WotW Line up now, or wait for DVD?

[techweenie]

The War of the Worlds is getting terrible reviews from several sources.

...which is too bad, because it's a good property and was ripe for a CGI-heavy remake (which I would have hoped would have been set in 1880 or so).

But no. Word is that the first 90 minutes are GREAT and the last 20 are a huge letdown.

I haven't (and won't) read any spoilers on the nature of the ending, but I'm pretty sure it's not what this joker on Defamer.com suggested:

"Perhaps Steven Spielberg should’ve cut that last twenty minutes, in which his hero saves the Earth by calmly and rationally convincing the alien invaders that there’s no science behind the drugs that make them want to eradicate other civilizations, and then personally [Ed.note—Personally!] helps each and every one of them break their crippling dependency on their evil xenopharmaceutical industry."

[widebody911]

Originally posted by techweenie
But no. Word is that the first 90 minutes are GREAT and the last 20 are a huge letdown.

Isn't that pretty much the synopsis of any CGI-heavy movie?

[techweenie]

Originally posted by widebody911
Isn't that pretty much the synopsis of any CGI-heavy movie?

Acrtually, I thought Batman Begins was pretty darn good all the way through!

[Icemaster]

WTF?

The aliens are supposed to die....

Uh hello....

[BlueSkyJaunte]

I can no longer separate Cruise from his (so-called) acting and his nonsense.

I managed to enjoy The ^H^H^H^HMinority Report despite the fact that the guy is really a 1-dimensional actor. Of course the source material and the rest of the cast might've had something to do with that.

But Batman Begins sucked for the first half. That never-ending 80's training montage with pseudo-ninjutsu bullscheiss was over the top. Seriously, I'm tired of the Hollyweird interpretation of martial arts in general.

The last half? That was great. Pure Batman. Bale lacked the Keaton charm as Wayne but made up for it by being a truly badass Batman.

And now we have a non-latex-nipple platform to build on for the future.

[Neilk]

I wish there were a way to buy a ticket to WotW with no credit going to nutjob Tom. Poor Spielberg must want to shoot him right now.

[techweenie]

Originally posted by Neilk
I wish there were a way to buy a ticket to WotW with no credit going to nutjob Tom. Poor Spielberg must want to shoot him right now.

This one is going to be hard to dissect. Tom Cruise may be the #1 worldwide box office draw, and Speilberg in the to 2/3 of directors in terms of boxoffice.

Will the pundits decide that "turning Tom loose" was a good thing?

I don't know how many are aware, but Cruise fired his long-time publicist and gave the job to his sister about 6 months ago. A lot of Hollywood insiders are watching breathlessly to see if Cruise implodes. If not, expect to hear more 'stars' letting loose with their opinions... on everything. That will only be good news for Limbaugh/Leno/Imus/Drudge.

These are weird times in Hollywood. Boxoffice is down, old formulas aren't working. The opening day now has to carry the picture. Instantaneous communication (like IM reviews *during* the movie) are making it impossible for a disappointing movie to run for a week or two, like they used to. So if WotW opens Wednesday and business is down Thursday, there'll be no saving it.