josh: i have returned
how's tricks, rabbit?
matt: I saw Super 8 on the weekend
josh: as did i
matt: thoughts?
josh: i thought it was a great portrayal of all the elements we loved about movies in the late 70's & 80's
a lot of fun, but nothing new
but a lot of fun
the perfect movie you've seen before
matt: What a great way of putting it.
I thought it was incredibly well directed, written, and acted - not a bad performance in the bunch, but I feel like it could actually be a victim of its own hype. The McGuffin that drives the plot is nothing we haven't seen before, it was just done really well.
Really enjoyable though. Elle Fanning was great!
josh: yeah, i thought all the kids were great
it was missing some things with the alien and some other stuff, but everything that was there was great
kinda odd
matt: I loved how well put together the first act was. Nothing hit you over the head, the story and situation was doled out piece by piece. Great scenes of restraint between Kyle Chandler and Joe (can't remember the kid actor's name)
you felt the grief without either of them showing it...
josh: yeah, it was perfect the way things were inferred
it made you think about and figure out what was going on.
i think jj abrams is a great story teller
matt: agreed. I think he's only just coming into his own as a director.
josh: he knows EXACTLY how to make a movie, it was sort of like movie making - the class
i did feel like there needed to be more with the alien and the kid/kids, something more than one scene
matt: Yeah I was kind of expecting that too...
josh: and i guess, now that i'm thinking about it, even though i loved all the action, how intense it was and how you could relate to the situations the characters were in...
there were no truly inventive ways of getting out of things or figuring things out
it was all "this is what makes the most sense, so lets do that until we're safe"
matt: I think it made the kids more authentic that way - they were just scared kids, not action heroes - that town really got destroyed!!
josh: i know, that was awesome
... it was like a roller coaster, it was a great ride, but you know you're going to have a loop, and a drop, and more loops, and some big turns, but you still really like it
that train crash was CRAZY too
matt: great sequence, it really felt dangerous
josh: see, everything there was great, it just needed some twist somewhere
matt: I think that's one of the things that worked really well, it never felt like The Goonies, where the danger was like a Disneyland ride and the screams were like "Ahhhh! Ha ha!" They really seemed afraid for their lives.
Especially that puking kid..
josh: lol. absolutely
one of my favorite moments was the kid in the BG on the phone
matt: I LOVED the fact that they showed the finished zombie movie over the credits at the end
josh: that was great
the whole thing felt totally real, ur right, the danger was there and the alien was scary
matt: I read that Abrams let the kids write most of the dialogue for that stuff, so it was authentically a movie that kids would make
josh: that’s great
matt: The only thing it was missing (in my opinion) was more of a moment of communication between Joe and the alien at the end, since they made a plot point of the alien being able to communicate psychically through touch... but it was still awesome
josh: yeah, i think that should have come earlier, and the kids could have helped the alien in some way
maybe not working together directly
but maybe they realized what was happening, and tried to stop the army from stopping the alien
matt: Would have turned it into a different movie then, I think.
josh: and they could do so y something that ONLY THEY knew about
i did think the moms necklace at the end was a bit much
matt: Well they kind of had that with the teachers "basement" storage locker that only they knew about...
josh: i guess it was more like a disaster movie, everyone just trying to stay alive
matt: Yeah, the necklace thing... even though I knew it was a symbol of him "letting go" and moving on, it didn't quite seem authentic... I was thinking "don't let go, don't let go". He'd kept that necklace so close to him for the whole film, and even though he obviously would have had other mementos of his mom, the film made it clear that to HIM, the necklace was his mother's presence/love. Not sure I would have let it go so easily if I were him..
But, like I said, symbolic of a lesson learned
or a chapter closing
josh: yeah, but it was so on the nose, it bugged me. "place symbol of love here ... and letting go here"
matt: agreed..
a bit heavy handed in an otherwise very subtle movie
as subtle as aliens and exploding trains and tanks can be
josh: now that i look at it as a disaster movie more than an alien thriller, it makes more sense being the way it was.
it still needed something though. but i liked it
SO CONFLICTED!
we should save IMs like this and make a movie review blog out of them...
how's tricks, rabbit?
matt: I saw Super 8 on the weekend
josh: as did i
matt: thoughts?
josh: i thought it was a great portrayal of all the elements we loved about movies in the late 70's & 80's
a lot of fun, but nothing new
but a lot of fun
the perfect movie you've seen before
matt: What a great way of putting it.
I thought it was incredibly well directed, written, and acted - not a bad performance in the bunch, but I feel like it could actually be a victim of its own hype. The McGuffin that drives the plot is nothing we haven't seen before, it was just done really well.
