Your Sentinel News, Movies 200527

The Sentinel All the news that's fit to print and some that's not.
The Day the Earth Stood Still The heading comes from an old movie about a space ship landing in Washington D.C. with a warning for the Earth to stop its neuclear destruction. It came out in December of 1951 and the star of the movie actually had the ability to stop everything on Earth and did it for 30 minutes. His plan was to show the Earth that the inhabited planets in outer space could stop all activity on our planet or destroy Earth if necessary. The movie was redone in 2008 with Keanu Reeves. I saw that one too and it was pretty good. So what's the point? My point is that this current Covid-19 crisis has stopped the world for a few moments. Just like the old 1951 movie it only lasted for a relatively short time and we have jumped right back into the cauldron just as the world did in the movie. There is a clear and present answer, but no one is listening. As of this moment, despite the fact that the heat of the cauldron is burning our feet now, the country is diving even deeper into the morass. I am doing my part to stop the nonsense, but as of today I am losing ground. I can only do my part, the new, greater danger is on someone else's head. I will continue to do my part and that's all any of us can do.	Roku I used my Roku device yesterday and it found the movie "The Day The Earth Stood Still" and I got to watch it again. I have enjoyed that movie since the first time I saw it back in the fifties. One thing I have learned with Roku is, when searching there will be the same movie listed several times. The top listings are sponsored content and the movie will be available for rent or purchase, but if I go down the list I can often find the same movie that is free to watch. There may be a few short commercials, but it's also not $4 to watch. I also found the movie "Doctor Strangelove" and down the list I found it for free. I love that movie too. The movie shows a lot about human nature, the dialog is witty, it is funny and when the movie came out the Air Force wanted to know how a movie had so much real information about the Air Force's then secret B-52 planes and its nuclear war plans. It turned out the director 'Stanley Kubrick' just read a book published by a high ranking ex Air Force officer. Kubrick created his sets using published data and they were superb.	Ed Wood Ed Wood was a writer, director and movie producer in the fifties. He was recognized as the worst in all 3 categories. I tried watching a couple of his movies and just couldn't do it, they were so bad. One I remember is "Plan 9 from Outer Space." Absolutely dreadful. If you have any doubt, look it up. Why am I writing about Ed Wood? Here's the deal; I saw a movie listed through Roku titled "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians" yesterday. I had to spend a few moments with that, knowing it would have to be a "B" grade movie but I had to see just how bad it was. Oh my! I sat there slack-jawed because it was beyond belief how bad it was. All that brings me back to Ed Wood. Santa conquers the Martians made any Ed Wood movie look like an Oscar contender. Every once in a while I like to watch terrible movies because it makes me appreciate the good movies.