The recent revelation that Chris Columbus will be producing a US-based, English-language remake of Troll Hunter was met with everything from mild irritation to outright derision. A typical report of the news included 1) a statement that the original is great/awesome 2) a question of whether this really needed a remake 3) a comment that Hollywood was craven and unoriginal and, for a select few pieces, 4) swear words. My own take was fairly neutral (much like my reaction to Andre Ovredal‘s film), which prompted at least half an email asking me why I was giving this one a pass after years of making up clever insults at the expense of anyone attempting a remake. After some soul-searching, it was clear that I had either made peace with the recent glut of remakes or been beaten into submission by it. Either way, I’m tired of complaining about remakes, and here’s why.

There are plenty of foreign films that might deserve a US remake – both to shift their stories into a more direct cultural context and to draw attention to the original; Big Man Japan is the last on that list. The movie focuses on a man who inherited the job of defending the country against giant monsters from his father, but who can’t get his own life together. When called upon, he uses electricity to grow to unbelievable size, awkwardly fight whatever sick menace is knocking over buildings, and then return to his crummy life. It’s dry, sardonic, insane during the fight scenes, and more than a little boring when fists aren’t flying with slapstick precision. The subject matter is so directly linked to a cultural convention of Japan (and Japanese filmmaking) that it makes zero sense to remake it here. It’s more tone deaf than any other foreign remake that’s come out in the last ten years. Still, Variety is reporting that Clash of the Titans writers Phil Hay and Matt Mandredi will be writing a US version for Columbia and Original Pictures. There’s the off chance that something as crazy as this could yield epic genre results, but it seems a lot like writing a satire on consumer culture for a remote tribe in South America. Sure, a giant guy fighting giant monsters is wackysillymadcap, but will there be anything else to it?

Rob Hunter loves movies. He also loves working as a delivery driver for Pizza Planet even though the Toyota pickup he drives is in pretty rough shape. These two joys come together in the form of cash money payments that he receives every week and immediately uses to buy more DVDs.

Kevin Carr reviews this week’s new movies: Angels & Demons and Big Man Japan.

Neil and Kevin stumble into the Magical Studio in the Sky, completely unprepared for the show. But at least they have both seen this week’s movies, Angels & Demons and Big Man Japan.

It gave me great pleasure to see that a screening of Big Man Japan went over so well at this past weekend’s New York Comic-Con. It gives me similar pleasure to share with you the film’s trailer.

Even though we are not wandering the halls of the New York Comic-Con event happening this weekend, we do have a lot of friends and neighbors who are covering the event.

This weekend, the mecca of geekdom was the Drexel Theater in Columbus, Ohio. More than 300 people gathered for 24 hours of science fiction movies. Several of the Rejects were in attendance to enjoy the good, the bad and the ugly that science fiction cinema had to offer.

The complete schedule of the 25th Annual Ohio 24-Hour Science Fiction Marathon has finally been announced. Several of the rejects will be in attendance, enjoying the full grindhouse experience of an all-night movie marathon.

The Ohio 24-Hour Sci-Fi Marathon is more then just movies. Each year, you get to see hours of additional material like rare and vintage trailers, short subjects, classic cartoons and so much more.