The remake of "The Day the Earth Stood Still"

[Navy Chief]

I must confess I have never seen the original; leastwise not the entire movie (1951 vintage).

But the 2008 remake, to me at least, stunk to high heaven. Kathy Bates's performance was ridiculously bad. Another example of how bad an updated version can be.

Maybe sometimes original movies are better left alone?

Another example would be "Flight of the Phoenix". To me, no one could top Jimmy Stewart's performance; or anyone else's in that fine movie.

NC

[safn1949]

I have the original,the remake is one of the worst movies I have ever seen.

[Toastmaker]

I also agree with your "Flight of the Phoenix" observation. No way to top that original.

[TARPSBird]

And let's not even get into movies based on popular old TV shows, like "Starsky & Hutch" or "The Dukes of Hazzard"...:barf:
I didn't see either one of those because I didn't want my pleasant memories of the original shows corrupted.

[Henry]

its hard to beat the originals
could you imagine a remake of Casablanca
with Tom Cruise:running:
LOL
H

[DaveKDEN]

The 2008 version had some nice special effects, but that's about it. Don't know about the rest of you, but I'm getting rather tired of the leftist propaganda machine that is Hollywood now-a-days.

[Donnybrooke]

The orginal "The Day the Earth Stood Still" is supposedly one of the best Sci-Fi movies of the fifties. I enjoyed it as a kid, but as I got older, the message began to gnaw at me.

A race of advanced aliens comes to Earth to tell us that we had better change our ways or else. They've come up with a solution -- to build a cadre of giant robot space police to enslave... I mean "enforce" their good behavior. It's obey or die!

Now really! I thought a race of beings who could completely stop every machine on Earth would come up with a better solution than that!!

Of course, the secret here is that once we've signed the peace pact and gotten rid of our weapons, the aliens will politely point out that we are now all slaves to the Emperor Ming and take us to the spice mines... LOL!

Me, I prefer "Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers"!!

[Lionheart]

its hard to beat the originals
could you imagine a remake of Casablanca
with Tom Cruise:running:
LOL
H


LOLOLOL.....!!! OH man. Henry.. Bad visual..




The original of 'The Day the Earth Stood Still' is awesome. Brilliant concepts and for then, effects. Gort was pretty cool and the saucer was very cool looking. (The stair ramp edge couldnt be found in the surface of the disc 'after' it retracted).

I didnt see the new one. No saucer, nothing but big round things and destruction and mayhem.. Nothing what the original was about.


In the original, the 'aliens' have these robots that keep the peace. They didnt say anything about us requiring them. But they didnt like us using Atomics in warfare, and thats why he was sent to Earth as a representative to say 'hey, settle it down or you can get us all hurt after a period of time'.


Gort berringah necktu berradda! :d




Bill

[Piglet]

Me, I prefer "Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers"!!
YEAHHHH!!!!!
Saucer is on my "list" With rotating disc part, and retracting door/entrance cylinder. Oh, and the cool little dudes with their "fists of fury"!<!-- / message -->

[Helldiver]

"The Day the Earth Stood Still", is a classic and should never been remade.
Also another 50's classic, that had an unfortunate title was, "The Invasion of the Body Snatchers" with Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter. That was a well done film and scared the bejabbers out of me.
I still get sweaty palms thinking about it.

[Panther_99FS]

"The Invasion of the Body Snatchers" with Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter. That was a well done film and scared the bejabbers out of me.
I still get sweaty palms thinking about it.

Yep - The original scared me too!!

[safn1949]

I also have the original The Thing from Another World [1951],a great movie.The John Carpenter remake (1982) is also very good.

[RickN]

The only good remake I have seen in a long time was the latest version of King Kong. While not perfect it beat all the other King Kong remakes and spin offs badly.

