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Carlson2005

#46 Post by Carlson2005 »

mkaroly wrote:If he's trying to put political subtext into WOTW, that might be new territory for him.
Not entirely. He did flirt very mildly with criticism of the Patriot Act and surrounding anti-terrorist paranoia with Minority Report, but when marketing the film was extremely careful not to actually take a stand on his own thoughts of whether they undermined the very liberties they were meant to protect, opting instead for the old "That's for the audience to decide" approach whenever he was asked a direct question.

I'm just hoping he doesn't drop the ball in the last reel again - Spielberg's endings have been pretty awful ever since Schindler's List. I dread the prospect of another redundant speech underlining everything we've just seen for ourselves.

mkaroly
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#47 Post by mkaroly »

Carlson2005 wrote:
mkaroly wrote:If he's trying to put political subtext into WOTW, that might be new territory for him.
Not entirely. He did flirt very mildly with criticism of the Patriot Act and surrounding anti-terrorist paranoia with Minority Report, but when marketing the film was extremely careful not to actually take a stand on his own thoughts of whether they undermined the very liberties they were meant to protect, opting instead for the old "That's for the audience to decide" approach whenever he was asked a direct question.

I'm just hoping he doesn't drop the ball in the last reel again - Spielberg's endings have been pretty awful ever since Schindler's List. I dread the prospect of another redundant speech underlining everything we've just seen for ourselves.
As much as I enjoy his films, Spielberg's endings can be a source of great disappointment. SCHINDLER'S LIST went right for the heartstrings- AMISTAD I don't even remember; SPR was fine but I hated the framing story (though a WWII historian told me that oftentimes Vets do ask those questions when visiting gravesites of soldiers they knew who died in battle....it was the way Spielberg did it that annoyed me). AI was a story-book, fairy-tale ending, and that totally fits him. MR was mixed, CMIYC was expected, and TT was anti-climactic. I predict that WOTW will fall into the more hopeful category, as that is consistent with his other films- but who knows?

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#48 Post by AndyDursin »

As much as I enjoy his films, Spielberg's endings can be a source of great disappointment. SCHINDLER'S LIST went right for the heartstrings- AMISTAD I don't even remember; SPR was fine but I hated the framing story (though a WWII historian told me that oftentimes Vets do ask those questions when visiting gravesites of soldiers they knew who died in battle....it was the way Spielberg did it that annoyed me). AI was a story-book, fairy-tale ending, and that totally fits him. MR was mixed, CMIYC was expected, and TT was anti-climactic. I predict that WOTW will fall into the more hopeful category, as that is consistent with his other films- but who knows?
Well that's how the book ends, though what's interesting is that the great majority of reviews have basically said it's the weakest part of the film.

I'll be going tonight and posting a review late -- the reviews that came out today run a wide spectrum of reactions, that's for sure. Will be interesting to see it! :)

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#49 Post by Eric W. »

Boy, I'm sure seeing some ho-hum/mixed reviews for this puppy! Considering that the box office has been in steady decline for at least 18 weekends in a row, I think they'd better brace themselves for another big loser!

Honestly, I almost am glad for it. Theaters are ripping us off, making us sit through commericals, you have to deal with brats, rude people and cellphones...and most of all: Hollywood has just been producing crap.

I hope an unmistakeable message rings loud and true all across the boards!

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#50 Post by AndyDursin »

Boy, I'm sure seeing some ho-hum/mixed reviews for this puppy! Considering that the box office has been in steady decline for at least 18 weekends in a row, I think they'd better brace themselves for another big loser!
Cruise's publicity could be a turnoff for audiences. As far as the reviews go, Roger Ebert has been giving out "gift" reviews for a while now, and yet he basically hated the movie -- and specifically how the aliens looked.

Curious!

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#51 Post by Eric W. »

AndyDursin wrote:
Boy, I'm sure seeing some ho-hum/mixed reviews for this puppy! Considering that the box office has been in steady decline for at least 18 weekends in a row, I think they'd better brace themselves for another big loser!
Cruise's publicity could be a turnoff for audiences. As far as the reviews go, Roger Ebert has been giving out "gift" reviews for a while now, and yet he basically hated the movie -- and specifically how the aliens looked.

Curious!
Heh.

