Looking to the skies
Jul. 7th, 2005 06:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skyringRaining again! Woo-hoo! Long may it rain over us.
We went to see War of the Worlds last night. I felt a little like a milestone had been passed, because the kids sat off by themselves. Not that I was complaining, and perhaps "kids" isn't the right word to use for two tall teenagers, but still, a third of my life has been spent with these two and much as I like to see them making steady steps towards independence, I cannot help but fondly remember the two lively little children who used to sit "in the middle of the herd".
Perhaps we'll have grandchildren to look forward to in due course. How the years fly by!
The movie itself required a certain suspension of belief, but was very enjoyable. The special effects were spectacular, as you'd expect. There was a palpable sense of tension in many of the scenes, especially in the "landing scene", where the family hides in terror as the storm rages outside. We don't know what's coming but we are sure it's not going to be good.
I don't think I'm giving away too much when I mention that the first scene, of small organisms "swarming and multiplying in a drop of water" elicited a "Wow" moment from me when I realised what H G Wells had been referring to in his novel. He had tied the opening and closing together very neatly indeed, and for thirty-five years I hadn't noticed it. I've read the novel a couple of times - I was ten or so when I first got into it - and listened to the Jeff Wayne album countless times where the exact same words are used, but it wasn't until I saw those microscopic creatures on the screen in front of me that the penny dropped.
The plot itself is pretty much what you'd expect. A lot of time spent huddling in cellars, appropriate as the plot has some really big holes in it. But that's OK, as the book was a bit of a stretch as well.
We went to see War of the Worlds last night. I felt a little like a milestone had been passed, because the kids sat off by themselves. Not that I was complaining, and perhaps "kids" isn't the right word to use for two tall teenagers, but still, a third of my life has been spent with these two and much as I like to see them making steady steps towards independence, I cannot help but fondly remember the two lively little children who used to sit "in the middle of the herd".
Perhaps we'll have grandchildren to look forward to in due course. How the years fly by!
The movie itself required a certain suspension of belief, but was very enjoyable. The special effects were spectacular, as you'd expect. There was a palpable sense of tension in many of the scenes, especially in the "landing scene", where the family hides in terror as the storm rages outside. We don't know what's coming but we are sure it's not going to be good.
I don't think I'm giving away too much when I mention that the first scene, of small organisms "swarming and multiplying in a drop of water" elicited a "Wow" moment from me when I realised what H G Wells had been referring to in his novel. He had tied the opening and closing together very neatly indeed, and for thirty-five years I hadn't noticed it. I've read the novel a couple of times - I was ten or so when I first got into it - and listened to the Jeff Wayne album countless times where the exact same words are used, but it wasn't until I saw those microscopic creatures on the screen in front of me that the penny dropped.
The plot itself is pretty much what you'd expect. A lot of time spent huddling in cellars, appropriate as the plot has some really big holes in it. But that's OK, as the book was a bit of a stretch as well.
