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worst. movie. ever.

HoyaSaxa03
Joined: March 22, 2004 at 06:01 AM UTC
Posts: 7053
worst. movie. ever. June 30, 2005 at 03:55 AM UTC #
i've come to save you …

do not waste your money on 'war of the worlds', please … by the time tom cruise made it to the paul revere statue, i almost vomited … actually, i laughed out loud, but it didn't seem like most other people found it as funny as i did
bags
Joined: October 30, 2001 at 06:01 AM UTC
Posts: 8545
Re: worst. movie. ever. June 30, 2005 at 04:00 AM UTC #
Originally posted by HoyaParanoia:
… by the time tom cruise made it to the paul revere statue, i almost vomited …
I read in Premiere magazine that Steven Spielberg was specifically avoiding such alien invasion cliches as the "famous monument in ruins" scene… Hmmm, guess Paul Revere isn't quite Washington Monument or Statue of Liberty caliber.

I have no desire to see this flick. Probably influenced by loopy scientologist Cruise out on the stump to call psychiatry a pseudo science while Scientology is….

Blech.
SPARX
Joined: December 13, 2001 at 06:01 AM UTC
Posts: 2070
Re: worst. movie. ever. June 30, 2005 at 04:05 AM UTC #
Tom Cruise has a screw loose.Maybe more than one.
Jaguär
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Re: worst. movie. ever. June 30, 2005 at 05:03 AM UTC #
Originally posted by Bags:
Originally posted by HoyaParanoia:
… by the time tom cruise made it to the paul revere statue, i almost vomited …
I read in Premiere magazine that Steven Spielberg was specifically avoiding such alien invasion cliches as the "famous monument in ruins" scene… Hmmm, guess Paul Revere isn't quite Washington Monument or Statue of Liberty caliber.
Hoya, did they have any idiots, specifically Cruise, running by the Paul Revere statue shouting, "The aliens are coming! The aliens are coming!"? Seems like a tacky enough film to pull some idiot scene like that.

When I first heard the film was going to be made, I was really excited about it. Then I heard that Tom Cruise was staring in it and it ruined the whole thing for me. I'm much more interested in the story line than the star factor. Besides, in my opinion, Tom Cruise gets way too many films. I've never really disliked him but I'm not nuts over him either. Lately, it's just been overkill with he and several other stars who get so many rolls that could be performed just as well by many other actors without the 'star power' draw. It gets to the point that the celebrity factor seems to detract from the story at times. Just my take.
shoot ur shot
Joined: July 02, 2004 at 05:01 AM UTC
Posts: 300
Re: worst. movie. ever. June 30, 2005 at 05:43 AM UTC #
I actually like a few of Spielberg's recent movies for legitimate reasons other than "mindless popcorn fun." But I didnt really go in expecting much from this but maybe a few minutes of good 'ol big-budgeted human extermination. I was just kind of curious where Hollywood is at now with the special fx too.. I can just appreciate crap like that. There's probably about 10-15 minutes in this flick really worth seeing on the big screen. Spielberg usually gives you at least 30. The sound dept did a kickass job.. those tripod made some pretty gnarly drones too!

As far as Tom Cruise in this film, he's best in my opinion when playing an asshole like in Magnolia, Collateral or even Eyes Wide Shut. He plays this bad father role in the first 20 min or so of the film which is cool to watch but then he goes back to playing the usual Tom.

Hoya, did you really think Spielberg was gonna grow some balls all of a sudden and make an unforgiving, nihilistic bloodbath alien pic with a PG-13 rating? So in what way(s) could you have been dissappointed?
grotty
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Re: worst. movie. ever. June 30, 2005 at 11:52 AM UTC #
Getting good reviews overall tho:

72 on MetaCritic

Slate
David Edelstein
It's the human struggle that makes this a sci-fi masterpiece.

Washington Post
Stephen Hunter
The audience is treated to one extraordinary vision after another; the sense of a world literally being destroyed around the principal actors, the sense of their flight through panic and destruction, the sense of concussion, collapse, rubble and ruin.

Philadelphia Inquirer
Carrie Rickey
For the first 100 minutes of his 117-minute film Spielberg holds the audience in a grip of fear. When Ray and Rachel take refuge in the storm cellar of a survivalist (a miscast Tim Robbins), the director's grip relaxes only a bit, but the film never recovers from this excursion into the Gothic.

