The Day the Earth Stood Still Movie Trailer
“My name is Klaatu Reeves and I have come to Earth to warn you of Hancock.” The first trailer for December’s big budget remake of 1951’s The Day the Earth Stood Still is now online after premiering in front of Will Smith’s ne’er-do-well superhero flick. Under an icy blue tint, the preview quickly evokes Close Encounters, The Abyss, Spielberg’s War of the Worlds, Contact and Langoliers before closing in on the modern green message, an aspect that Keanu Reeves has mentioned briefly in the press….
“The version I was just working on, instead of being man against man, it’s more about man against nature. My Klaatu says that if the Earth dies, you die. If you die, the earth survives. I’m a friend to the earth.”
The special effects by Weta Digital—the emphasis here is on a large alien orb and apocalyptic destruction—seem crisp and foreboding enough. Glimpses of a cast that includes Jennifer Connelly, Mad Men’s Jon Hamm (his first major movie role) and Kathy Bates, give the impression that director Scott Derrickson (Exorcism of Emily Rose) may have crafted a classier Day After Tomorrow. If so, that would slightly exceed most fanboys’ early expectations for the film. Alas, do you see Gort? Check out the comments.
Watch the trailer in high resolution on filmweb.no.
Synopsis: Updating the 1951 sci-fi classic’s Cold War and religious themes, Keanu Reeves stars as Klaatu, a mysterious man from another world who warns Earth’s humans that unless they change their gluttonous and harmful ways and pay more attention to the planet’s needs, aliens will swoop down and destroy them for good. :0
The Day the Earth Stood Still opens on December 12th.
This Week in DVD: New Futurama Movie, 10,000 BC, In Bruges, Spiderwick Chronicles, and More
This Week in DVD is a new column on compiling all the latest info regarding new DVD releases, sales, and exclusive deals from stores including Target, Best Buy, Circuit City, and Fry’s.
FUTURAMA: THE BEAST WITH A BILLION BACKS
Continuing its semi-return from the Fox cancellation grave yard, Futurama finally releases its second direct-to-DVD feature out of four with The Beast with a Billion Backs. It’s not nearly as dramatically compelling or well paced as Bender’s Big Score (that film was so good it had the potential to be made as a theatrical release), but it does up the ante on laughs, which is debatably something the former picture was lacking. Who really cares though? The important thing is that Futurama is back, and personally, I couldn’t be happier to see it return.
Blu-ray? No.
Notable Extras: Audio commentary from the cast and crew, ‘Futurama: The Lost Adventure’ (featuring the cut-scene footage from the Futurama video game), a joke interview with comedian David Cross, deleted scenes, a featurette detailing the history of the game Death Ball, and footage of voice recording outtakes.
N/A
$19.99
$13.99
$13.99
IN BRUGES
This film marks one of those instances where the trailer prepares you for a movie so vastly different than the actual film that the film itself is harder to enjoy because of it. It’s still a solid movie though, so I’ll just warn you to avoid viewing it with the expectation of something Guy Ritchie or Tarantino-esque. Its witty and raunchy dialogue may come across as similar at times, but the movie is also very slowly paced, focusing heavily on existential and religious themes atop all the profane comedy. It’s definitely not your standard hitman film.
Blu-ray? No.
Notable Extras: Deleted and extended scenes, four featurettes, and a gag reel.
$19.99
$19.99
$19.99
$19.99
EXCLUSIVE DEAL:
What? Save $5 when you buy In Bruges with either Charlie Bartlett, Definitely Maybe, or Bonneville.
Where? Best Buy.
THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES
(Available as single-disc and 2-Disc Field Guide Editions)
Starring Freddie Highmore and featuring plenty of fantastical creatures, this movie may seem like it’s simply treading the same water as Arthur and the Invisibles. However, this children’s adventure (based on the popular book series of the same name) has the heart and imagination lacking in that film, and succeeds much more admirably because of it.
Blu-ray? Yes.
Notable Extras: The 2-disc set includes deleted scenes, six making-of featurettes, and Arthur Spiderwick’s Field Guide (which includes reprinted pages from the book while letting you access relevant scenes from the film).
$16.99
$16.99
$13.99
$13.99
*Does not include 2-Disc Edition, which costs $22.99 at each of the listed stores (excluding Fry’s, where it costs $21.99).
EXCLUSIVE DEAL:
What? Free Spiderwick Movie Storybook and bookmark with purchase of single-disc DVD.
Where? Target.
EXCLUSIVE DEAL:
What? Free “The Field Guide” book.
Where? Best Buy.
EXCLUSIVE DEAL:
What? Free Spiderwick Chronicles trading cards.
Where? Circuit City.
