The "War of The Worlds" comment I almost never got to write

So, I'm driving down the highway. It's raining. There is a couple of cars stopped on the shoulder, with their owners (at least their drivers) engaged in post fender-bender information exchange. This is a red light for me, and I start hunting around for the driver no longer focused on the road, but rather on damage assessments.
And sure enough, the car behind me (about 20 meters) has both driver and front seat passenger with eyes ninety degrees to the road. By the time the driver noticed that I have stopped at the beginning of the next stretch of traffic jam he was going too fast for the distance that was left between us. He slammed on the brakes, and begun to gently slide over the wet road, finally successfully aiming his car away from mine, using a stretch of shoulder to stop. The problem was the car in the lane to our left, who was so surprised by the tail of the car behind me which has slightly intruded into its lane, has lost a little control, and was suddenly aimed at my door. I was in the right lane, about to get off the highway. The car to my left was still going pretty fast, intending to proceed on. Again, a last moment grip on the road caused the car to eventually miss me.
always good to start the day with a brush of death (or at least a trip to the emergency room).
Wonderful.

Now to my "War of the Worlds" comment. This of course relates to Steven Spielberg's film, which I have only recently seen (missed it in the theaters). I have to say I was surprised. Pleasantly. I liked it. I thought it was a good interpretation for the book (I once had a to write a comparative paper of "War of the Worlds" and "Childhood's End", so I have researched my opinion well).
Aside from the obvious differences (US vs UK, children, etc.) I thought the very core of the book and it's spirit were well kept. I like that a little bit of real terror was introduced into the movie, because there is a definite sense of horror in the book.
I feel that Wales' hint that the aliens (Martians, in his case) represent our own future as we become more and more dependent on machines and we place more and more emphasis on developing our laziness, was lost. This is unfortunate, because I believe that this was one of Wales' major points. The aliens in his story are parasite. Leeches, sucking the nutreants directly from Human blood rather than process it in conventional ways. Wales' was trying to warn us that this is where we are heading. Parasites on our environment, and on each other.

Other than that, good movie. I wish Spielberg would make his Sci-Fi films more like that (and less like AI, for example).
I have WOTW on DVD, and intend to watch it again shortly.