Gort! Keanu Reeves Barada Nikto!

[Gillianren]

I'm afraid so. They're making a remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still, starring the lovely Jennifer Connelly, the talented Kathy Bates, and Keanu Reeves.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0970416/

[Frog march]

well, I hope in this one the alien doesn't come out holding a phaser.


that's just stupid.

[KaiYeves]

Man, that was a good movie. Probably up there on my top ten total list. Certainly top five SF and Fantasy if I counted every Star Wars as just one.

[Doodler]

Keanu's playing the robot?

[Swift]

Keanu's playing the robot?

Klaatu.

To stop Gort, instead of saying "Klaatu barada nikto", you say "Wo!"

[Frog march]

I suppose he will go around paying for things with diamonds.

[mike alexander]

Don't accept the diamonds. They are mined by slaves under horrible conditions on Altair VII. These 'circulatory fluid diamonds' represent the methane sweat of wretched hexapods.

[jamestox]

I just got an uncontrollable twitch just reading the title of this thread....

[Romanus]

It was only a matter of time.[sigh]

With the Cold War and its associated arms race long over, expect a radically altered storyline with lots of explosions, screaming hordes, and weepy Armageddon moments.

[Frog march]

I just thought of a cheesy scene.

one soldier kicks the robot and when it doesn't respond he says "see, it failed the Turing test, it ain't got no brains".....

[Noclevername]

The lovely Jennifer Connell(y), the talented Kathy Bates, and the space-filling Keanu Reeves.



Sigh.

[novaderrik]

when is Keanu going to do the third installment of the Bill and Ted series?
i want to know how Wyld Stalyns rule the world, and every time i see him in a movie i keep expecting him to revert to the role that made him famous. he got close the the Matrix flicks, but not quite there.

[Maksutov]

well, I hope in this one the alien doesn't come out holding a phaser.


that's just stupid.

In the original, Klaatu was holding a communication device, not a phaser. A trigger-happy individual decided it was a weapon and shot Klaatu.

I'm with Doodler, no matter what the character's name, Reeves will be playing the robot one way or another.

Plot synopsis: Klaatu and Gort land on a baseball field in Washington, DC. They are immediately apprehended by Homeland Security agents and whisked away to Gitmo, then to a non-existent detention center somewhere in eastern Europe, never to be heard from again. The saucer is demolished by the largest explosion in the history of the cinema. Many gunfights and car chases ensue due to unrelated subplots. Sex scenes occur. CGI runs uncontrolled throughout the film. The film ends with reports of a prison break at a non-existent detention center in eastern Europe. Scabs begin working on the script for the sequel.

[SkepticJ]

Keanu's not what I would call a good actor, but all joking aside, he's not that bad--certainly better than Nicole If-I-express-any-emotion,-the-skin-on-my-forehead-will-tear Kidman.

I might go see this one, if it turns out to be deliciously bad.

[Dragon Star]

What's the big deal? I think Keanu is a good actor.

[Doodler]

What's the big deal? I think Keanu is a good actor.

He's in the same category of actor as Wesley Snipes usually falls into.

The man has one emotional state and tends to stay there. In his case, its a perpetual state of utter bewilderment at anything and everything going on around him. He's Data with better dimples...

[Gillianren]

I've seen Wesley Snipe hold up pretty well. I think the real evidence of the talent of an actor is how well he holds up to a good cast and a good script. I think we can safely agree that Much Ado About Nothing had one of the best scriptwriters in history, and it's one of his better works. The cast of the '93 movie was excellent, and man, did Keanu Reeves stand out in it. And not in the good way.

[Frog march]

In the original, Klaatu was holding a communication device, not a phaser. A trigger-happy individual decided it was a weapon and shot Klaatu.

I know, I know; "with that, you could have studied the other planets......."

but I thought that it was a bit weak for him to come out holding the thing like a gun.......And why wear a space suit, that covered his face, if he didn't need it?


I'm a bit like the character in the movie "Misery", "IT WASN'T LIKE THAT AT THE END LAST WEEK....."

but I think movies, generally, benefit, at a deep level, from logic (consistent with the theme of the movie) .

[Noclevername]

He's in the same category of actor as Wesley Snipes usually falls into.

The man has one emotional state and tends to stay there.

Then you haven't seen Snipes in Too Wong Fu, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar. Definitely not his usual typecast role!

