Jennifer Connelly Movie:

		List Price: $39.99		Label: 20th Century Fox Salesrank: 2730 Released: April 7, 2009
		Our Price: $14.94
		Used Price: $7.62
		MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) Media: Blu-ray

Editorial Review:
20th Century The Day the Earth Stood Still (Blu-ray)All of Washington, D.C., is thrown into a panic when an extraterrestrial spacecraft lands near the White House. Out steps Klaatu (Michael Rennie, in a role intended for Claude Rains), a handsome and soft-spoken interplanetary traveler, whose "bodyguard" is Gort (Lock Martin), a huge robot who spews forth laser-like death rays when danger threatens. After being wounded by an overzealous soldier, Klaatu announces that he has a message of the gravest importance for all humankind, which he will deliver only when all the leaders of all nations will agree to meet with him. World politics being what they are in 1951, Klaatu's demands are turned down and heis ordered to remain in the hospital, where his wounds are being tended. Klaatu escapes, taking refuge in a boarding house, where he poses as one "Mr. Carpenter" (one of the film's many parallels between Klaatu and Christ). There the benign alien gains the confidence of a lovely widow (Patricia Neal) and her son, Bobby (Billy Gray), neither of whom tumble to his other-worldly origins, and seeks out the gentleman whom Bobby regards as "the smartest man in the world" -- an Einstein-like scientist, Dr. Barnhardt (Sam Jaffe). The next day, at precisely 12 o'clock, Klaatu arranges for the world to"stand still" -- he shuts down all electrical power in the world, with the exception of essentials like hospitals and planes in flight.

Description of The Day the Earth Stood Still (3-Disc Special Edition) [Blu-ray]:
Impressive special effects are the key selling point for this big-budget remake of Robert Wise's classic 1951 science fiction parable about an alien visitor who delivers a chilling ultimatum to the leaders of the world. Keanu Reeves, who seemed ideal at first blush but ultimately turns into another case of miscasting, steps in for Michael Rennie as intergalactic watchdog Klaatu, who with his robot Gort (now super-sized), promises global destruction unless the powers that be unless drastic measures are undertaken regarding the Earth's environmental issues (or so one assumes). Jennifer Connelly is largely wasted in the Patricia Neal role of scientist/single mom assigned to study Klaatu, who offers a somewhat chilly father figure to her son (a grating Jaden Smith). Connelly isn't the only fine actor in the cast left standing idle while director Scott Derrickson's effects team constructs eye-popping scenes of wholesale mayhem; Mad Men's Jon Hamm, Kathy Bates, John Cleese and Rob Knepper are all adrift in the aimless script by David Scarpa, which never even fully explains why Klaatu is so bent on blowing us to smithereens. That lack of focus, as well as the B-movie quality of the dialogue (say what you will about the effects in the Wise version, but the film was polished from top to bottom), all help to cement what science fiction fans have been muttering about the film since its inception; the original film needed no high-tech updating --Paul Gaita

Stills from The Day the Earth Stood Still (Click for larger image)

The Day the Earth Stood Still (3-Disc Special Edition) [Blu-ray] Reviews:
Earth on Double Secret Probation - Blu-ray 3-Disk Release
2009-11-07 - BRIEFLY
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This is quite a decent remake of the 1951 B&W classic. Early 21st Century technology adds color, better special effects and first-class surround sound and the the Blu-ray edition INCLUDES the complete 1951 classic remastered with 5.1 surround sound.


THE FEATURE DISK
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Has the movie itself and a solid supplement of special features and options such as a commentary sound track, deleted scenes, documentaries on the making of the movie, 'Watching the Skies in Search of ET' featurette, another one titled 'The Day the Earth Was Green', discussing the News Corp's (Fox) efforts to reduce its carbon footprint and a rather silly 'built your own GORT' game.

The main Blu-ray specific feature is the PIP Bonus-View titled Klaatu's Unseen Artifacts which consists in watching the movie with a little PIP window showing related information.

Video is, obviously, a crisp 1080p and the best audio in English is an extraordinary DTS-HD Master Audio sound track. Alternative Dolby Digital 5.1 sound tracks are available in French and Spanish.

Subtitles can be selected for several languages: Spanish, Portuguese, Cantonese, Korean and Mandarin.


THE DIGITAL COPY DISK
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Allows for transfers to PC and Macs. It is not compatible with Sony's PSP or Microsoft's Zune.

The access code is set to expire on April 6, 2011,


THE 1951 RELEASE DISK
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Has the complete 1951 B&W edition on a Blu-ray (NOT a DVD) disk with 5.1 surround sound.


THE MOVIE CRITIQUE
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While I agree that this is a pretty close remake of the 1951 original, it's interesting to note how the driver behind the aliens decision to exterminate humanity changed in very much the same way the UN's claims over individual states' sovereignty changed in the 50+ year since the first movie's release. The 1951 aliens declared they had the right to intervene not because earthlings were slaughtering each other - that was none of the aliens business according to Klaatu - but because Earth was about to become a threat to intergalactic peace. It was the equivalent of these days' preemptive wars of choice where a nation such as Iraq was declared guilty and deserving of bombardment, invasion and occupation for being a future threat to peace on Earth. The aliens of the current release were taking action because they disagreed with the way humans were endangering life on Earth. Having proclaimed themselves the defenders of 'complex life' anywhere in the Universe, these aliens were assuming themselves the right to exterminate the species they found to be a threat to... 'complex life' and were doing it simply because they could - might makes right. This would be the equivalent of the after-the-fact justification of the Iraq intervention as a holy mission to spread human rights, women rights, religious tolerance, democracy, diversity and a free market culture to the occupied country.

