If this new version is best than the original, Criminal will be the most powerfull movie of the year, but, is I'm not so sure about that.
shareI didn't see the original, but this is far from being powerful at all
Join my new political party, the Anti-Death Party, and remember... Death is dead
I'm Argentinian, and I saw Nine Queens, I love that movie. When I heard that Someone will remake the movie, I realy liked the Idea, but now... I don't know... The only thing I know is that I'll see the movie.
A little recomendation: Saw First Nine Queens (Nueve Reinas) before see Criminal
I took your advice and watched Nine Queens beforehand. The movie was really good and had me shouting from my couch at some points! Unfortunately, I had to read subtitles and wasn't able to pay attention to the acting too much. I am familiar w/ most of the actors for the American remake and think they'll do a tremendous job. Except Diego Luna is questionable in my mind. I think he's too young for the part... he didn't even look right in The Terminal w/ added facial hair. But I doubt his age will take away from the incredible plot of Criminal! I guess I'm just gonna have to wait for it to come out to confirm my own judgements.
-->Ashley
"The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return." --Christian (Ewan McGregor) in Moulin Rouge.
I loved Nine Queens and is one of my favorite movies. I'll be very surprised if the remake is even close to as good as the original.
shareTo the reviewer who asked why they remade this, it's an easy answer. Not a whole lot of people saw "Nueve Reinas." It's a great, quirky little film that I really wished more people in America got a chance to see. However, instead of just releasing a great foreign film in America, we're going to not only try to make it better, but dumb it down for American audiences. The twist at the end isn't quite comparable to the "Usual Suspects" twist, but the goal is the same and a respectable attempt. However, I can't see a remake of the film nearly matching the best part of the original, "Nueve Reinas." Although Maggie Gyllenhall is still a babe, the casting for "Nueve Reinas" was so damn good.
shareNueve Reinas is a wonderful movie. I'm not really sure why it seems that many of the people who have seen Nueve Reinas on this thread are Argentinian. it just struck me as odd that they made a point of mentioning that. so without further ado, I AM NOT FROM ARGENTINA, BUT I HAVE SEEN THE ORIGINAL!! it is definitely one of my favorites.
as for Usual Suspects, I personally think that it's over rated. the acting is decent, but really not all that great. the twist is amazing, as well as the explanation scene. however, it's one of the few movies that I really enjoyed the first time I saw it, but I just can't enjoy it now as a movie because I know the ending. And, as I said, the acting just doesn't do it for me. Nueve Reinas has Usual Suspects beat hands down in Acting. definitely a very simple movie in terms of characters to remember. also, I thoroughly enjoyed the fact that they didn't flat out explain it to you. Bielinsky actually gives some credit to the people seeing the movie, assuming that they can figure things out. American writers, for the most part (please don't berate me with movies that counter this), don't give the general public the credit they deserve. and rightly so considering that films like CatWoman and Anacondas are still coming out.
I wish I was ignorant, then maybe I would enjoy 99% of the movies that came out. :(
They remade this because of all those lazy american people not able to read subtitle...
shareI saw the trailer of 'Criminal' and it was not impressive. Nueve Reinas I like very much, it's perfect. So the only reason I can think of to make an American remake is the language / subtitling.
Looking at foreign movies is a good way to learn about other countries and the people that live there. That is one reason I liked Nueve Reinas and Valentin, because I love Buenos Aires. The makers of Valentin probably prohibited an American remake (or they couldn't find an american boy as cute as the Argentinian one), so the distribution company only f**cked up the posters.
Watching subtitled movies and television helped me learn foreign languages, including English. Remaking every damn foreign movie into an American version is proof of xenofobia.
+++ ies it safe? +++
Even knowing I'm Brazilian and therefore I'm forced by law to hate everything related to Argentina, I really love NINE QUEENS and hate this remake idea.
At first I thought it was Hollywood, but now INDEPENDENT CINEMA does it as well. C'mon! Christopher Nolan's INSOMNIA remake was already an insult. I'm tired of directors translating good movies for stupid people who can't read subtitles.
The director is Hispanic I am sure did not need to read the subtitles. It was because it was such a great movie and no Americans were seeing it that he made another version of it; not because it wasn't GREAT. I for one am an American that never heard of Nine Queens before I saw Criminal. Now I WILL see it! (I took Spanish lesson but didn't learn it well enough so I will read the subtitles, but I love watching foreign films with subitles and HATE dubbed movies!)
I love NINE QUEENS...we screened it at a film festival here at my school last year. I am very excited about the remake and I don' find it at all a distribute to the original.
shareThey remade this because of all those lazy american people not able to read subtitle...
