Keanu Reeves: 2 personalities, but can any act?

Everyone loved Keanu Reeves in The Matrix. To varying degrees he was just as good in the 2 sequels to the film. Since then, well let’s just say that Reeves is likely loving the money he makes per film far more than the critical commentary.

If you think I’m saying that Reeves has sucked in the roles he has played since the Matrix Trilogy, you hit the nail on the head. There may be no better example than his most recent film, The Day The Earth Stood Still. The rewrite of this classic sci-fi film didn’t give any of the actors much to work with, and yet Reeves still underperformed. But I believe he made about $20 million for the film.

I bring this all up because of the next film to star Keanu Reeves. It’s another remake. Again it will be a classic. And I have to wonder if anything can help raise the performance of Reeves. Maybe if they don’t pay him??

The film will be a modern rendition of The Strange Case of Dr. Jeykll and Mr. Hyde. This has been done multiple times in film, on the stage, in television shows and even cartoons. There is an enormous amount of room for the writers to work in a modern story, and change anything in the story they want. So in that at least the film has a chance to be decent since there is no single version this movie will be compared to.

But Reeves is the real question. His acting has been flat for quite some time. I can imagine his portrayal as one character with the standard level of emotion we have seen n the last several movies with Reeves: and the other could be a character that actually seems alive and interested in what is going on.

We should hope that if this is true, the Hyde character will be the lively persona. But no guarantees on that.

Look, I’d be the first one to compliment Reeves on a job well done – if he does a job well anytime before I retire. I would love to talk about the film remake that breaks the trend of low cost scripts and similar acting. It would be a huge joy to watch a classic film in a modern venue. But I think the closest any of us will get to seeing this on a big screen is if we watch the BBC mini-series on a big screen television in our homes.

Either way, don’t expect to see this film for about another 2 years. The script is still being developed. Filming is far off. And Reeves should spend some time going back to acting class, or maybe watching a couple of the Lon Cheney films (father and/or son).

More on this when the trailer comes out, or more news develops.

The Razzie Award nominations are out

Ah, what is January without the annual Razzie Award nominations. Not that 2008 was a year lacking actors, actresses, and films aplenty for the nominations. In fact I’m sure the judges had quite the time trying to narrow the field.

But the Razzies generally pick the top of the worst of any given year. And unlike the Oscars, the film nominated here you have definitely heard of, and sadly might have seen. Such is the shame of Hollywood year after year.

For 2009 we have the following, with my comments included:

Worst Picture:

Disaster Movie
In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
Meet the Spartans
The Happening - boring
The Hottie & the Nottie – any movie that would have Paris Hilton in it should automatically be nominated, if not win.
**Why is The Day The Earth Stood Still not in this?**

Worst Actor

Mike Myers - The Love Guru
Eddie Murphy - Meet Dave - What is wrong with Murphy these days. He can be so much better than this.
Al Pacino - 88 Minutes and Righteous Kill
Mark Wahlberg - The Happening and Max Payne - Neither film was worth the money
Larry the Cable Guy - Witless Protection - How he cannot win I can’t imagine.
**I know everyone seems to disagree, because he is dead, but Heath Ledger’s Joker sucked.**
***And Keanu Reeves deserves to be in this group more than Wahlberg does, for his work in The Day The Earth Stood Still***

Worst Actress

Jessica Alba - The Love Guru and The Eye - She is just really bad.
Cameron Diaz - What Happens in Vegas - Embarrassing
Paris Hilton - The Hottie & the Nottie - The must win choice. The other ladies may have tried but they all have far more talent in their sleep than Hilton at her best (if such a moment exists).
Kate Hudson - Fool's Gold and My Best Friend's Girl
The Entire Cast of "The Women" - Annette Bening, Eva Mendes, Debra Messing, Jada Pinkett-Smith and Meg Ryan.

Worst Supporting Actor

Uwe Boll, Postal
Pierce Brosnan - Mamma Mia! - How far we have fallen since The Matador and Bond.
Ben Kingsley, The Love Guru, War, Inc., The Wackness - I like him, but War, Inc. just puts him over the top in this one.
Burt Reynolds, Deal and In The Name Of The King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
Verne Troyer, The Love Guru and Postal.

Worst Supporting Actress

Carmen Electra - Disaster Movie, Meet The Spartans - Hey, be nice she can’t do better.
Paris Hilton - Repo! The Genetic Opera; - Yet another film proving that were it not for money she would have nothing to justify her life
Kim Kardashian - Disaster Movie
Jenny Mccarthy, Witless Protection; - She deserves it just for appearing in the film
Leelee Sobieski - 88 Minutes, In The Name Of The King: A Dungeon Siege Tale

Worst Screen Couple

Uwe Boll and Any Actor, Camera and Screenplay
Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher, What Happens In Vegas - The only words I have are, I understand why they got a Razzie
Paris Hilton and either Christine Lakin or Jorel David Moore, The Hottie And The Nottie - Again the queen of too much money and no talent stands out.
Larry The Cable Guy and Jenny Mccarthy, Witless Protection; - Giving Paris Hilton the only kind of competition she deserves.
Eddie Murphy In Eddie Murphy, Meet Dave. – Not really a couple now is it?

Worst Prequel, Sequel, Remake Or Rip-Off

The Day The Earth Stood Still - Horrendous remake, the writer should be slapped.
Disaster Movie
Meet The Spartans
Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull
Speed Racer - Someone was on drugs when they filmed this. Give me the original cartoon anytime.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars - George Lucas can’t need the money that bad, can he?
**Max Payne fits this category, as it is a ripoff of the video game. And a bad ripoff at that.**
***Again in the ripoff, a film that stole from at least 3 other films - Doomsday. If you missed it, be happy.***

Worst Director

Uwe Boll - Tunnel Rats, In The Name Of The King: A Dungeon Siege Tale And Postal
Jason Friedberg And Aaron Seltzer - Disaster Movie And Meet The Spartans - And anyone expected better in these ripoff ideas?
Tom Putnam - The Hottie And The Nottie - Paris Hilton, do I need to say anything more?
Marco Schnabel - The Love Guru
M. Night Shyamalan, The Happening. – The best film to put you to sleep.

