Blogcritics On War of the Worlds: Interplanetary Conflict Still Potent

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• 1 - jane

  Jul 05, 2005 at 10:48 pm

  Eric
  
  It is amazing what special affects can do the celebral cortex in homo sapiens. The original War of the Worlds was a brilliant parable of the then Cold War. The current movie's success is about the dumming down of America. Mind you, to an Iraqi audience it probably will be a brilliant parable of the American presence in their country. I don't think Tom Cruise cerebral cortex is capable of making THAT connection. Or Spielberg's for that matter, unless it involved Jewish aliens.....

• 2 - Matt Paprocki

  Jul 05, 2005 at 11:40 pm

  It's amazing that someone can complain that Americans are stupid if they watch this movie for the "affects."
  
  The orignal film was a brilliant piece. So was the book. So was the radio broadcast. So it this new update.
  
  Death and destruction from an alien invasion has never been shown like this. If you go into a movie about aliens wiping out Earth and you expect deep, insightful, and thought provoking faults, you're the one at fault.

• 3 - jane

  Jul 06, 2005 at 12:16 am

  Matt
  
  Unfortunately, many people do watch such films for the special affects just to experience the thrill of seeing something bigger, better and more breath-taking than the previous flavour of the month blockbuster of the same genre. Independence Day set the standard for this type of genre and Hollywood has been pushing the envelope ever since. It sells tickets Matt and that's all the studios want. Tom Cruise will never win an Oscar for this type of dross. The original film had a deeper message than just aliens invading Earth. America and Hollywood have lost all sense of satire. Orson Wells knew this in the '30's when he first did the radio show. Your last comment proves my point. Why can't a film about death and destruction from an alien invasion contain deeper, thought provoking and insightful messages? Oops, that would too hard because it would require a much better standard of script- writing and a much more sophisticated, educated and socially aware audience.
  
  Oh, I have seen death and destruction from alien invasion like this before in the form of CNN's coverage of the first Gulf War and the 6 o'clock news' coverage of Iraq.
  
  

• 4 - Matt Paprocki

  Jul 06, 2005 at 11:14 am

  And what's wrong with going to a film to see the spectacle? People seem to have this elitist attitude now that if a movie doesn't have some sort of meaning or if it's not some small independent film, it's crap. You know what? I paid $10 to see things get blown the f*ck up. I did.
  
  I have no problem with movies that offer deeper lining or require thought. Memento took me a week to fully grasp, and I loved it for it. However, that movie didn't have aliens slaughtering people, nor did I have the expectation of it doing so. That's what this version of War of the Worlds was about.
  
  I completely disagree that the orignal had anything under it other than aliens attacking. It's a classic, sure, but that has nothing to do with the Cold War. The original book? Yep. The '53 film simply was one of the first of the 50s alien/giant monster movie marathon the decade would be known for, and half the films in that time frame followed the basic frame.
  
  Look, if you need your movies to have depth and can't watch anything else just for fun or, GASP!, what the trailers told you it was going to be, I feel sorry for you. You've taken out all the fun of these overdone summer blockbusters. There's nothing wrong with special effects or the people that enjoy them if they offer something to you you've never seen before. That's what movies are about, and unfortunately, that seems to be lost on some people.

• 5 - yobaby

  Jul 09, 2005 at 6:28 pm

  Jane, very good comments. Most movies today are unfortunately filled with subliminals that affect the herd.I try to stay away from tv and movies so that I can have more control. The new shock therapy is called TV because the Pentagon has mastered the art of subversion through research with Darpa and other sponsered studies through universities etc. Its a sad fact and the reality is were all consumers who are constntly having our minds messed with by the Televisions subliminal messages.

• 6 - mstrmnd

  Aug 18, 2005 at 8:46 am

  here is a guide to what is actually going on in the film http://www.mstrmnd.com/wotw.swf

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