[Dean's World] Dean: War of the Worlds

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Posted by Dean:
War of the Worlds
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1186364864.shtml


   Finally got around to seeing Steven Spielberg's take on the classic
   [1]War of the Worlds. Glad I waited for it to come out on HBO, because
   pretty much everything I heard about it was right: excellent special
   effects, gorgeous production values, surprisingly good acting---and a
   lousy script. Any story about alien invaders is of course implausible
   on its face, but as the old saying goes, I agreed to suspend my
   disbelief, not hang it by the neck until dead. How the aliens got
   there was ridiculous, and many of their actions nonsensical. The
   ending was, furthermore, profoundly unsatisfying.

   The original [2]H.G. Wells novel is a definite classic and still quite
   readable. Still, it was written over a hundred years ago and needed
   updating. But that's not an excuse; the [3]1953 movie by George Pal
   was truly excellent, and in fact still stands up as a very good movie
   (with special effects that, by the way, still hold up astonishingly
   well today).
   This was just a clunker. Too bad. The potential was there for a very
   good movie, but it gets two and a half stars from me. Worth a rental
   if you're bored and just want a creepy horror movie involving aliens
   that has good effects and decent acting.

References

   1. http://www.amazon.com/War-Worlds-Widescreen-Tom-Cruise/dp/B00005JNTI/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-9230603-2680411?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1186363874&sr=1-1/deansworld-01
   2. http://www.amazon.com/War-Worlds-Modern-Library-Classics/dp/0375759239/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-9230603-2680411?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1186364569&sr=1-1/deansworld01-20
   3. http://www.amazon.com/War-Worlds-Special-Collectors/dp/B000AOEMWS/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/105-9230603-2680411?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1186363874&sr=1-2/deansworld01-20