Film Review: SUPER 8 (2011) – RE-VISITED

Writer/Director: J.J. Abrams
Running time: 112 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 12

Genre: Mystery/Sci-Fi/Thriller
UK Release date: 5^th August 2011

Watched on Sky+ Saturday 12^th May 2011.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

This is the second time I’ve seen this movie and I have to say I enjoyed it more on the second viewing. I think I can better appreciate just what the director was doing when he allows the pace of events to drop through the middle third if the picture. I will explain all at the end; for now, what follows is more or less the text of my original review from August 2011 with a few tweaks here and there… Enjoy.

A group of kids are making a film; it being the time before video tape, they have to film it on a Super 8 cine camera. The group’s leader, Charles, wants to make a zombie movie for an upcoming competition. He is helped by Joe Lamb, Cary, Martin, Preston, and latterly Alice Dainard. Joe has recently lost his mother in an accident and his dad, a deputy sheriff, is struggling to adapt. He has a thing for Alice, whose dad had worked with Joe’s mother and blames himself for the accident. But I digress… whilst filming one night by the railway tracks; they witness an accident that derails a military train. They capture on film something escaping from one of the carriages, but, of course, they don’t know about that until they can get the film developed (3 days later). By that time the town has gone crazy; disappearances of equipment and people… even all the dogs have left! The military come in to clear up the train wreck and end up evacuating the town. Can these young filmmakers get to the bottom of what’s going on? Well, just in case there is someone out there that hasn’t seen it, I’d better not say. Them spoiler police will be hanging me up to dry.

A very well made film with likable characters, some neat CGI and some very clever effects. I cannot fault the performances, the young cast all did a great job, in particular; Joel Courtney as Joe Lamb, Elle Fanning as Alice Dainard and Riley Griffiths as Charles. All three stood out (for me) and I’m sure they’ll all go far. Also worthy of a mention were; Kyle Chandler as Jackson Lamb (Joe’s dad), Ryan Lee as Cary, Gabriel Basso as Martin and Zach Mills as Preston.

As I’ve already said, I can see what J.J. Abrams was aiming at, and that is the Spielberg films of the late 70’s to the early 80’s. Films like Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) and even the Spielberg-produced, The Goonies (1985). Unfortunately this doesn’t have the warmth or the magic of those films, but it is still a worthy effort. Going back to the middle third of the film, I referred to it at the beginning, J.J.Abrams uses this section to give the film a lot of emotional depth. This is something I hadn’t noticed on my initial viewing, but I can now see just what he was trying to do. Unfortunately it doesn’t quite come off here but even so, by the end I could see its place and it made for a really quite enjoyable film. Some great music, both the original soundtrack by Michael Giacchino and the songs of the period that were chosen. As far as the cinematography goes, I’ve read a lot of comment about “flaring”; this didn’t bother me as much as I thought it would. I like that they show the film the kids were making while the end credits are rolling… It’s pretty neat. Recommended.

My score: 8.3/10 (Original Score: 7.5/10)

IMDb Score: 7.2/10 (based on 126,803 votes at the time of going to press).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1650062/

MetaScore: 72/100: (Based on 41 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 82/100 (based on 257 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 78/100 (based on 96,188 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/super_8/

If you’re crazy enough… You can find me on Facebook at:
http://facebook.com/andy.steel3

FAVOURITE QUOTES:
[first lines]
Mrs. Kaznyk: I'm so worried for that boy.
Mr. Kaznyk: Joe's gonna be okay.
Mrs. Kaznyk: She was everything to him.
Mr. Kaznyk: Jack's gonna step up. He's a good man.
Mrs. Kaznyk: But he's never had to be a father before. I don't think he understands Joe.

Alice Dainard: So how am I supposed to be a zombie?
Joe Lamb: Oh, um... Pretty much be a lifeless ghoul, with no soul. Dead eyes. Scary. Did you ever have Mrs. Mullin?
Alice Dainard: For English? Yeah.
Joe Lamb: Yeah. Kind of like her, but hungry for human flesh. Like she wants to turn somebody into a zombie. 'Cause that's kind of what zombies do.
[Alice practices being a zombie. Soft music playing]
Joe Lamb: Oh, my God, yeah. That's really good.
[Alice slowly approaches Joe. She reaches out for him, clasps his neck and gives him a kiss on the neck and laughs]
Joe Lamb: Not bad.
Alice Dainard: Really?
Joe Lamb: Really.
[Joe's eyes widen unsure what to think of what just happened. Charles notices the kiss... ]

Cary: He's too stoned!
Martin: Oh, drugs are so bad!

Louis Dainard: Where're we going?
Jackson Lamb: We're going to find our kids.

LINKS:
(Note: All were working at the time of going to press)
Official Site: http://www.super8-movie.com/
Trailer:

Film Review: SUPER 8 (2011)

Writer/Director: J.J. Abrams
Running time: 112 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 12A

Genre: Mystery/Sci-Fi/Thriller
UK Release date: 5^th August 2011

Watched at the cinema Saturday 6^th August 2011.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I know this one came out in a lot some territories quite a while ago, but (for some reason) it has only just appeared here on UK screens. As a consequence I have read many reviews praising it, with a few dissenters too. This intrigued me and, when it finally arrived, I decided to go and see it. They were showing it in the little screen upstairs at my local cinema and I had a little trepidation when some teenage girls came in and started complaining about the size of the screen. I shouldn’t have worried; once the film started they settled down. Many likable characters came across the screen and I could see just what J.J. Abrams was aiming at… More of my thoughts later after this brief summary.

