War of the Worlds and Spielburg's Aliens

I saw War of the Worlds last night, and was pleasantly surprised, it was quite good. I've read the book several times, and it's certainly one of my favorite stories. However, seeing the previews for the Spielburg movie, I was getting very worried about a number of things. I was afraid that they would try too hard, do to much overacting and generally do a movie on the level of Independance Day, which is about the same story. Where ID4 had the story, it had horrible characterization and acting.
Spielburg has completeed the gamut with aliens now. Starting with some interesting, if somewhat unintersed aliens in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, then to very friendly ones in ET, aliens with a plan in Taken, and now Aliens that are out to take over the world. He does a very goofd job with making them freaky in this one, even if he doesn't explain their reasonings.
It's interesting to see that Spielburg has gone from the good to bad aliens. I almost wonder if he has become more cynical with time. If his Ffilms are anything to go by, it's certainly a possibility.

Also, Barnes and Nobel just released the cover for Karen Traviss's upcoming novel, The World Beyond. It's amazing.