[Jason]

I've seen Wesley Snipe hold up pretty well. I think the real evidence of the talent of an actor is how well he holds up to a good cast and a good script. I think we can safely agree that Much Ado About Nothing had one of the best scriptwriters in history, and it's one of his better works. The cast of the '93 movie was excellent, and man, did Keanu Reeves stand out in it. And not in the good way.

Sort of like how Jack Lemmon stood out in Branagh's Hamlet.

[Doodler]

Then you haven't seen Snipes in Too Wong Fu, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar. Definitely not his usual typecast role!

Good to know he can break out of the mold.

[Noclevername]

Good to know he can break out of the mold.

That was before the mold was cast, back when he also did non-action pics.

[JustAFriend]

Every time I've been to the Lincoln Memorial in D.C., I tap my wife on the shoulder and start quoting Michael Renny's line-- "He must have been a great man...."

Like Cruise's pitiful attempt to do the "War of the Worlds", this movie will SUCK. Wonder when Kneau will come out of the saucer and say, "Whoa..."

I'd really love to take a baseball bat into the meetings where they greenlight this garbage.....

[jamestox]

You have a point, JustAFriend. Lately the stuff coming out of the great celluloid factory of the West has been remakes, TV show adaptations, or political statements in the thin guise of entertainment. This film's going to have to really jump high to clear the previous movie's bar.

What we need are films that have more than a mere modicum of wonder, more plot than a repackaged FPS game, characters the audience dares to identify with, and an original story that is positive and uplifting that doesn't have to rely on numerous explosions, expensive CG effects or vehicle chases to keep our attention.

Hollywood, do you want more of our hard-earned money?
There's our wish-list. It might profit you to keep it in mind while you're grinding out the movies.

(Sorry. I'll get off the soapbox now.)

[Gillianren]

You have a point, JustAFriend. Lately the stuff coming out of the great celluloid factory of the West has been remakes, TV show adaptations, or political statements in the thin guise of entertainment.

People always say this, and I'm certainly not disputing that a lot of it is true. However, it's not entirely true. Sweeney Todd, for example, was not a TV show adaptation; it was a Broadway musical adaptation. Entirely different!

On a more serious note, while this is a bad time of year for new movies (this is when studios release things that they don't think would do well anyway), there's still some movies in theatres right now that are supposed to be really original and creative--and people don't go to see them. Persepolis, which is supposed to be really good, will probably only make it to the art house theatre downtown, and if I were living in a town without one, I probably wouldn't get the chance to see it in the theatre at all. No Country for Old Men is supposed to be an excellent film, as is There Will Be Blood. I'm not sure Persepolis is a Hollywood movie; I rather suspect it isn't. But Pixar movies count, I think, and they're pretty invariably witty and creative.

I also leave you this to ponder on. 1939 is generally considered one of the best years in the history of film. And indeed, it is. However, spend a few minutes browsing this list. http://us.imdb.com/List?year=1939&&t...%20titles;1939

Also, Doodler, you really should see Wong Foo. It may not be your thing, but it's the Wesley Snipes movie I had in mind when I said he'd done some good stuff. And you know, I watch a lot of movies, so eventually, I'll probably see everybody's one good performance--if they have one.

[korjik]

Klaatu Barada Ni(cough cough cough)

[Paul Beardsley]

I have come to accept that science fiction films are generally of no interest to people who like science fiction. For various reasons the genre simply doesn't work in that medium.

[Doodler]

I have come to accept that science fiction films are generally of no interest to people who like science fiction. For various reasons the genre simply doesn't work in that medium.

There has been great science fiction made, its just that the good stuff doesn't do well in the modern world because it has to be dumbed down to the point of moronic for the average knuckledragger buying a ticket to understand...either that, or the studio goes crazy with the CGI to the point where you have NO idea what the heck is going on. Then you add in music video hack directors, like Micheal Bay, and it all goes to hell in a handbasket.

[KaiYeves]

And why wear a space suit, that covered his face, if he didn't need it?

Did he know if he would need it or not?

[Jason]

I have come to accept that science fiction films are generally of no interest to people who like science fiction. For various reasons the genre simply doesn't work in that medium.

I liked science fiction films and TV shows before I liked printed science fiction. Star Trek and Star Wars led me to Dune and Foundation.