and no, you're not going to convince me to buy the DVDs of the SciFi show. i don't care how badass MacGyver is.

Do we really need another disaster film from this hack? let alone one that has the president saving the day.

seriously.

And the only Spud TB there will ever be will either be (a) Due to my untimely murder at the hands of Smashing or Tegujai Batir, or (b) TRAINSPOTTING 2. Be sure to call me out if THAT ever happens.

Oh, and I totally believe in the "black prez= = end of the world" thing. Tiny Lister Jr in FIFTH ELEMENT. Morgan Freeman in DEEP IMPACT. Barack Obama in 2008. We'll all be left on hell to suffer the Tribulation - all us ungodly AICN TB sinners!!!

If they wanted to make a REALLY good post-apocalyptic movie, they should make THEREFORE REPENT!, a brilliant post-Rapture graphic novel that fucks with your mind when the act III reversal happens. Fucking outstanding GN. Get it made!

you guys know how low key DGDB is.

that worked out well.

Since never. But hows about "half honkey, all donkey", and inspiring false, unspecified hope while representing only more of the same? Can you settle for half of everything you mentioned above? Hey, as long as it feels good right? I mean lets not look any closer, as long as theres some "change" promised, right?

Meanwhile...where's my god damn Laserblast remake! Fucking Hollywood!

I'm not a racist.

bollocks, I'll get my coat.

But then again, I got no problem willingly suspending my disbelief. I was watching an Indiana Jones movie, after all, not "Munich".

Then again, I didn't have a problem when the Head Piece to the Staff of Ra turning a sunbeam into a lazer in the map room during Raiders, either. Or when the the wrath of God got released from a golden box and killed anyone who wasn't tied to a poll with their eyes closed. I could go on...

I actually love TOD, but when it comes down to it, surviving two falls in an inflatable raft (one from the plane, one from the cliff) from a few hundred feet is no more ridiculous than surviving a nuked fridge, or going over a waterfall three times.

Argue all you like about what's a better movie, but in terms of the action itself, I just don't see any difference among the Indy films.

On the other hand, THE LOST WORLD was written by David Koepp who also wrote INDY & THE CRYSTAL SKULL, which had Shia's Tarzan moment. Coincidence for a truly shitty movie moment? I think not!

But that's okay. If the Mayans were wrong...if the virus turned out to be non-existent...we still get hit by that comet in 2029. Oh yeah, and again in 2036.

That's all I ask.

But three precious minutes of research came to a screeching halt when, on the main page of the 2012 Wiki, I read the phrase "Crystal Skull".

That pretty much nuked the gopher for me right there.

Though Theoreticaly (if by theoretically we mean making shit up) Planes could fall out of the Sky, Nuclear Plants explode, Power stations malfunction, Nuclear missiles Launch, clock alarms go apeshit and, well all the things that happened the last time the world ended.

TomBodet is right -- the second half of WOTW is a complete implosion and a mess, and it's stunning to realize that freakin' Emmerich and Devlin and ID4 and its ending outdid and outplayed Spielberg at his own game nearly 10 years earlier. WOTW is almost teeth-grating to sit through, highlighted by Dakota Fanning's performance as the world's most ultra whiny spoiled bitch child, one who never showed even the slightest sign of redemption even after her Dad saved her life repeatedly. Fanning was SUCH a low point in that movie that I prayed Spielberg would actually be ballsy enough to let her get fried by a martian death ray. Or let her be ground up into red weed mulch. And don't even get me started on Tim Robbins and the whole basement section of the film, which brought everything to a screeching halt. Worst of all, it's where Spielberg (and Koepp) were so creatively lazy that they said "Hey, I got an idea! We can kill even more running time by simply digging up the alternate storyboards to the "kids in the kitchen hunted by raptors" sequence in JURASSIC PARK and use that for these guys hiding from aliens in the basement!" Which was only pushed over the top by the truly vomit hurling scene of Cruise having to sing LITTLE DUECE COUPE -- you know, just to show in truly over the top, overly hammy Spielberg way that he's "reaching out" to his daughter now.

I love WAR OF THE WORLDS as a creative property. I like the HG Welles book...I love the Orson Welles radio show...I think the George Pal version is a sci fi classic. And when I heard that no less than Steven Fucking Speilberg was going to be doing a remake of WAR OF THE WORLDS, I thought to myself "Man, this is going to be the ULTIMATE summer blockbuster. Spielberg doing an all-out alien invasion flick and destroying the world." Instead I got one of the lamest movies of his personal film library, and worst of all...as if this is even possible...I got a BORING summer alien invasion movie. I mean seriously, how do you fuck THAT up THAT bad?

