An Anglo-Irish Convert in "the City"

If aliens invaded Hollywood: Weighing in on Spielberg's, "War of the Worlds"

Hollywood! Always the same tired and shameless agenda. Spielberg, a man of his milieu, doesn't rise above it.

For Debra Saunders this movie actually could have been the answer to Spielberg's question, "What would happen if aliens invaded Hollywood?":

RealClearPolitics.com

July 10, 2005

Spielberg's Anti-War 'War of the Worlds'

By Debra Saunders

If there is a theme to Steven Spielberg's new alien-invasion movie, "War of the Worlds," it is not that the human spirit has the courage that justifies human survival. Or that American know-how and grit can defeat invaders, even when the situation seems impossible. No, it is more like: If aliens invade, don't fight back. Run.

No need for self-defense. Mother Nature will take care of the non- indigenous occupiers.

While set in the Northeast, Spielberg's alien war seems very much like what would happen if aliens invaded Hollywood. There would be no praying, no talk of God, no homeowners defending their homes, no posses defending their communities, no 90210 teens enlisting to defend their country.

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While for screenwriter and founder of Act One, Barbara Nicolosi, as expressed in a July 1 post from her blog "Church of the Masses," the movie boiled down to a myriad of unanswered questions at the first roll of the screen credits:

My first War of the Worlds inspired question had to do with the audience size itself....

** "On the second day the latest Speilberg blockbuster opens, in the theater smack in the middle of Universal Studios citywalk which is over-run with tourists, why are there only five other people in this five hundred seat theater? Hmmmmm," thought I, "poor Tom and Stephen."

The rest of my questions started flowing with the credits....

** "Why open the movie with a few frames that give away the ending? Are people that stupid not to notice? is it good for a director to think people might be that stupid?" (Why not do it more cleverly - like open on someone sneezing?)
** "Why does Ray's son hate him? Cause I, as an audience member would like to know before I decide to make Ray my hero."

** "Why are we spot-lighting this guy Ray, anyway? Except for being way too handsome, he seems to have lots of nothing as a screen character." (A suspicion borne out by the rest of the film. Note from Aristotle and Flannery: Good characters are BETTER THAN REAL people. They have to be AT LEAST as good as real people, but to be entertaining, they need to be smarter, cleverer, ingeniuser, deeper, intriguinger, resourcefuller, better-er....By the end of the film, I had to conclude that Ray hasn't survived because of his skill and brains, but just because he's lucky. Just try and build an action figure empire on THAT foundation...)

** "Why, in fifty thousand years, haven't we ever accidentally unearthed and of the thousands of tripod machines that are as big as Seattle's space needle?" (You think some oil driller somewhere would have accidentally hit titanium once or twice?)

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posted by Dr. Denice Hanley, DPM, M.Div. @ 3:05 PM