6.17.2011

SUPER 8.

Super 8 gives us the story of a group of kids (the only one of which you'll know is Elle Fanning) who are making a monster movie in 1979. One's dad (Kyle Chandler) is the deputy of their small town, and his wife died a few months back, so the kid hangs with one of his friends' houses more instead. Then there's a big train crash as the kids are filming their movie at the station, and something escapes. Weird stuff starts happening around town. That's about it.

I know I say this a lot, and have been criticized for it such, but I honestly have almost nothing to say about this movie. I liked it fair enough coming out of it, but the more I've thought about it (with almost 4-5 days now to do so), the more "blah" I feel. I still feel it's a well made and overall pretty good flick. It's just not sticking with me for some reason. So because of this, I am going to list 8 things about the movie and give my thoughts on these 8 things in exactly 8 words. OK? Here goes:

1) Steven Spielberg: It's very clear this movie was Spielberg inspired.
2) Elle Fanning: I usually love her; she fell flat here.
3) Other Acting: It was pretty good. The characters were believable.
4) Unexplained Things: Dogs running away? Magnetic attraction? Kidnapped people? Etc.
5) Truck Driver: How the *bleep* did he survive getting hit?
6) Visuals: The cinematography and CGI were pretty dang good.
7) Pacing: Could have been tighter; sometimes a bit slow.
8) Final Thoughts: It was good but didn't leave me amazed.


I Am McLovin!

6 comments:

  1. You are on of the few that is even half way critical of this. I thought is was appalling and was quite disgusted by it!! I just can't believe the number of people are praising it so highly as it just isn't a good movie at all.

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  2. I went with Rachel to celebrate her birthday. I wouldn't have seen it otherwise. Yes, you can see Spielberg's influence. Rachel & I laughed. A lot. We thought the kids were fun to watch. The adults---not so much. Pleasant enough movie. Nothing groundbreaking or memorable.

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  3. Appalling? Disgusting? Oh, the irony, given that Nick has watched nothing but truly vile flicks this past month. But sure, Super 8 is definitely offensive. *scratches head*

    Note to Nick: If you have nothing to say, either don't write a review, or, if you feel compelled to write *something* (I had a similar philosophy once upon a time, where I felt I needed to review every movie I saw theatrically), what's wrong with getting creative (haiku, something like Rachel's Social Network review, something like my Stick Figure drawings, etc.) or just writing a couple sentences or a single paragraph (that doesn't include the words "I have almost nothing to say about this movie"). Do you have a word minimum as well? I'm just thinking something like (paraphrasing your words):

    "Effective-yet-unspectacular sci-fi spectacle from wannabe-Spielberg J.J. Abrams, who perhaps apes his master a bit too much for my liking. Great child acting and a zeal for filmmaking permeate what might have otherwise been a rote actioner with a muddled, boring creature."

    Sorry in advance if you didn't want the unsolicited advice. But I'm big brother, yo!

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  4. Dylan: I thought I *was* doing something creative with my 8-things/8-words format. Guess not...

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  5. You're right - I suppose you were.

    I guess I got stuck on that evil sentence again. :) Perhaps I would have taken better notice of it had the intro paragraph not been there. Sorry.

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  6. Also... I agree that it is pretty funny the "appalling" and "disgusting" comment was there about this movie considering all the other flicks I've reviewed this month...

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