War of the Worlds and other Spielberg pieces of kerap

So is the problem you are having more related to difficulty with brats or with Spielberg? If it is Spielberg just avoid all his future films as they come out and avoid any of his past work which may appear on television or in be found on the shelves of the local video store...beta tapes are going out of style anyway, mark my word on this one.

The problem obviously is with him as I said "This is Spielberg at his predictable worst".... I thought the children I mentioned were brats - not all kids in movies are. And obviously I will avoid all future films as I said, "I will NEVER see another Spielberg ruination again"... I don't know what you didn't get...wondering what the point of your post was.

I agree with Mame 'War of the Worlds' was utter crap and dissapointing at the end it was like the movie was made in such a hurry and was missing parts from it.

I agree mame, whilst Spielberg is undoubtedly a brilliant director he does turn out some mind numbing crap, my thoughts have always been that he satisfies the investors at the expense of the enjoyment of the movie going public.

Don1, you are absolutely right -- I quite like your assessment re: satisfying investors... sigh... and he has done some marvellous work, but geesh, what a disappointment this was.

And Kiwichic - yeah, some parts were missing alright but mostly it was predictable. We always think what a shame it is when someone mangles a beautiful piece of work.

Can't agree that Spielberg can turn out a bad film -- "War of the Worlds" was more faithful to the novel other than changing the location to the Orson Welles radio broadcast setting and the time frame. Didn't get the "brat" thing (incidentally, Dakota Fanning portraying that "brat" just won best young actor at the Critic's Choice Award and I agree). The son was estranged due to a divorce and I also agree with most critics that this was one of Cruise's better performances. The special effects were first rate, especially the scene with the ferry, and although because of the George Pal version most of us know that ending. Any movie taken from a book will naturally give away the ending to some people. I already knew the ending to "Brokeback Mountain" having read the story. Be my guest and miss out on one of the great thrillers in many years, "Munich" which is on just about every critic's top ten list. To discount every movie a director makes because of a dislike for his popcorn movie hits is rather narrow minded. You are in the minority ("Minority Report," that is).

I find Spielberg stuff to be entertaining, but unsatisfying. Like light beer, or a frigid girl.

cjhsa, a female critic born on a chicken farm in Petaluma in 1919 to Polish immigrants couldn't have put it better.

Oh for f***s people her name was Pauline

yeah - thought the entire movie was crap.

starting with tom cruise.



The weather is totally going FUBAR, tom the hero is doing that "i'm the hero" trot down is street through dozens of people. A few of them call out to tom as he glides by "What's going on Tom?" Too bad he doesn't have time to stop and explain the entire situation to everyone.

Tom does have time though, to toss out instructions to his mechanic on how to fix his car. The mechanic working through all the confusion.

The feces hit the oscillating blades, i.e. unfriendly alients have been vaporizing humans and tom grabs his car and kids and takes off, only to have his mechanic scream after him something like "hey, get back here! you haven't paid me"!

Then he (the mechanic) gets vaporized. cool.



this happened in my neighborhood just last week. good thing, I didn't have the cash to pay the mechanic.

This has got to hurt...

January 12, 2006
Mistake could cost 'Munich' awards

LONDON (AP) - Judges of Britain's top film awards were unable to view Steven Spielberg's new movie Munich as nominations closed Thursday because distributors mistakenly sent them DVDs coded to play only on North American machines.

The movie is not due for release in British movie theatres until Jan. 27, so many members of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts could not see the movie in time. Bafta has 5,000 eligible voters, 3,500 of which live in Britain and the rest primarily in the United States, where the movie opened in theatres last month.

Sara Keene, whose Premier PR firm represents the film's British distributor, United International Pictures, acknowledged Wednesday the error may reduce the movie's award prospects.

Most Hollywood DVDs are coded to restrict its distribution. That way, a studio can choose to release a film on DVD on one continent while still showing it in theatres on another.

DVDs coded Region 1 are supposed to play only on DVD players sold in the United States and Canada; British players need DVDs coded Region 2.

The mix-up resulted from a human error at a laboratory where the preview DVDs were processed, according to Premier PR.

"There was a technical problem," Keene said. "Someone pushed the wrong button."

Spielberg has previously been honoured by the Bafta awards - the British equivalent of the Oscars - with a special prize for excellence in film making.

His new film Munich is based on events following the killing of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics.

It looks to me as if "Munich" will stand the test of time as well as "Jaws," "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," "Shindler's List," "ET," and "Saving Private Ryan," all films, true, better than "War of the Worlds" which is good but has its shortcomings. Although I thought Cruise was effective in the film, it was hardly H.G. Wells and he was the token star purely for box office. Rather have seen a Kevin Spacey type in the part. There was nothing wrong with the original story in the first place. He does get a plus for the look of the film, the great alien machines and pulling some fascinating things out of the novel like the origin of the "red weeds." The movie made money and I have the feeling that was high on the priority list for Spielberg; the studio, of course, not needing to be mentioned. Movies are made to make money even though studios set aside some "risk" funds to make such films like "Brokeback Mountain" and "Rent." "Brokeback" is in the profit window now but "Rent" will have to wait for DVD to make a profit.

BTW, we will never know what Paulene Kael thinks of Spielberg's output -- she also wasn't much of a fan of Scorcese. She did not particularly like "Raging Bull" nor "GoodFellas." "Mean Streets" was her favorite Scorcese.