War of the Worlds with Tiny Tom Cruise is on repeat on AMC

Love this movie!

The first 30 minutes of the movie are great, with the machines coming up out of the earth and obliterating everything. The special effects were amazing. But once Tommy drives away with his annoying kids, it all goes downhill. The scene with Tim Robbins playing the crazy basement dweller went on way too long.

And the dumbest ending. Suddenly, all the aliens just die and everything's okay.

Agree r2

That goddamn daughter SCREAMING through the entire movie. Tiny Tom Cruise should have let the aliens get her first chance got. And I do think the airplane crash scene is the only scene worth watching.

I remember liking the movie when I saw it in the theaters. And I'm not a Tom Cruise fan at all. On the other hand, I've never revisited it, so not sure if it's as good as I remember.

The thing that really bugged me about the movie was how Tom was able to always find a clear path to drive his truck through all the chaos around him. At the beginning, when there's wall-to-wall traffic on the highway and one one's moving, Tom somehow has enough space to drive through everything in the opposite direction. And after the planes crash and there's debris and destruction everywhere, there's still a clear, open path for Tommy to drive right through.

[quote]And the dumbest ending. Suddenly, all the aliens just die and everything's okay.

It's subtle propaganda meant to perpetuate the existing social-economic order by making it more palatable. "Yeah, our reality sucks, but just look at how much shittier things could be. Doesn't that make you feel a tiny bit better?" Same with all those alternate universes in comic book movies.

The movie goes over a lot of people’s heads. R2 and R3 are no exception.

Everything after Rachel gets taken into the pod bucket is a hallucination. The scene is a visual reference to the ending of the movie “Brazil.” In that film, the hero is miraculously rescued from a torture chamber and has a happily ever after ending with his love… until it’s revealed none of that happens, and it’s a delusion as the hero has gone into a catatonic state out if fear of the impending torture. Spielberg references this famous ending with similar closeups of Rachel’s face, and the bucket device over Sam’s head.

Everything in the Boston scenes, which have an ethereal, heavenly light and improbable reunion with Cruise and his son, implies that you are watching a reunion in the afterlife.

Spielberg also used a “Brazil” ending in his previous film with Cruise, Minority Report. Everything after Cruise gets put into cryosleep is a dream.

I liked the beginning, where everybody in town is fascinated by the weird weather phenomena, and then they all gather in the center of town to see what's going on with the earth buckling, like they're watching some kind of sci fi movie. Then they all suddenly go from, "Wow! This is cool!" to "Oh, shit! We're all gonna die!"

R8 It's not that deep.

Even Morgan Freeman's narration at the end explains that the aliens couldn't sustain themselves in earth's atmosphere for an extended period of time, so they all died. It wasn't a dream.

Team R2 R3 the movie's too long and the first half hour is the best

R6 And he was able to do it all on a single tank of gas, too!

r11 it is actually quite deep

The film is filled with visual references, including this clever one to the Wizard of Oz

The coda at the end of the movie is because Spielberg is a populist filmmaker and needed an appropriate ending for those in the audience who are, as Barbara Thorndyke famously stated, “Limited.”

Amazing to me that people don’t know this classic work of science fiction, and the idea that local conditions might doom a sophisticated alien invader.

Wells was anti-imperialist at a time that British colonialism was at its height. Many western cultures had conquered native peoples by spreading disease as much as through guns and ships. Wells was positing the reverse situation — where the native diseases end up killing the advanced invaders.

R14 Or it's a film that's just not that deep, despite your desire to elevate it to a level much higher than it actually is.

R14 Stinky linky.

The one scene in the movie that was actually terrifying was the scene where Dakota Fanning went toward the river to go pee. At first, you see these faint blobs floating down the river, then as more and more of them appear, you realize they're dead bodies. That was truly chilling.

R14 I wouldn't say a clever homage to The Wizard of Oz would be considered "quite deep." It would be considered, well, a clever homage.

De Palma does an homage to Hitchcock in almost every film he makes. Fun, cute, nostalgic, a wink and a nod to a master, etc.

But deep? Not so much.

[quote]It's subtle propaganda meant to perpetuate the existing social-economic order by making it more palatable. "Yeah, our reality sucks, but just look at how much shittier things could be. Doesn't that make you feel a tiny bit better?"

Wow, then that was yet another thing HG Wells was really prescient about in 1897 when he wrote that ending! It wasn't even the same socioeconomic order in those days but he knew this film adaptation would be made a hundred years later and that the sheeple would need to be pacified!

If we want to discuss "deeper meanings," the film really is a metaphor for the events of 9/11/01. The movie was made less than five years after that tragedy.

We see people initially gathering en masse, drawn to the spectacle of what's perceived as some kind of organic event. Suddenly, when they realize what's really happening and they're under attack, they run for their lives. Even Dakota Fanning screams, "Is it the terrorists?" as the bridge explodes behind her.

