And where in suburban Maryland would you rent one if you needed one?

Just after the premiere of the 2008 remake of “The Day The Earth Stood Still”, the New York Times published a brief op-ed by Brent Staples about the movie and about trends in Hollywood filmmaking in general. I think some of his observations are germane to the potential of filmmaking for the Internet and for our approach to this project:

“Digital effects have revolutionized the monster, science-fiction and superhero genres, making the films larger than ever visually. But the same effects have whittled away at the acting space, making the movies smaller in the dramatic sense…

“The minimalist — and altogether cool — effects in the 1951 film leave lots of room for the performers…Michael Rennie is aces as Klaatu…There is no shred of sentimentality in Rennie’s performance. He is a congenial exterminating angel, dropping round for tea to tell of horrors to come…Keanu Reeves’s Klaatu is numbingly monotonic. He is emotionally underdeveloped, and suffers from a robotic flatness of affect. Instead, the scriptwriters gave him powers that are predictably demonstrated through pricey special effects that do not sustain dramatic momentum. With all this digital sleight of hand, the performers are reduced to the equivalent of bystanders at a fireworks show.”

Taking poke #5,323,852 at Reeves’s range as a performer isn’t really what Mr. Staples is on about - he does recommend the remake, if tepidly - and the entire piece is worth a read. Find it here. What I find useful are his observations about the “shrinking of the dramatic space” in modern sf/fantasy films.

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