Comments on: The Day The Earth Stood Still Trailer Starring Keanu Reeves

By: Drew

Drew — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 11:27:33 +0000

i thought the same thing, lol.

By: Sean

Sean — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 06:11:04 +0000

I can’t believe you just used the word “shiznit”.

By: Reed Farrington

Reed Farrington — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 05:38:38 +0000

IMO, the basic plot has stayed the same. Mankind thinks they’re the shiznit, and aliens arrive to tell us we’re not.

By: The Old Fart

The Old Fart — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 04:16:24 +0000

The original film was appropriate for the time in which it was made and the message it contained addressed a deep seated fear that most held. BTW – that message is still relevant today. I still feel that this was one of the best sf movies ever produced simply because it was relevant for the times, was very well produced and special effects were pretty much leading-edge for the time. Is it dated now – of course. But that doesn’t detract from what it was at the time.

To call this new production a remake is ludicrous. If you change the basic plot, you have a new story. If they had given it a new title and said that it was loosely based on or inspired by the original, that would have been fine with me. But, I will still go and see it – the trailers are intriguing – but I will be viewing it as a new production and, once the title screen goes away, I will not be comparing it to that great, original movie.

By: Reed Farrington

Reed Farrington — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 17:31:35 +0000

Um, that short story summary doesn’t make for a compelling movie plot, does it? There are reasons for revisions.

(Now Jay is going to remind me how hypocritical I am by citing our conversation yesterday about how I was saying revisions are unnecessary and are only done to accommodate people’s opinions of how they think a story should be told.)

By: The Big O

The Big O — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 02:57:58 +0000

I must be the only one who thought I was having a Johnny Mnemonic flashback. The original version may seem slow paced if you have a 21st century attention span but 57 years ago we weren’t soaked in media okay? The origin of the movie was a short story that took place 10 or so years after the landing. Gort was sealed in a block of unbreakable plastic yet they kept finding his block of plastickept moving around.
Turns out he was trying to revive Klaatu who was killed not shot in the hand on the white house lawn.
The story ended with a short lived Klaatu telling that Gort was in command and Klaatu was the flunky.
Needless to say Klaatu as Captain Planet is revisionist
crap. Oh well… what do you expect from Hollywood?!?

By: Reed Farrington

Reed Farrington — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 04:41:01 +0000

I must have blinked, because I missed Gort at the end. I happened to pop One Million Years B.C. into my DVD player tonight and one of the preview trailers on it was for the original The Day the Earth Stood Still!

On one of the Cantankerous episodes, I mentioned how science fiction movies of today lacked the ambition shown in earlier decades. Some people wanted me to back up my statements, but I still haven’t formulated my reasons adequately. I’m wondering what movies this decade they’ll be remaking thirty years from now.

I’m not much of a purist when it comes to source material. I understand the need to adapt. I don’t care if people make “bad” remakes of movies I liked. The original will always be there to appreciate.

By: Tara

Tara — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:00:55 +0000

Yes Reed, that was Gort at the very end, looking much like the original design.
Maybe if they went back to the original short story it would be OK, but it looks like they avoided that and jumped right into “The Day After Tomorrow” territory.

By: Tara

Tara — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 23:55:25 +0000

I find it telling that they can’t even compile a teaser trailer without being forced to include some very bad, wooden acting by Keanu. I wish they would stop doing remakes of classics. The story doesn’t even look the same. “If you die, the Earth survives”?! What the heck is that about? Another quiet, intelligent film turned into an over-the-top cg fest. Yuck. I almost cried when I heard about this remake. The generally positive response to the trailer gave me hope. And then I saw the trailer and that hope shrivelled like a slug in the sunshine. I wouldn’t mind so much if it wasn’t meant to be a remake, because it looks to me like Klaatu, and his message, has nothing to do with the original.
This is going to be bad, and painful. And I wish Keanu would retire already.

By: Matt

Matt — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 15:43:36 +0000

LOL. Whoa there, people. I didn’t know that my original comment was going to rub people the wrong way this badly. And now to address some questions and concerns raised by latter message postings.

1. No, I am indeed not retartded, and hope I’m not too stupid.

2. It’s not that I didn’t like the movie “because it was old.” as some people might have suggested. My favorite sci-fi movie is 2001: A Space Oddysey, which was made in 1968. Some of my other older favorite movies are 12 Angry Men, Dr. Strangelove and Paths of Glory.
I didn’t like TDTESS because it was slow, badly paced, and too long for the message it was trying to deliver. The message itself, however, I appreciated.

3. Thanks to the people that stuck up for me. Not because they agreed with my opinion, but because people shouldn’t be derided for unpopular opinions if they can defend them. I am glad that cooler heads prevailed and that my favorite blog and forum won’t deteritarate like the message boards of Break.com.

4. I am looking forward to this new version. It looks interesting.

I hope this matter is behind us now.

By the way, how did I become the Top Commenter? How does that get determined? Is it the amount of postings or the quality that matter?
Now, let’s get back to posting opinions about movies.

By: Reed Farrington

Reed Farrington — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 23:02:11 +0000

I love the original film, but I can see how preachy and boring and corny it might seem compared to the filmmaking of today. It has the perfect simplistic story that could benefit from the visual effects technology of today.

The trailer actually gave me shivers and made me emotional. I love movies that show us how stupid we are. (BTW, I hope we destroy the Earth. It’ll force us to get off this godforsaken planet sooner.)

Was Gort in the trailer?

By: Derek

Derek — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 20:59:43 +0000

This message is to Glenn, no one has to like the movie, if he doesn’t like it, it doesn’t make him retarded. He just didn’t have much interest in it. I have to admit I like films such as this and I believe the remake will be a pretty awesome movie aside from not following the originals plot. Don’t be so quick to judge and new movie. That last message is to all of you. You haven’t seen it so don’t assume and or make direct comments just because you believe so. You haven’t seen it end of story.