1. The Thing (1982)

People keep complaining about how much better the original was. Go back and watch it. Yeah, yery well acted, very suspenseful, some genius filmmaking, but the ending collapsed in the original. And how can you truly be threatened by what amounts to a big carrot? John Carpenter went back to the original short story for a great who-do-you-trust thriller. And no matter what you believe the vague ending means, it's not happy. A vast improvement on the original.

2. The Fly (1986)

Cronenberg's masterpiece in the eyes of many, about a guy who winds up with many eyes. This, like many remakes, had the advantage of better effects, but also had a sick Canadian with an obsession for man overstepping his use of technology for selfish reasons. Humanity's inventions contain the flaws of man, and with the growing power of man's invention, so runs a greater threat to ourselves.
And Goldblum is creepy.

3. House on Haunted Hill (1999)

Not to be confused with "The Haunting" or "The Hills Have House 2: The Second Story," this movie was seriously cool. Like scares? Some genuine jumps. Like hotties? How's Famke Janssen, Ali Larter, and Bridgette Wilson? Honeys. Also some good work by Chris Kataan, Geoffrey Rush, Taye Diggs, and Peter Gallagher. The ending sucks ass, but maily because the rest is so damn good.

4. Shaft (2000)

DangerSeekers love Shaft. That doesn't sound right. Big black priv... oh, hell, the movie was cool. It caught the feel of the old 70's detective films, but with the level of style and intelligence today's moviegoers expect. Argue the intellect issue if you will, but Van Damme is now straight to video. And besides, Samuel L. Jackson is the coolest man alive. If I had a Jedi on the case, I'd shut my mouth.

5. Escape From L.A.

Debatable as to being better than the original, depending on which you saw first. It has some of the themes to the original, as well as the exact smae plot and characters (though renamed in an attempt to make it a sequel rather than a remake). It just lacked the grittiness. Some of the sequences, such as the surfing fiasco, were just plain cheesy. The ending to this was better than the first, though, and Kurt Russell really makes that basketball shot.

1. Little Women (1994)

Hard to imagine it, but this millionth remake of the classic leaves the rest behind. Winona Ryder, Claire Danes, Kirsten Dunst, Trini Alvarado, Susan Surandon and Samantha Mathis each turn in their best career performances and give more depth to these girls then any of the other actresses could. Beautiful direction by Gillian Armstrong makes the whole project seem new. Check out the Special Edition DVD for some interesting deleted scenes that show even more how commited Armstrong was to giving the story a look it had never seen before.

2. The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)

Matt Damon's creepy portrayal of Tom Ripley erases any notion that his breakthrough role in "Good Will Hunting" was the real deal. Jude Law is flawless as the object of Ripley's obsession. Cate Blanchett, Gwyenth Paltrow, and amazing cinematography cement this film as one of the greatest remakes of all-time.

3. The Thomas Crown Affair (1999)

What a good year 1999 was for remakes, huh? Pierce Brosnan was never so well suited for a role then he is for the titular art collector/thief. Rene Russo turns in one of her best performances to date as Crown's advisary. She also disproves the Hollywood thinking that only young women can be sexy. Russo, in her 40's, easily smokes starlet Esther Canades off of the screen.

4. Little Shop of Horrors (1986)

An over-the-top remake of Roger Corman's macabre 1960 classic. Rick Moranis and Ellen Greene are in prime comic form as the tales protagonists. If you can get through the films musical numbers, espicially Steve Martin's "Be a Dentist", without laughing then you must be dead. Look for great cameos by the likes of Jim Belushi and Bill Murray.

5. Cruel Intentions (1999)

I know I'll catch a lot of heat for including this one. I can't help it, Roger Kumble's trashy retelling of the French novel "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" stands out from the book's other cinematic versions. The action is updated to modern times and set amongst uber-rich high school students in Manhatten. Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ryan Phillipe so dramatically overplay their lead roles as manipulative step-brother and sister that you can't help but enjoy yourself. Selma Blair is annoyingly perfect as a rich girl misfit who shows up for a meeting at the stylish home of Gellar wearing a koala bear t-shirt. It's so ridiculous it's brilliant. You can almost smell the sweat of the teenage boys when internet fave Gellar spouts off campy lines like, "you can put it anywhere you like" and when she shares a kiss with fellow cutie Blair, complete with close-up of tounge. It's trashy, it's cheesey, it's wonderful fun.

1. The Thomas Crown Affair (1999)

Sharper, sexier, and less self-consciously stylized than its name-and-plot-sake. Finally gives Pierce Brosnan the darker edge that his Bond flicks don't allow him. No offense to Steve McQueen, but who would YOU sooner believe as an eccentric, aloof billionaire, him or Brosnan? And speaking of McQueen ...

2. The Magnificent Seven (1960)

One of the finest specimens of the western genre, before Clint took us revisionist. A remake of Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, this John Sturges classic offers some genuine moralist high-stepping, along with the camp thrill of watching Yul Brynner as a gunslinger named Chris.

3. Henry V (1989)

I was hesitant to add this, since it's not so much a remake of Olivier's 1944 version, but obviously a new take on Shakespeare's play. Darker, grittier, probably a truer vision of war than Olivier's; also more engaging - as opposed to Olivier's crowd-scene St. Crispin's Day speech, Branagh opts for a more intimate (i.e.: lower budget) staging, with Patrick Doyle's score helping sell the scene.

4. Shaft (2000)

Aside from being an excellent summer popcorn movie, this remake of the beloved '71 blaxploitation bar-setter also happens to be a tightly-paced, sharply-written policier.

5. True Lies (1994)

This small, quiet, intimate arthouse film, a remake of the French classic "La Totale!" stunned audiences by showing us a gentler side of both star Schwarzenegger, and of director James Cameron (before the word "James" was synonmous with "self," and "Cameron" synonmous with "congratulatory"), with a tense, understated shootout in a mall bathroom, a delicate nuclear explosion, and of course, an emotionally wrenching finale on top of an unfinished skyscraper with Arnold behind the wheel of a Harrier jet. The French, those lords of subtlety, combining with Cameron's reigned-in approach makes this one the pitch-perfect companion to "The Remains of the Day."