Psycho

Gus Van Sant's Psycho is fine; it just has no reason to exist, outside of catering to a generation of contemporaries who refuse to watch black-and-white films. A shot-for-shot remake of Alfred Hitchcock's original, thrilling masterpiece, Van Sant makes no effort to try and do anything different with the material, possibly fearing the backlash of altering a perfect piece of work. Why, then, did he even choose to make the film? It seems more a self-indulgent exercise in futility—a complete waste of time and money that does little more than appeal to Van Sant's morbid curiosity of how exactly Hitchcock achieved each shot. This is more of a film school assignment than art—or, worse still, than entertainment. Opt for the original instead.