ON WEDNESDAY evening I went to the cinema to see the remake of the classic horror film Halloween. Now the film, while not completely terrible, was never going to match the suspense and chills of the original. Few films have, so why bother?

Well unfortunately that has been the trend for several years now in the film industry. It seems that the creative well, while not completely dry, may only have a couple of bucketfuls left.

Look at any month's new film releases for the past five years and the chances are there'll either be a remake of a '70s horror film, a Hollywood take on a foreign film, maybe a Japanese horror starring Sarah Michelle Geller, or perhaps all three.

While the majority of these are not a patch on their original incarnations, there are some exceptions. The winner of this year's Best Picture Oscar, The Departed, was a quite spiffing remake of Hong Kong hit Infernal Affairs, directed by Martin Scorsese, proving even the greatest filmmakers aren't immune to the occasional bout of creative plagiarism.

Music is another creative media where, when inspiration fails to strike, copying somebody else's work is an acceptable substitute, even if the results aren't.

Take a bow Will Young for murdering The Doors and Madonna for the excremental cover of American Pie.

So, if in the arts world, theft' is permitted and in some cases rewarded with critical plaudits and a few quid in your sky rocket, please be on the lookout for my new series of books featuring a young boy wizard, Barry Plopper and all the adventures he goes through at his school of wizardry, Foggwarts. The only difference I'm planning is that after seven books, Barry will be killed off.

Not spoilt anything for anyone there have I?

It was all-singing, now leave it well alone

FOR a true piece of originality in film/ television, you'd be hard pushed to beat The Sopranos, which ended its eight-year run this week with a truly stunning final episode.

Anyone who has followed the fortunes and failings of Tony Soprano over the six seasons will know that it wasn't a wholly original idea. The "mobster sees a psychiatrist" element was the same concept as the film Analyse This, which was, incidentally, released in the same year. The writing and performances on The Sopranos, however, have thrown up some of the most startling scenes to ever grace the screen, large or small.

The finale of the show aired in America six months ago is and is still the cause of extremely heated arguments.

The main criticism seems to be that people have to figure a few things out themselves instead of having eight years worth of storylines tied up neatly in the final 90 minutes. To my mind this is just one of the many strokes of genius the show possessed, treating the audience with intelligence rather than spoon-feeding them every last morsel.

So while the sun may have set, or should that be faded, on the greatest television show ever made, we can only hope that the show's creators don't buckle to the ignorant masses clogging up cyberspace with their inane demands for a more complete closure, and leave it well alone in its perfection. Fade to black...