Super 8 Movie Discussion Thread

[CB2001]

Super 8 is the film format the kids were shooting in.

I don't plan on watching the film, but with the title of the film, they've practically set up the idea for potential titles for sequels if they go for it (the first is called "Super 8." Part 2 could be "Super 16" and Part 3 could be "Super 35")

 

[NoTsOsErIoUs]

Sometimes it'd hard to Super 8 fact from fiction.

 

[CB2001]

A great and funny review from Spill.com: YouTube - ‪Super 8 : Spill.com Movie Reviews‬‏

 

[blip]

Sometimes it'd hard to Super 8 fact from fiction.

Funny you should bring that up. Abrams, Spielberg and the people on the RPF were all characters in the movie I watched.
Look a small silver cube, bet the RPF guys will have a job figuring out how to make that, Wow Stevie finally got the train crash he's dreamed of since he was making home movies as a kid...that sort of thing.

 

[CaptCBoard]

Knightdriver: I know what Super 8 is, but I don't know why it is the title of the film since the kid's film had nothing to do with the overall story.

I think my point was missed. Why do you guys find it acceptable to be treated like idiots? Personally, I know good movies can be made because I've seen them. But, 'Hollywood' is being rewarded with tons of money when they present dreck like Super 8, Green Lantern, Battle LA, Skyline, Cloverfield, Independence Day, The Wild, Wild West, the remakes of The Day the Earth Stood Still, Godzilla and The Blob-- and bunch of other movies I can't think of right now. I know for a fact that when a script is reviewed, the reader has been instructed to count the pages between set-pieces. If the intervals fall into the formula, then they read the script for content. These guys needed a battle at the end, to generate a bunch of explosions, but there was no one to fight. So they stick a line of dialog into the film that says their ammunition is going off all by itself and they are shooting at each other! Imagine getting Forbidden Planet off the ground today. It would not make it.

I don't mind scifi pictures that don't pretend to be intelligent works of art. I will never complain about those. Super 8 is supposed to be top-of-the-heap. I have given up on Spielberg ever making another good scifi movie and I have been leary of JJ Abrams ever since the ending of LOST aired. Cloverfield was just awful (Blair Witch with a huge budget) and his Star Trek reboot should be booted from the planet. A bridge that looks like an Apple Store and shooting Engineering in a brewery? I'm passing on his Khan movie, which is the next Star Trek picture.

I want entertainment, thoughtful intriguing crafty and intelligent-- not simply 'fun'. I want to be glad I saw a film, not just shrug and say it was 'fun'. I want to discuss a film with respect to its strengths, not its short-comings. Super 8 has excellent cinematography, great sound and passable music. They paid more attention to the homages inserted into the film than to assuring it was worth the effort. This may have been an imagining of what those kids could have done with a budget and professional crew, but the story is still whoppingly asinine. I just cringe when I think of the film I could make with the $50 Million bucks they spent on this!

Scott

 

[blip]

I don't mind scifi pictures that don't pretend to be intelligent works of art. I will never complain about those. Super 8 is supposed to be top-of-the-heap.
Scott

What? Who told you that? It just a Super 8 film about some small town kids and a monster movie. Books are where you will find the sort of thought stimulating content you seek. P.K.Dick.
You don't hear the Director yell Idea!, he yells Action!

Did the scrpt get a re-write by a professional writer? It could have done with a bit more work.
The intergration between the kids story and the monster story could be refined. The interlocking had room to go. But yeah, that texture on the cave walls looked cool.

 

[TCB]

I just saw this.
If you have already seen Stand By Me, Goonies, Aliens, ET and Cloverfield....then you have already seen this movie.

 

[Kerr Avon]

I just saw this.
If you have already seen Stand By Me, Goonies, Aliens, ET and Cloverfield....then you have already seen this movie.

And if you've seen "Star Wars" you've seen any World War 2 fighter plane movie. Or if you have seen "The Accused" you've seen any other movie that has a lawyer in it.