A group of kids are making a film; it being the time before video tape, they have to film it on a Super 8 cine camera. The group’s leader, Charles, wants to make a zombie movie for an upcoming competition. He is helped by Joe Lamb, Cary, Martin, Preston, and latterly Alice Dainard. Joe has recently lost his mother in an accident and his dad, a deputy sheriff, is struggling to adapt. He has a thing for Alice, whose dad had worked with Joe’s mother and blames himself for the accident. But I digress… whilst filming one night by the railway tracks; they witness an accident that derails a military train. They capture on film something escaping from one of the carriages, but, of course, they don’t know about that until they can get the film developed (3 days later). By that time the town has gone crazy; disappearances of equipment and people… even all the dogs have left! The military come in to clear up the train wreck and end up evacuating the town. Can these young filmmakers get to the bottom of what’s going on? Well, just in case there is someone out there that hasn’t seen it, I’d better not say. Them spoiler police will be hanging me up to dry.

A very well made film with likable characters, some neat CGI and some very clever effects. I cannot fault the performances, the young cast all did a great job, in particular; Joel Courtney as Joe Lamb, Elle Fanning as Alice Dainard and Riley Griffiths as Charles. All three stood out (for me) and I’m sure they’ll all go far. Also worthy of a mention were; Kyle Chandler as Jackson Lamb (Joe’s dad), Ryan Lee as Cary, Gabriel Basso as Martin and Zach Mills as Preston.

As I’ve already said, I can see what J.J. Abrams was aiming at, and that is the Spielberg films of the late 70’s to the early 80’s. Films like Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) and even the Spielberg-produced, The Goonies (1985). Unfortunately this doesn’t have the warmth or the magic of those films, but it is still a worthy effort. There seems to be quite a long time where not much happens and this disrupts the pacing towards the middle. But even so, by the end I really quite enjoyed it. Some great music, both the original soundtrack by Michael Giacchino and the songs of the period that were chosen. As far as the cinematography goes, I’ve read a lot of comment about “flaring”; this didn’t bother me as much as I thought it would. I like that they show the film the kids were making while the end credits are rolling… It’s pretty neat. Recommended.

My score: 7.5/10

IMDb Score: 7.6/10 (34,903 votes when this review was written).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1650062/

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 82/100 (236 reviews counted when this review was written).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/super_8/

Enjoy!... :)

LINKS:
Official Site: http://www.super8-movie.com/#
Trailer:

Film Review: CLOVERFIELD (2008)

Director: Matt Reeves
Producers: J.J. Abrams & Bryan Burk
Running time: 81 mins (approx)
Certificate (UK): 15

Watched on DVD Saturday 21st November 2009.

PLEASE NOTE: POSSIBLE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

Manhattan, evening, a group of friends are throwing a party for Rob who has got a promotion at work and is moving to Japan. His brother Jason and his girlfriend Lily are throwing the party and Jason has got Hud, one of Rob’s best friends to document event for Rob to take to Japan with him. Hud is interested in one of the guests, Marlena, who doesn’t show much interest in him. Also at the party is Beth, an ex of Rob who he still has feelings for but has turned up with her new boyfriend. As you can tell, it’s gonna be a swell night!

Just after Rob and Beth have just had a big row and she has left, there is, what appears to be, an earthquake and all the power goes out. It comes up again and someone switches on a TV where a reporter says a tanker has exploded on the harbour. Most of the guests rush to the roof to see what’s happening. Another explosion, this time on land heralds the approach of the monster. Deciding it’s not safe on the roof, they rush down to the street where something big is thrown into a building further down and bounces to land just outside. It is the head of the Statue of Liberty! Rob, Jason, Hud, Lily and Marlena decide to try to get out of Manhattan and head for the Brooklyn Bridge. While crossing the bridge, Rob receives a call from Beth saying that she was trapped. At this point the bridge is attacked by the monster and one of their number doesn’t get away. The rest of the film deals with Rob’s attempts to get to Beth and the efforts of the military to defeat the monster. I won’t go into details, don’t want to give too many spoilers away!

It would be hard not to draw parallels with the amateur footage shot during the 9/11 attacks. The scene where a building collapses and a wall of smoke and dust blows down the street is uncannily similar. In fact, the filmmakers admit as much in the extras on the DVD. It is also very hard not to draw parallels with Godzilla, although different, a monster attacking New York is always going to look similar to the 1998 Roland Emmerich film.

I have to take my hat off to the filmmakers for the way the film was shot. It cannot have been easy to stage the footage they got. Also the special effects were pretty good, the main monster and the smaller ones both looked pretty scary. A good job by all of the main cast, Lizzy Caplan as Marlena, Jessica Lucas as Lily, T.J. Miller as Hud, Michael Stahl-David as Rob Hawkins, Mike Vogel as Jason Hawkins and Odette Yustman as Beth McIntyre. Although there was a bit of over-acting going on at times, it was nowhere near as bad as in The Blair Witch Project (1999)!

Over all, a pretty exciting film with lots of edge-of-your-seat action. The first twenty minutes are pretty dull, but once the monster makes an appearance, things really hot up very quickly. Made in a documentary style, similar to The Blair witch Project, as already stated, I quite enjoyed not knowing where the next attack was coming from, or who might be the victim.

My score: 7.9/10

LINKS:
IMDb Site: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1060277/
Official Site: http://www.cloverfieldmovie.com/
Trailer: http://uk.imdb.com/rg/VIDEO_PLAY/LINK/video/imdb/vi78774553/