| This Week's Highlights |
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analysis w/e 14.5.11 |
DVDs out 9.5.11 |
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@ DVDfever Youtube |
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May 11 2011 
DVDfever co uk
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Director:
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Naturally, the world obviously doesn't end otherwise it'd be a short film, but the scientist bods discover the orb
is now far bigger than it was when Keanu took an interest, and the army swing into action to get ready to blow it back
to the Stone Age. However, after injuring the alien that walks out (which turns out to be Keanu, of course... or is it?),
they then encounter Gort - and he, or rather it, is fucking huge!
The cast also includes Kathy Bates as The Secretary of Defence, the highest person in charge after both the President and Vice President are whisked away to safe locations while Curtis from 24 (Roger Cross) manages to come back to life, after being shot in the neck by Jack, to advise as an army bod that other spheres have dropped anchor in other locations around the world and are causing mass panic. And as another scientific bod starts to explain it to Ms Bates, we get a nice big plug for Microsoft's touchscreen gizmo Surface. This has been demonstrated on BBC's Click in the past to show how, for example, you can place a drinks order in a bar while still being sat at your table - since you just press a few virtual buttons on your 'table'. What it did not describe was why in the world no-one's ever developed a Sainsbury's delicatessen-style ticket system for bars so that you actually all get served in the order in which you arrived, and not in order of who shouts the loudest. Elsewhere, we've also got Jaden Smith as Helen's stepson Jacob, who's not quite as annoying as he could've been, Mad Men's Jon Hamm as Michael Granier, a bloke working for the military who comes to trust Helen a lot more than most do (although, thankfully, this film avoids any form of romantic involvement) and I was dreading John Cleese appearing as boffin, Professor Barnhardt, as he usually tries to play any role for laughs, but here he doesn't, so he's okay. Before long Klaatu and Helen's lives become intertwined, but what plans does he have for the Earth? And when Ms Bates asked him what he's doing on our planet, what did he mean when he replied, "*Your* planet?" |
The aliens weren't big sports fans.
Other random obversations: There's a dig at the illegal invasion of Iraq by stating that she is all Jacob has left
because his father was killed as an engineer in the army; Keanu's wooden performance doesn't put you off - it, in fact,
rather is in keeping with the staid alien character he's portraying; and, yeah, T-Bag's in the movie! (aka Robert
Knepper) He's in charge of the military when it comes to attacking Gort.
And whereas the original film made the statement that mankind was destroying itself with its own weapons and ignorances and so Klaatu should put us out of our misery, this remake reckons that exterminating the humans is the only way to stop that big nonsense the government bleats on about so-called "global warming". In fact, the pro-Al Gore message really grates - it's less as a brief mention and more as a great big hammer in the face and serves as blatant propaganda. If I wanted to watch An Inconvenient Truth then I would, but that wasn't the disc I put in the machine. Oh, and just when you think the swarm of that claptrap has ended, it rears its ugly head again and beats you about the bottom the same as it did with your face. The only one to escape that will be Pigeon Street's Long-Distance Clara as she makes her last delivery (see further down the review) Overall, The Day The Earth Stood Still is a film that just about maintains your interest but is lightweight in content and heavyweight on the moralising. |
The BBC were forced to bring back their BBC1 'spinning globe' ident.
The Day The Earth Stood Still is my second Blu-ray disc but I've experienced HD before and understand what I'm to expect. As such, the picture and sound
are flawless. The film is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen and looks as highly detailed as you'd expect a
high-definition picture to look which, in layman's terms, is like being able to watch on a larger screen but with the
definition increased accordingly so it's not just a case of blowing up what you were last watching on a 32" screen
which just results in getting a not-particularly-great picture. For the record, I'm watching on a Panasonic 37" Plasma
screen.
The sound comes in DTS HD 5.1, DTS 5.1 and Dolby Digital 5.1 formats. I haven't got a DTS HD setup, which allows for a 7.1 surround speaker setup, but then I haven't got the room for that either, so DTS 5.1 will do nicely, sir. There are some very neat and loud special FX to be heard throughout the film as the CGI kicks in fairly often with audio to match and, at all times, the dialogue is clear. The extras are as follows:
Prior to the main menu comes something that should've been left behind in the age of rental video - an advert for the X-Men Blu-ray trilogy. There's the 'Extras' menu for this sort of thing. Elsewhere on the disc, there are subtitles in - well, the box claims English only, but the menu states different. While the audio included French, Italian and other ones that I can't understand as they're written in their native tongue, the subtitles number many more. If I had a list of them, I'd include it here. There are 28 chapters to the film which is plenty. By the way, the subtitles on this disc are a bit odd, since rather than be always placed at the bottom of the screen - where you'd expect, with dashes to indicate the start of a sentence of more than one person is speaking before the next subtitles come along - they tend to move about a bit and are placed under where the person is. Hmm... not a bright idea, Fox, as that's rather on the distracting side. |
But Keanu decided he was more a fan of ITV (well, someone has to be!)
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FILM CONTENT
PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS |
 
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As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B 37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Blu-ray: 
Ok, classic '50s B-movie, remade with not the most charismatic of actors but one who can be entering from time to time. Any good?
