By:   Movie Critic-guest contributor

Hollywood has run out of ideas.  That may seem to be a bold statement, but when you look at all the remakes and sequels we are inundated with year in and year out you start to understand why this comment is being made.  This weekend the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street premieres, and next week sees Iron Man take to the skies once more.  We’ve got the Karate Kid and The A-Team opening the same weekend in June.  All remakes are not made equal however.  There have been some that have been much better than the original, and some that take the original idea and move it in a bold new direction.  Here is my list of favourites.

Star Trek:  Last year’s Star Trek remake was simply put incredible.  I went in expecting to be let down, after all who could possible replace William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy.  Director J.J. Abrams (Lost, Mission Impossible 3) created a world similar to the one Trekkies knew and loved, and found a way to make it new and refreshing.  Now if only all remakes learned from this.

Evil Dead 2:  This one is unique.  Sam Raimi (Spider-Man, Drag Me To Hell) made a low-budget horror movie called The Evil Dead, then lost the rights to his own movie.  In order to make a sequel and show a recap of what came before, he had to reshoot the first movie.  Therefore the first seven minutes of Evil Dead 2 is a remake of the original movie.  Technically this movie is a sequel, but the entire feeling of the movie changed with this second superior entry.

Batman Begins:  Christopher Nolan (Memento, The Prestige) took a series that had started to flounder, and turned it around by rebooting it.  After Batman and Robin, Batman was dangerously close to becoming the campy superhero he was in the 60’s when Adam West donned the cape and cowl.  Christopher Nolan however changed Batman into the dark, brooding character he was in the comic books and added a hint of realism to his world.  He even chose villains that non-comic book readers may never have heard of, and turned it into a successful movie.

Halloween:  I never liked the Halloween movies until Rob Zombie came along.  To me Michael Myers was as plain and boring as a lot of slasher movie characters are.  Rob Zombie brought a terrifying depth to the character, and my only regret was waiting until the DVD was released to see this one.

Charlie’s Angels:  I was too young to really understand why the Charlie’s Angels television series was so popular, but when the first movie came out in 2000 I suddenly understood.  Sexy women, fast action, dry humour, this movie had it all.  The sequel wasn’t nearly as good, but you can’t win them all.

The Hills Have Eyes:  Wes Craven has pumped out so many movies that there were bound to be some that I didn’t enjoy.  The original The Hills Have Eyes was one of them.  There was just something missing from it, something that begged for the movie to be remade.  The remake added a terrifying, disturbing edge to the original, and at times you want to close your eyes or turn the lights on.

Mission Impossible:  Like him or hate him, Tom Cruise has starred in a lot of great movies.  The first Mission Impossible movie was one of them.  Based on the successful television series, this movie was riddled with twists and turns and kept your attention from start to finish.