Another WAR OF THE WORLDS Mystery

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AndyDursin
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Another WAR OF THE WORLDS Mystery

#1 Post by AndyDursin »

Roman would know more about this --
http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/st ... TR&coview=

They're stopping the German press from reviewing the film until the day of its release.

What's curious is that I don't know if they're doing that domestically...I got invited to the Monday press screening, though unfortunately, it's up in Boston (60-90 mins away depending on traffic), and trying to get into the city on a weekday during rush hour isn't going to be worth it for me. Still, I saw no mention of an embargo on the invite.

If they ARE doing that here, has anyone floated the notion that the movie isn't all that good and they're trying to protect it by enforcing a review embargo? This is, after all, the sort of thing they do to movies that studios aren't all that high on.

One thing the article states is that reviews have been "mixed," which is a troubling sign indeed. Add in that Tom Cruise would rather talk about Katie Holmes than the film itself and we've got an interesting story unraveling here...
Last edited by AndyDursin on Thu Jun 23, 2005 11:57 am, edited 1 time in total.

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AndyDursin
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#2 Post by AndyDursin »

I also noticed the running time is 117 minutes, making this the shortest Steven Spielberg film since INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM! :shock:

mkaroly
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#3 Post by mkaroly »

117 minutes??? I was getting used to those 2.5 hour films! In a way I'm kind of glad that I am not hearing any advance press on this film. I AM sick of hearing about Tom Crusie and Katie Holmes, though. Who in the world could possibly care about them? I'm a bit jaded because I live in Columbus and Holmes is from Toledo which is two hours to the North, so we hear about it all the time.

Spielberg has a life time pass for me on the strength of JAWS, CE3K, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, and ET....I'll watch any movie he puts out there, and I'm willing to give him the MAJOR benefit of the doubt. He's not perfect though- THE LOST WORLD was, is, and always will be a travesty of a film. I didn't care for AMISTAD because I thought it was too preachy, 1941 is not focused and fluid (though it has a moment or two), and HOOK makes me shudder. My "guilty favorite" is ALWAYS- I just really like that movie.

As far as sci-fi goes, CE3K and ET are tops. I did enjoy AI quite a bit (I know you didn't Andy) :) and I didn't have too many problems with MINORITY REPORT. Therefore, I am going into WOTW with the expectation that he'll deliver something "good". Based on the short trailers I've seen on TV, what I am worried about is that he's making a loose film, or something just for fun....just to be a summer blockbuster- something with some thought but not as much as could be given to the project.

He has seemed to be coasting on the last couple of films (CMIYC and THE TERMINAL); the big mistake with this film could also be casting Tom Cruise in the lead role- WHY???? Spielberg has a big enough name to sell a film on his name alone- and ever since EYES WIDE SHUT Cruise has been so annoying and unwatchable in film. Whatever. I know I am going to the Wednesday showings of WOTW and can't wait to hear John Williams' score! I'm keepin' my fingers crossed.....

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#4 Post by AndyDursin »

He has seemed to be coasting on the last couple of films (CMIYC and THE TERMINAL); the big mistake with this film could also be casting Tom Cruise in the lead role- WHY???? Spielberg has a big enough name to sell a film on his name alone- and ever since EYES WIDE SHUT Cruise has been so annoying and unwatchable in film. Whatever. I know I am going to the Wednesday showings of WOTW and can't wait to hear John Williams' score! I'm keepin' my fingers crossed.....
Michael I'm with you on Spielberg and I agree he deserves a lifetime pass. I'll be honest with you here too -- 1941 is a guilty pleasure, all-time favorite of mine, and yes I liked ALWAYS as well (just ordered the DVD from Deepdiscount's sale! Never got around to picking it up before) . Heck I even enjoyed HOOK, though for me something happened in his career post-Schindler's List.

Ever since he started making movies with "Movie Stars" like Tom Hanks and Tom Cruise I feel he's lost some of his edge, and his movies simply don't feel the same.

I am, however, holding out hope this movie is still good. I don't think, though, that this movie is "just for fun". The few pre-release reviews out there have mentioned a lynch mob and Spielberg himself has discussed a "post 9-11" element to the film, which IMO could make the film pretentious and unnecessarily heavy. What's worse is that Williams' score is reportedly non-thematic and dense, like Minority Report, which while being a score I respected, doesn't lend itself to listening away from the film.

I also admit I'm prejudiced because I can't stand Janusz Kaminski's cinematography and never have...bring back Allen Davieu, Mikael Salomon, or Dean Cundey any day :)

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#5 Post by MarkB »

No offense. guys, but I don't see any reason to be assuming the worst -- yet. Spielberg has managed to keep a tight lid on the details of this film from the beginning, and I get the feeling he's trying to continue that right through to the actual release. Personally, I like the idea of not having everything spoiled before I get to see it (Wednesday, if I'm lucky).

BTW, I thought CMIYC was a terrific film with more depth than most viewers gave it credit for. THE TERMINAL was entertaining, if slight; my chief complaint was that it was lacking a satisfying ending. I'm starting to think some people simply have unachievable expectations for Spielberg. And trying to judge a movie sight unseen seems to me to be a pointless exercise.

From what I've heard from Spielberg and Koepp (in magazines like Creative Screenwriting and Wired) I think they have a valid approach to this adaptation. But we'll all know for certain next week.

