This summer's blockbuster-to-beat looks to be Steven Spielberg's re-imagining of War of the Worlds, the alien invasion epic penned by H.G. Wells late in the 19th Century. Updated to modern times, the aliens still invade with tripod war machines that spew toxic black smoke and emit lethal heat beams, and as in the 1950s version, the U.S. military is powerless to stop them.

Tom Cruise stars as Ray Ferrier, a blue collar single dad in New Jersey, who must try to save his two children as the aliens obliterate the East Coast.

(A full review will be posted shortly)