Saturday, January 03, 2009

4 Movies In 4 Weeks #1: The Day The Earth Stood Still

"Most Horror movies are certainly that."

-Brendan Francis

Back in December my favorite store, Old Navy, had a special promotion, here how it worked. Be at the store when it opens, get into line, get a special bracelet, purchase $20.00 in store merchandise, receive 4 free movie tickets. I was needing a few more presents, and they had exactly what I needed. So, I got up really early on the day of the promotion, put on my 4 layers of clothing, and got myself down to the store bright and early. Actually, I left later then I was wanting to, so I was just sure I would be out of luck because of the long line that would surely have already formed.

Well, if you remember, I told you about it in a entry back in December. There really wasn't much of a line to worry about. It seems that the promise of movie tickets wasn't even enough to coax folks to spend this past holiday season. So, I did my $20.00 worth of shopping, purchasing 3 scarves for Sarah, and a pair of slippers for Alan, collected my book of tickets, and I was home before 9 AM. I was smiling all day long, because I was going to surprise Alan with the tickets when he got home that night. Silly me. It seems he had heard of the promotion also, and he needed a few things as well, so he went to a different Old Navy, in a different city, during his lunch hour. Imagine how surprised we BOTH were that evening, when we both pulled out our big surprise for each other. LOL.

Fast forward to the present time. We now have enough tickets to go on 4 dates in the month of January. We only have until January 31st to use the tickets, which was the downside of the promotion. Still, there are some movies that came out just before Christmas that Alan and I wanted to see, but for whatever reason time didn't allow for. One of those movies was the one we saw last night... "The Day The Earth Stood Still." We love the old classic, as you already know Alan and I are big fans of those old black and white gems. Who doesn't love a good horror movie? Although I have to admit, I am a big of a snob when it comes to remakes. I hate it when the original movie is changed too much. Sometimes it works out, but for the most part it always seems like a cheap effort in the end.

The new version of "The Day The Earth Stood Still" didn't even rise to that level! If you haven't gone to see it yet... don't bother. It is a waste of time. The editing was flawed, you could tell in different scenes that a green screen was being used. The new story had MAJOR flaws. The acting by everyone was stiff and boring, especially Kathy Bates, who played the Secretary of Defense. It is unusual to see that from her. It was as if she were just wanting to get the silly dialog over with and go home. It has been a long time since I saw a film that didn't contain at least one single clever moment, but last night that is exactly what happened. Nadda. The role played by John Cleese could have been phone in. By the time I left the theater I was wondering what Keanu Reeves and Jennifer Connolly had been thinking when they took on the roles? Bad acting. Bad editing. Bad directing. Bad movie.

Ho Hum.

I think I will just forget I saw it, and focus on next Friday and the next movie on my list.

Ho Hum.

So tell me, what upcoming movies are you looking forward to seeing?

Bride Wars
He's Just Not That Into You
Confessions Of A Shopaholic
Inkheart
Paul Blart: Mall Cop
The Unborn
Hotel For Dogs
New In Town

-Carly
"Buttered Popcorn"
Regal Movie Cinema
Dublin, California
January 2nd 2009
Afternoon

7 comments:

DesLily said...

oh my .. INKHEART! INKHEART! INKHEART!.. heh.. Inkheart! :o)

Julie said...

What a funny review and how timely as I had Just hung up with my son after telling him what time that movie was showing at the theater. I called him back and read him your review. He is a real fan of cheesy horror flicks and sometimes even likes bad ones as he laughs throughout the entire things with another friend of his. I told him to call me and let me know if it was as terrible as you said, He will be happy either way, LOL.

Martha said...

Hi Carly!

So sorry I haven't been around recently, been real sick. I think out of your choices I'd want to see the silly Mall Cop and Hotel For Dogs. I tend to go with what the kids would like.

Glad to hear you have had such a wonderful holiday season, bad kitties and all :-)

fdtate said...

I'm sorry to hear that The Day the Earth Stood Still was such a dog. The original is one of my all-time favs and I would love to see an updated version. I thought Keanu Reeves would make a perfect emotionless alien too. :)

I'm not as into movies as I used to be and am not familiar with too many of your movie choices. The new movie I would most want to see though would be Gran Torino.

Nancy said...

Funny Old Navy story!

As for movies, I'm w/ Martha re: your list. BUT...we recently saw "Slumdog" and "Curious Benjamin Buttons". Both excellent though we prefered Benjamin a little more.

Love,
Nancy

docemdy said...

In the Philippines, we have a film festival in December where only local films are screened. It runs for about 2 weeks. So I'm looking forward to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Bedtime Stories which open January 8. I'm also looking forward to Bride Wars and the latest Harry Potter film.

Nature's Sound said...

I have had the opportunity to see TWO movies in the theater in the past two weeks. That's a record for me in recent years. I used to take my children to matinees all the time but since they've grown I don't go to the theater as often. Anyway, I went to see Seven Pounds first and the first 20 minutes I had the Scooby Doo, Hurunh? thing going on and then in one frame I got where the whole thing was headed. Sort of.

The impact at the end was worth the confusion at the beginning ... I got two VERY POWERFUL messages from the movie. GREAT WATCH.

Then on a lighter note, we went to see Marley & Me. I had no idea it would be so, well, touching. I thought it was going to be all slapstick, which I don't generally care for but there wasn't anything else better to go see and in the end it was really a nice movie.

Looking forward to ...
Gran Torino
He's Just NOT that into you
Mall Cop
Bride Wars

for now ...

:) Happy New Year Carly & Alan, Hendrix n Dylan!