsKenneth BranaghJudy DavisLeonardo DiCaprioThe fortunes of a husband and wife differ drastically after they divorce.I also didn't like Celebrity. Woody really nailed it.
- DirectorRoman PolanskiStarsJack NicholsonFaye DunawayJohn HustonA private detective hired to expose an adulterer in 1930s Los Angeles finds himself caught up in a web of deceit, corruption, and murder.
- DirectorRichard DonnerStarsChristopher ReeveMargot KidderGene HackmanAn alien orphan is sent from his dying planet to Earth, where he grows up to become his adoptive home's first and greatest superhero.Admittedly, Lex Luthor's evil plot was only a small part of the movie. Still, that small part was pretty much a big, actioney, comic-bookey ripoff of the villains' plan in Chinatown.
They could've even had Lex say that he got the idea from watching Chinatown. Or if he was too proud to admit it, Miss Teschmacher could've pointed it out. - DirectorTed DemmeStarsDenis LearyJudy DavisKevin SpaceyA cat burglar is forced to take a bickering, dysfunctional family hostage on Christmas Eve.
- DirectorSam MendesStarsKevin SpaceyAnnette BeningThora BirchA sexually frustrated suburban father has a mid-life crisis after becoming infatuated with his daughter's best friend.Obviously American Beauty is about twenty times better, but the seed of the movie is obviously there in The Ref.
- DirectorGeorge StevensStarsCary GrantJoan FontaineVictor McLaglenIn 19th century India, three British soldiers and a native waterbearer must stop a secret mass revival of the murderous Thuggee cult before it can rampage across the land.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsHarrison FordKate CapshawKe Huy QuanIn 1935, Indiana Jones is tasked by Indian villagers with reclaiming a rock stolen from them by a secret cult beneath the catacombs of an ancient palace.
- DirectorDan CurtisStarsKaren BlackOliver ReedBurgess MeredithA family moves into a large old mansion in the countryside which seems to have a mysterious and sinister power over its new residents.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsJack NicholsonShelley DuvallDanny LloydA family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where a sinister presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from both past and future.King and Kubrick probably never even saw Burnt Offerings. And if they did, they only improved on the ideas.
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsJames StewartDonna ReedLionel BarrymoreAn angel is sent from Heaven to help a desperately frustrated businessman by showing him what life would have been like if he had never existed.
- DirectorRobert ZemeckisStarsMichael J. FoxChristopher LloydLea ThompsonAfter visiting 2015, Marty McFly must repeat his visit to 1955 to prevent disastrous changes to 1985...without interfering with his first trip.
- DirectorMario BavaStarsBarry SullivanNorma BengellÁngel ArandaAfter landing on a mysterious planet, a team of astronauts begin to turn on each other, swayed by the uncertain influence of the planet and its strange inhabitants.
- DirectorRidley ScottStarsNoomi RapaceLogan Marshall-GreenMichael FassbenderFollowing clues to the origin of mankind, a team finds a structure on a distant moon, but they soon realize they are not alone.
- DirectorHerbert RossStarsSteve MartinBernadette PetersJessica HarperDuring the Great Depression, a sheet-music salesman seeks to escape his dreary life through popular music and a love affair with an innocent schoolteacher.
- DirectorLars von TrierStarsBjörkCatherine DeneuveDavid MorseAn Eastern European US immigrant with a love for musicals has to cope with the gradual loss of her vision.
- DirectorChristopher NolanStarsChristian BaleHeath LedgerAaron EckhartWhen the menace known as the Joker wreaks havoc and chaos on the people of Gotham, Batman must accept one of the greatest psychological and physical tests of his ability to fight injustice.
- DirectorSam MendesStarsDaniel CraigJavier BardemNaomie HarrisJames Bond's loyalty to M is tested when her past comes back to haunt her. When MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost.
- DirectorHoward HawksStarsHumphrey BogartLauren BacallJohn RidgelyPrivate detective Philip Marlowe is hired by a wealthy family. Before the complex case is over, he's seen murder, blackmail and what might be love.