Really enjoyable though. Elle Fanning was great!
josh: yeah, i thought all the kids were great
it was missing some things with the alien and some other stuff, but everything that was there was great
kinda odd
matt: I loved how well put together the first act was. Nothing hit you over the head, the story and situation was doled out piece by piece. Great scenes of restraint between Kyle Chandler and Joe (can't remember the kid actor's name)
you felt the grief without either of them showing it...
josh: yeah, it was perfect the way things were inferred
it made you think about and figure out what was going on.
i think jj abrams is a great story teller
matt: agreed. I think he's only just coming into his own as a director.
josh: he knows EXACTLY how to make a movie, it was sort of like movie making - the class
i did feel like there needed to be more with the alien and the kid/kids, something more than one scene
matt: Yeah I was kind of expecting that too...
josh: and i guess, now that i'm thinking about it, even though i loved all the action, how intense it was and how you could relate to the situations the characters were in...
there were no truly inventive ways of getting out of things or figuring things out
it was all "this is what makes the most sense, so lets do that until we're safe"
matt: I think it made the kids more authentic that way - they were just scared kids, not action heroes - that town really got destroyed!!
josh: i know, that was awesome
... it was like a roller coaster, it was a great ride, but you know you're going to have a loop, and a drop, and more loops, and some big turns, but you still really like it
that train crash was CRAZY too
matt: great sequence, it really felt dangerous
josh: see, everything there was great, it just needed some twist somewhere
matt: I think that's one of the things that worked really well, it never felt like The Goonies, where the danger was like a Disneyland ride and the screams were like "Ahhhh! Ha ha!" They really seemed afraid for their lives.
Especially that puking kid..
josh: lol. absolutely
one of my favorite moments was the kid in the BG on the phone
matt: I LOVED the fact that they showed the finished zombie movie over the credits at the end
josh: that was great
the whole thing felt totally real, ur right, the danger was there and the alien was scary
matt: I read that Abrams let the kids write most of the dialogue for that stuff, so it was authentically a movie that kids would make
josh: that’s great
matt: The only thing it was missing (in my opinion) was more of a moment of communication between Joe and the alien at the end, since they made a plot point of the alien being able to communicate psychically through touch... but it was still awesome
josh: yeah, i think that should have come earlier, and the kids could have helped the alien in some way
maybe not working together directly
but maybe they realized what was happening, and tried to stop the army from stopping the alien
matt: Would have turned it into a different movie then, I think.
josh: and they could do so y something that ONLY THEY knew about
i did think the moms necklace at the end was a bit much
matt: Well they kind of had that with the teachers "basement" storage locker that only they knew about...
josh: i guess it was more like a disaster movie, everyone just trying to stay alive
matt: Yeah, the necklace thing... even though I knew it was a symbol of him "letting go" and moving on, it didn't quite seem authentic... I was thinking "don't let go, don't let go". He'd kept that necklace so close to him for the whole film, and even though he obviously would have had other mementos of his mom, the film made it clear that to HIM, the necklace was his mother's presence/love. Not sure I would have let it go so easily if I were him..
But, like I said, symbolic of a lesson learned
or a chapter closing
josh: yeah, but it was so on the nose, it bugged me. "place symbol of love here ... and letting go here"
matt: agreed..
a bit heavy handed in an otherwise very subtle movie
as subtle as aliens and exploding trains and tanks can be
josh: now that i look at it as a disaster movie more than an alien thriller, it makes more sense being the way it was.
it still needed something though. but i liked it
SO CONFLICTED!
we should save IMs like this and make a movie review blog out of them...
Now being a UK resident, our release dates are a little bit behind yours, so SUPER 8 opened August 5th. My take on the whole "necklace completes the spaceship" scene was this. We'd already established in the scene where the home movie was projected that Joel recognised his mother gave a certain look, that meant she was always looking out for him. When the necklace pulled away, it gave us Joel's POV - he stared directly at the photo, and "it"/his mother stared back - almost symbolically saying "I'll always be looking out for you".
ReplyDeleteSo, the act of moving on was symbolic - the necklace pulled away but he accepted that his mother will always be a presence in his life.
Which is kind of what you said anyway, but I just thought there was a bit more symbolism to the scene.....
That's a good read of the scene - I didn't connect it to the earlier discussion of his Mom when I was watching it, so maybe that's why I came away thinking it was kind of cheesy... The way you recount it, it sounds a lot cooler than it seemed at the time! Definitely deserving of a second viewing when it arrives on Blu-ray.
ReplyDelete