BTW, you all want a good laugh? In today's Wall Street Journal (6-29), in the back of the first section, Letters to the Editor: Some guy wrote in trash talking the movie theaters...and it's like I wrote the letter! I couldn't have said it better myself.

If any of you are go by a place where newspapers are sold, you don't need to buy the WSJ (although I do recommend it), but just pick it up, hit the back of that first section, and check this guy's letter out! He's dead on!

Carlson2005

#52 Post by Carlson2005 »

romanD wrote:The ferry scene is a real heart stopper.
It'll have to go some to beat the ferry scene in Timbo Hines straight-to-video no-budget period version - a poorly composited Mississippi paddle steamer (in Essex?) with four people on it watching a cgi boat that makes the most basic animatics look fully rendered taking on three bad cgi war machines without making a splash. It's truly amazing stuff - for all the wrong reasons.

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#53 Post by MarkB »

Q-BanditZ wrote:Boy, I'm sure seeing some ho-hum/mixed reviews for this puppy! Considering that the box office has been in steady decline for at least 18 weekends in a row, I think they'd better brace themselves for another big loser!

Honestly, I almost am glad for it. Theaters are ripping us off, making us sit through commericals, you have to deal with brats, rude people and cellphones...and most of all: Hollywood has just been producing crap.

I hope an unmistakeable message rings loud and true all across the boards!
Wow. All of the reviews that I've heard/read (Ebert being the exception) have been raving about it. The most common comment has been that it's the scariest movie to come out in years.

Based on what I've heard, I wouldn't be surprised if it's the biggest movie of the summer.

I don't understand people who seem to be rooting for this to fail creatively as well as financially. That seems rather hypocritical, especially when one complains in the same breath about the "crap" Hollywood is always producing.

Mark

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#54 Post by romanD »

just came home and it is very late... WOTW was really good... though I guess it could suffer a lot at the bo from wrong marketing.. this is totally different than ID4... it is in fact more a horror movie as the threat goes more and more intense and scary... I almost forgot about the red "plant", which you can see on the poster. That is really gruesome stuff :-)

some great camera movements (on the highway... notice that it is only one shot!) and FX (though hardly oscar winning material, as nothing overly spectacular). The ferry scene is a real heart stopper.

Only real letdown is the score as it is mixed very low and some cues not used (attack on the car is only in the end credits, therfore replacing the great epilogue cue!). Hey, maybe the movie would have worked without a score! The sounds the tripods make was used as sound-design score in the basement scene which worked fantastically.

Ok, more tomorrow, really need to sleep.

I really liked it and the movie is worth watching, though hard to tell whether everybody will like it... it's different!

Carlson2005

#55 Post by Carlson2005 »

romanD wrote:The ferry scene is a real heart stopper.
It'll have to go some to beat the ferry scene in Timbo Hines straight-to-video no-budget period version - a poorly composited Mississippi paddle steamer (in Essex?) with four people on it watching a cgi boat that makes the most basic animatics look fully rendered taking on three bad cgi war machines without making a splash. It's truly amazing stuff - for all the wrong reasons.

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#56 Post by AndyDursin »

A shocking disappointment.

Tim Robbins had the entire audience in stitches -- and I don't think it was intentional.

I'll post my review later. Some good scenes -- but not nearly enough of them. :(

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#57 Post by AndyDursin »

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Last edited by AndyDursin on Thu Jun 30, 2005 12:49 am, edited 1 time in total.

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#58 Post by AndyDursin »

Wow. All of the reviews that I've heard/read (Ebert being the exception) have been raving about it. The most common comment has been that it's the scariest movie to come out in years.
There's nothing scary about it -- except Williams' score, one of the most thankless he's ever composed. :(

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#59 Post by MarkB »

MarkB wrote:Wow. All of the reviews that I've heard/read (Ebert being the exception) have been raving about it. The most common comment has been that it's the scariest movie to come out in years.
Having seen TWOW last night, I can only wonder: What movie were these critics seeing, and is there a way I can see that one instead?

Mark

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#60 Post by AndyDursin »

Having seen TWOW last night, I can only wonder: What movie were these critics seeing, and is there a way I can see that one instead?
I do think the name has something to do with it. If this movie just came out with anyone attached as director, I'm just curious if the film would have received the same kudos it has.

A bunch of people who walked out with me the other night "couldn't believe the good reviews it got".

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