The Day the Earth Stood Still

Movie Review: The Day the Earth Stood Still (***1/2 out of 4 stars)

Year of Release: 1951

Country of Origin: USA

Director: Robert Wise

Cast: Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Hugh Marlowe, Sam Jaffe, Billy Gray

Plot outline: An alien lands and tells the people of Earth that they must live peacefully or be destroyed as a danger to other planets (IMDb).

“Klaatu Barada Nikto”

The story (**** The movie was a brilliantly simple allegory for a world that just started the Cold War, and came out of the ravages of World War II scarred and scared. But it was more than that--it was a landmark in American cinema, the first truly significant offering in science fiction they gave the world, with a score by Bernard Herrmann that created the sound of science fiction for years to come with its use of the Theramin, whose otherworldly tone fit right in with a genre that could only exist with the existence of such an other world.)

How the story unfolds (****)

The characters (***)

The dialogue (****)

The acting (***)

Overall rating ***1/2 out of 4 stars

The Day the Earth Stood Still

Movie Review: The Day the Earth Stood Still (**1/2 out of 4 stars)

Year of Release: 2008

Country of Origin: USA, Canada

Director: Scott Derrickson

Cast: Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly, Kathy Bates, Jaden Smith

Plot outline: A remake of the 1951 classic science fiction movie about an alien visitor and his giant robot counterpart who visit Earth (IMDb).

The story (**1/2 This new version of the enduring Robert Wise's Cold War classic of the same name is at least on paper contemporary)

How the story unfolds (**1/2 Klaatu does not see much to convince him that mankind is worth saving, except for a contrived scene with a fellow alien who has been living amongst for the last seventy years. Despite his less than glowing report on mankind, he report at the end of it all that he loves humans and perhaps they are redeemable after all, but he never explains why.)

The characters (**1/2)

The dialogue (**1/2)

The acting (**1/2 Reeves is asked to muster up his now trademark cold blank stare; an increasingly emaciated Connelly conjures up her big-eyed compassionate stare, and; Bates is perpetually pompous and angry. Only Jaden Smith portraying Connelly's step-son, really exercises his acting chops, but even his performance soon becomes an annoyance. And the robot GORT--looking like a giant Oscar statue, so relevant to the original concept, is relegated to a minor supporting role as a violence suppressor.)

Overall rating **1/2 out of 4 stars

The Hurt Locker

Movie Review: The Hurt Locker (*** out of 4 stars)

Year of Release: 2008

Country of Origin: USA

Director: Kathryn Bigelow

Cast: Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty

Plot outline: Three members of the Army's elite Explosive Ordnance Disposal squad battle insurgents and each other as they search for and disarm a wave of roadside bombs on the streets of Baghdad-in order to try and make the city a safer place for Iraqis and Americans alike (IMDb).

The story (*** Story-wise, there’s not much to this--they get called to a bomb, they diffuse the bomb, they move onto the next bomb--repeat until tour of duty ends. It does feel like there’s something missing from the film--we witness the present-day camaraderie of the characters, but have very little sense of who they really are, what really motivates them.)

How the story unfolds (***)

The characters (*** The film’s main failing is a lack of real character development--but maybe that’s the point--it’s a slice of life, very specific to the time and place)

The dialogue (***)

The acting (***)

Overall rating *** out of 4 stars

White Man's Burden

Movie Review: White Man's Burden (**1/2 out of 4 stars)

Year of Release: 1995

Country of Origin: France, USA

Director: Desmond Nakano

Cast: John Travolta, Harry Belafonte, Kelly Lynch

Plot outline: The story takes place in alternative America where the blacks are members of social elite, and whites are inhabitants of inner city ghettos (IMDb).

The story (*** What if the balance of racial power in America were reversed?)

How the story unfolds (** The excessive simplicity ultimately undermines both the movie's statement and its dramatic impact. The most unsettling thing about the movie is not that it tells the truth about the racial situation in America--it doesn't--but that it relies on blithe stereotyping.)

The characters (**1/2)

The acting (**1/2 Travolta and Belafonte are charismatic actors, and it's interesting watching them play off each other. But they are hemmed in by the requirements of the movie's race gimmick.)

Overall rating **1/2 out of 4 stars

The Watcher in the Woods

Movie Review: The Watcher in the Woods (** out of 4 stars)

Year of Release: 1980

Country of Origin: USA, UK

Director: John Hough

Cast: Bette Davis, Lynn-Holly Johnson, Kyle Richards, Carroll Baker

Plot outline: When an American family moves into a beautiful old English house in a wooded area, strange, paranormal things happen. One daughter sees, and the other daughter hears, the voice of a teenage girl who mysteriously disappeared during a total solar eclipse decades before (IMDb).

The story (**)

How the story unfolds (** The atmosphere is pretty good. The movie’s failing is in the ending. You get the sense that while the filmmakers had a good storyline they never quite figured out how to resolve it.)

The characters (** Bette Davis still had incredible presence, and spit her lines out in that inimitable style that could have intimidated Clint Eastwood. It did not, however, phase Lynn-Holly Johnson in the slightest. She wambles on obliviously, leaving only questions as to whether her hair, voice, or facial expressions are most absurd, disproportionate, or inappropriate, in her wake.)

The acting (**)

Overall rating ** out of 4 stars