Klaatu Barada *GACK*

This disturbing news comes from Variety:

Keanu Reeves lands on 'Earth'
Actor to star in classic sci-fi remake

By MICHAEL FLEMING

Twentieth Century Fox has set Keanu Reeves to star in "The Day the Earth Stood Still," its re-imagining of the 1951 Robert Wise-directed sci-fi classic.

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The disturbing thing is not the casting of Keanu in the Michael Rennie part as Klaatu. Klaatu should be awkward and aloof and as we have seen time and time again, those are two traits that Keanu excels in. The big question is why?!?!

We've had this discussion many times over. Why remake an excellent move when there is so much mediocre crap out there, ripe for the picking? I completely get the recent fast tracking of the Logan's Run remake. Beyond Jenny Agutter, not much is memorable from the original. A few years back, I devoted much of a Geeks With Books column to the subject of remakes.

Why does Hollywood insist on remaking great movies? I hear claims that younger people won't watch old movies, especially black and white films. What is it about black and white films? The fact that the original King Kong was not in color, never bothered me. When I was a kid, I thought that being in black and white meant it was going to be a better film. Frankenstein, Dracula, The Wolf Man, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Them and a zillion others all thrilled me as a kid.

The Day the Earth Stood Still was one of the seminal films of my childhood and has informed much of my work and interests. I recently acquired the DVD and the film is still flawless. A true masterpiece of not just science fiction cinema, but movies in general.

Klaatu barada nikto!