Village Voice
Michael Atkinson
Although it's thoroughly retooled, H.G. Wells's scenario doesn't allow for many soft landings, and the extreme respect for havoc on view quite properly keeps the Spielbergian cutesies to a minimum.
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Re: worst. movie. ever. June 30, 2005 at 12:36 PM UTC #
The main reason that Tom Cruise made this film was so he could finance a big-budget remake of Battlefield Earth.

And what about the indie version of WAR OF THE WORLDS? Does anyone know the release date?
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Re: worst. movie. ever. June 30, 2005 at 12:46 PM UTC #
Originally posted by shoot ur shot:
those tripod made some pretty gnarly drones too!
It was such an obvious ripoff of The Tripods.
kosmo
Joined: September 23, 1999 at 05:01 AM UTC
Posts: 16329
Re: worst. movie. ever. June 30, 2005 at 01:02 PM UTC #
no interest in seeing this movie at all… the brief glimpse of the american flag fluttering in the back of a pickup truck was all i needed to know about this flick. of course imagery like that is going to fill the seats with those ribbon people. besides "the terminal" sucked ass
HoyaSaxa03
Joined: March 22, 2004 at 06:01 AM UTC
Posts: 7053
Re: worst. movie. ever. June 30, 2005 at 01:37 PM UTC #
Originally posted by shoot ur shot:
Hoya, did you really think Spielberg was gonna grow some balls all of a sudden and make an unforgiving, nihilistic bloodbath alien pic with a PG-13 rating? So in what way(s) could you have been dissappointed?
(warning, spoilers)

well, first off, this was a pretty nihilistic movie, it was a straight-up horror flick, the scene with the van and the handgun was pretty freaky … and i liked the sci-fi elements of the premise, the CGI and sound were great, but they didn't focus on the premise or ever really explain what was going on, other than the vapid spielberg bookend narrations … the movie wasn't about the premise, it was a character study and focused on the human element, which was COMPLETELY pointless …

where were tom cruise and fam going? what was their motivation? … the whole point of the movie is following tom cruise and family, and this storyline is so weak and so pointless, it just completely sank the movie …
a) why the fuck did they shack up with a half-drunk tim robbins for 45 mins?? did they just run out of ideas?
b) who was that woman they ran into on the ferry? what was the point of her? why were they going on the ferry??
c) he said he was going to see their mom in boston, but it seemed sarcastic, to calm down the girl … was that really their whole motivation throughout the movie? why wasn't boston burned like everything else?
d) the ending was so unrealistic and stupid, just like the rest of the plot

and the heartstring-pulling scenes whacking you over the head with 9/11 references were just way, way, way over the top

i really love apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic flicks, but this one just sucked

the great part about independence day was that it was winking at you the entire time, 'war of the worlds' wasn't, and the plot just absolutely blew, it could have been interesting if they took more of a macro look at the situation
sonickteam2
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Re: worst. movie. ever. June 30, 2005 at 01:48 PM UTC #
those movies are all bad. all of them. every last one. yes, even the one with that Will Smith character…..
HoyaSaxa03
Joined: March 22, 2004 at 06:01 AM UTC
Posts: 7053
Re: worst. movie. ever. June 30, 2005 at 01:54 PM UTC #
oh, and to top it all off … cruise's kid is emo!!
markie
Joined: October 15, 2001 at 05:01 AM UTC
Posts: 13178
Re: worst. movie. ever. June 30, 2005 at 02:25 PM UTC #
Originally posted by HoyaParanoia:
other than the vapid spielberg bookend narrations
I have not seen the movie, but the reviews I have read said the Morgan Freeman narrated and that it was lifted almost directly from the Wells original….
HoyaSaxa03
Joined: March 22, 2004 at 06:01 AM UTC
Posts: 7053
Re: worst. movie. ever. June 30, 2005 at 02:26 PM UTC #
Originally posted by canker-blossom:
Originally posted by HoyaParanoia:
other than the vapid spielberg bookend narrations
I have not seen the movie, but the reviews I have read said the Morgan Freeman narrated and that it was lifted almost directly from the Wells original….
yes, it was lifted directly from the book, but the stupid-ass spielberg bookends ala saving private ryan and just stupid … and it's even stupider that the bookends are the biggest source of info on the details behind the invasion
flawd101
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Re: worst. movie. ever. June 30, 2005 at 03:08 PM UTC #
i'm going to see it…i dont know why but others want to…tom cruise is alright but an unknown actor will always be better.