[cheezyflier]

sadly, hollywood already remade "yeopgijeogin geunyeo". (my sassy girl)
the original korean movie was an awesome film, i wouldn't bother to see the hollywood version, i know better.

they are right now re-making "7 samurai", one of the greatest films of all time, and although a mental block mercifully prevents me from recalling who was cast, i do remember it was rediculous.
it remains to be seen what they can do with "oldboy". the only thing to their credit there is casting will smith. still, i have my doubts.

see, here's the thing with remaking great (especially asian) films.
the story is already written.
the market testing is already done, and has shown positive results.
rights are often bought for a song.
it becomes sooo cheap to remake an already established film that when it's released they never lose $$ no matter how bad they do. microwave success.
and who do they have to thank for it? John Q Public, that's who. because he runs to the theatre to see every crappy thing hollywood releases, and almost never sees anything foriegn or subtitled. he gets duped, and likes it. until the general (north american) population begins to look for better quality movies, they'll never get them. there are awesome directors in italy, australia, japan, south korea, china and thailand that most of you never heard of, and never will, as long as you get your movies from block buster, and rely on your local newspaper for what to see.

[EMatheson]

How 'bout "The Dirty Dozen?"
Another film that ought to be left alone...
Or "Twelve Angry Men?"

[Gdavis101]

I didn't care for the remake either. A bunch of my friends were telling me how good it was and how I needed to see it.. Bought it when it came out on DVD, gotta say I am sorry I did.

[Lionheart]

I have to say that some can remake a movie and do an outstanding job. If Day the Earth Stood Still would have been kept to its original plot and all, I think it would have done awesome. But what that movie was compared to the original, they should have renamed it... Like 'green day attack' or something.

To do that, and use another movies name, I just think was not good. To me, (personally speaking), its like a totally different movie but they used a historic title for its name.

I'll bet Spielberg could have made a fantastic version!!! A newer classic...




Bill

[demorier]

Ditto about "The day the earth stood still".
They should have shot Steve Martin for trying to impersonate Peter Sellers, Could you imagine anyone else playing Dr. Strangelove ?

Like both versions of Cape Fear.

Can't wait for "Public Enemies" to open here, surely Johnny Depp can't mess up Cagney's performance to much.

[stansdds]

When Hollywood runs out of ideas (and they ran out of good ideas a long time ago), the remake a classic with all kinds of special effects. Yeah, the new version has more glitz and glamor, but the acting often leaves much to be desired and the story gets lost to the special effects. It a matter of re-capping an old tire; yes, you get new tread, but it's the same old side wall and the new tread is going to peel off at some point.

[Wozza]

Well its been a bad week for me
went out and brought the day the earth stood still on dvd and wanted my 28$ back
just got back from the Cinema and want my 15$ back after seeing Star Trek
Hollywood should STOP reinventing the wheel they suck at it :D
Wozza

[cheezyflier]

went out and brought the day the earth stood still on dvd and wanted my 28$ back
just got back from the Cinema and want my 15$ back after seeing Star Trek


their still doing it, because people are continuing to pay them for it.

a better starategy would be to seek out movies on the internet movie database, then order them at a discount from amazon.com. i rarely pay more than $12 for a dvd including shipping. also, if it's crap, i can return it and get something else.

[Nausicaa]

Still there are a lot of remakes around that are better than the original.
Here my personal "better than the original" list:

The Fly (1986, David Cronenberg) >> better than the 1958 film of the same name.

Scarface (1983, with Al Pacino) >>> big time better than the original Scarface.

The Blob (1988, Brian: "You think that this meteor brought some kind of killer germ?" Dr. Meddows: "It's something I've expected and prepared for all my life!") much better than the original with Steve McQueen(1958)

The Thing (1982, John Carpenter) a lot better than the first version.(1951)

War of the Worlds (Steven Spielberg) >>>not that the first one is bad, but it's really pretty lame and cheesy nowadays.

The Ring (2002), better than the japanese original, Ringu.

The Thomas Crown Affair (1999) , better than the McQueen version.

and :icon_lol:

Casino Royale, a mile better than the original one.

[Donnybrooke]

they are right now re-making "7 samurai", one of the greatest films of all time, and although a mental block mercifully prevents me from recalling who was cast, i do remember it was rediculous.


Allow me to refresh your memory... George Clooney and Lucy Liu. :isadizzy:

I think it's about 6 cool dudes and 1 cool dudette who are hired to protect Las Vega Casinos from a group of thugs out to rob them.

Or am I confused? :sleep:

[Lionheart]

War of the Worlds was just plane, out and out awesome.....!

Edit; so was that recently redone version that was on regular TV, low budget. They did good on that one as well. But the one by Spielberg was just brilliant..



