The Day the Earth Stood Still

I went to see The Day the Earth Stood Still this weekend. I give it a big "thumbs down." The special effects are not that special, and the story has not changed significantly from the 1951 original. In fact, as I sat in the theater (the IMAX version, for $3 extra, no less), completely unengaged in the movie, I thought, "What a wasted opportunity to re-imagine the original film." This one's a stinker, so don't waste your money on it.

After the film, I thought about the movies I had seen during 2008. There weren't a lot of high points. The best film I saw last year probably was a French noir thriller called Tell No One. Slumdog Millionare was also really good. I loved Mamma Mia! but, of course, it's not high art. Wasting my time and money on Day the Earth Stood Still, and reconsidering the relatively poor quality of last year's fare, has made me think twice about going to the movies.