- DirectorJoel CoenEthan CoenStarsJeff BridgesJohn GoodmanJulianne MooreJeff "The Dude" Lebowski, mistaken for a millionaire of the same name, seeks restitution for his ruined rug and enlists his bowling buddies to help get it.
- DirectorCornel WildeStarsCornel WildeGert van den BerghKen GampuDuring the 1800s, a safari guide, two elephant hunters and their crew run into trouble with the natives in the South African veld when they refuse to offer gifts to the tribesmen.
- DirectorMel GibsonStarsGerardo TaracenaRaoul Max TrujilloDalia HernándezAs the Mayan kingdom faces its decline, a young man is taken on a perilous journey to a world ruled by fear and oppression.
- DirectorKrzysztof KieslowskiStarsBoguslaw LindaTadeusz LomnickiZbigniew ZapasiewiczWitek runs after a train. Three variations follow on how such a seemingly banal incident could influence the rest of Witek's life.
- DirectorTom TykwerStarsFranka PotenteMoritz BleibtreuHerbert KnaupAfter a botched money delivery, Lola has 20 minutes to come up with 100,000 Deutschmarks.It's really only the alternate realities premise that they use.
...It's also used in Sliding Doors, but f~(< that movie. - DirectorMichelangelo AntonioniStarsDavid HemmingsVanessa RedgraveSarah MilesA fashion photographer unknowingly captures a death on film after following two lovers in a park.
- DirectorBrian De PalmaStarsJohn TravoltaNancy AllenJohn LithgowA movie sound recordist accidentally records the evidence that proves that a car accident was actually murder and consequently finds himself in danger.While Blow-Up is an artsy tour of swinging 60's London in which the plot doesn't really matter, Blow Out is more of a straight-forward Hitchcockian thriller.
- DirectorBrian De PalmaStarsMichael CaineAngie DickinsonNancy AllenA mysterious blonde woman kills one of a psychiatrist's patients, and then goes after the high-class call girl who witnessed the murder.A Ripoff of a Hitchcock movie. I won't say which one because it would ruin the big twist at the end of Dressed to Kill, or even (God forbid) the Hitchcock film if you've only seen Dressed to Kill.
It also steals a memorable sequence from De Palma's earlier film, Carrie. - DirectorBrian De PalmaStarsCraig WassonMelanie GriffithGregg HenryA young actor's obsession with spying on a beautiful woman who lives nearby leads to a baffling series of events with drastic consequences.Body Double is actually a sleazy, hyper-sexed mash-up of two Hitchcock films. Again, I won't say which ones.
While some aspects of the movie don't hold up and some plot points are easy to see through, I think it adds enough of it's own unique touches that it becomes worth a viewing.
I think Hitchcock would be amused, if not proud. - DirectorF.W. MurnauStarsMax SchreckAlexander GranachGustav von WangenheimVampire Count Orlok expresses interest in a new residence and real estate agent Hutter's wife.Nearly a century later, filmdom's first unauthorized rip-off is still better than any movie with 'Dracula' in the title.
- CreatorMatt DufferRoss DufferStarsMillie Bobby BrownFinn WolfhardWinona RyderWhen a young boy vanishes, a small town uncovers a mystery involving secret experiments, terrifying supernatural forces and one strange little girl.E.T., Poltergeist, Stephen King (especially IT, Firestarter, and The Mist), A Nightmare on Elm Street, Goonies; Stranger Things is a gloriously unoriginal Hodge Podge.
So why do I love Stranger Things when hodge podges like Black Swan and Crimson Peak drive me mad with rage? It's because Stranger Things isn't trying to get away with anything. You know going in that it's an 80's homage, the show is stealing from well known movies, and they sprinkle direct nods to the originals throughout the series. They're not just stitching together the best bits from older, less-known movies and waiting for clueless kids to lap it up.