D.O.A.

Remaking a Hollywood classic always invites criticism from purists who hold the past dear, but occasionally improvements justify a remake. Such is the case with D.O.A., a remake (or, more exactly, a reworking) of the 1949 Rudolph Mate film noir that starred Edmond O'Brien and Pamela Britton--less a "classic" than a mediocre film with a classic premise. Here, the husband-and-wife directing team of Rocky Morton and Annabel Jankel and scriptwriter Charles Edward Pogue (PSYCHO III; THE FLY) have fashioned a murder mystery that both is modern and pays homage to a genre of the past. Dexter Cornell (Dennis Quaid) is a once-brilliant author who has retreated to the ...