hello? war of the worlds anyone? ulllaaa!

[Robert_Moriyama]

SPOILERS -- movie specific!<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>Wait for the DVD, when Tom Cruise explains that the aliens could have survived and prospered, if only they followed the precepts of Dianetics / Scientology, took vitamins, and really understood the history of psychiatry.<br><br>Did it bother you that Ray Ferrier murdered what's his face (Tim Robbins's character) for nothing? I mean, shortly after killing him to get him to be quiet, he and his daughter end up being snatched up by a tripod anyway. And why would the operators getting sick cause the tripods' force fields to go down? And howcum Ray Ferrier was able to do a C-3PO and manage to avoid making an ash of himself while death rays wiped out everybody around him? And ...<br><br>Aliens of the universe, please note the Caution on page 3.141592654... of The Revised Conqueror's Guide to the Galaxy: when invading Earth, be sure to consume only food and beverages you have brought with you or have specifically processed to ensure sterility. Or, to put it succinctly, DON'T DRINK THE WATER.<br><br>Robert M.

[Robert_Moriyama]

...That said, I might buy a copy of the DVD when the local grocery store starts selling off all those copies they got to rent out to folks.  6 or 8 weeks from now, I might actually be able to make a worthwhile comment on this thread.
LOL!
Dan

<br><br>C'mon, Dan, be realistic.  They won't be releasing the legal DVD for a couple or three months, at least.  (Think of the time required for Tom Cruise to record that Scientological commentary track ... Then think of the time required for somebody to edit it so the authorities don't send him to Werkworth!)<br><br>The illegal version is probably out there on the Internet by now.  You just need a broadband connection (or a lot of patience) and a DVD burner ...<br><br>Robert (I buy my DVDs (okay, sometimes used, or from the 3 for $20 bin)) M.

[Robert_Moriyama]

SPOILER (movie-specific) quibble<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>Howcum the death ray completely consumes people (reducing them to fine grey ash) but leaves scraps of their clothing floating around? The same beam causes buildings to explode or burst into flames ...<br><br>(It's the PG-rating Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series effect: to avoid having vampires bleeding and decomposing all over the place, BTVS-TV had vampires pretty much explode into clouds of dust when staked.)<br><br>Robert (I hated it when they made major trajectory changes with the Enterprise with 'maneuvering thrusters') M.

[Robert_Moriyama]

...while their Dodge Caravan survived a jumbo jet crashing on top of it totally unscathed, when everything else in the hood, other cars included, got wiped out....Lee

<br><br>Oh, yeah, I forgot about that. What are the freakin' odds that the plane would crash RIGHT THERE, flattening the one house out of dozens in the immediate area that had people in it (but apparently with dry fuel tanks, so there was no devastating fire)? And how amazing that Ferrier's vehicle was able to find a clear path through all the debris without getting stuck, getting blocked in, getting a flat tire, or running out of gas!<br><br>He should have had one of those six-shooters with infinite ammo (fueled by Scientology ...)<br><br>Obviously, the whole Ferrier clan was preternaturally lucky. Mutants of some kind ... waiting to take over the world after all the baseline homo saps were eradicated by their inhuman dupes (who, after all, turned out to be on a suicide mission).<br><br>Robert (Cruise must be lucky, he's entranced Katie Holmes) M.

[Stuart_Cormie]

My overriding thought watching this film was, why bother with piddling ray guns when you can just nuke or poison the planet out of existence in a matter of minutes? Targetting individual people and buildings just seems so ... tiresome ;D<br><br>But despite its profound logical flaws, I enjoyed this movie -- a triumph of the art of CGI. And Tom Cruise makes up for his woefully miscast MINORITY REPORT performance with a gritty turnout here, assisted by a keenly observed script that captures the everyday dynamics with his (estranged) kids superbly I thought.

[Stuart_Cormie]

My overriding thought watching this film was, why bother with piddling ray guns when you can just nuke or poison the planet out of existence in a matter of minutes?

<br><br>But of course Wells' book has the Martians gassing London, forgotten about that.<br><br>I see where Dan's coming from now, with his comment about preferring HG Wells movies to retain their original contexts (like the remake of TIME MACHINE did I guess). If you're going to bring the context forward to the present day, you really need to look to bringing the technological speculations forward accordingly, else the result just grates.

[Stuart_Cormie]

Dan, I appreciate your thoughts ...<br><br>An e-mail will be on its way soon!<br><br>All the best,<br><br>Stuart

[Robert_Moriyama]

...additionally, there was no impetus to outright exterminate the humans since they had other uses in mind for the hapless population.

and Rob, you think the guy's lucky for scoring Katie Holmes? sorry, couldn't agree less, with all due respect to the young lady.

<br><br>Well, humans were apparently a valuable resource (source of liquid fertilizer for the Red Weed -- apparently human ash doesn't work nearly as well, or they'd have just incinerated everybody) ... say, I wonder what they used the weed for (besides ground cover -- maybe the whole invasion was staged by crazed alien landscape architects with a dislike for the color green?<br><br>As for Ms. Holmes, apparently you haven't seen Katie in 'The Gift' (the best display of her physical attributes to date) or 'Go' or 'Pieces of April' (which demonstrate her acting talents). And she is (or was) much saner and probably smarter than Tom, who probably dated Penelope Cruz because he thought they had the same last name.<br><br>Robert M.<br>

[Robert_Moriyama]

And none of the Cruise bashers here has mentioned the apropos scene where he is sucked in and pulled out of what sure resembled an anus.

Dan E.

<br><br>What, you mean the correlation between what he was sucked into, and his recent behavior? Is the corollary to 'you are what you eat' 'you become what eats you'?<br><br>Robert M.

[Stuart_Cormie]

books are probably better since they don't sell so much for their visual properties, so it doesn't matter what characters look like. also, it depends on who's supposed to be reading said novels. mainstream entries i think are just as likely to be formulaic, to wit harry potter. isn't he just a nerdy caucasian dude with glasses?

Lee

<br><br>Well, indeed....<br><br>But, you know, I always thought that the Potter *movies* went the other way, with a contrived ethnic mix that just didn't relate naturally to a typical school situation in the UK. Poor research, really. To wit, the total absence of kids of Indian / Pakistani / Bangladeshi descent.<br><br>Moreover, in a typical private (ie, fee-based) school over here, which is what Hogwart's is presumably supposed to be, you're just as likely to find children sent there from overseas, from Russia, Hong Kong, Japan and Commonwealth African countries for example.

[Robert_Moriyama]

Most terrorist acts (these days) are committed by Muslims.<br><br>Therefore most terrorists must be Muslims.<br><br>Therefore most Muslims must be terrorists.<br><br>This is the War on Terror version of<br><br>Most crimes are committed by young black people.<br><br>Therefore most young black people are crimininals.<br><br>Both 'logic' paths are used to justify TREATING the group in question as if they are guilty until proven innocent (viz. 'enemy combatants'). This is one area I can't claim Canada is any better -- we've had people locked up for years without any public charges or trial or even revealing to THEM what the specific reasons are ... makes their lawyers' jobs kinda difficult). Funny how the Fight to Preserve Freedom involves stripping people of theirs ...<br><br>Where's the out-in-the-open Threat From Outer Space to unite the world when you need one?<br><br>Robert M.