War of the Worlds [H.G. Wells (1866-1946) & Steven Spielberg] - 2005

Tom Cruise is having a very bad day in New York.  His ex-wife has dropped off the kids for the weekend, the weather is turning bad, and some alien tripods have declared war on Earth.  Not only that, his daughter (Dakota Fanning) is eating hummus and his teenage son has become a Red Sox fan.  L. Ron Hubbard just did not prepare Tom for this scenario.  He finally decides to steal his neighbor's car and is somehow able to drive through the streets of New York during the worst traffic jam in history.  Meanwhile, the tripods are zapping everyone in sight with incredible accuracy.

For some reason, Tom and his skittish daughter shack up with a survivalist (Tim Robbins) who has located his arsenal in a basement just below alien central command.  By now, the aliens have stopped zapping humans and have decided to invite them to lunch (if you know what I mean).  Tom and Dakota hitch a ride with one of the alien machines which looks like a really bad decision until Tom remembers that he has a hand grenade in his pocket.  There is a lot of running in this movie and Mr. Cruise is the luckiest alien zap-dodger of them all.  Fortunately for mankind, the aliens have health plans that do not cover pre-existing conditions. [JAM 8/23/2009 - tv movie]