To the extent that we accept that the motives behind the aliens intervention and the process they followed to decide the fate of humans were well... alien and somewhat hard to comprehend, the new version is not overly-preachy or badly directed or acted. We are spared of any debate over carbon footprints, climate change or the fate of specific species and, instead, all we see is the story of a concerned scientist - Jennifer Connely - and her cute stepson to change the mind of the all-powerful and alien Klaatu and persuade him that humanity should be spared complete extermination, at least temporarily, so that we could prove ourselves worthy of living. There is no point to debate with Klaatu the aliens' right to intervene. They have the ability to do what they please with us because they can so the choice is to either die with dignity or beg for mercy. Jennifer Connely's character begs for mercy and there is no preachiness in that.

I have no issues with the acting, by the way. Keanu Reeves was the perfect choice for an alien. He projects aloofness, seemingly unphased by his setting in motion a process that would result in the deaths of billions. Jennifer Connely does not overact either but, as the one determined to save our species, she is believable in her quiet desperation. The cute boy - Jaden Smith - did not bother me too much. I can accept that the sight of a woman taking care of a cute and bratty boy not her son might have contributed to Klaatu's change of mind. The GORT, a CGI creation and not an actor, was in many ways superior to the 1951 version but that's to be expected. Kathy Bates disappoints a little in her depiction of a US Secy of Defense - too open-minded. John Cleese not convincing as a super-bright scientist but his is a secondary part.


RATING
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It's an enthusiastic 5 stars for the Blu-ray 3-disk edition and somewhere between 3 and 4 stars for the movie itself.

I am grateful for the inclusion of the 1951 original, I loved the quality of the picture and found the DTS-HD MA soundtrack to be exceptional. I found some of the special features to be worth watching. The movie itself, while the premise was somewhat dubious - but CAN we possibly understand the aliens' minds before we've met one - the acting and the special effects were good.

Overall, 3.5, rounded up to 4 stars should be well deserved.

A tree-hugger's delight...
2009-11-03 - DIRECTOR: OK, so I'm officially out of ideas. Got any?

HACK PRODUCER #1: Oh I have one! Why don't we take a classic sci-fi flick and remake it?

HACK PRODUCER #2: BRILLIANT!!! ALso, let's have Keanu Reeves as Klaatu, add a bunch of random cool sci-fi CG effects and add some random green propaganda?

DIRECTOR: Cool, but "green propaganda"...?

HACK PRODUCER #3: I know what he means! Why don't we have some totally bulls--t subplot that involves humans being removed from Earth so that the earth will live!!

DIRECTOR: THAT'S AWESOME!!! Dude, I never knew how creative some people are!! I haven't even seen the original movie!!! Let's go do that and get some inspiration shall we?

HACK PRODUCERS (in unison): NO!!!!!

HACK PRODUCER #1: There's a magical little device called Wikipedia. We don't even need see the movie! Why don't we just read the plot and then play around with it! You know, sort of twist it OUR way.

DIRECTOR: I'm sold. LET'S DO IT!!!!!

*Movie is made and released in December 2008. Nobody cares. Movie flops badly.*

The Day the Screenplay Stunk
2009-10-18 - What a disappointment! In no way does this twisted mess do even remote justice to the 1951 masterpiece. What was unique and compelling in the original is obviously absent in this casual remake. Even though this god-awful screenplay basically stuck to the story, key plot elements are replaced with special effects describing swarms of hungry metal termites, which in a humorous way reminds one of the jellyfish swarms in Spongebob Squarepants.

However, it was the movie's ending that was it's ultimate undoing. It was as if the production team ran out of film. You find yourself asking "Is that it"? Why would an incredibly intelligent species travel across the universe to teach the destructive, seemingly incapable of learning, humans a lesson and not make it perfectly clear to every moronic member of mankind just what that lesson was before departing?

Stupid, weak and watered down, this folly is a total waste of Kathy Bates and Jennifer Connelly's talents. The movie would have best concluded with Keanu Reeves holding up his paycheck to the camera staying "...how soon can I deposit this?"

Interesting Movie
2009-10-15 - Keanu Reaves play the role of an alien that visits Earth in a human form with the purpose of saving it by destroying its human inhabitants. He escapes from the military and is faced with Jennifer Connely, who tries to convince him to give humans another chance by showing him human's good side. Jennifer was human's only hope left, since their technology was far behind that of the aliens.

I really liked the movie. Really well directed and has a quite interesting story. There is actually some meaning and purpose behind the story, unlike other alien movies that depicts aliens as evil creatures that want to destroy humans just for the fun of it.


The Day The Earth Stood Still
2009-10-07 - If your a fan of this movie you wont be disappointed, the video and sound are GREAT!!! beside that the movie is kinda out there but its a great disc.