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War of the Worlds Remake
subtropolis writes "The Guardian has an article about a remake of the classic. Spielberg directing, T. Cruise acting. The guy who did Jurassic Park I & II did the screenplay. Anyone else think Bruce Sterling would've been a good choice for that? Quoth the article: 'While HG Wells was an enthusiastic supporter of many of the film adaptations of his work, the likely attitude that Orson Welles might have had to another director taking one of the works with which he became most closely associated, can only be a matter of conjecture.'"
Mars Attacks, 500 other crappy sci-fi movies, etc can all pass off for remakes of war of the worlds. Just because something was cool in 1938 doesn't mean remaking it is a good idea. It'll just be another weird movie with weird looking aliens shooting at everything with weird looking weapons.
Why is is that almost every remake of a movie has the producers and directors trying to convince people that one, they are not COPYING, they are doing a remake.. it's an honor! Then they end up going on about how they are re-inventing the movie.
Umm... isn't anyone capable of re-inventing these days without the re?
I hope this one turns out good, instead of yet another huge box office smash due to the name, and not the empty content.
I thought "Independence Day" was a remake of "War of the Worlds".
Seriously. I am absolutely with you on this one. The thing that worries me is that Spielberg and Cruise will make another film like Minority Report, that has all the potential of being good cinematic material that could tell a good story and make commentary on social issues, but falls completely flat on lousy acting. A great book, but from the looks of it, will become another vehicle for T. Cruise.
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True, they will hack this story to pieces...
;-)
HOWEVER
If you look at the bright side, if someone enjoys the movie, they'll be more encouraged to read the book. I read Heinlein's Starship Troopers after I saw the movie and thought "Wow, they hacked the crap outta something that really doesn't translate well to the movie media at all." (And I also am reading the Bourne Identity cause I enjoyed the movie a ton. And the book is VERY different than the movie, and much better, might I add). So, if it is bearable to watch, more people are more likely to read the book to discover everything that the book includes, but the movie doesn't.
There's a bright side, after all
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
I'm confused about exactly what they are making a film of:
- a film of the original novel, or
- a film of the radio series of the original novel
I'd love to see an authentically Victorian-decoed version of the original novel in the original setting, but not a remake of one set in the US. No disrepect to the US geeks here, but the Aliens-Invade-Uncle-Sam storyline has been done way too many times by now.I'd rather to see stiff-upper-lipped men in scarlet jerkins taking on the Hun From Space! "Zulu" meets "The League of Extraordinary Gentlement" (albeit with a better script).
"Martians... thousands of 'em. Wait 'til you see the greens of their tentacles, boys, before you strike!"
P.
Many are short stories but many are also the novellas which translate best to movies. So many of them would make really smashing films, and would keep the sci-fi portion of the movie industry humming for decades, and that's just one collection.
Ah, what's the use...
Someone really needs to do Zelazny's "Creatures Of Light And Darkness".
--- Ban humanity.
Somewhere out there is a writer with an original story, a powerbook and a digicam.
[sarcasm]Yep, "Schindler's List" and "Saving Private Ryan" were definitely garbage.[/sarcasm]
Don't equate your own personal tastes in movies with the talent or lack thereof of the movie maker.
Ranger96
What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.-Ecclesiastes 1:9
You guys need to stop focusing in on the title, and realize what the movie was -- an excellent parody of WWII propaganda films that happens to share the same name and bare-bones plotline of the book. They are two different creatures, each good in its own arena --- the movie as satire and action film, the book as an idealogical platform and true sci-fi.
Haven't you guys seen Robocop? Remember all the satire in that movie?
Just relax already -- someone took the title of your favorite book and pasted it on a movie that was very different from the book. Don't put down the movie just because it isn't the book.