Lexigame Community
General Category => Whatever => Topic started by: Jacki on January 13, 2022, 05:22:00 PM
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I see there’s a new movie coming soon about you Morbius! Pretty cool having a movie named after you!
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Ha! Seems my secret identity as a 'living vampire' is revealed! Mild-mannered word puzzler by day, evil superhero by night! ;D I had no idea about the movie or that Morbius was a comic book character. I got the name from a character in the 1956 movie Forbidden Planet. There was also a character called Morbius in a Doctor Who episode from the 1970s.
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I got the name from a character in the 1956 movie Forbidden Planet.
A very good movie which has stood the test of time. Unlike most science fiction from the 1950s and 1960s, its special effects doesn't look cheesy by contemporary standards.
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Indeed, TRex. One of my favourite movies of all time, and head and shoulders above anything else that was made during the golden era of science fiction, except perhaps for The Day The Earth Stood Still (1950).
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I just checked out from the library The Sci-Fi Movie Guide: The Universe of Film from Alien to Zardoz and went straight to these. The reviews are short: title, year, rating, length, names of director, writer, and cast followed by a paragraph.
Forbidden Planet
"Prepare your minds for a new scale of scientific values, gentlemen." MGM's first foray into the genre is must-see sci-fi. Following Disney's lead in the wake of the success of 20,000 Leagues under the Sea, the studio lavished its considerable resources on this adventure that was loosely based on William Shakespeare's The Tempest. In the 23rd century, Leslie Nielsen leads an expedition to Altair-4 to discover the fate of a previous mission to colonize the planet. They are warned away by Morbius (Walter Pidgeon), who claims to be the only survivor and states that he needs no help and cannot be responsible for the consequences if Nielsen and company land. Turns out Morbius, who lives in automated luxury, is not alone. He has a beautiful daughter (Anne Francis) who greets the visitors with, "What beautiful men!" They are tended to by Robby the Robot (the film's breakout star, he would pop up later in various films and TV shows). More malevolent is the Monster from the Id, a beast unwittingly summoned from Morbius's subconscious after his daughter hooks up with Nielsen. Thoughtful and smartly put together, this is arguably the best sci-fi film of the 1950s. Eerie soundtrack of "electronic tonalities." Oscar nominated for f/x.
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
The first big-budget sci-fi feature of the 1950s has aged gracefully. Michael Rennie stars as the alien Klaatu, who lands a flying saucer in the middle of Washington, D.C., to warn Earth's leaders that our planet faces obliteration should they not halt atomic testing. His stern invitation, backed up by his giant robot Gort, to live in peace with "the other planets" is met with fear and hysteria. He escapes hospital confinement and takes a room in a boarding house among us. Patricia Neal co-stars as the woman with whom he entrusts his secret identity. The effects are a tad simple, but unlike so many sci-fi films of the period, they don't look cheap by over-reaching their capabilities. Based on the Harry Bates story "Farewell to the Master," it has the power of an ancient parable, with the menacing sight of tanks and howitzers in the midst of Washington's monuments and memorials more frightening than any flying saucer. The moral guardian figures of Gort and Klaatu and their message of peace or else resonates particularly strongly with children; this is not a criticism. First-rate performances from all of the leads. One of Bernard Herrmann's better scores, using the spooky vibrato of the electronic theremin. Among the greatest sci-fi films of all time, well worth repeat looks.
And I can't resist comparing the previous with its remake!
The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)
Supposedly, the reason to reinvent a classic film is that the filmmakers in question have something new to bring to the table. This is theoretically true in this instance, given that in 1951 there was no Keanu Reeves. For Scott Derrickson's noisy redo, the original classic simplicity is balled up and tossed out like a bad first draft. A giant glowing sphere lands in Central Park and a creature comes out to greet the gathered Earthlings, only to get a bullet for its trouble. The alien later takes human form (Reeves) and then goes on the run with scientist Jennifer Connelly and her bratty stepson (Jaden Smith). These two become responsible for convincing Reeves, his giant killer robot buddy, and their unseen confederation of alien races not to destroy humanity before it makes Earth unlivable, life-sustaining planets being more rare than sentient beings. Any message about climate change is quickly lost and a last-minute race-against-the-apocalypse is underwhelming, to put it mildly. Civilization will likely survive the destruction of Giants Stadium.
(please forgive any typos)
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I haven't seen the remake of The Day The Earth Stood Still, and judging by that review, I doubt I ever will!
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I haven't seen the remake of The Day The Earth Stood Still, and judging by that review, I doubt I ever will!
I have. It's as bad as the review suggests.