Leave it to Steven Spielberg, inventor of the summer-movie season with 1975’s Jaws, to pull off the seemingly impossible: Create a contemporary blockbuster wowing enough to silence rude, modern movie audiences in their seats. This take on the 1898 H.G. Wells’ novel about merciless invading aliens – starring Tom Cruise as an inept dad forced to step up for his kids during the crisis – showcases Spielberg in Jurassic Park rather than A.I. Artificial Intelligence mode. He’s the showman here, not the philosopher, yet I defy
anyone to look away from the terrifying show he puts on the screen.