The planes falling from the sky further allude to 9/11. The crazy man in the basement represents all the 9/11 conspiracy theorists. The son who's so angry that his world is being destroyed that he insists on running off to fight the enemy is what so many young people did after 9/11.

The ending, where the characters find strength and solace and comfort in gathering with family, represents how Americans came together after the unthinkable events of 9/11.

Spielberg took an H.G. Wells sci fi novel and updated it as a modern day allegory.

R21 everyone is dead at the end

It is quite obvious

My god Barbara thorndyke knew what she was talking about

Limited, limited, limited

R22 really thinks she's on another cerebral level, doesn't she?

It's kinda cute. Sad, pathetic, and embarrassing....especially with the repeated references to a character from the Golden Girls to support her elevated level of consciousness.

But still kinda cute.

R23 = limited

R21 I always saw it as a reference to 9/11, too. Especially in the scene when the alien monster is snatching people up and they're all caught way up high in its mouth or pod thing or whatever. I always saw that as a reference to the people trapped on the upper floors of the World Trade Center with no way to escape.

Is referencing Barbara Thorndyke a smart thing to do when you're trying to explain "deeper meanings?"

R22 The first letter of a person's last name is always capitalized. But do continue to enlighten us with your intellectual superiority.

You took a film theory class at the Learning Annex in 2016 and have been insufferable ever since, huh, R8?

Here's a fun fact

R2, R6, R10, R11, R13, R16, R17, R18, R19, R21, R23, R24, R26, R27 and R28 are the same poster

In the post at R25, he actually responds to his own post like he's a different poster.

Trump voice: "Sad!"

Enjoy your 24 hours, bitch.

I loved how they walked from New Jersey to Boston in a few hours. And "Boston" looked an awful lot like Brooklyn.

[quote] The thing that really bugged me about the movie was how Tom was able to always find a clear path to drive his truck through all the chaos around him.

Happens to the best of us.

Yeah, that’s one thing I liked about The End of Us (I think it was that one), they’re driving along, come to a blocked bridge, and just get out and pick up a car on the other side of the bridge. Of course gasoline has an expiration date. (You can’t have everything)

Good catch, R29. I can see literally zero posts between R20 & yours, which means I blocked all of them for being unusually noxious trolls.

I only barely remember the movie, but I definitely remember all the rampant rumors on DL that Tammy Cruise was fucking the guy playing his "son."

[Quote] I can see literally zero posts between [R20] & yours, which means I blocked all of them for being unusually noxious trolls.

Same here, r29 😂

Sorry meant r33

Ha, I also seem to have blocked whoever posted from R21 to R28.

They must be noxious.

Soooo, War of the Worlds is now on Miramax Movie Channel, free.

To me the most horrendous scene is the train at the ferry, the train on fire.

[quote]And "Boston" looked an awful lot like Brooklyn.

It actually was, R30. I had a friend who lived in Brooklyn back then and he told me they shot those scenes about three streets over from where he lived.

It was a fun movie. If you like apocalyptic shit. However the scene with in Tim Robbins basement felt like it went on for a few years

I prefer the Gene Barry Barry version

All I remember is Dakota Fanning's annoying screaming. Something about the pitch and frequency made me give up on the movie. No interest in rewatching but I might try the Orson Welles' radio version.

Didn't Cruise give an interview stating Fanning was the most incredible actress he'd ever worked with?

Have a problem with this and in particular the 1953 version. They have the technology to travel across a vast distance, but they don't know about GERMS?

So I watched it last night and Fanning’s screaming was slightly less annoying this time. The son was still a jerk and the basement scenes were still too long.

After she got sucked up by the alien and Cruise went up after her with the grenades, the movie didn’t last much longer. The walking into Boston scene and the reunion, that’s it. So it could’ve been the afterlife. Interesting idea.

Starting at 3:20 everything is Rachel’s catatonic hallucination

Spielberg knew there was no way the humans could triumph and needed to reconcile that with a populist Hollywood ending

This is the case with Spielberg’s “dark” trilogy - a set of three complementary films his did at the turn of the century: AI, Minority Report and War of the Worlds

Originally the endings were seen as major flaws for each, but people have reexamined them and context suggests they are much darker

AI: David’s quest for “humanity” results in his selfish decision to turn himself off, abandoning Teddy

Minority Report: Anderton becomes a victim of the system he helped build, and his happy ending is just a dream from his suspended animation confinement

War of the Worlds: Everyone dies in the tripod and the ending is a reunion in the afterlife

Spielberg’s cinematic reference in WOTW is to Brazil, but the catatonic hallucination ending has been used in many film, most famously in Vertigo

However, Spielberg’s reference to Brazil is quite explicit, in the shape of the bucket on Sam Lowry’s head as well as the instrument that is going to be used to torture him

The Brazil ending is so famous there is actually a documentary about it (The Battle of Brazil.) Spielberg would have a personal connection to that as well, as director Terry Gilliam’s feud was with Universal president Sid Sheinberg over the ending, and Sheinberg is largely responsible for Spielberg’s career.

