Super 8

unklejman said:

Hey I resemble that remark. We use mice too! (and wacom tablets) And VFX artists tend to be more geek than nerd really.

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Yeah yeah yeah...comic book. graphic novel. don't go all pretentious on us I keed.

TheMutt92 said:

That's not my problem. It's that the lead character's cop father (who, if were relating to other Spielberg films, is basically Brody from Jaws) says to Alice's father "Let's get our kids back" or something to that effect, suggesting they might save them or at least be their for the action. But instead they pull up in the end when everyone is watching the monster.

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I was agreeing with you. I got it the first time. What extra were you trying to say or did you just want to tell everyone how it ends?

Henry W Jones said:

I was agreeing with you. I got it the first time. What extra were you trying to say or did you just want to tell everyone how it ends?

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Okay, I thought we were discussing two different points. You seemed to be making the point that all Spielberg adults do nothing (w/ the noted exception of Jaws), while I was discussing the setup of Kyle Chandler's character. And if you know your Spielberg filmography, I don't think what I said can be counted as a spoiler.

TheMutt92 said:

Okay, I thought we were discussing two different points. You seemed to be making the point that all Spielberg adults do nothing (w/ the noted exception of Jaws), while I was discussing the setup of Kyle Chandler's character. And if you know your Spielberg filmography, I don't think what I said can be counted as a spoiler.

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I was generalizing as far as his movies were kids are the main character but we seem to be on the same page overall. I thought the same that they made it seem like the parents would do more by the dialogue between them.

I really enjoyed this movie. Like most of you it reminded me a ton of Spielberg movies in the past which really hit a soft spot. The film showed elements of The Goonies, ET and even Jurassic Park. My favorite film of the summer thus far.

michael said:

I agree. But that's also something I wanted to experience in a theater. Wasn't alive when E.T. was in theaters, but growing up it was one of my favorite movies.

The movie was huge nostalgic rush to me, yet it still holds on it's own IMO with it's story and characters.

I really think I got the experience of watching Super 8 as if I were to watch E.T. back then in theaters.

There is a MAJOR difference between the two films though:

There is basically NO relationship between the alien and kid, which really does separate the two. Also, you're really never rooting for the alien to go home and be safe, except at maybe one point when they finally meet underground, which was a GREAT scene.

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Michael, the major difference you pointed out is exactly why the experience of watching "Super 8" compared to "E.T." in a theatre isn't really the same. The two times I saw "E.T." at the movies, people in the audience (including my brother) were crying/sniffling at the end of "E.T.". Who would cry at the end of this flick?

Another difference is that "E.T." was modern & contemporary at the time. All the period references in "Super 8" were nostalgic throw-backs to c.30 years ago. It would be as if "E.T." took place in 1950. Totally different vibe.

Judging from the clues, the setting of this movie is supposed to be Jan/Feb 1979 - May/June 1979. Some noticeable anachronisms are:

-too early for a Sony Walkman
-too early for the Rubik's Cube reference
-too early for all the kids to have BMX bikes

Otherwise, I enjoyed it. Well made and very, early Spielberg-ish with some aspects parallel to "Close Encounters of the Third Kind".

The military's fake excuse to evacuate the area.

P.S. "Goonies" =

^^
You take back that thumbs down on Goonies!! AWESOME MOVIE!!

Wikipedia says Sony Walkman hit retail July '79. Teen did say it was new at the gas station.
Also, Rubix Cube's first avaliability was 1974, wrong again.
The BMX history page says "began in the 1970's".

Seems you are 0-3 with your criticism, sorry.

I saw this for the second time in 3 weeks over the Holiday weekend with some people who hadn't. I didn't let on I'd seen it and everyone enjoyed it. For me it's the "surprise hit" of the summer thus far. Meaning I was leary when I went to see it. I hadn't bought into the idea of this movie being great but it was. I was let down by Cloverfield so the idea of E.T. meets Cloverfield imo was a tough sell.

Great movie and I highly recommend you see it. The Fanning girl was awesome.

