• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Super 8 -- Grading and Discussion Thread

Well, I loved it. It wasn't perfect, and it was plenty derivative, but it had just enough "this is what movies used to feel like" to make me enjoy it.
 
Super 8 proves what I knew all along. J. J. Abrams should stop making sci-fi blockbusters and start making small independent films.

The best part of Super 8 has to be just the kids making their film. Why not just focus on that. The whole alien back story is pointless. I could make the same argument about Cloverfield or even Lost, the characters are far more interesting than the Sci-fi weirdness he dreams up.

As a bonus, maybe we get a decent director for Star Trek 2.
 
This movie was basically a remake of ET except this time ET is angry because we are keeping him from going home and he looks like a tarantuala.
 
A-

Went to the early bird matinee today. I was expectin' the worst about the monster thanks to some hater spoiler posts, but it wasn't as bad as I was thinkin' it could be.

Kyle Chandler was pretty good as the deputy.

Gotta say, though, I couldn't help but think, girls who grow up with daddy issues become strippers & porn stars, while boys who grow up with daddy issues become movie directors & producers.
 
The alien story and to some extent the (rogue?) military unit's antics were not the main point of the story. They were almost just background to the real story, which was the kids learning to survive. It's all summed up when Joe tells the creature, "Bad things happen. You can still live." This is exactly what he needed to tell himself (and Alice), too.

I really loved this movie. The kids' dialog and their preoccupation with the mundane in the midst of tragedy and destruction was spot-on.

This is one movie where I'd love to see what happens next.
The kids might grow from the experience, but I really can't see the two fathers suddenly becoming competent parents just because they shared some words in a car together and then hugged their kids. And who paid for the reconstruction of the town?
 
Re: Super **** Grading and Discussion Thread

With the high grades and good comments this movie got, I decided to see it in the theatre afterall and I'm glad I did. It was a good movie that took us back to the days of the Goonies-style adventure movies, and oddly enough, that made it different from today's usual fare. I especially liked that they put the kids' completed film in the closing credits. That was a nice touch. Oh, and I don't remember seeing any lens flares. I didn't spot any when I remembered to look out for them, nor did any catch my attention.

Starbreaker said:
And... gotta love the guy named Breen in the Kelvin station! :techman:
Click to expand...
The number 47 also appeared. It was spray-painted on something.
 
Re: Super **** Grading and Discussion Thread

Here's an interesting blurb I found...

While some people (namely me) are excited for J.J. Abrams' upcoming monster thriller Super 8, the director may have made a marketing error in requesting that visuals and plot points be kept mostly under wraps. It seems the movie, which opens Friday, is not tracking very well, possibly because Abrams has refused to show a glimpse of the film's monster, which is obviously central to the story. So that's what's what nowadays. Nobody wants any mystery, they just want everything shown and explained in the trailer so the movie is just a bigger, longer version of that trailer.
Click to expand...
Is Super 8 Too Mysterious?
 
Re: Super **** Grading and Discussion Thread

Agent Richard07 said:
Oh, and I don't remember seeing any lens flares. I didn't spot any when I remembered to look out for them, nor did any catch my attention.
Click to expand...

There were a few parts of the film with them, but it wasn't nearly as continuous as in Star Trek.
 
Re: Super **** Grading and Discussion Thread

Agent Richard07 said:
Here's an interesting blurb I found...

While some people (namely me) are excited for J.J. Abrams' upcoming monster thriller Super 8, the director may have made a marketing error in requesting that visuals and plot points be kept mostly under wraps. It seems the movie, which opens Friday, is not tracking very well, possibly because Abrams has refused to show a glimpse of the film's monster, which is obviously central to the story. So that's what's what nowadays. Nobody wants any mystery, they just want everything shown and explained in the trailer so the movie is just a bigger, longer version of that trailer.
Click to expand...
Is Super 8 Too Mysterious?
Click to expand...

If it had been obvious from the trailer what the mystery was about, I more than likely wouldn't have gone to see it.
 
Re: Super **** Grading and Discussion Thread

Goji said:
Agent Richard07 said:
Here's an interesting blurb I found...

While some people (namely me) are excited for J.J. Abrams' upcoming monster thriller Super 8, the director may have made a marketing error in requesting that visuals and plot points be kept mostly under wraps. It seems the movie, which opens Friday, is not tracking very well, possibly because Abrams has refused to show a glimpse of the film's monster, which is obviously central to the story. So that's what's what nowadays. Nobody wants any mystery, they just want everything shown and explained in the trailer so the movie is just a bigger, longer version of that trailer.
Click to expand...
Is Super 8 Too Mysterious?
Click to expand...

If it had been obvious from the trailer what the mystery was about, I more than likely wouldn't have gone to see it.
Click to expand...

Personally I wish it HAD been a monster, or something with a more supernatural basis. Would have been a lot more interesting than the rather humdrum creature we did get.
 
I LOVED it. Yes, derivative, formulaic in parts, but this movie showed that JJ CAN do a movie that isn't all action all the time.

I loved the relationships, (the kids were awesome)~

Didn't like the alien's too human eyes {/nitpick}

Did you know that the kids in the movie actually wrote and filmed THEIR movie themselves? I think that's cool.
 
Re: Super **** Grading and Discussion Thread

davejames said:
Agent Richard07 said:
Oh, and I don't remember seeing any lens flares. I didn't spot any when I remembered to look out for them, nor did any catch my attention.
Click to expand...

There were a few parts of the film with them, but it wasn't nearly as continuous as in Star Trek.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it was nearly as bad as Trek but they were there, most notable in the train station scene and along those lines there seemed to be times where a bright, lens-flare causing, white light was positioned in an odd place for such a light to be.
 
just got back from seeing this. i thought it was great. loved the 80s movie feel it had, reminded me of Goonies meets Close Encounters.
 
Meh. It was OK until the final act. The kids were the best part and the making of their film was fun. The girl especially was fantastic.

But the evil/incompetent military was beyond cliche and dumb. The alien was so stupid looking and such obvious SOD-breaking CGI. We should never have seen what it looked like. It shouid have hidden in the lens flares.

Then to ask me to sympathize with this indestructible ILM reject that slaughters "badguys" and innocents alike (the latter for lunch) and cheer as it heads for home while the dad who's been a dick the whole movie finally hugs his son ... movie ending FAIL. Hey, Mom, this really personal possession of yours? That was salvaged from your broken corpse. Yeah, I'm going to let it be taken by the alien that just destroyed the town and murdered half a dozen townspeople and who knows how many soldiers and airmen. Because it's cathartic. I guess. I don't know. Just go with it. Pretend this is as good as ET.

*Sigh* How could those children not be horrified by the alien EATING PEOPLE?

The simple fact of victimization does not make the victim good or inherently sympathetic. The alien got treated like shit, sure, but its reaction was to murder and eat people. It says it only wants to leave through a mind meld so, I guess that's it, it's telling the truth? It wasn't an advanced scout for an invasion or looking for a light human snack on the way home? It's OK that it murdered townspeople or that the train conductor was murdered by a terrorist (the science teacher) during the train derailment which set it free?
 
the father giving the son a hug, and then letting go of the necklace was symbolic. earlier the dad had finally come to terms with the man he blamed for his wife's death. letting go of the necklace was the son moving past his mother's death, as the father had done.

to me, the movie had a message of, bad things happen to people. you have to forgive them and move on. thats what the people did, its what the alien did. thats just my take on the whole thing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top