What bothers me about UFO sightings...

[The Ghost of RubangB]

stof said:

The Ghost of RubangB said:
War of the Worlds was written in 1898. It's still a deus ex machina ending that has nothing to do with the protagonists, which is a big plot flaw, but at least those aliens hadn't been out of their craft yet. In Signs they're walking all over the place, but afraid of water, which is in air. While they're both bad endings, one defies logic and physics and makes me feel stupid.

 

I'd say the big difference between the two is that the main protagonists don't drive the story in War of the Worlds. They're just random people caught up in an Alien invasion attempt. If the ending of the invasion did have to do with the protagonists, it would have really hurt the story.

 

But in Signs, It's a movie about god pulling the strings to spare a single kid from the Alien invasion... which by that reasoning would have been his doing as well. Which is a different complaint from the "water!?" complaint, but a valid one none the less.

 

So yes, Germs in War of the Worlds = logical and fulfilling as an ending

Water and God's will in Signs = I want my money back.

Oh I was just referring to the ages-old plot formula.  If the protagonists aren't involved in the ending, that's a major flaw.  It's like finding out it was a dream or the whole world exploding or something.  There are many movies that play with or ignore the formula, that still kick ass, including the original War of the Worlds.  As you said, the ending does make sense.

You know what one of the biggest plot flaws of all time is?  Where the fuck did the eagles come from in Lord of the Rings?  They save the day 3 times, but they say that they won't just drop the ring in the volcano because they don't like to meddle in human affairs.  Either Tolkein forgot about them or made them liars and/or cowards and never explained it.

stof said:
Ok, so what are some good movies set in current times that revolve around aliens?

There's Contact, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and X-Files - Fight the Future (which I thought was really good).

What else we got?

Damn, that's tough.

E.T.?

I don't remember if Alien Nation (1988) was good or not, but it spawned a TV series and 5 made-for-TV movies, and a video game, and it took place in 1991.

When they were made, both War of the Worlds and Plan 9 From Outer Space took place in the present.

Mars Attacks!.

Independene Day.

John Carpenter's The Thing.

My favorites are porbalby the 3 you mentioned and John Carpenter's The Thing.