Your presidency will rock Danny.

Not really bothered about the rst TBH. It sort of have had something in common with War of the Worlds but not THAT much.

Locate Alan Moores League of Extraordinary Gentleman Book 2 for a truly inspired and startling re-imagining of War of the Worlds Big Dumb Ape.

Oh, and by the way: trying to look smart and coming off as "holier than thou" by picking on someone else's nickname right from the start only goes to show that your not really interested in discussing a topic in a polite way. But hey, that's just a tip for you in both manners and civility from us so-called "dumb" people whose asses aren't as tightly plugged as yours and who can actually display a sense of humor about ourselves...

Sadly in the setting and at that point in the film he just doesn't work and is used to set up viewing the real martians and a hide and seek movie moment.

The ferry is the Thunderchild and the feeding is faithfull to the original so Spielberg does at least try I'll give him that.

As for the underlying metaphor, well no. H.G. Wells was having a pop at Imperialism in the original and Spielberg does the same albiet less overtly with a reference to The Battle of Algiers, Suicide Bombings and Tim Robbins on insurgencies. The 9/11 fear of Terrorism is only raised by the son (who IS just annoying) after the destruction of the overpass.

However, you also said: "If I'm a Spielberg apologist, then so be it. Someone ought to be." And that brings up another point entirely: since when does Spielberg need an apologist to defend his body of work? I mean, let's be honest here. The man is box office gold (generally speaking), he's an Oscar-winning director, and (for all intents and purposes) is a household name and is considered the most successful director in the history of movies. So there's no need for an apologist, as if his directorial work somehow needs defending because it's not getting the respect that it ought to be. Frankly, he gets any and all the respect that there is. That said, however, that also doesn't mean he's God and completely infallible, nor does it mean that some of his films...or certainly PARTS of them...can't be scrutinized or outright criticized for what they are. And that's all that I was trying to say earlier, too -- and not to put words in his mouth, I suspect TomBodet as well. Namely, that we have problems with WOTW structurally, and no matter how much you try to discuss "thematic elements" or "insightful philosophical analogies" that you supposedly see incorporated into the final film, that still doesn't save it from some intense scrutiny and criticism.

Hey, trust me, I'm a lifelong Spielberg fan. I grew up on the man's stuff, and JAWS...alongside STAR WARS...is what made me enroll in film school and is what eventually got my ass out here to Hollywood. Spielberg and his films were a total inspiration to me, and overall I love his style. So don't mistake my criticisms of WOTW as a criticism of him overall.

'You do it to yourself, you do, and that's what really hurts' - Thom Yorke

You won't be respected as an audience unless you give the studios a reason to respect you. Well, not that the 14-30 year old target market will ever be respected except as something to be taken advantage of and exploited, but I digress... Seriously, look at the message 'we' sent with Gigli, or Swept Away! These were clear messages people - no crap allowed in the highly competitive spacetime of multiplexs! It'll work for blockbusters too, they're really expensive remember?!

What we need is a really big FUCK MICHAEL BAY quilt, or something. Then light it on fire, on a Universal lot. Wait a minute, did someone else alreay think of this???

Lethal Weapon 2 = AWESOME POOL!! AWESOME CLIFF HOUSE!! AWESOME AQUARIUM!! AWESOME CARGO LOADER!! AWESOME TOILET!!

Not God Bless Hollywood. God DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM Hollywood.

by messi; Jun 2nd, 2008; 04:01:53 PM

really."

Perfect!

And I also agree that WOTW was awful on many, many more levels than just the omission of a representation of religion. How can the 'Berg make a boring summer alien invasion movie?!?!?

Boggles the fuckin' mind, y'all.

**goes out and makes the worst PREDATOR movie in the history of the franchise. Yep, worse than AVP2**

I suppose they could have walked by a group of people praying or even a more "Mist"-like take on religion perhaps but that didn't happen. Just like it might occur in reality if such an insane "reality" ever took place.

Cruise's character and the 2 kids were, apparently, the product of secular upbringing and thus didn't pray. It was consistent within their storyline. I'm not saying it was a great movie (I do think its far from boring tho) and I agree it is a silly thing to argue over (not my intent to argue) but if the movie is the story of 3 people told through *their* specific reaction to the absurdity of an actual alien invasion and their ensuing struggle for survival, and they happen to be non-religious from outward appearances, wouldn't it have seemed inauthentic to have them pray?

I had far more trouble with Cruise's character not dragging his asshole son kicking and screaming away from what should have been a firery death and to at least assist him in protecting the little girl until they reached comparative safety. That is far more of a reason to question the movie then those particular characters lack of praying or outward religion. to me, anyway.