Hollywood
Yeah, a movie backing our troops just wouldn't sell; why, "everyone I know thinks that"...
Yeah, a movie backing our troops just wouldn't sell; why, "everyone I know thinks that"...
Saw the movie, with the Techno-wife, yesterday. Our take- great entertainment! Did it modify our Christian views or threaten them? Only if your mindset is such that "The Omen" or "The Exorcist" threatened your worldview or seemed to disparage the Catholic Church. The bottom line- it was, like almost all Hollywood movies, mindless entertainment that made for a fun afternoon. Sheesh, some people need to lighten up.
This explains why V for Vendetta won't get one red cent from me. It's a different world folks, too bad the Wachowski brothers don't get that.
Coolest f'n video ever: Charles Bronson gets down in the Death Wish movies!
h/t Ace
Ordered it recently. Just got it. Just watched it. It's insanely good! If you are any kind of fan of H.P. Lovecraft, this is an absolute must-buy.
Thanks to Stephen Green for the heads-up
Woohoo! X-Men III is coming!
h/t most of the bloggers in the blogiverse
The most awesomely savage send-up of a movie I've ever read. It was more entertaining than the movie itself. Read Bloodless Coup for the real entertainment. Meaty points-
However, I'm still confused. How did the aliens die? Yeah, I read the book years ago, and Morgan Freeman did a voice over while the sunset/sunrise/credits over Boston were rolling, explaining that it was these invisible little microbes that attacked the aliens and gave them a fatal head cold, or something, but that really doesn't explain anything. I mean, if they have mastered interstellar travel, don't you think basic college biology would be something they could handle? And don't give me that "It's how the story was" crap. H.G. Wells' story was in London, involved multiple days of organized fighting between invaders and defenders, and other sundry differences. In particular, H.G. Wells story didn't involve one father trying to reconnect with his family while on the run from the aliens; it was a more political novel about the British government/military trying to fight the aliens off. Thus, if Spielberg is going to make shit up, he can make up a more plausible ending. In particular, the whole "shield" thing makes no sense. If the aliens have a shield, why would they turn off their shields (hence, allowing themselves to get blown up)? Maybe they are dying of some disease, but their ships are still impervious. They may stop moving and frying humans, but we shouldn't be able to blow them up at all. Very, very odd; totally dumb, too.
The whole movie is a remarkable exercise in stupidity. How Spielberg read "War of the Worlds" and decided it would be better as a movie about familiy, with alien barbeque as a kicker, is beyond me. Maybe, since he's "Spielberg!", anything he craps out is taken as gospel. In this case, it was a steaming pile of crap, and someone should have told him. I can't really complain about the acting (it wasn't good, mind you), since the story would have dragged down anyone put in it. The fundamental problem was the story: it sucked. It made no sense, and trying combine some Hollywood-based version of America and Family, with H.G. Wells' classic (but dated) "War of the Worlds" just plain didn't work. You can remake Shakespeare into the 21st Century, because Shakespeare is a story of characters and love (or tragedy or comedy). "War of the Worlds", at least as envisioned by Spielberg, strips all the characters from the Wells original, and replaces them with a made-up story that clearly wasn't written by Shakespeare. The only part of this movie that bears any resemblance to Wells' original is the title, and some of the conceptual work of how the alien warships look. That's it. Nothing more. Its as if Spielberg made a movie about the dangers of nuclear weapons that involved nuclear terrorists, smuggling, a "war room", "precious bodily fluids" and called it "Dr. Strangelove." It might have something to do with that classic original, but not much. That would suck as much as this did, but this one got made, and I had to watch it.
Some reviews have argued that Spielberg's "War of the Worlds" is some sort of comment on Bush and the war in Iraq. I don't see it. OK, fine, the aliens invasion failed and Iraq isn't going well for us, but what does that have to do with Iraq? Moreover, the ideas and script for this were likely carved in stone long before Iraq became the topic it is today (maybe even before the invasion); Spielberg doesn't have prescience. In any event, what is the moral? Don't invade anyone? Don't invade anyone you don't share compatible germs with? Do some research before you invade someone? There is nothing political here, intended or not.
So where does this leave us? This movie still sucked. Cruise was his usual self: awful. Dakota didn't so much act as scream for the first hour, then do an impression of a wooden board for the second. The "sullen teenager" did a good acting job in terms of acting like, well, a sullen teenager. Given he looked about the right age, I don't think it was much of a stretch for him. Time Robbins acted suitably crazy, but if you can't do a good crazy, you shouldn't be an actor; he certainly had no flair in the role.
Don't see this movie. Really. This monumental post should fill you in on enough points that you can talk about it with some confidence; lie like a rug and steal some of the good lines (what, I'm going to somehow catch you?). As I noted last century, when this post began, this movie was slightly worse than Kingdom of Heaven...
High entertainment, and a hell of a lot better than the movie. Recommended.
H/t Tim F. at Balloon Juice