Bill

[cheezyflier]

Still there are a lot of remakes around that are better than the original.
Here my personal "better than the original" list:

The Fly (1986, David Cronenberg) >> better than the 1958 film of the same name.

that's not really saying much, considering the intent of the 1st one was to be a cheezy horror drive-in fare sort of thing. for jeff goldblum to do a better job with his films wayyy bigger budget, wasn't really a stretch.


The Thing [/B](1982, John Carpenter) a lot better than the first version.(1951)

ok, i totally have to agree with you on this one.


War of the Worlds (Steven Spielberg) >>>not that the first one is bad, but it's really pretty lame and cheesy nowadays.

please tell me your only joking. your pulling my leg, right?

The Ring (2002), better than the japanese original, Ringu.

maybe you're one of those folks for whom the subtitles distract you from the film. also, some folks just don't "get" japanese horror. maybe that's why you like the hollywood one better. i disagree though.






Allow me to refresh your memory... George Clooney and Lucy Liu. :isadizzy:

I think it's about 6 cool dudes and 1 cool dudette who are hired to protect Las Vega Casinos from a group of thugs out to rob them.

Or am I confused? :sleep:

that's the one, although you're info is alot more recent than mine was. i have been afraid to look since i stumbled across the weinstein's press release.
i am quite relieved that they are doing it more "magnificent 7" than "7 samurai"
still, i am annoyed that once again, chinese actors are substituted for japanese just because they are "asian" . knowing donny yen is in it will make me have to see it, though i would wait for the dvd release. i am a total fan of his stuff. probably the fastest hands in wushu films these days. not as flamboyant as jet lee, but just as cool.

[Nausicaa]

please tell me your only joking. your pulling my leg, right?

No I am not ;)


maybe you're one of those folks for whom the subtitles distract you from the film. also, some folks just don't "get" japanese horror. maybe that's why you like the hollywood one better. i disagree though.

Nope; I actually watch all movies in their original language and I have always subtitles on...and I own a large collection of original asian movies. But the American remake of the Ring is still better than the japanese original.

[aeronca1]

its hard to beat the originals
could you imagine a remake of Casablanca
with Tom Cruise:running:
LOL
H

Henry! Put on your pointy hat and go sit in the corner for even suggesting that................................

[aeronca1]

Remakes being what they are (gag!), can you even imagine a remake of Plan 9 from Outer Space!

[safn1949]

The Thing is better in the remake ,I have them both and the original story by John Campbell.They simply didn't have the means to do it right in 1951,still a good movie,however.

[stiz]

the war of worlds remake wasn't any better than the original ... neither was it worse .. infact it was exactly the same ... utter s***e :monkies:

[Moses03]

Big fan of the original movie so I reluctantly decided to go see the remake when it came out. Bah!

Oh well, I should have heeded my own advice about remakes.

[Prowler1111]

its hard to beat the originals
could you imagine a remake of Casablanca
with Tom Cruise:running:
LOL
H
you should ban yourself for 2 months just for suggesting that Henry...bad boy..baaad boy..:pop4:

:icon_lol:Prowler

[Lionheart]

you should ban yourself for 2 months just for suggesting that Henry...bad boy..baaad boy..:pop4:

:icon_lol:Prowler

If we ban him (for mentioning such a grizly thing) then we cant pick on him about it...

I say we call him the Cassablanca Cajun!

:d


... or maybe the Cassablanca Skeeter Cajun

[cheezyflier]

Remakes being what they are (gag!), can you even imagine a remake of Plan 9 from Outer Space!

i'm not entirely sure they could make the remake worse if they tried. :icon_lol:

[Ridge]

Ditto about "The day the earth stood still".
They should have shot Steve Martin for trying to impersonate Peter Sellers, Could you imagine anyone else playing Dr. Strangelove ?

Like both versions of Cape Fear.

Can't wait for "Public Enemies" to open here, surely Johnny Depp can't mess up Cagney's performance to much.

Actually I quite enjoyed Steve Martin in the first Pink Panther remake...I havent bothered to see the sequel, as it looks like nonstop slapstick...

[Prowler1111]

shoot the panther..shoooott the paannther!!!....I bet Steve Martin had nighmares for a month by doing the Pink Panther movies!
Prowler

[n4gix]

I almost rented "The Day the Earth Stood Still" yesterday while leaving the grocery store. I'm glad I saved my $1.08... :ernae: