The Day the Earth Stopped

My grade-school aged children confused this with the similarly named Hollywood movie. I tried to warn them, but they insisted this looked good. The acting was so bad I left the room about 30 minutes in. My son called me back a few minutes later to point out how bad the *lighting effects* were. He's never critical of acting, let alone of lighting. Honestly, if a 5th grader is able to find serious flaws everybody involved with this film should be ashamed.

I'd like to say something good about this film, but I can't think of anything. At least in my case it was a free rental, so I didn't waste any money on it.

Within the first ten minutes I was thinking hard about if this was a very elaborate Youtube spoof or a serious film. The acting is so undeniably awful it makes you cringe. The camera work is cheap and amateur while the sound and lighting could be done by an undergrad making their first drama. You think I'm joking? Look for the massively over exposed shot at 00:09:98.

It just gets worse from here. Very low budget, poorly written and astounding that it made it this far. There is a weird mix between shots that blew the budget and money saving stuff that makes things look just plain nasty. How many times have you seen a government agent jumping from an expensive black truck only to start setting up a fold out table for his equipment? Mix this with cheap CGI and you have an instant looser. Should have been killed in pre-production. Watch if you want to know how not to make a feature film.

*shakes head*

there is really no reason to trash this film. Plot wise, its pretty solid with a nice tale. The effects are about what one would expect of a rather low budget film but they are OK. The cast is pretty solid, tho not Oscar worthy. The story revolves around a mysterious alien invasion that no one can figure out. There are religion undertones, and not so subtle ones at that. The aliens turn out to be powerful, God like entities that have come to determine the worth of the human race. Plan B it to knock the planet off its axis and destroy us. C Thomas Howell is fun to watch and he is a promising director. The movie moves along at a decent pace and never hits any truly boring stretches. I felt reasonably entertained and no, its far from the worse movie ever made like some sniffy Star Wars nerds commented here.

Terrible, terrible, what were they thinking? Bad Acting. Bad Directing. Bad Story Line or Script. Made me wonder if they get someone to watch what they've made prior to releasing a movie. I actually sat through nearly half this movie for a laugh, then I just fast forwarded in big chunks.

Oh, we two Aliens, we wont let them talk to anyone important and we'll keep them in an old abandoned warehouse and let a low ranking officer beat them up a bit. First 2 minutes of the film look promising, don't let it fool you.

Nothing good about this movie sorry.

Did I mention this was terrible?

I believe one of the reasons why so-called "A" movies have in general better ratings than "B" movies is the marketing campaign that helps to brain wash with delicious trailers the audience long before they even get to see the movie. "The Day the Earth Stood Still" was no exemption, but after all the movie was not really that good, was it?

Now "The Day the Earth Stopped" is IMHO much better than what you would expect from a "B" movie. Maybe the overall acting isn't that brilliant but you still develop an emotional connection with C. Thomas Howell and classic beautiful actress Sinead McCafferty. She reminds somewhat on Sophia Loren, or Brigitte Bardot but is still herself. How can one criticize on too much make-up? Cleopatra in Ancient Egypt or the Ladies in the 50ties utilized generous make-up as well. I did not think for a second about too much make-up. And, the role requires to portrait a mysterious perfect being from a different planet!! Sinead McCafferty knows how to act without saying too much, and it comes naturally, convincing, what else could you possibly want?

Also, I strongly disagree with the critique on bad film music. The score may not be perfect in all scenes, however, the composer produced several beautiful tunes that make me reach out for the soundtrack.

Cheers, TC