Hi, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab...

Holy crap. I hope this is exactly how I feel after the film, because this review got me all wound up:

Hi, Harry.

The reason I'm writing you is that I saw War of the Worlds last Wednesday. It was a special screening and I was a guest.

Just a few words about the movie. Being the huge Spielberg fan I am, I really believe that, since that masterpiece called A.I., he's been proving that he is in one of the best periods of his career: Minority Report kicked ass, Catch Me If You Can was just wonderful and The Terminal is one of his most underrated movies.

War of the Worlds is not less good than all those movies.

The action sets in 12 minutes into the movie and, from that point on, it never stops. But it's NOT the typical blockbuster movie like, let's say, Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow or Crap Helsing. We never see the destruction of any major city or landmarks: everything we see is through Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning or Justin Chatwin's eyes. There's no hero that saves the day. And the real terror doesn't come from those amazing tripods (or the aliens inside them: yes, we see them at some point!): it comes from the humans. There's an incredible lynching scene that left me speechless. And there's another scene where one character is killed that goes beyond anything we've seen in a Summer movie (while watching it I was thinking: He's not gonna do it, Spielberg, won't do it... And he does it).

Beyond all that, the movie has a few shots that will stay with me forever: Dakota Fanning looking at a river covered with tens of bodies, so many we don't see the water; Cruise and Tim Robbins' faces covered with blood that falls from the skies; a train in flames crossing in front of a bunch of survivors; the facade of a church separating from the rest of it and threatening people around it; the remains of a plane crash... Yes, War of the Worlds has lots of action: it's like Jurassic Park, without all the bad dialogue; and amazing set-pieces: the first attack in New Jersey, another attack to a ferry that recalls Titanic, the sequence in the basement, that could be described as Jurassic Park meets Signs... But it's mostly the story of a father willing to do anything, and by anything I really mean ANYTHING, to save the lives of those he cares about. I'm afraid the Summer audience will be kind of disappointed, because it's more than just a Summer blockbuster. But I think we should thank Spielberg for reinventing the Summer blockbuster. Again.

Call me SpongeMan, if you post this.

I know it’s just a taste. But man... what a taste it is. Is it June 29th yet?

"Moriarty" out.

Hey folks, Harry here -- SpongeMan and I know each other very well. He's not only not a plant, but an incredibly cool film loving fiend. I once got to spend about 10 days watching the greatest genre films in the world at a festival I was a jury member at and can say we talked quite a bit about what he loved and didn't in the American Genre scene. He's far more particular than me, tending to shy away from most of the mainstream blow it all up films. Whereas - I tend to grock big splosions! He has zero ties to the film industry in terms of Hollywood, so say what you may... but this is most definitely not a plant. And if you get the name he calls himself - you're cooler than 99% of the world.