Posted by
Bob Siegel on Friday, December 19, 2008 12:50:13 PM
NOTE:
On July, 30, 2008 I reviewed the remake of THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD
STILL, many months before the film was actually released. Obviously, I
had not seen the movie yet and knew nothing about it, but I made some
predictions nevertheless. As of this moment, I still have not bought a
ticket for the
new version. I know it has received bad reviews but I avoided reading
them myself and remain unaware of what today's Hollywood did with
this
story. For those of you who saw the movie, feel free to write me and
tell me if my predictions were correct. In this case, I would love to
be wrong. It would be nice to know that one of the greatest Science
Fiction films of all times was not ruined. Below is my original
review, unchanged word for word. Re-reading my review, I realize I
failed to say that the same tired plot device (parent with estranged
child whom they do not spend time with) would also be in the movie. I
did say that indirectly by discussing WAR OF THE WORLDS as an example
of bad remakes, but I had intended to add that prediction a bit more
clearly. So there are two predictions to examine.
Bob Siegel
I’ve gotten pretty good at predicting movies. That is, I’ve gotten pretty
good at predicting movies that come out of Hollywood. When
it’s an independent film, they revert back to that old tradition called, a
story. Maybe you’ve heard of it. When a movie has an actual story, it is far
more difficult to predict.
My greatest hatred is remakes of classic movies and remakes of classic TV
shows. I grew up on Leave It
to Beaver, so when the movie version came out, I refused to even see it. I
did predict that the kids would not sound like real kids and talk in sassy ways
to their parents. One day, (a few years later, when the movie was on TV) I was
flipping the channels around. For about two minutes, I did indeed catch a scene
from Leave It to Beaver. Ward and June Cleaver were making out on the
couch. Wally walked in and shouted, “Hey you two!
Get a room!” Yep. Quite a tribute
to the innocent days of the 1950's.
And then, more recently we had Stephen Spielberg’s remake of War of the Worlds. I loved the original
H.G. Wells classic. This time, I predicted that instead of a scientist and his
girlfriend fleeing the alien beings, we would see a father with his troubled
teen. You know, that divorced dad who never paid his kid any attention, never
went to his basketball games, etc. Spielberg is a brilliant director to be
sure, but I knew even he would be unable to avoid this tired plot device that
serves as an automatic ingredient for all “disaster movies.” A parent and their neglected kid are thrown together,
or a man with his divorced wife is thrown together. It could be one or the
other. After all, Hollywood does
have some variety.
I must admit, I was wrong about one thing. Since the original War of the Worlds ended with God saving the day, I figured that
today’s anti-Christian film makers would either take God out of the ending
completely or use the title Allah in
place of God. That did not happen, so War
of the Worlds did provide one pleasant surprise. But my other prediction
was right on the money; divorced Tom Cruise and his soured teen son, fleeing
the Jolly Green Giants from Mars.
Recently, I was exposed to some dreadful news. Now they are remaking The Day the Earth Stood Still. This was
my favorite, arguably one of the best Science Fictions ever made, if not the best. It was well written, well acted,
and it had a good message ahead of it’s time.
The special effects were not bad either for the 1950’s and they still
hold up. The “ahead of it’s time message” was that the aliens were not evil
devouring monsters, but rather, peaceful aliens who came to warn the Earth that
she must give up her tendencies toward war.
If not, Earth will not be permitted to live, should she venture out into
space.
OK: Here’s my prediction: Incidently, I’m not bragging with these predictions. You
are probably guessing the same thing right now. Anyone would. This time, the
warning will not be about war. It will be about Global Warming. Right? I mean, this is Hollywood. What
else could they possibly do? The aliens
will warn us about the dangers of Global Warming.