Cinema! and Review

I didn't want to use this blog, to post up reviews of Movies and such like, but I thought I would give you all a brief comment on Japanese cinema. I have been twice now, and to be fair it's fairly expensive for the ticket (about 8 pounds, but once you add on the drink and obligatory popcorn it balances out to a night out in the shitty Odeon back home).

You even get your own plastic tray to carry your refreshments and nibbles on, although it is polite to bring your rubbish out, and deposit it with one of the Cinema monkey's. One other thing that is strange about a visit to cinema over here, is that everyone sits where they are supposed to. I've been twice, as I mentioned and the first time, for Batman Begins, I let the sweet lass on reception seat me. Centre Aisle. GREAT! Not too far back or too far forward. FANTASTIC! Problem is EVERYBODY else (thats all 30 people in a 200 + seater cinema) had seats either in the same aisle or behind/in front of me. AND THEY SIT THERE!

So today I picked a seat at the side and enjoyed my popcorn munching, coke slurping movie with wide open peace!

PLEASE BE AWARE THAT MY FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS PLOT SPOILERS!!!!

War of The Worlds

I don't think Spielberg, has ever made a movie like this. Okay, so Schindler's List had moments of human suffering. Jaws had moments of through the fingers horror (and I should know, many a time did this film give me nightmares). Jurassic Park had the jaw dropping, edge of the seat set pieces. But with this film, Spielberg has, in the humble opinion of this film loving freak, truly defined himself as, perhaps the most talented director of his generation. Where Lucas bloats his movies with special effects, De Palma can't seem to differentiate between a good script and a bad one, and Coppola has lived in the shadows of his 1970's masterpieces, good old Steven has grown from spunky youngster, to inventing the Summer blockbuster, to redefining himself as a modern day auteur.

War of the Worlds seems to take everything that we ALL love about a Spielberg movie, and creates one of the most intense apocalyptic visions ever made. This is the Duel Spielberg, remaking Schindler's List via Close Encounters. Only this time the "visitors" are some bad Mofos.

But this isn't a film about effects, although granted, the Tripods are truly hellish. Rising from the ground like Satanic machines the bring fear and death wherever they go. And we are right in the thick of the action. I don't mean Indiana Jones action, but Saving Private Ryan set pieces where we, the audience can feel the heat of their "death rays" and taste the ash and sulphur that rains down.

No, this film is about survival, and at the heart of this movie is a truly magnetic performance from Tom Cruise. In every scene (bar the prologue and epilogue), his performance is dominated by realism. Perhaps this is his best ever performance, but being in a Spielberg Sci Fi movie will probably dent his Oscar chances. His, Ray Ferrier is an asshole. A loner, who only takes his kids visits because of some latent duty that even he doesn't understand. Cruise plays his Ray, as a human, fragile despite his macho, fatherly posturings. Witness the differences in his character from his Testosterone fuelled face off with his son over a rather innocuos game of catch, early in the movie to his complete breakdown in a roadside diner. In the hands of a great director, Cruise is a truly awesome actor.

What also makes Cruise's performance so powerful is the wonderous Dakota Fanning. As his 10 year old daughter she is his reason for survival. His character arc is bound up with her, and his understanding of a person he knows little about, let alone how to care for.

All in all, Messrs Spielberg and Cruise have made the most tense, human Sci Fi parable of the Summer. Listen up George.

9 (OUT OF 10)