In Case You Haven’t Heard: ‘War Of The Worlds,’ Eddie Murphy,

Amazon Prime’s “War of the Worlds” tagline of “It’s worse than you think” is a perfect encapsulation of the movie, Eddie Murphy talks about the film that may have cost him an Oscar and, in a rare occurrence, the horror genre wins the lion’s share of this weekend’s box office earnings in this edition of In Case You Haven’t Heard.

The new version of  “War of the Worlds” is yet another take on the H.G. Wells novel which has been turned into a film . ..three times now, at least at the studio level. The original film in 1953 currently rates a 89 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, the Steven Spielberg-Tom Cruise remake in 2005 received a 76 percent Fresh Rating, and while not perfect, it was an exciting film. The latest version starring Ice Cube is getting only a 3 percent favorable rating. Which could mean the one critic who actually liked it, probably just hit a wrong button, forgot to carry a one, misspelled a word, etc.

More than one critic made reference to the amount of product placement, saying it was overbearing. So, if you see sales actually go down on various products, you’ll know why. One critic calls it a “cinemamatic atrocity for the ages”; another says “HG Wells is probably turning in his grave,” and finally, “it’s irredeemably bad, even for a pandemic movie.” If you want to check it out, you can catch it on Amazon Prime, but bare in mind it’s only getting 3 percent better reviews than a movie you’ve never made. 

A performance in one movie, theoretically should not affect critical praise for a performance in another film, but showbiz is an imperfect science. In last week’s “Hollywood Beats,” I mentioned Eddie Murphy’s recent interview with Complex where he discussed some of his all-time clunker films, which included “The Adventures of Pluto Nash” and “Holy Man,” but not the film “Norbit.” “Norbit” was panned by critics, but Murphy has a soft spot in his heart for it because he wrote it with his brother Charlie. During the interview, it was also revealed Murphy believes that “Norbit” might’ve cost him an Oscar for his performance in “Dreamgirls.”

Murphy was nominated for Best Supporting Actor right before “Norbit” hit the big screens. Murphy thinks, as do critics, it might have cost him an Oscar, even though the actor-comedian says it should not have. Making matters worse, “Norbit” took home multiple Razzies, which are the anti-Oscars. I guess trophies are trophies?

It was a horror-thriller that led the way at the box office this past weekend. Director Zach Creggers’ “Weapons” pulled in $42.5 million at the domestic box office to lead the way. The film, starring Josh Brolin, received rave reviews. In second place was “Freakier Friday” which performed well with $29 million. A good weekend take for what was, not expected to be, a great weekend, with no new major franchise or superhero films. 

It was also a great movie weekend at the Schwaba house, resulting in a couple of “Pete’s Pics.” Here’s one for now … “40 Acres” is a great action and sci-fi film that you can rent to stream. Recently, on “Nite Lite,” Madison film critic Rob Thomas talked about how much he liked the film and gave it a glowing review. As it turns out, he was in good company, as most of his colleagues felt the same way. “40 Acres” received a 90 percent favorable critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 95 percent audience score. The film tells the story of a family living on a farm following plagues and wars where food and farms are precious, forcing a family to fight off cannibals to survive. Grim but uplifting, and tons of well-done action.

Editor’s note: For more movie and entertainment talk, join host Pete Schwaba weeknights from 6 to 8 p.m. for “Nite Lite” on the Civic Media radio network.