War of the Worlds remade by Spielberg

THat's fabulous. It was a great novella and a great movie. Love to see a 21st century effort.

Now as long as Emmerich won't get his fingers on this remake, the odds're pretty good for it being a watchable movie.

Good scoop! Now if he can refrain from over-sentimentalizing it -- the Martians could end up being empathetic.

The first version was a bit lacking, in spite of the great special effects. I hope the new one is better.

I always like the George Pal version and for the era, the special effects were incredible and won the Oscar.

George Pal? My God, Mr. Wizard. I hadn't thought of that puppetoon man in forever.

Hey, lineman. It would be interesting to watch a remake, I guess. Orson Welles and H.G. started something, did they not?

I don't hold out much hope there lightwizard, I have no doubt that this will end up being another great story ruined by hollywood, like for example that turkey to end all turkey's "Independance day"

Welcome to A2K, Don1. Hollywood doesn't ruin every great novel but sequels often turn up short. "Independence Day" was not taken from a novel, it was a vague satire on many 1950 sci-fi invasion movies. The only resemblance to H. G. Wells story was the computer virus at the end. I think it was a fun popcorn flick with no serious intent -- if anyone even thought they were trying to be profound, I'm not sure they saw the same movie. There is a list of over a thousand movies that are worse turkeys. Consult your own Halliwell's Film Guide.

(There's a lot of British films that are turkeys).

I think that Spielberg is actually doing this as a tv farce in the spirit of the original mercury theater in which the entire country is "put on" to believe we are being attacked by aliens all well done by a ratings hungry network. The resulting confusion, riots, power outages, pillaging and mayhem opens the country to opportunistic terrorist attacks which brings down the government and aliens, watching from a distant post, merely come in and take over in a realtively bloodless occupations, until microbes, to which the aliens are not acclimated through millenia of evolution begin to cause them all kinds of internal illnesses. wse come to their aid and we make sure thaht the aliens, are inoculated with stem cell induced immune system upgrades. this startes an outpouring of intergalactic sympathy toward our species and this leads to an alliance between our worldand the aliens and people of all countries travel back and forth to the alien home start system and we begin a Federation of planets wherein everybody respects everyother life form and we learn all kind of high tech tricks . Thats how Spilberg is gonna spin it trust me.

More detail:

http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,13720,00.html

I take it you are being facetious, farmerman, as Spielberg could easily be inspired by his presentation of "Minority Report" and "Jaws," rather than "AI," which unfortunately tipped over the edge into maudlin sentiment (it failed to satirically address the shallowness of the human race as I'm sure Kubrick would have done).

Cant grumble with that lightwizard

I've always felt that what makes a film a real turkey is when it is made by seasoned professionals who have $50 million dollar budgets and still turn out tripe even when the story has the basis to be a real winner, hence my annoyance at Independance day.

It has often been said that the worst film ever made was Plan 9 from outer space, but I think you have to be subjective, how can you equate a film made largely by amateurs at a cost of a couple of thousand dollars with a film that has a budget of millions?

I'll keep my fingers crossed for the remake of W.O.T.W. but experience has taught me not to be overly optimistic.

There's tripe and then there's tripe (like a rose is a rose is a rose). Movies like "Independence Day" are made as disposable entertainment. It's likely a guilty pleasure that on the big screen one get's a kick out of a film like "ID." Buying it for one's DVD collection would likely be another story. I found it as entertaining as most popcorn movies with the accent on corn. The same director did botch up "Godzilla" and his new film is "The Day After Tomorrow," another popcorn disaster film with very dubious science. His stated desire to bring more attention to global warming is debatable for it's effectivness, that's for sure.

of course I was being facetious, wiz. I just feel that spielberg will have to get a twist on this WotW in order to make audiences forget the patented "flying saucer sound" that became the signature noise of all 59' sci fi flicks.
I think Spielberg will somehow weave the Mercury Theater presentation into his version. Im guessing of course but his mind is a fertile playground of ideas.

The death ray in George Pal's "War of the Worlds" was some sound played in reverse. I'd have to call Forry Ackerman to refresh my memory.

Ray Harryhausen, incidentally, basically paid tribute to George Pal in "Earth Vs. the Flying Saucers."

is there a good fimography of Harryhausens stuff/ i only recognize the sinbad movies with the Stop ACtion claymation

Here's Ray Harryhausen's filmography:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0366063/

(You can always use their search to find info about movies and movie people -- it's the best on the Internet).

"WAR OF THE WORLDS" .....Wasn't that released on 9/11 ???