PERSEPOLIS
With a 95% ranking on Rotten Tomatoes and an 8.1 rating on IMDB, Persepolis (based on Marjane Satrapi’s bestselling graphic novel) is by far one of the year’s most celebrated animated films. Shot in black-and-white, the movie uses its inventive visuals as a way of setting the tone for the deeply compelling coming-of-age story ahead. The plot explores a young Iranian girl’s attempt at finding her place in the world during the Islamic Revolution.
Blu-ray? Yes.
Notable Extras: Commentary on select scenes, a 30-minute documentary, a making-of featurette, and a Q&A from the film’s 2007 Cannes Film Festival Press Conference.
$16.99
$19.99
$19.99
$16.99
CHARLIE BARTLETT
A mixed bag overall, Charlie Bartlett is an uneven yet oftentimes hilarious teen angst comedy about a wealthy teenager finding his place in the social hierarchy by becoming an unofficial school psychiatrist. It also stars Robert Downey Jr. in a supporting role, and as a rule I like to force myself to see every movie he’s in. You might want to consider doing the same, because with the filmmography he’s been building recently it’s really starting to pay off.
Blu-ray? No.
Notable Extras: Three audio commentaries, featurettes, deleted scenes, and restroom confessionals.
$19.99
$17.99
$19.99
$19.99
EXCLUSIVE DEAL:
What? Save $5 when you buy Charlie Bartlett with either In Bruges, Definitely Maybe, or Bonneville.
Where? Best Buy.
10,000 BC
Favoring a focus of style over substance (and logic for that matter), director Roland Emmerich’s epically stupid journey into the prehistoric era is both bland and frustrating to watch. The film doesn’t even make an attempt at being historically accurate, and the lack of effort shows. It might be so-bad-it’s-good were it actually entertaining.
Blu-ray? Yes.
Notable Extras: An alternate ending and 10 minutes of deleted scenes.
$16.99
$14.99
$13.99
$13.99
EXCLUSIVE DEAL:
What? 2-Disc Special Edition ($22.99).
Where? Best Buy.
Other noteworthy DVDs available this week…
Definitely, Maybe – The Hammer – Honeydripper – Xanadu (Magical Music Edition) – Trailer Park Boys (Season 7) – Bonneville – The Tattooist – Early Edition (Season 1)
$17.99 – Arrested Development (Seasons 1, 2, or 3), The Simpsons (Seasons 7 or 8), Monk (Seasons 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5), Weeds (Seasons 1 or 2), Flight of the Conchords (Season 1), The Office (Season 1), The Boondocks (Season 1), and more…
$13.99 – The Incredibles, National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets, Finding Nemo, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, Toy Story (10th Anniversary Edition), Toy Story 2 (2-Disc Special Edition), and more…
$14.99 – Da Ali G Show (Seasons 1 or 2), American Gangster (2-Disc Unrated Extended Edition), I Am Legend, Semi-Pro, Juno, The Bucket List, Be Kind Rewind, The Bourne Ultimatum, and more…
Buy one, get one free ($9.99) – Blade, Speed, Cast Away, Sideways, This is Spinal Tap, Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny, Master and Commander, The Replacements, and more…
$6.99 – The Bourne Identity, King Kong, Jurassic Park, 300, Troy (Director’s Cut), Full Metal Jacket, Children of Men, School of Rock, Sleepy Hollow, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Shark Tale, Chicken Run, Flushed Away, Madagascar, Over the Hedge, Antz, Shrek 2, and more…
$3.99 – Big Trouble in Little China, Cocoon, Great Expectations, and more…
$4.99 – Dumb and Dumber, Frequency, and more…
$6.99 – 28 Days Later, Edward Scissorhands, Alien, Aliens, True Lies, From Hell, and more…
The Sarah Connor Chronicles: The Demon Hand - VIDEO
(S01E07) When I was in college, I took a science fiction class. In it, we discussed the themes of the first two Terminator movies, such as the religious themes (note the initials of John Connor and the other religious figure with the same initials) and the sources of violence (In the first movie it came in the form of machines. The second backpedaled and blamed minorities for violence).
I mention this because given the overt religious theme of tonight’s episode, I wonder if Josh Friedman was in the same class. This episode went all “New Testament” on us.
Summer Glau looked mighty fine dressed as a cop like that. Some might not find it sexy, but I couldn’t help but be reminded of when female strippers dress as cops. They look a lot like that. At first, I mean. When the clothes are still on. But I digress…
Cameron seems to not be built for subtlety. She’s breaking down a lot of doors in the beginning. I think one of the big purposes of this episode is to remind us that she IS a machine, particularly when you saw how differently she and Sarah reacted to endangered human life.
Since when does John WANT to go to school? He’s certainly changed.
The Agent Ellison storyline also progressed a lot in this episode. Technically, it was the first meeting between him and Sarah, although they didn’t exactly chat over tea.
