The expulsion from Eden can be interpreted as meaning that we humans will never be satisfied with the world as it is; our curse is that we can always imagine things as better than they are.  Whether or not this is true for nature (my reaction to the Grand Canyon and Glacier National Park wasn’t “no, this won’t do, find me a better one”), it most definitely describes our experience with pop culture.  Taken too far, it becomes Get Off My Lawn-ism, but it’s a necessary part of criticism, even creativity:  the ability to imagine.

So let’s celebrate and discuss that here.  What are your favorite projects in film or television that almost happened, or never happened, or would have worked if they’d just made that one goddamned change, like ending The Departed one shot earlier?  I always wish we could have had the Joe Carnahan-scripted, George Clooney-starring adaptation of James Ellroy’s White Jazz and I still hope that Nic Pizzolatto and Cary Fukunaga will get the band back together and adapt Ellroy’s Blood’s a Rover; Taylor Kitsch gets another shot as Don Crutchfield.

OK, team, don’t even act like you don’t think about these things all the time.  What are your favorite imaginary films, hoped-for films, and better versions of films out there?  What are the casts, directors, music, and shotlists for them?  And which of qjtbailey‘s students’ pitches do you want to see made into movies?  (Obviously we should draw up a treatment for Ninjas vs. Fire Slug and sell it to SyFy.)