Priorities

Time flies by at a tremendous rate. As summer wears on, I find myself wondering whether my priorities are the things that I want to do or the things that I actually do.

Fishing

And suddenly I realize that I need to recognize that I have no lines in any ponds

Down

Sometimes the words come easy, sometimes they don't come at all. When you're down, finding the right words is like sifting through mud and muck trying to find clean water.

Moderation

People have been telling me that my review of War of the Worlds was pretty harsh. I still stand by it, but feel compelled to attempt to moderate it somewhat. First, I will admit that judged solely on the basis of a summer "blockbuster" movie, it's alright, maybe even good. It's just not up to the bar that people involved have set. Second, I realize that someday I will probably find myself eating every word of critique I've ever said or wrote. Some people would say less in that situation, or nothing at all. Instead, I hope they taste just as good going down as they felt coming out. ;-)

Ciao.

Ah, the Power of a Name

In the review I read, War of the Worlds got 3.5 stars out of 4. Almost as good as a movie can get. So I went to see the movie, expecting something more than the normal summer flick (like I, Robot or Mr. and Mrs. Smith, or the Bourne movies--movies that probably won't win Oscars, but are more than mindless drivel). I mean, this is a movie by Steven Spielberg starring Tom Cruise. Heck, Morgan Freeman's the narrator. These people make good movies. Movies with characters, plot, and good dialogue, not just cool explosions, wow effects, and sweet camera shots ("Spectacle", as Aristotle put it).
War of the Worlds is not a good movie--not in the normal sense, anyway. The Spectacle was off the charts; Spielberg pulled out all the stops, apparently trying for at least one "wow shot" per scene, preferably more. The plot was alright, but c'mon, it's a rehash of a plot H.G. Wells wrote about 100 years ago. Wells + Spielberg should be able to come up with a better plot than this. And by the way, when you have to have a narrator at the beginning and end who is completely unrelated to the rest of the movie explain the holes in the plot, that's a warning sign. Dialogue was very weak, mostly consisting of people yelling at each other and Dakota Fanning screaming. Tim Robbins had most of the meaningful lines in the film, but his character was plum crazy, which kind of negates having him explain so much--can we really believe what he tells us about the aliens' motivation and methods if he's always contradicting himself and seems mentally unstable?
Which brings me to what I think is the movie's weakest point--bad acting/lack of strong characters. I know, I know, that could be two points, but I think the actors were hampered by a poor script. Tim Robbins's character was the most consistent, considering he was a raving lunatic. Tom Cruise was just okay; his character was supposed to transition from bad dad to good father, but Tom Cruise playing a self-centered jerk father came off as the most charming, nice-guy jackass I've ever seen. Even Miranda Otto, playing his ex-wife, still seems attracted to him. His kids weren't much better--one scene the son would only be thinking of his little sister, the next all he wants to do is go fight. Dakota Fanning seemed to oscillate between a very mature 12-13 year old and a 5 year old who's afraid of the dark. The scriptwriters seemed to view the children as simply accessories, though--stick them in a couple scenes, then put them to bed while Tom Cruise goes off and has his own scenes.
The thing that really bothers me, though, is that people will flock to this movie because of who's involved in it. I already said the review I read gave the movie 3.5 stars out of 4. Because of that review, I was part of a large box office rush this weekend. This movie should be a black mark on the careers of everyone involved; instead, it looks like the careers of everyone involved will save this movie from the fate it deserves: a B-Movie rating and a quick trip to the 5.50 bin at Wal-Mart.