I beg Hollywood to stop trying to remake the classic Sci-fi movies...please STOP!!!
Tonight on HBO-HD I watched the remake of "The Day the Earth Stood Still", perhaps my favorite old Sci-Fi movie.
If you seen my presentation on "Being an Amateur Astronomer", you would know that some of these great movies like The Thing, War of the Worlds, Forbidden Planet, and The Day the Earth Stood Still raised my curiosity as a kid about outer space and astronomy.
The remake of War of the Worlds (with Tom Cruise) is okay, though could have been better. The remake of The Thing (with Kurt Russell) was actually really good.
This remake is the worst I've seen, and really peeved me off.
For years (more than 20) I was hoping Hollywood would do a remake of this movie. In fact Sheree and I wondered who could play Klaatu? Michael Rennie in the original was wonderful. So my finalist for the remake (and Sheree highly agreed) was Ralph Fiennes (a really terrific actor). But of course Keanu Reeves got the job.
There is little if any character feeling throughout the movie, and the story line had little if any flow to it. Worse yet was the make-up of Gort. Instead of being this impregnable robot of unlimited power, he is made up of these very tiny "eat everything" swarm of fly-like creatures. Unbelievably dumb, and was like watching one of those Brandon Frasier Mummy movies with some sort of locust plague.
Geez I'm worried now that the Forbidden Planet is next...I guess.
They would probably have Joe Pesci play Dr. Morbius, Jim Carrey playing Commander Adams, and Robby the Robot a rebuilt souped up Yugo!
Karl
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Re: Movie night
Karl, I got some insider information that confirmed Keanu Reeves got the role because he IS an alien.
I want "War of the Worlds" remade again, but set in the same time period as the novel, early 1900's.
Wouldn't a better idea for remaking "Forbidden Planet" be to cast Leslie Neilsen in the same role so the movie can be set 50 years later as a sequel as opposed to a remake?
My favorite remake of a classic sci-fi movie was the 1978 "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", but if you've never seen the original 1956 version without the voiceover or tagged on happy ending then you're missing the original movie.
After that it's the Guy Peirce "Time Machine" relatively entertaining and only 90 minutes long so you don't have to dwell too long on what's not right from the novel.
"The Blob" remake wasn't so bad, once again entertaining and even had some sympathetic characters before they got killed off.
"Alien", of course, was a nice remake of "It, the Terror from Beyond Space" and really creeped out me and my wife in 1979. She was expecting cute robots like Star Wars.
But one of my favorite throwbacks to 1950's film making is M. Knight Shyamalan's "Signs." Well developed characters, nice slashes of humor, suspenseful (especially when an alien makes a first appearance) and the perfect ending where the family drama that evolved from an unexpected death (told through well placed flashbacks), the disability of a child, a brother's new found strength and a rediscovered faith all come together for a truly rewarding 106 minutes. And all shot in and around Doylestown, PA.
But, Karl, I agree. Hollywood is too often disappointing. Like the recent "2012", essentially a remake of "When Worlds Collide" without a meteoric collision. True grade B Hollywood with shallow characters dumped into formulaic plot devices while the world is imploding in stages. But GREAT SPECIAL EFFECTS. I loved seeing Yellowstone erupt. Worth seeing for that scene alone.
Fred, I.S.G.G.B.D.
Re: Movie night
The Day the Earth Stood Still (original) is my favorite sci-fi movie and one of my all time favorite movies. How bad was the remake? Try this: the female lead never goes to Gort and says the famous line: "Gort - Klatuu, berata, nicto" (spelling is off I'm sure"). It would be like remaking Gone with the Wind and not hearing "frankly I don't give a damn" or Casablanca without "Play it Sam"!!
Unbelievable to not even get close to the raw essence of the movie. The original proves that less is more.
Rob
Re: Movie night
You hit it also, Rob. However, we left out, at least what I consider, a remake that was a labor of love for the filmmakers and one that was mostly faithful to the original in many ways, Peter Jackson's "King Kong."
Fred, I.S.G.G.B.D.
Re: Movie night
I always have believed that it would be impossible to duplicate the original TDTEST for so many reasons, which I won't list here because you guys all know what they are. I found it watchable on video. Beyond that, it was a real yawner with some neat special effects and...
... the complete ruination of Gort!!! What the ...!!! Did they wuss him out or what? Where's the icy mechanical menace? Where's the facedown and the words that save the earth??? The CG version of our Gort is comic-booky - and then, the big *reveal* is that Gort is made of Stargate's replicators???
Was this film made in Vancover?
OTOH, my favorite movie of all time remains unscathed by remakes. The original showed this little girl a strong, intelligent and brave female character in an era when movie heroines were all just standing around being blonde and waiting for some man to save them. It had a huge impact on me.
I am glad that this remake didn't dilute that memory at all.
JanR
PS - The remake of The Thing is quite good, not because of the icky alien but because it returns to the study of paranoia in the orginal short story, "Who Goes There?" They show the alien way too early in the film, but since the film really isn't so much about the alien monster as about how fear makes monsters out of men, it's okay.
Re: Movie night
OK OK OK OK;
Check out this short, even if you HATED the Matrix, this is cool:
http://legomatrix.com/main.shtml
That's a remake I can stand.
davel
Re: Movie night
Then watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-is63goeBgc
You will LOVE it!!
JanR
Re: Movie night
Both of those clips are really clever and worthwhile homages. The end credit scroll of RVD2 with the "Thanks" at the very end is a real howl.
Fred, I.S.G.G.B.D.
Re: Movie night
I always thought "The Day the Earth Stood Still" was a classic. Thanks, Karl, for the warning. I'll be sure not to watch the remake.
Bob