So, why is it when the mall hours are clearly listed at the entrances, people love to wait until the very last minute to make a purchase? Tonight was one of those nights where almost the whole hour before the Temple to Mammon shut down, I had very little business. 5 minutes before I'm suppsed to start packing it in, I have the family who has to look at everything, rearrange everything (*to the sound of my gritting teeth*), and finally decide to get the one small, and of course inexpensive item about 5 minutes after closing.

Grrrrr.

Fortunately I was still able to catch my bus on time. Which was its own joy, but I'll leave that to another post.

I have heard (and occasionally made) the argument that Hollywood is running out of creative juice. I'm seeing a whole bunch of remakes already released, so I did some research on HSX.com (where I have a portfolio set up under Urael2001) to see some of what is coming out soon under the "They made THAT again?" category. What I've seen discussed as possible future releases is not helping me believe that movies are entering any modern renaissance of freshness. Allow me to share what we might see, some of us for the second time:

Death Race:  You might know it better as Death Race 2000, with David Carradine and Sylvester Stallone. But instead of sticking with the movie's original idea, and possibly working it into a beautiful satire of "reality television" and the loss of democracy in a future society, the creative powers that be have ripped out the heart of the movie. *spoiler SPOILER LOOK AWAY NOW!!!!* There will be no killing pedestrians for points. Instead it's more of a "kill or be killed" type of sccenario from what I've read. (Honestly, I've not seen much.) My thought: WTF? I'll be the first to say that this was no gem of cinema, but it had its moments. Mr. Carradine's outfit is one of those things, the hospital scene another. It will be ahrd for me to give this version a chance. I'm told we can expect it in August of this year.

The Warriors: "Warriors, come out and play-ay." Again, not exactly a shining piece of movie history, but the costumes and dialogue gave me a fond space in my heart for this action film. I liked it so much I got the Director's Cut on DVD. I read they may be going more martial-arts with this version, but I don't know if that's firm just yet.   Well, we'll see.

The Day The Earth Stood Still:  Why? WHY? No one will outdo Michael Rennie and Patricia Neal. I'll admit, this classic of early sci-fi is one of my sacred cows. It's a tight little movie, and should not be trifled with. So of course it's going to be redone, no doubt with Gilbert Goddfried as the alien and Pamela Anderson Lee as the secretary. Gort will be replaced with one of Austin Powers's fembots. *headdesk*

The Creature From The Black Lagoon: This is actually one I haven't seen, so I'm rather indifferent here. I doubt the new Creature will cause as many nightmares as the original did, but that's me being cynical, agist, and a touch bitter. Damn kid Hollywood writers.... ;-)

That's all I've got so far. I'm sure the list will only grow.