The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)

[Movie 199 / Day 211]


Yet another Hollywood remake, in The Day the Earth Stood Still an alien comes to Earth in order to save the planet - by eradicating humans.

I was surprisingly pleased by the movie. The story isn't particularly special, but the acting wasn't at all bad (even Keanu, although I guess it helped that his character essentially had one expression throughout) and some of the special effects were very good.

As is so often the case when I watch a movie I expect is going to really suck, it turned out to be better than I thought.

My rating: 6.1 / 10
IMDB rating: 5.6 / 10
Running time: 104 mins
IMDB link

Speed (1994)

[Movie 74 / Day 44]


A maniac has planted a bomb on a bus in order to hold the passengers to ransom. He is also trying to exact revenge on LAPD Officer Jack Traven (Keanu Reeves). Once the bus travels above 50mph, the bomb is armed. If it drops back below 50, the bomb explodes.

Cue lots of exciting sequences featuring predicaments that would, in real life, easily knock the speed of the bus below 50. Still, it's a fun ride while it lasts - and when it came out back in 1994, it was an unusual setting for a hostage situation.

There are a couple of scenes that suffer from that horrible, horrible way of making a vehicle appear to be moving faster than it is - speeding the film up. The worst scene for this is one with a flatbed lorry in the background with lots of police officers standing on the back. The bus in the foreground is noticably sped up, but the people in the background are jerking and twitching like they're being electrocuted. There's also a long shot where the bus is moving much faster than the police car in front of it and it noticably hits the brakes.

Still, switch your mind off and just enjoy it for what it is, a no-brainer action movie, and it's all good.

My rating: 6.8 / 10
IMDB rating: 7.2 / 10
Running time: 116 mins
IMDB link