News Ticker

The Best Christmas Movie Is…

December 24, 2008 Bryce Zabel 2

…would you believe? … “It’s A Wonderful Christmas Story Actually.” It’s a three-way run-off! With Christmas only a few days away now, Americans are doing their part to jump-start the national economy by buying things […]

Milk (2008) -vs- Philadelphia (1993)

December 15, 2008 Sherry Coben 7

The Smackdown As Proposition 8 protesters take to California streets, Gus Van Sant’s Milk reminds us that we’ve been here before. Thirty years ago, the religious right-backed Proposition 6 was defeated by the first wave […]

The Day The Earth Stood Still (2008) -vs- The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951)

December 12, 2008 Bob Nowotny 8

A few years ago, Klaatu and Gort made their way back to the ‘hood, thanks to the mega-budget re-make of The Day The Earth Stood Still. The duo arrived, over five decades after the original, with every intention of forcing some extra-terrestrial “tough love” on us.

Keanu Reeves stuck his chest out and stepped into the lead role made famous in 1951 by Michael Rennie, joined in this go-round by Jennifer Connelly, Kathy Bates, and surprisingly, John Cleese. Certainly, the overall production and effects budget makes possible images never even imagined back in near post-war filmmaking.

But can all this money and contemporary talent add up to make this new The Day The Earth Stood Still as enduringly memorable as the old The Day The Earth Stood Still that graced the world’s screens during the height of Cold War paranoia? […]

The Dark Knight (2008) -vs- The Godfather, Part II (1974)

December 12, 2008 Beau DeMayo 8

When “The Dark Knight” hit movie screens earlier this year, critics screamed that cinema history had just been made, that it was even better than the movie that spawned it and, just possibly, one of the best films ever released. In 1974, the same thing happened.

“The Godfather, Part II” was not only seen as the best sequel ever but it stood up as a great film, winning the Oscar for Best Picture, like its predecessor from two years earlier. The test for these sequels is whether they managed to continue and expand upon the originals that came before them, by charting fresh new territory, raising the stakes and deepening the concepts. […]

Cold Warriors from Outer Space

December 6, 2008 Bob Nowotny 2

Alien-Human Smackdown, 50s Edition To help us celebrate the holidays this year, on December 12th, 20th Century Fox releases its remake of the classic 1951 sci-fi film, "The Day the Earth Stood Still," starring Keanu […]

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