Also, not sure if anyone said, stay through the credits. About 30 seconds in they begin to show you the kids self made film for the Cleveland Film Festival.

Captain Craig said:

Seems you are 0-3 with your criticism, sorry.

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No argument over Goonies, though. It does =



According to the Rubik website, the Cube wasn't exported out of Hungary until 1980. In 1977 it was first sold in Budapest as the 'Magic Cube'.

http://www.rubiks.com/world/history.php

As for BMX bikes, I had the misfortune to see BMX Bandits at the cinema in 1983. (A movie even worse than Goonies!)

Captain Craig said:

You take back that thumbs down on Goonies!! AWESOME MOVIE!!

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"The Goonies" = Garbage.

Captain Craig said:

Wikipedia says Sony Walkman hit retail July '79. Teen did say it was new at the gas station.
Also, Rubix Cube's first avaliability was 1974, wrong again.
The BMX history page says "began in the 1970's"..

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Sorry, Captain Craig, but you're WRONG ON ALL COUNTS. You must have been too young at the time if you had to resort to Wikipedia.

1) The Sony Walkman hit retail in July '79 in JAPAN. Not North America! It only hit North America in the summer of 1980. Even so, this movie takes place BEFORE July '79 so there were no Walkmans at that time.

2) "Rubix"?!? The puzzle was invented in 1974 in Hungary but it wasn't called, "Rubik's Cube", until it was marketed for North America in 1980.

3) The BMX (Bicycle MotoCross) SPORT began in the early '70s using all kinds of various styled bikes. The bicycles that the kids have in "Super 8" are BMX bikes from 1982. A few of them even have Skyway rims and V-bars which did NOT exist in 1979. There is no way that all of the kids had these bikes in '79. (As a former BMXer, trust me.)

Captain Craig said:

Seems you are 0-3 with your criticism, sorry.

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They weren't criticisms, Capitano Kreg. I said they were anachronisms and I enjoyed the movie. My points are 3-3. You are 0-0!

Stoo said:

"The Goonies" = Garbage.

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can the smiley act sick? No? Aw hell, just open your mouth when I say "action" and we'll CGI it in post. And maybe a couple more lens flares...

Stoo said:

"The Goonies" = Garbage.
Sorry, Captain Craig, but you're WRONG ON ALL COUNTS. You must have been too young at the time if you had to resort to Wikipedia.

1) The Sony Walkman hit retail in July '79 in JAPAN. Not North America! It only hit North America in the summer of 1980. Even so, this movie takes place BEFORE July '79 so there were no Walkmans at that time.

2) "Rubix"?!? The puzzle was invented in 1974 in Hungary but it wasn't called, "Rubik's Cube", until it was marketed for North America in 1980.

3) The BMX (Bicycle MotoCross) SPORT began in the early '70s using all kinds of various styled bikes. The bicycles that the kids have in "Super 8" are BMX bikes from 1982. A few of them even have Skyway rims and V-bars which did NOT exist in 1979. There is no way that all of the kids had these bikes in '79. (As a former BMXer, trust me.)
They weren't criticisms, Capitano Kreg. I said they were anachronisms and I enjoyed the movie. My points are 3-3. You are 0-0!

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Well that's Wiki for you. Besides don't act like you just knew that. People don't just remember when a product introduction happens. It's not like an assasination, act of war or other truly memorable event.

I'm 35 and Goonies does kick ass.

Captain Craig said:

Well that's Wiki for you.

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Don't blame Wikipedia, Capitano. The information is correct but you musn't have read it properly and jumped to the wrong conclusions, hate to say.

Captain Craig said:

Besides don't act like you just knew that. People don't just remember when a product introduction happens.

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Well, I *did* "just know that" and happen to be very good with dates which is why I pointed out the anachronisms in the first place. No research was needed because I remember 1979 well.

Early on in the movie, it is the last day of school which puts the month at May or June. Shortly after, you can hear a broadcast (Walter Cronkite?) talking about the nuclear meltdown at Three Mile Island. This sets the movie in `79 so I immediately recognized all the anachronisms that followed.

