movies like that always leave me feeling awful.. I know it is fiction, but there is nothing ever positive.


The "Lost" commercials have convinced me that the whole point of the show is for the viewer to be "lost".

As much as I dislike Tom Cruise, I loved War or the Worlds. Of course, it is best when viewed in DTS on my home theater with the sub set around +6dB hot. I may go make a pitcher of margaritas, watch WoW, take a nap, and then get up for the SuperBowl.


Craig

I thought it was a pretty depressing movie too, although I think it was pretty good. kj.

Tried to watch War of the.. but could not handle yelling . Distracting handheld stuff too. Tom Cruise is a great actor though. May not care for him but have to give him credit.

---

Da Good Life

Yes, Dakota Fanning and idiot brother were quite annoying.

Special effects were good.

The effects were awesome! I like the part where they were both stuck on the dangling chandelier. And Danny Devito running to save them with the ladder.

I thought it was an okay movie but Dakota Fanning annoyed the hell out of me, enough so that I'll never watch it again.

---

War of the Worlds is one movie I really want to like, but can't.

On the plus side: the Martian* machines are great - truly creepy. The scene of the first one emerging from under the street is excellent. Some Speilberg touches were inspired: the flaming train, a wide shot from a hill overlooking some machines wiping out a town, clothing drifting down from the sky.

On the minus side:
Casting. First, Cruise playing (once again) himself: obnoxious, arrogant, unlikable. Not a character you want to see succeed. Dakota Fanning - feed that brat to the aliens immediately!

Actually, the movie would have been a lot more affecting if Speilberg had had the courage to kill off either the brother or sister, or the estranged wife, or some other part of the family. The ending where they are reunited at the old family brownstone (which has not so much as a broken window) is ridiculous - pure Speilberg pap!

The idea of limiting the film to the point of view of a very few characters was good, but the dysfunction of this family was needless & distracting. What if the family actually got a long? Then the focus could have been on the fear, the dread, where it belonged. Or what if the father character were killed off, leaving brother and sister to go it alone?

The premise that the machines were hidden underground was a clumsy way to avoid having to stage an invasion arriving from the sky (although the alien machine-drivers do). That none of the machines would have been discovered during humanity's extensive digging and drilling is a little too much to swallow.

There were to many eye-rolling convenient "outs" for the plucky heros: the one car that would still run, and especially a handy clear path through the wreck of the airliner so they could just motor away. I'd love to find out how Speilberg allowed this kind of clumsiness in his movie - he's usually much more meticulous.

I could go on - but you get the point. I give it one horizontal thumb.

*I'm aware that Mars was never identified as the source of the invasion.

---

[picasaweb.google.com] [www.flickr.com]

I'd actually like to see a version that stuck with H.G.Well's original novel. Set it in England in the 19th century. Stick to the novel as much as possible. That kind of movie done with today's CGI and a good director's touch could be awsome.

Quote
decocritter
Yes, Dakota Fanning and idiot brother were quite annoying.

I wanted to kill his two children myself, . FX were good. I watched part of it last night in HD
and fell asleep about an hour into it but awoke before it was over. The Lost ads were a
surprise at the end.

---

Grateful11

Quote
Sam3
I'd actually like to see a version that stuck with H.G.Well's original novel. Set it in England in the 19th century. Stick to the novel as much as possible. That kind of movie done with today's CGI and a good director's touch could be awsome.

Tim Burton.

---

[picasaweb.google.com] [www.flickr.com]

Have not seen Cloverfield and won't because of the handheld nausea warnings but aren't there some similarities in the invasion being shown from the point of view of a few people? Thought of it right away.

---

Da Good Life

Cloverfield is compared more to Blair Witch Project (which was pretty damn scary). In WotW, you know what's happening. Not so in Cloverfield or Blair. It's the not knowing that gets you.

---

[picasaweb.google.com] [www.flickr.com]

War of the Worlds was nearly unwatchable. The only reason I watched all of it was because I hoped to see the aliens shred Tom Cruise in to an unrecognizable pulp of bloody flesh. I was highly disappointed.