The Return of Klaatu

Not really. Well, not quite, anyway.

Honestly, I don't see why Klaatu would ever really need to come back to Earth. He did his job and we're all hanging (peacefully!) with Gort on the National Mall, so all is good.

Kinda went off on a bit of a tangent there. Let me begin again...

Do the words "Klaatu, Berata, Nikto" mean anything to you? Aside from in the context of Army of Darkness, that is. If so, then you've probably seen the 1951 sci-fi awesomeness that is The Day the Earth Stood Still.

As old sci-fi goes, this has to be one of my favorites. I still own this movie on VHS although I plan on replacing it with the DVD any day now. I really don't know why I like this movie so much, except to say that the story is good and makes sense, it's fairly acted, and it has a moral that will knock you on your ass with how relevant it still is today.

Well, it turns out that The Day the Earth Stood Still is being remade for a 2008 release starring Keanu Reeves as the alien, Klaatu. I like Keanu Reeves and think he's a fine actor, and I have nothing against remakes in general, but I'm super-skeptical about this one. My worry is that they'll over-politicize it when transporting the story to the present day. The politics that were the backdrop of the original are no where near the same as they are today. Not even close.

Despite all that, I'll go see it. Like I said, I like Keanu Reeves and tend to enjoy most, if not all of his movies. That, and I'll just be curious as hell.

(by the way, this is another poster I'm dying to get. Either the one sheet (above) or the three sheet, which is pretty cool too).

UPDATE: a quick Google search revealed that you can watch all of The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) on Google Video, although I urge you to watch it on DVD or better yet, at your local theater if it's ever shown.

UPDATE 2: if you just want to watch the trailer, here it is, courtesy of the wonder that is Youtube:

Oh yeah... Heroes too

In case you didn't see Heroes on NBC last season (what is wrong with you?!?) and didn't watch the numerous reruns on the SciFi Channel (seriously, what? No Tivo?), then I'm here to tell you that your prayers have been answered: Heroes: The Complete First Season is now available on DVD.

Drop everything. Go buy it. It's freakin' awesome and you'll love it (or not). Either way, soon you'll know what the rest of the world has been talking about for the past 9 months.

Friday Night Lights on DVD

Friday Night Lights: The Complete First Season came out on DVD today. Target, Best Buy, and Amazon all have it for $19.99 this week. That's $20 for 22 episodes... a serious bargain!

Do me a favor and check this show out. It's a critically acclaimed yet under-watched show that has some of the best acting and writing I've seen on TV in a long while. Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton stand out in particular for their impeccable portrayals of Coach and Mrs. Taylor.

And don't worry if you're not a fan of football, there's not a hell of a lot of game time in the episodes, but when there is, it's hold-your-breath exciting and suspenseful.

If you don't want to buy it, rent it. Season 2 starts this fall, moving to Fridays (finally!) on NBC.

"We all go a little mad sometimes" - Psycho

I went to see Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho on the big screen this past Friday at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica. I've seen this movie maybe 10 times (at least)... I even own it on DVD... but this was a unique experience.

Quick tangent: I want the poster shown above or one of it's variations. Really I just want any of the ones that have Hitch pointing at his watch telling people they can't come in after the movie starts. If you know where I can get one, let me know. I can't seem to find it anywhere. Maybe I'm not looking hard enough.

But I digress...

The theater was packed. My friend and I got good seats about half-way down and just to the right of center. I had my buttered popcorn and a Sprite as I settled in waiting for the film to start. After a quick intro by the theater manager, the movie started.

Bernard Hermann's score is REALLY disturbing when piped into a dark, crowded theater. Again, I've seen the movie before and I was immediately agitated and anxious and loving every minute of it:



The theater erupted in applause when Hitch's name appeared on-screen.

Now, before I go on, I must tell you that there will be SPOILERS from here on out, but seriously, if you haven't seen this movie yet and/or (even better) you're one of the few people out there who don't know what happens at the end, stop reading and go rent this movie.

It must've been very trippy for folks watching Psycho when it first came out to not know that Janet Leigh (who is gorgeous, by the way) was going to get killed. Even if people talked about the infamous shower scene, they may have been slightly mislead into thinking that Vera Miles was the victim due to the ingenious trailer for the film in which Hitch gives a tour of the Bates Motel:



Now, one thing I didn't notice before and probably only did this time because the picture was 3 stories high (or whatever) is that Hitch really made Janet Leigh's character seem a little crazy before she gets to the Bates Motel. When she's driving in the rain and is imagining what people back in the Phoenix are talking about, her eyes get wide with a hint of crazy in them, and even though she's imagining the downfall of her plan, I swear to you she looks like she's smiling.

Jump ahead the Bates Motel, and say hello to Norman - a nice, polite, generous, good-looking, funny, and charming young man - played to absolute perfection by Anthony Perkins. He was an actor ahead of his time. He made Norman Bates so REAL, that this eventually becomes a horror movie in the truest sense of the word. By the end, you'll realize that everything you've seen is not all that ridiculous.

The shower scene was absolutely frightening. In this large theater, no one was moving. There's no music at the beginning of the scene. You're just sitting there, in the dark, listening to the water fall. The door swings open without a sound and the figure moves forward. Then the curtain flies back, the music starts, and then is punctuated by screams and stabbing sounds. When the scene is done and Marion (Leigh) is lying there dead, again all we hear is the shower until almost a minute or two later, Norman cries out "Mother! Oh God Mother! Blood!" Powerful, powerful stuff:



Let's skip to the end of the movie. Norman Bates is in the holding cell. His "mother" is narrating and says the famous line about not hurting a fly. Norman looks up at the camera... at the audience really. It will remain one of the creepiest moments in movie history. I shivered.

There's so much I'm leaving out, but those were the moments that really made an impression on me when watching the movie on the big screen. There were even moments that were downright funny, sometimes intentionally and sometimes not ("Did Norman Bates kill my sister?" "Yes... And no!")

If Psycho is showing in a bona fide theater in your area soon, I highly recommend you do the same if you get the chance. A masterpiece of film-making.

a post on an article about the WGA negotiations

Days ago, there was an editorial in the New York Times discussing the in-progress WGA/Studio negotiations. After reading it, it's clear (at least to me) that the editorial was full of skewed logic, questionable sources such as "some economists," and some very odd so-called statistics on the business of making movies.

Screenwriter Craig Mazin has completely dissected the editorial on The Artful Writer. Don't bother reading the editorial, just jump right into Craig's post. It's exceptionally well-done, and is well worth the time to read.

(via Kung Fu Monkey)