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Re: When was the last time you saw a really good (current) film in a movie theater?

Last weekend I saw War of the Worlds. Not a perfect film. It suffers from the cliches that characterize Spielberg's work, (the re-use of stock situations from his earlier movies, self consciously theatrical or cutesy lines, self consciously precoscious little kids, self consciously cutesy camera and editing cheats, etc.).

Yet the film is also dense, in the best sense of the word- more so than any film I've seen this year, anyway. Images are sometimes layered in multiple meaning, as Spielberg composes with the logic and structure of poetry and nightmare. References to other films abound, but are never clumsey or out of place. Never just "thrown in", they are organic to the film, and often transcend themselves to enrich the whole.

And this is to say nothing of the obviously first rate craft on display. Impeccable and inventive production design, cinematography, sound, special effects, and often brilliant stageing and editing, with solid performances from virtually all on board.


Ultimately the film feels as though something's missing from the last act- as if a scene or two were shot and then cut. But apart from this and the Spielbergisms I mentioned earlier, it ranks as one of the most formidable movies of at least the last few years. Why this film has been overlooked by so many is puzzling. Its far smarter, far richer, than the failed summer popcorn fodder its being taken for.


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