War of the worlds

I fully understand....

you are obviously seriously quite educated/devoted to the world of film where as I am not.
Im just the average punter who pays good money to see these movies and when I was younger than I am now, I loved listening to the WotW on LP..thats why I was so dissapointed when I went to the theatre and saw this film I felt it was a let down, maybe not how some others may view it, but to myself.

It's an odd coincidence that the critic's ratings and the user ratings on Rotten Tomotoe are nearly the same, 73% critics and 72% users:

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/war_of_the_worlds/

Just remember that we all go to the multiplex at our own risk and it might be a good idea to begin reading critics to find the particular ones who have similar taste. My idea on this is that the story has been told so many times that another remake just wasn't going to bring back that same sense of wonder when we all first encountered the tale. I remember having an old LP of the Orson Welles broadcast and playing it for some high school friends. We had a great time!

(In other words, I have a difficult time feeling sorry for those that go to the movies just to be going to the movies and make poorly advised choices).

You have to remember LW we don't have your knowledge of films or how they are made etc., we are lay people who are merely expressing our opinions on what we think of a film we have seen.

I kicked this thread off by calling this pic a turkey and my understanding of that term was that it was a pic that was over-hyped by the media people and didn't live up to the hype.

It is very easy to be critical of others when you are the expert and they are not. Come and sit in my class at polytechnic on wednesdays and see how you do at explaining how we are going to supply central heating to this tower block.

I'm not being critical LW just asking you to be a bit more forgiving to us mere mortals


I really enjoy your posts by the way.

Nope, turkey means a flop. Merriam Webster:

2 : FAILURE, FLOP; especially : a theatrical production that has failed

It most definitely was not a flop. I didn't see or read any more hype for this film than any other.

It would help if one does a search of recent posts to see if they are duplicating. No, I'm not being critical, just making a practical recommendation.

You know LW, this is the first time I'm seeing this side of you. I don't come on the film forum often, because, well, I don't watch many films. Given a choice between watching a movie and doing something else...I'd pretty much pick the something else.

But, like Don said, we're just ordinary people expressing our opinion. If I started this thread, I really wouldn't have thought to research it first.... All due respect LW, you don't have to read it if you think it's duplication.

OK, that being said, I really appreciate some of the insights you've had on films, and have been very helpful in identifying the names of movies and animated stuff. I really respect that this is a very big part of your life...and that you are quite passionate about it.

So, I don't want to come across as a dumb bunny when I say I didn't like WOTW, just my take on it as a infrequent movie watcher.

OK, here's goes (and none of this has anything to to with Cruise, but I'll call the main character Tom for ease) Keep in mind it was a few months ago, and these are random recollections.

What I did on my summer vacation...I mean, Why I thought WOTW sucked.

When the first attack occured, and Tom is doing this manly..."jogging down the street" thing...all these people are calling out..."Tom, Tom, what's going on?" WTF are they asking Tom for? Is he the neighborhood alien expert? I just found that really stupid.

The guy fixing Toms truck. Maybe I'm wrong, but didn't Tom have to show the guy what to do to fix it? Wasn't this guy the mechanic? Oh, and there's aliens all over the place, and this guy's still working on the truck?

When Tom and his family go rushing off in the truck, the mechanic, before he gets vaporized, is yelling at Tom to come back here, because he didn't pay...again, Aliens vaporizing people around me, I need to swipe your credit card.

Dakota Fanning....All she did was scream...yes, yes, she was upset. But come on, let's move on, let's take it as a given she was freakin'...that high pitch EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE...... made be want to knock her out...There, now maybe I can think!

The son. I know teenagers don't have to have any reason to be mad at their parents, but one more time, THERE ARE ALIENS ALL OVER. This I believe would be a time when family difference would be put aside, and everyone would be concentrating on getting their ass out of there.

Jumping to the end. When Tom and Dakota finally get to the ex-wife...there...is the SON! Huh? I'd like a little explanation of that please. What adventures did he have? Oh, and the ex-wife family, house whatever, were never touched.

What was the name of that actor they found in the basement? Anyway, whoowee, like you didn't know something was wrong with him right off?

The whole ending of the movie sucked...I know the original story and all that, but like someone said, this is 50 years after the original was written. Now, we are sophisticated to know that the aliens would have done tests on whether they could live in our environment. I mean, they're not stupid.

How come aliens never wear clothes?

Anyway, in just one casual viewers experience those are just some of the reasons I thought it sucked.



Oh Oh Oh....Light Wizard...seriously, you might be interested in this.

I met the wife of the guy who is nominated for an Oscar for the movie Memoirs of a Gheisa. He's nominated for the sound stuff. If I heard his name I'd remember.

She was trying on gowns to go to the oscars, and was fretting at the cost. I said "It's the Oscars, go for it" but apparantly sound guys aren't rich.

When are the Oscars?

I don't believe they give the Oscar to the sound guy at the actual ceremony. The announce it from a pre-ceremony event. The top sound engineers do make a good living, however.

The Oscars are this Sunday, May 5th.

There were some discrepancies in the plot of WotW but they really didn't bother me -- the storytelling was adequate for this kind of a film. It was an effort to bring those 1950's sci fi films, some of which now seem so campy, up-to-date. In this film, Spielberg also tried to recreate H. G. Well's world. The production design and special effects blew me away. They are nominated for an Oscar and could win. Although this isn't the best reason to see a movie -- the George Pal verson of WofW was only nominated for special effects and sound ans won the special effects Oscar which, I suppose, you'd be equally unimpressed with. If you go to a sci-fi films expect some in-depth story, you are being a bit silly. Only a few try to deliver on that aspect -- "The Day the Earth Stood Still" and "Blade Runner" may have come close, but still no banana.

It was a suggestion that recent topics not be duplicated and a reasonable suggestion. If there's a problem with that and I'm supposed to be banned from a thread because I note that it is beating a dead horse, I'm not the one with the problem.

(And here I am beating that horse until even CSI wouldn't recognize it -- shame on me, I'm outta here!)

Huh?

Banned from the thread?

<looking around>

who said that?

See, what's beating a dead horse to you, isn't to someone else I guess.

I don't think anyone wants you banned from anywhere sug.

Now come over here and let me give you a pat on your furry blue head.

I told you when the dogs away, the monsters will play (Sully, that is). The thread I offered a link to had hashed over the film to the point of tedium and, yes, I was partly responsible. Aren't there other films out there? Maybe one you like? I'm always fascinated when A2K'ers come onto the film category and declare a film is crap and are asked what they do like. It's often good for a laugh.

We watched "walk the line" on dvd last night. I really liked it.

I'll admit part of the reason was I had bought my husband a Cinego for his Xmas present and it was the first time I had watched something on it. We have it in a separate room, and it felt like we were really in a theatre. I should have made popcorn.

hey everybody! come over to my house and we'll watch movies on my cinego!

Great movie and a better movie than WotW but, of course, an entirely different genre. I approach films in their genre -- sci-fi almost always being short of character development and often storyline, so many of them being purely action flicks aimed at young male teenagers. Within the genre, WofW is a good sci-fi flick with a wide appeal, although I would still like to see the British go out on a limb and produce some Wells which is more faithful to the books.