Spoiler Alert! If you REALLY want to see "The Day the Earth Stood Still," and don't care to hear a bad review, do not read further . . .
I figured the story would be lame, but at least thought the special effects would be cool--if you saw the trailer on TV, you basically saw the special effects, and there was nothing special about seeing them in IMAX.
But my biggest complaint is that the movie turned out to be environmental proselytizing--aliens have to "save the Earth" from humans, who are destroying the environment. Sigh.
Humans, of course, ended up saving themselves. Big surprise.
So, this was a stupid movie with a stupid message, and the special effects were not all that special. Blah.
Wait until it's out on DVD (if you even bother then).
6 comments:
I won't bother. thanks for the warning.
Amazing. Our world is so lost for philosophical meaning that the only moral cause they can preach has to do with not poluting and saving animals (from what, I'm not sure).
Living in the end times, I expected the mask of anti-christ to be more diabolical looking than Woodsy the Owl. But, alas, so it is.
"He had compassion on them for they were like sheep without a shepherd."
*struggles to climb up onto the soapbox*
Okay. Most of my friends and relatives think of me as a tree-hugger (and that's the nicest of the terms I'm sure they think). Seriously. I am regularly reminded at holiday dinners to notice that the host/hostess used real dishes instead of the throw-away kind, because I appreciate these things. Yes. I do. I love the beautiful Earth that God lets me live on. I like the air and the trees and even the furry woodland creatures who unwittingly dart into the side of my car from time to time (sorry Bambi).
Environmentalism, however, in my opinion, is really nothing more than common decency. Don't throw trash out your car window. Not because you might die from unchecked, global warming, but because IT'S RUDE! Plant a tree. Not because the extra oxygen will stave off ozone deterioration and let you live a nanosecond longer, but because your children will enjoy the shade someday. Explore. Not because nature won't be there in 30 years, but because it will be different tomorrow than it was today, and the day after that, and there is no reason you should miss a second of it.
This is my own personal brand of environmentalism. A brand based on the things I learned from (and you know I don't discuss religion lightly) the Bible, from my own meandering exploration of faith, and yes...from my parents. Woodsy the Owl, Al Gore, the terrifying play I was forced to watch in elementary school about the sky being on fire in the future...(It's not, in case you were wondering. We don't live on the moon either. Darn.)
It seems to me like we're treating the symptom with these. Free will means we each get to decide what we think is right and wrong; I'm just glad I have a good compass and God, family and friends who are good at forgiving me when I ignore it.
*quietly steps down from the soapbox to go thank God and her mother...*
Tif ~
I too rarely use paper instead of real dishes, because I believe it is a waste of money and resources. I believe we should not litter, and should use the resources that God has given us wisely and respectfully. You see my photography, so you know how much I appreciate the beauty of nature.
I do, however, object to the message that we can 'save the earth,' because we cannot. The fact that I use energy efficient appliances and light bulbs when Al Gore's mansion has the annual carbon footprint 20 X the average home (according to the Nashville Electric Service), or China's pollution (they have no environmental controls at all), is laughable. I object that this movie's message subtly preaches the false gospel that we can not only save the earth, but save ourselves, which is the antithesis of the gospel. I object to the fact that for many people, environmentalism has become their religion, and the earth has replaced Christ as the object of adoration. ". . . they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen." [Romans 1:25]. These people are lost and movies like this encourage them in their error.
I do appreciate well-meaning friends who try hard to be good people and make good choices and who are thoughtful about their beliefs :).
Free will does not mean that we get to decide what is right and wrong--God has already done that. We get to decide only whether or not we will be obedient to His will or be our own gods and decide right and wrong for ourselves. We must, however, have grace for how we (especially me) sometimes badly express what we believe God is saying. You were very gracious in your comments, and I believe you will accept mine with grace as well.
Oh, and the sky WILL someday burn (although I would never show young children a film about it, for Pete's sake!). " . . . the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire . . ." and ". . . the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved . . . " Read 2 Peter 3.
As you can probably guess, I'm not invited to many cocktail parties. People tend to roll their eyes and back away slowly. Sigh.
Thank you, Tif, for being my friend. I appreciate you more than you know.
This is why I love blogging (and should really have my own instead of hogging up space on my friends' blogs...).
I'm more on the same page with you than you think. I think it is vitally important that everyone strive to be a (cliche ahead) "good person". The assumption here is that if you do the things God wants, by default, you're trying to be a "good person". (God wouldn't ask you to do something wrong, and since he defined right and wrong, his will=right, by default.) Being an environmentalist is simply an extension of that for me. I agree that "saving the earth" is a ridiculous idea, and I'm not trying to be "a good person" with the hope that I'll get something out of it (like a shiny new Earth). I'm sure if God were making a list, my Cons column would be WAAAAAAY longer than the Pros column anyway. I was just simply trying to illustrate how important it is to have faith that establishes a measuring stick for our actions.
I also agree with your Free Will statements. I wasn't suggesting that we get to decide right and wrong in an overall sense, just that we get to decide what we believe. (This is the part where I marvel at God, who is obviously much more than human as no human would ever hold ultimate power and still give others a CHOICE. I suppose that some people deliberately attempt to choose the "wrong" option, but my idealistic belief that people are basically good, lends itself much more to the idea of misinterpretation that you mentioned.
These were fun ideas to think about on a Sunday. Thank you!!
(Also, movies starring Keanu Reeves that don't involve humanity's struggle against machines are, as a general rule, not good. :))
Well.....I loved the movie. I guess that's what I get for just going to enjoy a Sci-fi movie.
(Before anyone hits me, give me some of that Romulan Ale from the other post for pain control. LOL!)
-Bob
ps. The worse sci-fi movie I ever watched was awesome. :o)
I should clarify my other post by saying that one of my favorite Sci-fi movies of all time was the original movie with Michael Rennie and Patricia Neal. The theme in that movie was the destruction of mankind because of the wars and fighting. Nothing has changed since then. So, when I watched the new version, apparently I was on the same track. Global warming TOTALLY went over my head. When we left, my wife Pam said she was disappointed with the 'Global Warming' schtick. My reaction to that was.....huh?
So.....I absolutely loved the movie and every aspect of it.
Oh well. Siskal and Ebert disagreed on most of the movies they reviewed too! :-)
-Bob
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