Mark

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#6 Post by mkaroly »

No offense taken- I'm basing my thoughts on the trailers I've seen. THE TERMINAL fell short- I agree with your opinion that the ending was unsatisfying. CMIYC wasn't bad; it just didn't keep my attention as much as some of his other stuff. Granted, the themes of family dysfunctionality, the lack of a father figure, "surrogate" fatherhood, abandonment, etc. were all in there, so it's definitely a Spielberg film; I suppose it was a bit of a shock to see something "light" after AMISTAD, SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, A.I., and MINORITY REPORT. I need to watch it again to see if it holds up. Make no mistake however; I am going to do everything I can to see this film on Wednesday and I'm looking forward to it.

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#7 Post by AndyDursin »

From what I've heard from Spielberg and Koepp (in magazines like Creative Screenwriting and Wired) I think they have a valid approach to this adaptation. But we'll all know for certain next week.
BTW, Josh Friedman now receives credit on the screenwriting chores (ahead of Koepp, in fact!)....a last-minute move only reflected in the print advertising I saw in this newspaper today!

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#8 Post by MarkB »

That's interesting news about Josh Friedman. This is the first I've heard of it.

If you want a taste of what to expect, "Quint" over at AICN has posted a mostly spoiler-free review. He loved it, and does a good job of explaining why.

http://www.aint-it-cool-news.com/display.cgi?id=20564

Mark

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#9 Post by AndyDursin »

That's interesting news about Josh Friedman. This is the first I've heard of it.

If you want a taste of what to expect, "Quint" over at AICN has posted a mostly spoiler-free review. He loved it, and does a good job of explaining why.

http://www.aint-it-cool-news.com/display.cgi?id=20564

Mark
I'd never heard of Friedman altogether but now the IMDB is likewise listing him on the credits as well.

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#10 Post by MarkB »

I just did a little digging, and the Creative Screenwriting article mentions that Friedman wrote an early draft for Spielberg that was supposedly discarded when Koepp was brought on board. My guess is that it wasn't "discarded' enough -- arbitration, anyone?

Mark

Eric W.
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#11 Post by Eric W. »

AndyDursin wrote:I also noticed the running time is 117 minutes, making this the shortest Steven Spielberg film since INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM! :shock:
This is not necessarily a bad thing.

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#12 Post by AndyDursin »

This is not necessarily a bad thing.
No, but the review embargo means either of two things:

a) They don't want plot twists to be revealed ahead of time (pretty lame if true given how it's based on a book, that's already been made into a movie, etc.)

or

b) The movie is a major disappointment and they don't want word leaking out

Given past history I think it's sadly more likely "B" than "A"...particularly given how little Tom Cruise has bothered to talk about the film.

Usually, if you've got a movie people are confident about, studios allow some critics -- particularly guys like Ebert & Roeper -- to screen the movie ahead of time so they can review it in advance. EPISODE III was screened and reviewed the weekend prior to it being released. That's not the case here, obviously.

We'll know for sure Wednesday!

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#13 Post by romanD »

so far I heard only really good stuff about the movie. Storywise I didnt read any reviews, just the criticisms as I dont want to know anything about the story... there are still a lot of secrets, like where the aliens are really from (remember the tagline "They are already here"), the ending...

these things apparently have been changed from the book, so maybe the studio doesnt want those things to leak out, also nothing about the look of the aliens and stuff.

In France they had the same "nobody writes a review before the movie comes out" as far as I know and only the top critics in Germany were invited to the screenings. I dont think it has to do with the movie being bad, but just teh internet hysteria is going over the top with the studios. Before you enter the screening room you have to go through a thing like at the airport, give out all your cellphones and whatever electronic devices you have and all that.

But seriously... that is so stupid, as when I was at the Fox studios for FF I could walk around wherever I wanted to go and nobody cared. There were copies of the movie lying around and I could have easily taken them, taken photographs or whatever... no wonder the movies end up in the internent before the opening.

The score for Minority Report had much stronger melodic lines in the action than WOTW, pretty easy to remember, also the theme was pretty nice and strong... here it is all kept very functional. If Andy didnt like MR, he will probably hate this. I like it, though the days of a score like Indy II or such by Williams are long gone...

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#14 Post by AndyDursin »

The score for Minority Report had much stronger melodic lines in the action than WOTW, pretty easy to remember, also the theme was pretty nice and strong... here it is all kept very functional. If Andy didnt like MR, he will probably hate this. I like it, though the days of a score like Indy II or such by Williams are long gone...
I didn't "hate" Williams' score for Minority Report at all. I liked it a great deal in the film, I just didn't think it was especially memorable or worth hearing away from the film. It's just my personal taste (let me put it this way -- I've owned the CD since the movie came out and don't recall putting it into the player to hear it since).

I disagree though the days of Williams writing a great score are gone. His first two HARRY POTTER scores, EPISODE III, even THE PATRIOT (quite underrated with some stirring themes) are very strong scores. I think the problem is Spielberg's embracement of his "adult" side, and Williams' scores becoming these non-thematic and less emotional works as a result. Look at CATCH ME IF YOU CAN -- a solid score by Williams, but like the film, it's almost too restrained and low-key for its own good. It's as if Spielberg is simply afraid to let emotion boil over, and is holding it in check...quite honestly I'd love to see Williams work with some other directors and break out of the sequel cycle (too many Harry Potters and six Star Wars films will do that!) in addition to continuing his collaboration with Spielberg....and especially see him score some smaller, character-driven projects as well. You can only score so many genre films before you run out of ideas...even for Johnny T.

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#15 Post by romanD »

that's true. And probably right with the Spielberg movies.

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