My theory of the whole thing is that the aliens buried their ships waiting for the human population to grow to the point of proper harvesting. That doesn't, however, explain the mass killings with the green and purple light beams. I don't mind so much the deus ex machina, but it did make the ending fall flat. I really don't think the ending in this one was as bad as A.I. though. Or maybe it was becuase of A.I. that I expected the son to return in the end, even though I was hoping against hope that he had died. I'm not a fan of Spielberg, but I do believe he did a good job of keeping me as nervous as the characters in the movie. I also enjoyed how surreal the whole thing felt after the aliens had started invading, the decision to hold back on the music really helped that.

I thought it was a decent movie. Despite the sudden, and happy ending, it wasn't too Hollywood in the usual sense of your normal summer blockbuster, like Independence Day very obviously was and was meant to be. However, it just seems to be a shame that it was just decent and not great. I don't care to own it on DVD and it'll be a long time before I even care to watch it again. That's probably the most disappointing thing to me.

As for the source material. I've never read the book or even watched the original movie. I'm more familiar with the Orson Wells radio-play. The thing that got me most about the radio-play, is that at the time it was originally aired, people really thought Martian invaders were attacking earth. If a War of the Worlds remake were up to me, I would've made it a huge television movie event with proper cooperation from the network and their news in hopes of trying to recapture that impact on the world.

I'm a flagrant Spielberg-hater. A.I. would probably be my favorite movie if it weren't for Spielberg spielberging things up in the last twenty minutes. That, and he's responsible for everyone repeating a single line from one of his movies to me everytime they meet me, and I just don't think that particular movie was really that good anyway. Still, it was nice to see that instead of repeating the last Cruise/sci-fi romp and going all the way Hollywood/action with Minority Report, he tried a little something different with this one. Although, even that's aggrevating bacause I'm a bigger P.K. D1ck fan and have always felt that his stories would actually translate well to the big screen if they were followed more closely and not changed to be big Hollywood action events. Oh well, some people just suck.

elliott.

quote:

Originally posted by Harris:
This is one of the reasons I didn't like Lord of the Rings as much as most people seem to. While I was laughing aloud during the closing moments of Return of the King...

Harris, Harris, Harris. You just drove a spear through my heart when you told me that. Everyone is entitled to their opinions so I'll just leave it at that. Just remember, you can't be loved by everyone.

"Judge not, that ye be not judged."

About those eagles, they were explained in "The Hobbit Or There and Back Again". I recommend that book by the way, my favorite. What Peter Jackson did to the Lord Of The Rings was amazing, he was able to adapt the books into 3 terrific films. I haven't read any of the stories until the movies came out, I was entertained throughout the whole film.

The LOTR was the greatest trilogy ever, in my opinion. I'm curious Harris, what do you think is the greatest trilogy ever?

quote:

originally posted by MeGrimlock:
I also enjoyed how surreal the whole thing felt after the aliens had started invading, the decision to hold back on the music really helped that.

Yeah, the soundtrack was appropriately restrained in this one, which is odd for a Speilberg flick. Usually, John Williams' touch is so prominent he could be regarded as a main character.

quote:

If a War of the Worlds remake were up to me, I would've made it a huge television movie event with proper cooperation from the network and their news in hopes of trying to recapture that impact on the world.

Ha! My god, that's sick.

quote:

originally posted by Inner:
Just remember, you can't be loved by everyone.

Watch me.

quote:

The LOTR was the greatest trilogy ever, in my opinion. I'm curious Harris, what do you think is the greatest trilogy ever?

I'll have to wait until Toy Story 3 comes out before I can answer that.

Well, in the book the aliens came to eat humans and take its resources. They had chewed up all their own resources on their planet and decided to take over earth.
And in the book, the machines didn't come from the ground. The aliens landed in capsules and built the machines out of the caspule. So the book was much better there.
I wish that was explained more in the movie. The aliens needed motivation.

quote:

Originally posted by Harris:
I'll have to wait until Toy Story 3 comes out before I can answer that.

I think that's one thing we could agree on,

I still haven't seen this film, but I think Grimlock's idea on the TV movie would have been terrific. Especially with the recent interest in NASA and space, thanks to the Saturn mission and this comet thing thats supposed to happen tommorow. That would have really helped validate aliens coming to earth. Combine with that photorealistic images of national monuments exploding and general havok and you would have had an amazing hoax if they could have kept it secret long enough. Who would pay for all the damage that resulted from mass hysteria and looting is a side issue. People would probobly end up killing each other, or burning down heir neighbors houses or something.

-Grimlock- I assume ET is your favorite movie then? Do people use the ET voice or just say the line straight?

quote:

People would probobly end up killing each other, or burning down heir neighbors houses or something.

Now that's the kind of response I'm talking about.

quote:

Do people use the ET voice or just say the line straight?

Both, but trust me, it's equally annoying either way.

elliott.

I was very dissappointed by the film, and I love most of Speilberg's work. I felt that the updating of the story totally ruined it. I mean all the stuff about people thinking it's terrorists and everything, and the whole gung-ho son about getting back at them, it's all destroyed the movie experience for me. And is it just me or did the whole military presence through the whole movie feel like a subliminal message to people saying that no matter what the military will protect us. I don't know maybe I just don't get it, but all the post 9/11 subtexts that were thrown in destroyed a good blockbuster.

Finally saw it and much to my surprise, was dissapointed. The whole thing was an intellecualized action "blockbuster" that wasn't sincere enough to be a suspense/horror movie and wasn't fun enough to be something like independence day.

Spoilers: Why did the entire Family Live? Whywas Dakota Fanning continually surprised (screames) at the aliens? why did that guys camera work in the beginning? Why, after 1 million years, did the aliens not know earth was poisounsous? Why does it take 1 million years to formulate a plan that involves blowing **** up? etc etc etc

WARNING: THERE WILL MOST LIKELY BE SPOILERS BELOW

I wouldn't say I was dissapointed because I wasn't expected it to be better than the original. I don't understand remakes in the first place. When somethings good, like the original War of the Worlds, why remake it? I haven't read the book BUT I have seen the movie but it's been a while. From what I can remember the new WOTW had very little similarities to the original. Among other things the main characters are different. In the original its a man and a woman but in this one its a father and his kids. I also don't remember any tripod things, I don't remember anyone getting their ****ing blood sucked and I don't remember a character like Tim Robbins' character (although he was by far my favorite part of this movie). There are other differences but I don't feel like typing them. I just feel like its insulting to the original movie when you remake it and change that much. Spielberg's fantastic directing wasn't hard to see in WOTW but that couldn't save it for me.

I thought it was awesome. Really, really enmtertaining. Probably Spielbergs best since Saving Private Ryan, and reminded me why he is the worlds greatest director.
I agree that the ending was a bit sudden, and left a few questions, but the rest of the film was so friggin awesome that is didnt really matter.
I'm having a good run at the cinemas. I dont go too often these days, but the last three films I've seen have been great (Million Dollar Baby, Batman Begins, War of the Worlds)
I liked the way that it was updated and certain bits were changed, with mentions to terrorism, just showing how timeless this story is. It is one of those films that makes for a great remake, and Spielberg did a fantastic job with this one.