I'm so sick of over opinionated film geeks saying that remaking a film is for dumb audiences who don't like subtitles.
'Insomnia' was a great remake of the Norwegian original (which was bloody great in it's own right) but Chris Nolan's version was different in quite a few ways -What about Magnificent Seven? Is that a dumb remake for a stupid audience to dumb to watch Kurosawa and read subtitles?
'True Lies' was an infinitely different film to Claude Zidi's admittedly average 'La Totale' - what the hell is so bad about remaking a film for an english speaking audience? There are just as many crap orignal films as there are crap remakes - no film is too sacred to be remade - hell, they're just films for petes sake.
I thought 'Vanilla Sky' was better than the original 'Abres los ojos' - mainly because: who better than Tom Cruise to sell the character of a rich, spoilt billionaire? I think it benefits from the excess of it's american setting - especially the stunning opening of an empty times square - it has a LOT more impact than an empty Madrid boulevarde. The original has a protagonist that is the heir to a restaurant chain - somehow i think it's a little more interesting when he's a billionaire publisher - Hell even the director of the original liked it and remarked on how different it felt to his own. Why the F**k is there some sort of sacred aura surrounding remaking films? If the original's great - fine - doesn't mean that the remake can't be done better or done differently. If songs can be covered why can't films?
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I hate how people here whine about subtitles and say things like, "I went to watch a movie not read a book." It's like they don't think about people in other countries watching Spider-Man 2 all in subtitles. Can you imagine that in Arabic, or Thai, or Chinese?
I think people complain about reading subtitles because they simply can't read. Illiterate bastards.
Come on, can we quit falling back on an easy stereotype. Not all Americans are dumb and illiterate. (There are more than I would like to admit, but still...) I for one love good foreign films, and have no qualms about reading subtitles. We're not all Dubya, give us some credit.
I think that stereotype comes from the fact that most theatres won't run many foreign films. To be honest, I didn't know that Criminal was a remake of Nine Queens, nor had I ever heard of it, but I'll be sure to seek it out now that I know. Personally, I dislike remakes of almost any film, in whatever language. I think if a film is good enough to be remade, but no one knows about it, bring the original to people's attention. Remake a movie because it can be improved, not because no one has heard of it.
It's easy to spout out 'dumb americans' who have a problem with subtitles, I'm from England and whenever I recommend a good foreign movie to someone they just laugh at me as if I've just suggested something ridiculous. Simple fact is that the majority of English speaking people have a psychological barrier when it comes to subtitles. We're so used to foreigners speaking our own language that when were asked to speak, or read their native tongue, it's like an insult.
I have to admit I was like that a few years ago but since I saw Battle Royale about three years ago, I've never looked back. There's so many good films out there, why limit yourself to just Hollywood dross. Now that I've got passed the subtitle psychological barrier I can watch a film from any part of the world, Korea, Russia, Belgium, Brazil it doesn't matter.
I would say to any person whom English is their only language is to just try it.
Then you can watch and appreciate the original films rather than the remakes, like Ringu - The Ring for example. Ringu was a lot better than the The Ring and didn't do it any justice. Or see a great film that's been spoit by bad dubbing. Like all the Hong Kong films (Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Chow Yun Fat ect... To hear the actors speak with their own voices is better.
I hate how people are saying that remake suck blah blah blah i saw criminal and i thought it was great i do plan to see nine queens. AND i have watched uncount able numbers of forgien subtitled films and i could read and watch and watch the actors all at he same time. I guess i am just a multi-talented person and i geusss the people that do not see that just can only do one thing at a time! Criminal was amazing and Diego Luna GLOWED!! One day i WILL MARRY him!!! Dont doubt me!!
share>>They remade this because of all those lazy american people not able to read subtitle...<<
Haha, what a stupid thing for such a stupid person to say. Here's a lesson in global reality, you stereotyping moron:
The Germans DUB EVERYTHING.
The Thais DUB EVERYTHING.
The Russians DUB EVERYTHING.
The Chinese DUBS EVERYTHING IN TWO LANGUAGES.
HALF OF EUROPE DUBS EVERYTHING.
Understand? The only reason you stereotype Americans is because YOU are stupid and dumb, and everything you think you "know" about America/Americans you got from trashy Hollywood films.
'Nuff said.
P.S. I've been watching foreign cinema for half my life. I always use subtitled movies. But that doesn't make me go around insulting everyone who doesn't like to read subtitles. Get over yourselves. Being a film geek DOESN'T make you automatically superior, nerds.
Its not only americans who remake films, koreans do it too. While it sadens me that great films arent successful in some markets simply because their new audiences dont like reading subtitle, I can understand that i makes sense to remake a story to allow a new audience to relate to it better.
