What really stuck out to me in the remake is some of the same lines from the original. The original does leave some big shoes to fill. Plus the world was different then.
The Godfather is awesome, but I wasnt allowed to watch it till later on given the (really) adult content. It's one of my favorite movies though, and the whole trilogy was done well in my opinion. Love it.
LOTR is one of my favorites, I actually read the novels as a teenager, read the Hobbit at 8 or 9 years old. Awesome stories, and JRR Tolkien is still my favorite author.