So Much For Summer Blockbusters

OK, so Fantastic Four wasn't the best thing since sliced bread and even getting Jessica Alba to strip down to her underwear wasn't gonna help them much.

But even so, I still found it a better experience than War of the Worlds

It was just so mind-numbing. And if I thought Fantastic Four was linear, it was only because I hadn't seen War of the Worlds yet.

If I thought there was not enough character development in Fantastic Four, it was only because I hadn't seen Ray Freer and his bratty kids. I felt no sympathy for Ray whatsover. And his two kids? At times, I wanted to throttle the hell out of them. At least I was still rooting for geeky Richards to get the girl in Fantastic Four (ok, maybe I am biased.. I like the geek to win)

And geez, man! Ray, forgawdsakes, tell the kids what da f**k happened. Why all this cloak and dagger? Kids need reassurance. Yelling at them to stop yelling doesn't help. Even a non-parent like me could tell this. Couldn't really get his motivation at all. Not enough communication in this world at times, methinks.

You'd think putting Spielberg and Cruise in the same movie would be a surefire formula for success.

But you'd be wrong. Dead wrong.

The only upside is as one forum post put it: at least Spielberg didn't feel compelled to make Cruise the hero who saved the day in one fell swoop. That said, he still needed to make Cruise take down ONE of the damn tripods.