Really, try to contribute here if you're new.

 

[blip]

I just saw this.
If you have already seen Stand By Me, Goonies, Aliens, ET and Cloverfield....then you have already seen this movie.

You do have a point, you didn't notice anything new in this film?
What about the cubes? Or the way the monster moved? Or the focus on the subculture of home movie making?

 

[Skalen Fehl]

Hmm, saw this movie today. Again. Loved it even more. One thing I noticed. It was set in the Summer of 1979 (date on Tombstone of kid's mom when he visits the cemetery and school sign that said "Have a great Summer"). The silver cubes were referred to as "silver Rubik's Cubes" by the Deputy, I believe. Rubik's Cube wasn't even popularized until the Summer of 1980! Before that it was known as the Magik Cube in Europe and barely made it's international debut in Jan & Feb of 1980!! My intelligence as a nerd has been insulted! :lol

Found another Easter Egg in case anyone missed it. The Deputy's home office has a bookshelf and one of the books (white cover) had large black print that read "Armaggedon". JJ Abrams co-wrote the movie, "Armaggedon."

On a personal note, it was cool to see Vader's Tie Fighter hanging in the kid's room. But one would think there would be much more Star Wars influence in these kids' lives rather than zombies, which would have made their "sci-fi" home movie even more cool with a bonafide Alien in their town stealing car parts to put its Millenium Falcon spaceship back together to get home in time for happy hour at Mos Eisley's Cantina. :cool

The Kelvin Gas station sign...Lots of Kelvin references. For example, the USS Kelvin was the Starship that George Kirk piloted in the opening scene of the latest Star Trek movie, which was directed by Abrams.

 

[Clutch]

I could barely sit through it. May have more impact if I was 15.

 

[blip]

I could barely sit through it. May have more impact if I was 15.

Huh? the film was only two mins long? Oh, do you mean that "the making of" doco that they ran before the main Zombie feature?

 

[azslogan]

Wife and I saw it to tonight and were underwhelmed. Too bad, could have been interesting. My wife described it as ET updated.

 

[Unresponsible]

Just saw it; thought it was sweet, thoughtful, intriguing...funny in the right places, scary at the right moments.
Continuity errors...meh. I was sufficiently immersed in the 80's Everytown setting and even more importantly, the story being told.

The subtext was sharp and intelligent and only staggered in a few spots, mostly because there was so much happening that it was hard to focus on one thing completely.
As a general rule, I prefer a simple story, told well over something overly laden with complexities; this movie will probably join the small list of films that are exceptions to that rule.

Like a lot of folks I consider films like ET, Close Encounters, Gremlins etc to movies of personal significance; stuff that I remember fondly from childhood. Super 8 seemed in every way like a loving tribute.

 

[decaturvader]

Without knowing jack about this movie except review comments comparing it to E.T. or The Goonies; my son and I went to see it last night.
Not 15 minutes into it; I knew this was my show for the year...and nothing had even really happened yet LOL
What I mean is; the cinematography and emotional hook you get from the very start. There are going to be a bunch of griping when this comes out on BluRay because of all the beautiful film grain...I loved it! I am so sick of perfectly clean movies these days...it was a nice change to see something aged.
Aged. Interesting word I choes there....
IF the show was overrun with CGI environments, well, kudos to them because i couldn't tell. The CGI wasn't over-the-top and shoved in your face, down your throat, and out your...well, you know..
Someone complained about the military using a train to haul its payload...and it took a crash for the payload to escape...well cripes bro...it is a movie. Enjoy it, don't knit-pick ;-)
This show was time travel for a person like me.
A fella approaching 40 next year...damn...if they'd only brought in some crush velvet ropes and wood panelling in the lobby to give me vintage smell; then I'd swore I was back in 1981 at the local theater.
This movie was a nice change..not a blatent, in-your-face remake that reached me on an emotional level because of what I walked away with.
I definetely escaped reality for a couple hours.

Movie of the year for me.