I like how the episode revisits Sarah’s stay in the mental institution that was seen in the beginning of T2. They replicated her cell from that movie pretty well. In the videotape, she even quotes Kyle Reese from T1. I believe Dr. Silberman also quotes the famous line “Come with me if you want to live” from Kyle in T1 and Arnold in T2. The heavy-continuity episodes always seem to play better to me, although I recognize that people who haven’t seen the movies might be a little lost.
Summer Glau comes from a ballet background (and she looked mighty fine doing ballet) before she moved into acting, so I’m sure doing this episode was a joy for her. Ironically, she even played a Russian ballet dancer in the episode of Angel she appeared in. Are Russian ballet dancers yet another TV cliche’?
I’m amazed Skynet made a Terminator model in Cameron that has such quiet grace. I think it would be more realistic (in the context of the show) if we heard motors whirring or metal joints creaking.
I liked the line “Do we only have one F.B.I. agent in this town?” No, but we only have one F.B.I. regular in the series. How could he store the Terminator hand in his freezer? If I did that, I’d wander in late at night for a snack and put in it in the microwave thinking it was chicken. Mmmmm. Chicken fingers.
They got a different actor to play Dr. Silberman in the episode. I’m sorry they didn’t get Earl Boen himself. He was the only actor other than Arnold to appear in all three Terminator movies. The character did mention in T3 that he went nuts from the events in T2. I guess we got a little taste of that here.
Derek Reese’s story continued in the episode as well. When do we get to the part where he learns he’s John’s uncle?
Tonight was a good episode, almost as good as last week. As mentioned, the continuity-heavy episodes tend to work better for me, particularly since this show is doing them pretty well. Given time, this could be a really good series. Like, Battlestar Galactica good. Sadly…
The season’s remaining two episodes will be shown back-to-back next week. I will be doing two separate reviews, one for each hour. The question is: will the show make a second season? I’m hoping it does, but it’s science fiction on Fox. Despite heavy Superbowl promotion, my guess is it won’t. I can only hope they bring a satisfying ending to the series in the next two episodes. We’ll see next week.
Sundance Movie Review: Choke
I liked the last two Harry Potter films more than people who hadn’t read the books. I’ve also noticed that the only people that seemed to like The Da Vinci Code were those who had read the Dan Brown books. Is it because they were hardcore fans with too much time invested, or is it that they could fill in all the wonderful blanks which were cut to take the story to screen?
Chuck Palahniuk is my favorite author, and I’ve been waiting a long time to see Choke adapted to the big screen (and even longer for my Palahniuk favorite Survivor). Most people know Palahniuk as the author of Fight Club, which was adapted to the screen by David Fincher. A favorite of many people of my generation, Palahniuk has developed a huge cult following among young men and women. Choke is probably my fourth favorite book of the bunch, yet I’m shocked that this is the second movie adaptation. Especially considering the dark nature of the book which includes sex addiction and religious themes that is likely to upset any serious catholic.
Truth is that you couldn’t make Choke into a movie unless you did it independently on a small budget. And that is what they did. Made for $3.4 million, and filmed over the course of 25 shooting days in New Jersey, Choke looks nothing like Fincher’s film. I must admit, it doesn’t look like anything I ever imagined it would be, probably due to the budgetary limitations. That said, I loved every minute of this movie.
Sam Rockwell is everything I imagined Victor Mancini would and could be. He plays the part perfectly, and is the reason why this film works so well. Kelly Macdonald is wonderful as Paige Marshall. The cast is the best it ever could have been.
As a fanboy of the book, I’m finding it easier to voice my minor nitpicky complaints over offering up praise. So let me get through a couple of my issues. The book’s opening chapter is one of the best opening chapter’s I’ve ever read. The narrator attempts to convince the reader not to read the book. That his life is not worth reading about. I think they missed a huge opportunity by not translating this into a “Leave the theater now, shut off the DVD, this movie isn’t worth watching” opening voiceover. Also, writer/director Clark Gregg decided to abandon use of the voiceover shortly after the first act. I think this is a big mistake as the voiceover in the novel is one of the reasons it was so great. And this is evident in the sequences which involve voice over early on in the film. I’m not quite sure that the flashback sequences to Vincent’s childhood was well explained for those who had not read the book. And I also found some of the musical score (not soundtrack) to be too loud and corny. I hope they also get rid of the interstitial they use between flashbacks and flashfowards, as it seemed way too cheesy for this type of movie.
Choke shocks, offends, entertains and might even make you cry. Clark Gregg’s adaptation will please fans and non-fans alike. At only 85 minutes, I only wish the film could have been longer. I hope that some distributor has the guts (no pun intended) to pick this film up and give it a proper release.
Rating: 8 out of 10