The Day the Earth Stood Still... and then sat down...

The Day the Earth Stood Still ~ Just the concept of remaking this classic 1951 flick sticks in my crawl. Why would anyone remake a perfect film in the first place?

To my mind there are only a few reasons for a remake. The update – the film needs a retelling because the original is dated and makes less sense because of it. Technology – the special effects can now be done better because the technology has arrived to do so. And finally, a new twist – something so original, some new factor that spins the first version on its head, hopefully to a superior fashion. The Day the Earth Stood Still for 2008 does none of these.

The remake twists the original story in a new direction, a politically correct green one. The human race is killing the Earth, so aliens (well, only a couple, really) come down to set things straight and exterminate the pests (us). Really, not the best of plots, a bit of a cliché with some light global warming seasoning thrown in, but that’s what the producers have done to us this time.

The cast is a mixed bag with Kathy Bates revisiting the evil well for her role as a maniacal Presidential aide and Jennifer Connolly completely wasted except as eye candy. This must have been one hell of a paycheck for Ms. Connolly. One can only hope she learns to pick better roles in the future. Keanu Reeves for once is half-way decent as his emotionless monotone is perfect in this version of Klaatu. He’s likable, and there’s not many things he’s in of late that I can say that about.

The highlight of the original film, the robot Gort, is a badly animated CGI creation in this one. And while it’s the best thing about the remake it barely appears, and when it does it becomes a bad special effect that makes the film version of Galactus from Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer look positively lovely. Boo. Hiss. And I mean that from my heart.

When a remake is this far off the mark, so different from the look and flavor of the original source material, I say why even retain the name? This is much like the American Godzilla or the more recent Wanted. To the producers - if the source material wasn’t what you had in mind, why pay all that money for the film rights? Give it your own title and keep all the money.

Suffice it to say, don’t see this if you’re a fan of the original. It will be barely watchable for you. Not a great movie, a horrible remake, but a decent watch for those who don’t care about classic film.

Bedtime Stories

Bedtime Stories ~ While a serviceable family film merging Adam Sandler and Disney into one big holiday package, it still has the stench of an Adam Sandler movie on its own.

It is a barely entertaining flick whose worse component is Sandler trying shove all of his usual trademark antics from previous movies into this one. And while the special effects are sometimes impressive, it’s a sad day when the effects come first and seem to have the story retrofitted around them. Courtney Cox is the best thing in this character-wise, and she’s hardly in it.

I guess after a few okay flicks, I have to go back to hating Adam Sandler again.

Starting from Scratch

So far the slate for 2009 movies has more than a few start-overs for some major film franchises. Among them are...



Friday the 13th... sigh. This was bad in the 1980s, why do it again? How about a movie based on the excellent TV series of the same name which had zero to do with the movies? Great show, and unlike its namesake, it had plots.



Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li... now while I can't hide my geekgasm for the videogame, I am no fan of the movie. And although it stars TV's Lana Lang, Kristen Kreuk, I still would rather play the dusty old arcade game than see this new beginning for one of my fave fighters. *yawn* Wake me when they do Vega.



Fast & Furious... with a great trailer and a truncated name. This is the fourth in the series, most of the cast is back and everything. Sorry, I'm still not interested, even if it does have the best tagline for a movie in a while - "New Model, Original Parts."

Before Watchmen, the Minutemen

And just for good measure, check out the politically charged Japanese trailer for Watchmen here. Man, I can't wait for this to come out...

The Newest, and Youngest, Doctor

The BBC announced this week that the newest incarnation of the Doctor will be 26 year old actor Matt Smith.

The eleventh Doctor Who is 'flabbergasted' with the role which he takes over from current Doctor David Tennant at the end of 2009.

Smith is best known for his role as Danny Foster in the BBC series "Party Animals." He also has a tenuous connection to Who in that he was in an episode of Billie (Rose) Piper's series, "Secret Diary of a Call Girl."