Monday Morning Talkback: Let's Hear About Super 8
We've already got a bit of a discussion going in yesterday's installment of Weekend Receipts, but in keeping with grand Movieline tradition, let's start the conversation in earnest today with a new round of Monday Morning Talkback: What did you think of J.J. Abrams' Super 8? [Needless to say, spoilers ahead...]
This is just the kind of film we should be discussing after the fact -- a '70s/'80s homage that seems to have many viewers today reconciling their expectations with what they actually saw in theaters. Among the specific subjects up for debate:
· Did Abrams manage to advance the medium while paying such loyal tribute to films like E.T., The Goonies, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind?
· Elle Fanning is the real deal, right? What about the other kids, including lead Joel Courtney?
· The creature: Yay or nay?
· The ending: Yay or nay?
· Was the kids' completed zombie movie ultimately better than Super 8 itself?
· After a strong debut, what would you say is Super 8's long-term box-office potential?
...and/or anything else you think should be addressed. The floor is yours!
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Comments
Did Abrams manage to advance the medium while paying such loyal tribute to films like E.T., The Goonies, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind? ·
The movie just missed the mark. The third act was pretty brutal.
Elle Fanning is the real deal, right?
Yes, stole the movie.
What about the other kids, including lead Joel Courtney?·
Bysides the main character i felt like the rest of the kids were just filler, no story, etc.
The creature: Yay or nay?·
Big nay
The ending: Yay or nay?·
The locket was pretty good, but the, "hey just go home to the alien was so weak"
Was the kids’ completed zombie movie ultimately better than Super 8 itself?·
100% yes, would of payed for that
After a strong debut, what would you say is Super 8’s long-term box-office potential?
Not great, was not packed on sunday, althought with the green latern comming anything is possible. No
I loved the movie. It met my expectations and more.
I think J.J. made a great homage to the 80s and added a little more grit to them (there was certainly more blood in this and the kids cursed at a more realistic level then say the kids in E.T. or Goonies).
I thought all the kids were fantastic, especially the young Fanning.
The creature was fine, I'm glad we didn't have to see it too much though.
Perhaps the mix of the kids coming of age story and the monster movie could have been blended a little better (I think he was going for a Jaws sort of thing there) but in the end I'm glad we spent more time with the kids, cause I cared about their story much more. But the monster and the end provided some fun tense moments and a great fantastical element to the film.
Loved seeing the kid's movie during the end credits.
I don't know, I was just thouroughly satisfied with it. I'm usually more judgemental on things like this, but it really did feel like those movies I grew up with in a lot of ways. It made me feel good, and that is what I wanted.
I sure hope it holds on to the top box-office spot for at least one more weekend and continues to perform well. I think it deserves it and more movies like this deserve to be made.
No, maybe, maybe, nay, nay, yes, middling. C- Would have much rather been watching a rerelease of E.T.
>> The movie just missed the mark. The third act was pretty brutal.
Yeah, I mean, this is the Achilles Heel. I would recommend the first two acts and the zombie film to anybody; I sincerely liked them and thought portions were absolutely great. That stuff in the cave, though? The monster subsists on people, but we root for its safe return to the cosmos because it spares the lead? What was wrong with the other snacks? Just totally lost me. But hey.
I still think Green Lantern is a washout waiting to happen. Super 8 will stick for a little while.
The third act scene where weapons are firing in all directions is an apt metaphor for what JJ was trying to do by that stage. That he still manages to hit most targets is to be savored.
While Super 8's most obvious homages are to ET and other feelgood Spielberg cinema of the 1980s, it also nods its head in the direction of the scarier side of the genre back then. All that swirling stuff down the street can't help bring Poltergeist to mind. But the real reference is found in that the creature's trying to build a spaceship in a cave, which recalls The Thing. As such, I found it entirely satisfying that the filmmakers let it munch on a few puny humans. As for justification, I mean, why not? We made it what it was with our torture, etc.
Trying to unify the two great alien sci-fi films of 1982 - ET and The Thing - into one flick's no mean feat but Super 8 does a pretty good job.
The kids were great.
Box office wise, I'd hope this continues to draw a crowd because, pastiche or no, it has much more heart than most blockbuster summer fare.
The Super 8 film at the end was terrific: a very good note on which to send the audience out. The geek version of a cast-does-a-dance montage at the end of a romantic comedy.
What was very funny was listening to parents trying to explain to their kids how this whole "Super 8" format worked. "So... you had to send these little things off before you could watch them? Whaaaaaa?"
I thought Joel Courtney was actually quite good, and Elle Fanning was excellent. The other kids acted very much like kids, which I enjoyed. The first half was much more entertaining than the second half, although the alien was surprisingly OK. But why do they have to overdo everything? I mean, my God, that train wreck was, well, a train wreck -- why did the kids have to be so close, and why did there have to be so much over-the-top damage, yet the car and the camera pretty much are intact? And none of the kids got hurt -- even the driver stayed alive? It could have used a little moderation, although after seeing the trailer for "Transformers," this movie is absolutely subdued. And yes, the zombie movie was much more entertaining than this entire movie, although part of the reason why is because the cast had endeared themselves to us through the course of the bigger movie.
I think Abrams was giving us a look at what might have happened if the government had kept and experimented on ET. I thought the main two kids were great, the rest sort of blurred together. The adult leads were totally underused and could have been played by anybody. Not a bad movie, but not a classic.
EXCELLENT !! Saw this movie with my mom because we love sci-fi movies and we both shed a tear towards the end..Nice storytelling and the kids were great !! Reminded me when I was a kid growing up and playing make believe ...Go see this movie and get it out of your system you will not be disappointed , way better than all these super CGI movies coming out now a days !! Sometimes you just need a good script and good actors , the way Speilberg did when I was a kid !! Cant wait for the Blue-ray to come out with deleted scences !!