When you remake a classic, you'd better be pretty sure of yourself. Back in 1974, when cinema was reinventing itself with a grittier, meaner reality, "The Taking of Pelham 123" was one of crime genre's better attempts to insert the audience into the thick of things. Robert Shaw played a hauntingly understated psychopath, and Walter Matthau played an easygoing New York City transit cop who tries to stop him from hijacking Pelham 123, a subway car filled with hostages.

Both Shaw and Matthau were at the top of their form, and the film was stylish and smart, eerily threatening as the clock ticked out the seconds before hostages were killed, one by one, if Shaw's demands weren't met. "Pelham 123" also had one of the most satisfying last scenes in moviedom —a grand finale lacking any sort of pyromania, bloodshed or violence but, with Matthau's help, bringing sheer movie magic.

So I went into director Tony Scott's remake with some reservations.

For the most part, I was happily surprised to discover "Pelham 123" has still got the juice, the tingles and the gutsy reality that drove its predecessor at a breakneck speed. Denzel Washington has taken over Matthau's job (not as a transit cop, but as a dispatcher caught at the wrong desk at the wrong time), and John Travolta heats up the psychopathic persona that fueled Robert Shaw. Two actors again at the top of their form. Matthau and Shaw may be hard acts to follow, but Washington and Travolta manage quite nicely.

And here come the real kudos. How do you stray from the original (new plot twists, new reasons to watch) yet maintain its integrity? For the most part, "The Taking of Pelham 123" adds subtle nuance and texture while remaining tightly paced and suspenseful. If there's a formula for successful remakes (as scarce as it might be in Hollywood), Pelham's pretty damn close to conjuring up all the right ingredients. This is one ride well worth taking again.

Stop me if you've heard this pitch. A buddy flick rolled up in a road trip that ends in Vegas for a kick-ass bachelor party! Well,

"The Hangover" delivers in that regard: Four friends—well, three friends and the obligatory slightly odd brother-in-law—come to town for one night of no-holds-barred fun. Phil, Stu, Alan and Doug (Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis and Justin Bartha) already know that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. But what happens when nobody quite remembers what happened in Vegas?

What happens in "The Hangover" is extremely funny in an occasionally crass, boorish sort of way. Three of the buds wake up the next morning in their Caesars Palace suite with a tiger, a chicken, a missing tooth and also a missing groom-to-be. The problem is that nobody can recollect a thing about the night before. (Yeah, there's a plausible reason.)

Slowly, gently, they try to piece together the previous evening's festivities, and each clue they uncover seems more outlandish than the last. The stolen police car for one thing. The naked guy in the trunk, for another. As the morning progresses, it gets better (or worse, depending upon your perspective). Who are the thugs after them? And why is the groom still missing?

This well-crafted comedy rarely descends into familiar territory, so for those of us who've seen our fill of Vegas-bound road trips, this one remains a cut above. Think of it, if you must, as a sort of lowbrow "Sideways." Guys just being guys, even if it hurts. In "The Hangover" it's a very funny sort of pain.