If the action is relentless mediocrity, then Tom Cruise is indeed an action star.

The "earth's pathogens kill the Martians" ending was original to the H.G. Wells book. So, don't blame Hollywood.

Just to chime in, the basement scene IS too long. And, the wrap up is sudden and abrupt: "We are DONE!"

As for Spielberg and his "cinematic references" and "it's all a dream" theory...nah. Spielberg ain't that deep.

The first 2/3rds of the film are great; the set up, then the original attack, the plane crash, the ferry sequence...then the overly long basement sequence sort of brings everything to a halt. The scene inside the tripod was good, though...really terrifying.

I know it’s about Zombies not Aliens, but World War Z is a better movie. .

As others have said, War of the worlds get slogged down towards the end.

[quote]Spielberg ain't that deep.

The climax of Close Encounters of the Third Kind features computer engineers using five simple instrumental tones to speak to the alien mothership.

Spielberg’s mother was a music teacher. His father was a computer engineer. The scene is about his parents having a conversation which progresses into an argument.

It is not “not deep” for those who don’t know how to read film like a text.

Also noteworthy

The MOTHERship is shaped like a breast. Devils Tower is shaped like a phallus.

R52 I pity your poor stunted blunt stubby phallus.

R51 Oh, for God's sake.

For a few years prior to this movie, Dakota Fanning was widely praised for her acting. That all seemed to stop after this was released.

R51 Did you ever see "Gremlins?" That movie had references to scores of classic Hollywood horror movies, and even the classic holiday film, "It's a Wonderful Life." While they may be great homages to filmmakers who influenced him, it doesn't make Spielberg "deep."

IMO, Spielberg's greatest achievement was "Schindler's List." It told the story unflinchingly and honestly without blinking. I wouldn't consider that movie "deep," but it was still a masterpiece.

R44 Reminds me of that awful M. Night Shyamalan movie, "Signs." Aliens who die when coming into contact with water make the really bad decision to try and conquer a planet that's 71% water.

What is wrong with you r54/R56/r57? Why do you insist on making every post in this thread separately, and then WWing yourself?

Also, “Gremlins” is about fear of sex. And it was directed by Joe Danté, not Steven Spielberg.

You have 24 hours to think about what a putz you are.

R34 I had a crush on Cruise's son the first time I saw the film. Any gay rumours on the actor? (Besides those ones previoulsy mentioned).

R58 Thank you for calling out that nonsense.

Also: Schindler's List is pretentious phony baloney crap. The real Schindler wasn't a crybaby ham actor like the gawdawful Liam Neeson.

And, don't get me started on Ralph Fiennes Count Chokula accent...

R58 Steven Spielberg produced Gremlins. Putz.

R61 Yes. Spielberg PRODUCED the film; he didnt' direct it and he didn't have input into any "film references".

R62 And you know this how...? Research the making of "Poltergeist," produced by Spielberg and directed by Tobe Hooper and you'll find out that the movie really was Spielberg's and not Hooper's.

Is this the one where the little bitch won't stop screaming?

R63 We're not talking about Poltergeist, you dolt!

R65 But we *are* talking about Spielberg's influence on his films, whether he directed them or not. You sure seem to have an issue with opinions that don't align with 100% with yours. What's your issue, anyway? You seem incapable of civilized discourse.

R63 the extremely unique situation with Poltergeist was never repeated on any other Spielberg films. Spielberg was contractually prevented from directing Poltergeist for MGM because he was committed to directing ET for Universal. He directed that movie through proxy.

Poltergeist, btw, is a wonderfully satiric indictment of the Baby Boom generation, particularly prescient with Craig T Nelson having gone full MAGA.

R63 the extremely unique situation with Poltergeist was never repeated on any other Spielberg films.

And you know this how...?

How 'bout that?

[quote] extremely unique

R66 Ok...you're the troll who attacks everyone who challenges you and tries to spin it that the person who questions your trollness is the one at fault.

Be gone, Tiresome Troll.

R71 Differing opinions aren't "attacks," but calling people who disagree with you "dolts" and "putzes" sure sound like attacks. Funny how you can't defend yourself without resorting to juvenile insults.

R72 Calm down, Mrs Drysdale.

Have another Mai Tai on the rocks.

R73...So, no response to my questions at R63 and R68? Didn't think so. Just a bunch of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

Enjoy your evening.

Alone. :-)