 

[joker-scar]

I think some of you guys take things way too seriously.

It's film...it "is" serious. :thumbsup (there's no "serious" face icon?)
mindless entertainment should be left to sports events. :lol ha how he ha...

 

[Maelstrom]

And then there is the idea that a single pickup truck colliding head on with a 170 ton locomotive would cause a massive train wreck. The locomotive would not have even shuddered in that impact.

Okay, I know more about trains than most people. But, I like my films to make sense.

Personally, I'm surrounded every day by things that "can" happen and it gets more boring with each passing year.

When I go to the movies I want to see the things that "can't" happen. I am more than happy to suspend disbelief to enjoy something.

That is something that I just can't seem to get over when people talk about movies. Why would you want to pay money to go and see a drab "docu-drama" that adheres to the rules of physics?

Yeah, I want sharks that can pull the rear end off a boat and then get blown up with a scuba tank.

Yeah, I want swords made out of light that cut through anything except each other.

Yeah, I want people to fly thru the air when they take a shotgun blast to the chest.

Yeah, I want Nazis chasing after my archaeologists.

Movies to me are NOT about the practical. They are about the fantastical.

Don't get me wrong...I also want a good story to go along with all of this, but that is exactly 1/2 of the escape from reality a movie provides. The rest is the visual stuff that may be impossible, but it keeps me entertained nonetheless.

That being said...I thoroughly enjoyed Super 8 and will gladly shell money out again when it hits the retail shelf.


Edit: I realize that Nazis chasing archaeologists is not against the laws of physics, but that is what I feel they should do

 

[protokev DMD]

Thats one of the best posts ive read in a long time. I like to escape reality when i go to a movie, not hit in the face with it. I want to have fun and not be hit with some hard life changing story that is more depressing than anything. if i want that i will think about my day to day, lol.

sometime i wonder if some people just go to the movies to give themselves something to complain about to their friend

 

[Kerr Avon]

Personally, I'm surrounded every day by things that "can" happen and it gets more boring with each passing year.

When I go to the movies I want to see the things that "can't" happen. I am more than happy to suspend disbelief to enjoy something.

I agree, to a point. A shark that tears off the back of a wooden boat, sure. A shark that jumps straight up out of the water and grabs a jumbo jet that is flying thousands of feet up in the air, not so much. That being said, I didn't have any problem with a train derailing after a truck hit it. In real life, trains have derailed after hitting ANIMALS on the tracks. It's unlikely, but a derailment after hitting a truck is plausible.

 

[wooten]

Without knowing jack about this movie except review comments comparing it to E.T. or The Goonies; my son and I went to see it last night.
Not 15 minutes into it; I knew this was my show for the year...and nothing had even really happened yet LOL
What I mean is; the cinematography and emotional hook you get from the very start. There are going to be a bunch of griping when this comes out on BluRay because of all the beautiful film grain...I loved it! I am so sick of perfectly clean movies these days...it was a nice change to see something aged.
Aged. Interesting word I choes there....
IF the show was overrun with CGI environments, well, kudos to them because i couldn't tell. The CGI wasn't over-the-top and shoved in your face, down your throat, and out your...well, you know..
Someone complained about the military using a train to haul its payload...and it took a crash for the payload to escape...well cripes bro...it is a movie. Enjoy it, don't knit-pick ;-)
This show was time travel for a person like me.
A fella approaching 40 next year...damn...if they'd only brought in some crush velvet ropes and wood panelling in the lobby to give me vintage smell; then I'd swore I was back in 1981 at the local theater.
This movie was a nice change..not a blatent, in-your-face remake that reached me on an emotional level because of what I walked away with.
I definetely escaped reality for a couple hours.

Movie of the year for me.

This sums up my feels exactly. I'm quite sure it's not a perfect movie, but it is a perfect love letter to the cinema I grew up with. Watching it, I felt myself smiling from the first few minutes all the way through. It was as if I had been transported back to the local duplex for any number of early Spielberg films.