Worst Screenplay

Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer - Disaster Movie And Meet The Spartans - The obvious favorites to win.
M. Night Shyamalan - The Happening
Heidi Ferrer - The Hottie And The Nottie
Doug Taylor - In The Name Of The King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
Mike Myers and Graham Gordy, The Love Guru
**Actually I don’t understand how The Day The Earth Stood Still missed this category**

Worst Career Achievement

Uwe Boll - "Germany's answer to Ed Wood" - Ed Wood was funny at least.

Such are my thoughts of the films worth of Razzie’s in 2008. Perhaps you know of a film that deserved to be on this list? Let me know because no one should need to own a DVD of films of this quality. Even if you need a Frisbee in an emergency.

Oh and here is an early prediction for 2009, Notorious will top a few of the categories here.

Update on The Day The Earth Stood Still

Way back in August this year I mentioned my preview of The Day The Earth Stood Still. In that preview I had only one video clip of the film to judge the revisioning of the 1951 classic by. And I stated that it would be more of a waste of money than the total auto industry bailout - well not the bailout but a waste of time. But I also made a couple of assumptions.



While I am right that this film is a disservice to the original, and is yet another example of why a revisioned film is a pathetic excuse for Hollywood to say something no one wants to see/hear, I did get something wrong.

"And there is the benefit of appealing to women with the hint of the line

“If the Earth dies, you die. If you die, the Earth survives."

Such a hokey line and idea never was in the first film, but I’m sure it will garner positive reviews from women’s groups because she is so important to the world."

Wrong. The line is not meant about the one woman it is said to but about mankind in total. Of course I was placing the importance of that singular female character on a high category, which it was in the first film along with her son. But then again I am not an eco-fanatic nor am I a far-left Hollywood writer or movie studio exec. Films might be better if I were, or at least remakes I think.

The line in fact refers to the ecology of the Earth. We humans are destroying it and so some alien needs to come down and save our planet from us. Basically an alien version of Greenpeace and PETA mixed together without that much peace. Thank you Hollywood for giving us your political commentary yet again.

I also stated in my original preview

"The new film will likely lose all the nuance, and subtle political message of the original film. In fact I expect the film will make a political point like using a sledgehammer to open a sunflower seed."

Well a 25 foot tall robot could definitely be a sledgehammer. Or the plague of microbots and their erasive nature. But the point was correct. Be green or else is the only mission, plot and image this film wants to convey. Which is fine if you want to be at an Al Gore rally. But when I spend $9 just to get a ticket, and give up 2 hours of my life, I prefer to be entertained.

Film has long ago given messages in the stories that it presents. For America, most of the films that were solely focused on this were called B-films, and were laughable. Today we see a Hollywood that could make Ed Wood proud. Hollywood gives us over the top, often CGI enhanced, massively budgeted, political commentary in the guise of something we liked in the past and are lured in to see again. In essence we are just throwing away good money and time for a stump speech that does do more than annoy and infuriate because we were given a bait-n-switch flim-flam. [They could have just given the entire budget to Greenpeace, PETA, and various global warming groups and saved the planet their carbon emissions and wasting out time.]

I stand by my original postulation on The Day The Earth Stood Still. It will make some money because of the effects and the stars in the film (notably Keanu Reeves and Jaden Smith, not to mention Jennifer Connelly). But this will ultimately be a failure. It will fail to do justice to the original film, the original message, the writing, and the entertainment value we expect to receive for our money.

I don't think I can say it more bluntly.

Movie Preview: The Day The Earth Stood Still

Expect to hear a bunch of hype in the near future because Keanu Reeves is about to have another film come out. Much like the Matrix series, this film will also be a sci-fi film. But this time the film will be far less difficult for some to follow. That’s because Keanu Reeves has jumped onto the ‘revisioned’ bandwagon.

As I’ve said in the past, I have no love for revisioned movies or television shows. They are virtually all inevitably horrendous films, and most flop as badly as their warped re-telling of the stories are far from the mark. Unless you were a fan of Dukes of Hazzard, Starsky & Hutch, the first Hulk movie, or any number of other complete foul-ups. Of course Hollywood seems not to care because they keep rolling out these screwed up remakes, en masse. I suppose the money brought in by these abysmal Cliffnotes version of good ideas is enough to cover the cost of making the movies – obviously they are saving tons of cash on writers.

In this case the remake is of the classic film The Day The Earth Stood Still. A great film from 1951. Black & White, low end special effects (especially by today’s standards), but well acted and a better than average storyline.



The new film will likely lose all the nuance, and subtle political message of the original film. In fact I expect the film will make a political point like using a sledgehammer to open a sunflower seed.



What I can say is that they stole the image of the black globe of death from AKIRA. And I note that they are going for the PC-friendly idea in the son being of (presumably) mixed race. And there is the benefit of appealing to women with the hint of the line

“If the Earth dies, you die. If you die, the Earth survives.”

Such a hokey line and idea never was in the first film, but I’m sure it will garner positive reviews from women’s groups because she is so important to the world.

Of course between now and December 12th further movie video clips will be released, and it’s possible that the connecting parts of the film will justify the line, and might even make it worthwhile. But from this video trailer I have to say that I’m not excited by Keanu’s Agent Smith-like acting or the apparent storyline. But we will see.