Hasnt la femme nikita been make in france, america, korea, AND china?
At the end of the day, its about choice. With more versions to choose from you can truely say "If you dont like it, dont watch it".
P.S. nine queens wasnt that good in my oppinion :p
hello, I`m from argentina and I am waiting to see this remake but from what I have read it is almost the same plot as the original (but I´m seeing it anyways).
Here in Argentina almost every film that comes from USA we see it with subtitles (I think it´s better becase the acting is better appreciated if the original voices are there and if the movie is dubbed it won´t sound real).
I think it would be a respectful way to see a movie without dubbing it.
I have seen Nueve Reinas a few times, and I just saw Criminal last night. If you think about it, Criminal turns out to be decent because it's very similarly based on such a good movie. Comparing the two, the original is much more well done. But just give Criminal a try...it wasn't as bad as people anticipated (IMO). Compare it to Nueve Reinas after you watch the movie and go from there.
shareI saw Nine Queens about a year ago and Criminal last night. I highly recommend watching both movies. I am an American and had to read subtitles on Nine Queens. I don't mind movies with subtitles, but I prefer it when I don't have to read subtitles. Not because i am lazy as someone put it, but when you are reading subtitles in a dialouge driven movie like Nine Queens, you are missing the acting. You are also losing something in the translation. It's always good to see con artist movies twice and because the remake is so close to the original it's like watching Nine Queens again. And for those who just saw Criminal, I recommend going back and watching Nine Queens.
sharei havent seen this sh*tty remake (and i promisse i hardly will), but i can tell you the remake was great (7.5/10), as you can check out by the imdb rating (7.6) far superior to this idiotic rip off of hollywood
am glad it sunk in the box office
About the subtitles thing, it's not only lazyness or whatever, but Hollywood is about business, and it seems that a good movie with unknown actors (for american people) is buried from the beginning; now, what about a movie with familiar faces that may attract people to go to the movies? That is, in my opinion, an important reason, besides the subtitle thing.
And Nueve reinas is one of the best movies of it's kind (that I've seen). Although it's not always like that, the majority of Hollywood films are so massive-intended that they lack complexity... like a best-seller book. Sad but true. On the pro side we have spectacular X-effects, enourmous scènarios, thousands of extras, most accurate costumes, and so on...
I haven't seen Criminal, but one of the best things about the movie (which doesn't apply to people that don't like how Argentines talk) is, well, the accent. Taking that away is really hard. But the script is brilliant too so maybe this ones good. The cast is great. I'm gonna watch it.
shareCriminal sucked. Nueve Reinas was amazing!
~Dream: Don't rush to master the 'how' (technique) & then brush past or forget the 'why' (meaning)
I agree a lot of remakes are rubbish I always watch foreign films with the subs on La Femme Nikita is a great film that Hollywood ruined, I bought the region 1 DVD as at the time they hadn't released on DVD in the UK, which for some unknown reason changed the story from when I watched it when it came out by saying she got life imprisionment rather than the death sentence was this for the American audience. Watch the original French version of 3 men & a baby a far superior film to the Hollywood version & also the original version of Taxi. French films are a lot more raw than Hollywood films
share
I agree with you, originals are much better than remakes, but I watched the French version of three men and a baby and I didn't like it. The American version is light and silly, I enjoyed it but the French version was slow and boring. Yet this is only one case, the exception that makes the rule we could say, in general, as I said before, I do prefer originals to remakes.
~Dream: Don't rush to master the 'how' (technique) & then brush past or forget the 'why' (meaning)
I saw Nine Queens tonight and Criminal about a year ago. Nine Queens was a better movie. Period. Criminal wasn't bad, though.
When I saw Criminal, I didn't know it was a remake. Generally, I like originals better than remakes. For example, La Femme Nikita was better, Seven Samurai was better, and so was Wings of Desire. How about The Vanishing? The original was so dark and terrifying, and yet the American remake was....yes, they turned it into a happy ending! How crazy is that?
In all honesty, I haven't seen a remake I've liked better than the original, but I don't put people down who have different tastes than I do and prefer American remakes OR who don't like reading subtitles. I don't mind reading subtitles because I'd much rather see a subtitled movie than a dubbed one. And I'd much rather see a foreign, subtitled movie than an American one, especially if the American movie is typically bad. (Not all American movies are bad, but typically.....)
When I saw Howl's Moving Castle the first time, I saw the dubbed version because I saw it on the big screen. And I liked it. A lot. But when I watched it on DVD, I wanted to hear the original Japanese language. I feel that Howl's Moving Castle is one of the few decently-dubbed movies I have ever seen. (However, I have not seen that many dubbed movies).
Enough said.