I want to see the remake of "the day The earth Stood Still"

this was an excellent sci fi movie and the effect way ahead of its time

I enjoyed the War of the Worlds and was not disappointed in the ending. I rate it a 4 Star movie because when it comes out I'll rent it and watch it again. I didnot watch it for "quirks" in the movie as listed above.

As for the ending, I left the theater feeling good so I can say I like movies that end on a good note!

I also agree with Vin, I would like to see a remake of the 5 star classic, "The Day the Earth Stood Still"

WotW: Ho-Hum. Fanning was excellent and that's about all.

Has anyone heard the Jeff Wayne Audio WotW with Richard Burton narrating?

The movie was a half hearted interpretation of a short story: "Farewell to the Master". The master, in case you missed the point of the story, was the robot.

Could it be pulled off today? Perhaps if the guy looked like an Arab and hid out in a university dormitory near Central park ( Columbia university is right next to central park ) They UFO landing in the meadow of central park might work well.

If you don't already own it,i suggest you buy the War Of The Worlds musical soundtrack by Jeff Wayne..This still creeps me out 20 odd years after first hearing it,and because of the picture it built in my head of the attack being based in Victorian London,to me,the new film was naff and should have been left alone.

Sorry enigmax...missed your post above ^

This is one of those movies where you either love it or hate it. I LOVE it, and I think it's one of the best movies to come out in a long time.

I am surprised that no one has commented about the obvious intent of this film: helping us confront the images of 9/11 through representation. It's all there, and Spielberg was explicit about this in interviews. Creatures that we just don't understand attack us from the air. They lay waste to our cities. People who escape are covered in gray dust, and they are in shock. The streets are littered with blowing paper, empty clothing. Later, Tom Cruise and family exit the basement that they have been hiding in to discover the wreckage of a passenger plane, with some of the dead still in their seats. A looter is busting open the food cart from the plane. Right after, a camera crew shows Tom Cruise slow-motion replay of footage of aliens beaming into their pods, and of the walking tripods. He watches, again and again, only able to understand by watching on television. Do you get it? OK, it was pretty relentless, but this kind of film doesn't bother with nuance.

For me, there was one moment of real horror in the film. Tom Cruise walks out into the landscape that has been planted with some kind of alien plant that grows over everything as red tendrils. He clears a hill and looks out over a vast landscape. The entire panorama has been transformed by this alien invader, which serves as food for the creeps in the tripods.

This film serves a similar purpose to The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), which served up a tale of a the menace of communism disguised as a science fiction movie. I don't think that this remake of War of the Worlds will stand up to Invasion of the Body Snatchers or The Day the Earth Stood Still, and few films can compare to Blade Runner (in my opinion).

Yours,

Paul

Paul, honestly I have never thought of folks from Saudi Arabia as naked slimy alien beings. And as a dyed in the wool New Yorker, I resent the comparison or reminder of 9/11 imagery. I was getting almost daily reports from a close friend whose family lives just blocks from where the world trade center was. I heard about the ash and then the rain, the flaming pit that burned for a month and the column of smoke that could be seen from across the river in New Jersey. His family stayed. The police set up barricades and searched vehicles. Traffic and commerce came to standstill for months. Not because of losses 9/11 or the cleanup, but by the hand of those stepping in to "make the area safe" and "react to the new threat situation".

Taking your hypothesis to the next level, consider the Japanese perspective of our culture and the horrors we visited upon them in the middle of the last century. First the atomic bombs, then the social and economic restructuring. Consider those themes in a movie. From that perspective, would their salvation be AIDS and obesity? By the way it is WE who are bringing "alien" technology other places.

I's called reducio ad abusurdem folks, Spielberg has probably gotten over his holocaust Illustrating phase.

That said, notice how there has not been a sequel exploring what we do with the technology and biology we recover from the invaders.

Hint, hint, hint. Snicker. I'm with Payne. A real storyteller would have integrated the ET and Wells storylines and left the viewer with more to ponder.

Sounds like jihad too me!

Ever see the original Godzilla? The Japanese release, not the American (with Raymond Burr) cut.

Jonathan,

Payne beat me to it. The Japanese film industry has reflected what we did in WWII through Godzilla and many other films.

Also, it isn't really my hypothesis about War of the Worlds, Spielberg talked to anyone who would listen about what he was doing.

It is an interesting exercise to think what sort of science fiction films developing countries might make to represent their experience of American culture. I can imagine, in the opening scenes, smooth glowing stones appearing in the countryside. People find them interesting and take them home. Soon, they are spending four or five hours a day staring at the stone. They lose interest in things that they had formerly enjoyed, and every once in a while are seized by a desire to buy expensive flavored sugar water and shoes that cost a month's pay. There was a children's book along these lines set on a ship, called The Wretched Stone.

Of course, in the film I am describing, eventually the troops show up.

Yours,

Paul

I didn't see him mentioned but...
Rod Serling was a genius when he explored such subjects as racism, cold war paranoia, and the psychological horrors of war. IMO

The Twonky

The first Godzilla film... the Japanese version ..is a work of art ! Chilling , haunting and full of symbolism.
The new War of the Worlds film is not a work of art ....Its all been done before .

I like the war of the worlds movie,not a science fiction guy,but I like Spilebergs movies.Great effects,action during the whole movie.

I like chocolate. Not as food or as a decoration, nor as a present, just to put in my mouth and mmmmm.... chocolate.

Of course there are different qualties and makes and designs of chocolate, and some of it is art. Most is not.