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[ManaByte]

It's official - NO MIDNIGHT SHOWINGS ALLOWED

One theater manager is saying that the studio and Spielberg wanted to do Midnight showings to pad the box office a little bit, but Tom Cruise demanded they not show the movie at midnight for some retarded reason. Theaters can be fined big time for showing it at midnight.

 

[DMczaf]

It's official - NO MIDNIGHT SHOWINGS ALLOWED

One theater manager is saying that the studio and Spielberg wanted to do Midnight showings to pad the box office a little bit, but Tom Cruise demanded they not show the movie at midnight for some retarded reason. Theaters can be fined big time for showing it at midnight.

So, what's the reason for Tom demanding this retarded idea?

 

[Mairu]

It's official - NO MIDNIGHT SHOWINGS ALLOWED

One theater manager is saying that the studio and Spielberg wanted to do Midnight showings to pad the box office a little bit, but Tom Cruise demanded they not show the movie at midnight for some retarded reason. Theaters can be fined big time for showing it at midnight.

So lame, I really wanted to do another midnight showing this summer

 

[ManaByte]

So, what's the reason for Tom demanding this retarded idea?

The manager I was asking about it wouldn't say. He just was rolling his eyes when talking about how Tom Cruise was the one to shut them down. He had people ready to work the midnight showing and everything. It's probably against his cult's "beliefs" or something.

 

[DCharlie]

Ha ha , Japan says "Fak you, mr Tom Cluse"

midnight showings start tomorrow night.

"And DCharlie -- even as a liberal atheist who, for instance, thinks that the ending of Signs is a film-killing theological crock of shit, I think you're really overreacting...'

we'll see -

Spoiler

i've discussed this elsewhere and i think it depends on the penultimate scene.
Remember , Wells went to lengths to show religion as useless - if the ending gets twisted to be "it's all Gods doing! huzzah!" (a final scene with people praying then walking outside to dead aliens will see me tipping over entire cinemas on my way out, let alone magazine racks)

Sorry, to me this is the single most important film to me ever given the subject matter. I'll be upset if it's fucked up.

Also add to this that i think Religion is basically fucking the entire planet up at the moment, so it's not in my good books.

 

[Dan]

Goddamnit. I hope Spielberg and Cruise don't collaborate again. This is ridiculous.

 

[Pack of Wild Rats]

Damn, I was relly looking forward to the midnight showing. I really hate this scientology bullshit. It seems more like a cult than a religion. I agree with DChharlie, religion really is the problem with this world.

 

[ManaByte]

Harry reviewed it (spoilers):
http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=20580

You’re not ready for this. I can state that with absolute certainty.

This isn’t the warm fuzzy Spielberg that makes you feel all safe. This is DUEL Spielberg. I wouldn’t say JAWS cuz, frankly this film doesn’t have the “sense of fun” that JAWS had… That adventure feeling. DUEL wasn’t an adventure – it was a man desperately clinging to life – tormented for reasons beyond his ability to understand. It was unrelenting.

Well, I have to say – in Steven’s entire career he’s never made anything quite like this. It has the gut punch ouch of the raiding of the Ghetto in SCHINDLER’S LIST – I know that’s hard to imagine given this is a fictional story… but there’s imagery here… Imagery that I’ve only heard stories about. When 9/11 happened, my girl friend at the time lived in Queens – she still does. She told me stories of ash raining down – business papers falling from the sky… and the smell. Well, Spielberg isn’t doing THAT imagery – instead he plays this 100% real. When you see a Tripod unleash… when you see it do what it does – when you see the reactions it gets out of Tom and his two kids (Justin and Dakota) it sells it. This isn’t an awe film – it’s exactly what Steven set out to make, the American Survivors Tale. The Modern Holocaust. And it’s tougher than SCHINDLER’S… it’s more along the lines of THE PIANIST.

The main thing about this film is that this is absolutely amongst the very best Steven Spielberg films ever made. I am absolutely shook to the core by the film. This is a film with hardcore vintage sci-fi imagery given a power and weight that was inconceivable in its relevance to today. The film succeeds at the absolutely same level as Welles and Pal did. Perfect creations for the times they were made… and I believe it will resonate dramatically with today’s audiences.

This is the very best film I’ve seen this year.

Holy shit. He describes some things in there that will probably make me see it twice. Things about what the ash covering Tom Cruise is in the beginning of the movie, etc...

 

[distantmantra]

Harry reviewed it (spoilers):
http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=20580

Holy shit. He describes some things in there that will probably make me see it twice. Things about what the ash covering Tom Cruise is in the beginning of the movie, etc...

As much as I want to enjoy this film one it's released, this is coming from Harry Knowles, he tends to exaggerate from time to time.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

if Spielberg wanted midnight showings why does he put up with Cruises shit? He's got waaaaay more pull than that midget. Cruise needs Spielberg way more than the other way around.

 

[Ruzbeh]

6.8 @ imdb.com with around 1,000 votes. You can except the rating to go down once the critics get voting...

 

[ManaByte]

6.8 @ imdb.com with around 1,000 votes. You can except the rating to go down once the critics get voting...

Uh, you're trusting imdb.com scores? imdb.com's forums/polls are the Gamefaqs for movies.

 

[Kifimbo]

Wow, now I'm hyped again. This weekend, I made the mistake to listen to a guy on CNN who said that WOTW wasn't well received (early screenings) and that it was one of Spielberg worst.

 

[ManaByte]

Devin at CHUD who usually hates EVERYTHING, was blown away by it (spoilers):

The next forty minutes of War of the Worlds contains some of the best work of Spielberg’s career. He hasn’t just gone back to Jaws to remember that the best big movies are about the little people – he’s also gone back and remembered what it’s like to scare the living shit out of an audience. And I don’t mean just jump scares, which any hack can do. Spielberg builds the suspense into real terror, and as the first of the Tripods come bursting out of the street (they’re already here, after all)

Spoiler

and start incinerating people

, you can only stare at the screen in open-mouthed shock and awe.

He also nails the fog of disaster. The movie never lets us know anything that Ray and his family wouldn’t know. They hear rumors and whispers of events – did the Japanese manage to destroy one of the seemingly invincible Tripods? – but Ray and his kids never know what’s really going on.

I truly appreciate how strictly Spielberg sticks to that. There’s a scene where the family is on foot in some New England hills and tanks and jets and helicopters are heading to a group of Tripods, ready for battle. Spielberg takes us to just under the top of a hill, the other side of which a massive battle is raging. But Ray never goes over the hill, and so we never see it. That’s balls – here’s a huge summer movie and the director is essentially withholding the money shot. It’s that shark in Jaws all over again – it works much better when we don’t see it.

It’s actually hard for me to imagine people not liking this film. War of the Worlds is, hands down, the best big budget film of the summer. Maybe the year. Spielberg has crafted a real classic, a film that delivers on every level it should.

 

[ChrisReid]

And even the healthiest person can't predict 100% that they won't start coughing.

Crying baby, coughing fit, important cellphone conversation... these all happen.

Eh, those aren't the same things at all. It's a lot easier to stop coughing or hold your breath and slink outside than it is to stop a wailing baby. Same for turning the cell phone off.