Spielberg's world

  During several interviews for a story on the Athens shoot, I encountered an inevitable yet disturbing allusion expected to be included in Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds: images reminiscent of the aftermath of 9/11. As an eye witness to the flight of the second plane over The Meadowlands that Tuesday morning in 2001 (and later a regular witness to the human agony expressed by survivors for weeks on Pier A in Hoboken - candle-lig hting, flower-placing, poster-posting and uncontrollable sobbing - I have great trepidation over the use of similar images planned for some of the scenes in War of the Worlds. For almost a year after the attack on the World Trade Center, I struggled to do my job as a reporter, interviewing survivors and the family of the slain. I still can't watch Independence Day. Intellectually, I realize that no post 9/11 science fiction depicting the end of the world and the massive human tragedy associated with it can avoid the icons of 9/11 - nor can escape...

  Spielberg invades Bayonne Speculating on another man's art is always risky business. First, you run the risk of being proven wrong once the curtain is drawn on the silver screen. Second, with genius like Steven Spielberg's, it is difficult for more ordinary minds like mine to grasp all that he is seeking to do. Third, others - including the artist - might perceive such speculation as an effort to spoil the film for others, uncovering surprises the film-maker has intended for his audience. Of course, being proven wrong is part of the thrill - like taking guesses at some elaborate riddle which can only be unraveled when the film opens later. And with a film maker like Spielberg, the riddle provides even greater challenges - although not completely insurmountable. His earlier films provide many clues to what we can expect in his upcoming production of War of the Worlds. He frequently repeats images, although he often uses techniques in different ways. While movie companies like ...

  Spielberg invades Bayonne I believe everything is connected. This is why I was so taken with Carl Jung when I was young. Almost no coincidence surprises me for long, since deep down I do not believe in coincidence. So wandering around Bayonne mourning Roy Scheider I was startled at first to find a connection in Bayonne to Steven Spielberg's classic film, Jaws, yet not completely surprised. Since Scheider, Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfus were on my mind that dreary rainy day. The news of Scheider's death had hit me harder than I ever expected. Scheider not Shaw or Dreyfus connected with me the first time I saw Jaws - this despite the fact that I went in looking for Dreyfus since his character in American Graffiti had brought back memories of my uncle's teen gang growing up. Born in 1951, I had ached for Uncle Ted's life so well depicted in the Lucas film: my uncle's friend's Jimmy McNamara and Nicky Fraulo were the older brothers of my childhood friends. We ful...