indepenence day owned!
shoot ur shot
Joined: July 02, 2004 at 05:01 AM UTC
Posts: 300
Re: worst. movie. ever. June 30, 2005 at 03:17 PM UTC #
I see your points Hoya and did pick up on a few of those plotholes but I guess I didn't go in expecting the same things out of the movie as you did. I really didn't expect a goof film at all. I thought there might be a chance since I do actually like AI and Catch Me if You Can, but all I really asked from this movie was at least 30-45 minutes of great action and for the most part it delivered but definitely didn't go the whole way or even close really. I agree that the movie is not an optimistic film, but I don't know about nihilistic. This sounds dumb but Spielberg does seem to share a sort of bleak view on humanity in hi films that's almost Kubrick-esque, but he just always wimps out towards the end of all his movies. He's gotten a lot better in the past few years about his imagery but one thing he will never understand in filmmaking is ambiguity.

I also got the impression while watching this movie that Spielberg didn't even want to make a movie about aliens but was more interested in making a movie about his father (Spielberg grew up without a father.) The whole story seems to be centered around the relationship between the boy and his dad. That's why I think this movie ultimately fails as being a convincing horror/sci-fi flick and why I think audiences will not make this the #1 film of the summer. It's almost as if Speilberg just threw in all that shit with the aliens to make his company happy.
HoyaSaxa03
Joined: March 22, 2004 at 06:01 AM UTC
Posts: 7053
Re: worst. movie. ever. June 30, 2005 at 03:31 PM UTC #
Originally posted by shoot ur shot:
I agree that the movie is not an optimistic film, but I don't know about nihilistic. This sounds dumb but Spielberg does seem to share a sort of bleak view on humanity in hi films that's almost Kubrick-esque, but he just always wimps out towards the end of all his movies. He's gotten a lot better in the past few years about his imagery but one thing he will never understand in filmmaking is ambiguity.
very true about the endings, he's a sucker for hollywood endings, and this one was just horrible … and his imagery is just smack-you-over-the-head, all the time

Originally posted by shoot ur shot:
I also got the impression while watching this movie that Spielberg didn't even want to make a movie about aliens but was more interested in making a movie about his father (Spielberg grew up without a father.) The whole story seems to be centered around the relationship between the boy and his dad.
well, that's the constant knock on spielberg, but i'm not sure if this movie is as blatant in the whole father-son thing as some of his others … i read somewhere that 'the day after tomorrow' flopped because it was too macro, and it was good to take a micro approach here … i completely disagree, i think the macro-perspective would have been infinitely more interesting in this movie, especially with the ham-fisted approach to the characters and flimsy/retarded plot.
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Re: worst. movie. ever. June 30, 2005 at 06:18 PM UTC #
Originally posted by HoyaParanoia:
the great part about independence day was that it was winking at you
I once saw a porno flick that was winking at you.
rfredley
Joined: May 23, 2005 at 05:01 AM UTC
Posts: 26
Re: worst. movie. ever. June 30, 2005 at 08:05 PM UTC #
I read somewhere that Spielberg wanted to make a micro movie, to change the POV completely on this genre of movie and keep it from a single perspective the entire time. I think he did that. Unfortunately it left the movie a bit flat.

It starts off big and very cool. It definitely has its moments. But I'll say it again, he needs an editor.

Cut the majority of the crap with Robbins, re-order the scenes a bit, and kill the ending, and the movie ain't too bad.

Robbins was so horribly miscast, it isn't even funny. He can't play blue collar to save his life.

Cruise didn't bother or help.

My opinion: see the first hour or so, and then go sneak into another movie starting in the same theater.
Chip Chanko
Joined: October 16, 2001 at 05:01 AM UTC
Posts: 742
Re: worst. movie. ever. July 01, 2005 at 03:09 AM UTC #
I just got back from seeing it. I think that anyone who's disappointed hasn't read the book or seen the 1953 version. Spielberg pretty much remained true to both of them. The ending was anti-climactic becuase the story is anti-climactic.

Don't ask me why it looked like his wife and her family were just getting done with their thanksgiving dinner at the end, though. Why wasn't their street all destroyed?? Did they even know what was going on???? That's what I want to know.

In my opinion, Garden State was much worse.
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