Posts tagged ‘movies’

OBSERVATIONS & ONPIONS

POST WAR OF THE WORLDS

The other day I watched the movie War of the Worlds made in 1953 based on the famous novel by H. G. Wells written in 1898. I can’t tell you how many times I have watched this movie and consider it one of my favorite if not my favorite science fiction movie. I also enjoy watching the 2005 version of the movie by the same name.
In the latest version the machines are more in tune with those in the novel, supported by tripods. But I think there is a basic flaw. It is hinted in the movie that the machines were buried on the earth maybe a million years ago. Wouldn’t their technology change over that length of time? Would they know the machines were still functional? Why would they think they would one day invade earth? These are just thoughts on the movies and not the purpose of this piece.
I think it is interesting to speculate what happens after the movie ends. Do the Martians launch another attack on earth, this time wearing spacesuits so they won’t die? And the earth has been decimated. How would the rebuild go?
Think Tokyo after World War II. What about the machines? Would man gain great knowledge from these devices improving life. And then there is the possibility of manufacturing new weapons and means of cloaking making the weapons indestructible. Would man use these new weapons for possibly more threats from space. Or more likely, would they wind up using them on each other.

July 20, 2019 at 10:19 pm Leave a comment

COMPARISON OF TWO ERASERHEADS

Recently, I viewed a short clip of the movie, Eraserhead.  Gazing at the main character, Eraserhead, my mind instantly recalled a figure of current times.  The resemblance is uncanny to an existing political figure, who, with respect to his stature in the world, I will not mention (North Korea).

This observation led me to the following question, in relation to the height of the eraser.  Does the political figure make more mistakes than the movie character?  This observation is perhaps of no importance.  I just though I’d share.

April 25, 2016 at 8:05 pm 1 comment

SCIENCE FICTION AND ROMANCE

WAR OF THE WORLDS

 

For my blog, I don’t write long pieces.  I want to make my point and hold my readers’ attention.  (Notice I use the plural, perhaps wishful thinking.)  Not boring those reading my words.

This may gain your attention.  The entry following this discusses a story of haunting romance, a story captivating me most of my life, along with classic science fiction.

I seldom watch movies more than once, but there are exceptions.  Every chance I get I watch War of the Worlds – the original starring Gene Barry.  For those who may have missed it, he also appeared for a moment at the end of the remake starring Tom Cruise.  In some respects the remake has details reflecting H. G. Wells’ classic novel closer to the original movie.  Let me discuss these comments in more detail.

The original, made in the 1950’s, scared the hell out of me when I was a kid.  The way the suspense builds is magnificent.  Unfortunately, after multiple viewings, I have found some incidents which make little sense.  For one, when to original ship lands it is too hot to approach, yet when Gene Barry, and his almost girlfriend use the wooden farm and another ship lands destroying part of the house, the structure does not catch fire.  Also, for the act which finally results in the death of the Martians is that they venture into a new world without any protective gear.  Would a civilization traveling through space take that chance?  Maybe, if you enjoy something, you should not revisit it multiple time, and keeping the love alive.

Now for the remake starring Tom Cruise. The weaknesses are strong, yet also keep true to the book.

If you watch the movie you may remember when Cruise and his daughter are trapped in a cellar with a character played by Tim Robbins.  I could wrong about it being Robbins.  I’ve been wrong before.  I believe the character Robbins represents is a minister who is killed by the protagonist in the book.  This act of murder is hinted strongly in the movie.  But before this event, Robbins tells Cruise the belief is that the Martian machines were buried on the Earth a million years ago.  I should mention that the Martians come to Earth by way of lightning strikes to power up their machines.  Here comes the ‘give me a break’.  It’s like burying a Model T, and in the meantime, your society develops spacecraft able to travel twice the speed of light.  Yet, to save your civilization, you use the Model T.  Don’t you think that the Martians would have used technology which currently existed?

To the remakes credit, they do depict the Martian’s machines closer in the book than what the original movie.  But overall, I feel the original movie is the best.

Now onto the romance.

February 7, 2016 at 10:12 pm 1 comment

A NEW GENRE

While reading the May, 19 issue of Time over breakfast this morning, I came across an article which proved quite exciting for me.  The article discussed  movies released or soon to be  such as Godzilla, Into the Storm and Snowpiercer.

In discussing these movies, a new genre was mentioned, at least new to me, cli-fi.  This is a story of science fiction or fantasy dealing with a climate or environmental factor.

My novel, The Beast Awaits, which I sure you are all getting sick of hearing about, is about stem cell research gone bad leading to global warming.  Is that a fit or what?

I plan to start working on a new query letter and will share it with you soon to see what you think.

 

May 19, 2014 at 6:56 pm 2 comments


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