I liked the part where the kids are singing, "My Sharona".

Captain Craig said:

I'm 35 and Goonies does kick ass.

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Take the "ki" in "kicks" and replace it with "su".

Montana Smith said:

As for BMX bikes, I had the misfortune to see BMX Bandits at the cinema in 1983. (A movie even worse than Goonies!)

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Saw that, too. It's terrible but I'd rather see "BMX Bandits" again over "Goonies" any day. As a matter of fact, I NEVER want to see "The Goonies" again!

Montana Smith said:

As for BMX bikes, I had the misfortune to see BMX Bandits at the cinema in 1983. (A movie even worse than Goonies!)

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BMX Bandits?! What sort of Supreme Being created such riffraff? Is this not the workings of a complete incompetent?

If I were making a movie I wouldn't mess about with children and puke. I would have started with lens flares, eight o'clock, Day One!

Stoo said:

Saw that, too. It's terrible but I'd rather see "BMX Bandits" again over "Goonies" any day. As a matter of fact, I NEVER want to see "The Goonies" again!

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Who was the movie critic who wrote that his viewing of Goonies was ruined by a bunch of screaming kids?

featofstrength said:

If I were making a movie I wouldn't mess about with children and puke. I would have started with lens flares, eight o'clock, Day One!

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You've got me thinking of Blade Runner. I can hear Vangelis' haunting music. I'm in a happy place. I can almost forget the horror of BMX Bandits and Goonies!

featofstrength said:

BMX Bandits?! What sort of Supreme Being created such riffraff? Is this not the workings of a complete incompetent?

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"BMX Bandits" was an Australian movie (with a young Nicole Kidman). If anyone cares to see another BMX movie, check out "Rad" from 1986 (which came out after the fad had died).

As far as BMX movies are concerned, "E.T." is right up there among the best! (Absurd as it may seem!)

I enjoyed seeing BMX bikes in "Super 8", even if they weren't within the right timeframe. It was a nice tip o' the hat to that era.

featofstrength said:

If I were making a movie I wouldn't mess about with children and puke. I would have started with lens flares, eight o'clock, Day One!

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Going from memory here, but doesn't the Supreme Being say something about the uselessness of 48 species of parrots, nipples for men and slugs?

TheMutt92 said:

In my opinion, Super 8 had the potential to become a classic film, but is simply constrained by some of the story/script choices. I don't wanna go into too much detail (yeah I know, a first for me), but if you've seen the film you probably know what I mean. Mostly I suppose it had to do w/ the ending. I just felt the adults did nothing. They set it up like they were going to, but they didn't.

I still immensely enjoyed the film, and its easily one of the best summer films this year (especially considering what's out right now). So I'd recommend seeing it. A solid 4/5.

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I finally saw this film over the weekend and I'd agree with what you say here.

Its all building rather nicely, whilst keeping the alien under wraps and the kids footage only added to the mystery for me. I felt that after the reveal of the scientists/teachers footage of the alien, that it all became a bit rushed without explaining what the alien was doing, especially with the people it was taking and the adults didn't do a great deal, but before you know it the aliens built a ship and is off. But overall it was good til the last 20 mins I would say.

Just saw Super 8 for the very first time (on DVD - I completely missed this in the theatre last summer).

Wow, I am completely floored by this film - truly awesome, and definitely one the best movies I've seen in a long, long time.

My review:

- Though the winter opening was quite sad & depressing, I liked how it quickly flash-forwarded four months later (to a more hopeful time), i.e. the last day day of school & the beginning of summer, all super-imposed over the sound of ELO's "Don't Bring me Down" - this really established the strong late '70's vibe/tone, and the rest of the film was also spot-on in this regard re: the clothes, hair-styles, music, etc. I myself grew up in the late '70's/'80's, and this film very accurately reminded me of that time period, especially how I & friends felt on the last day of school with the whole summer before us.

- As has been said, this film strongly reminded me of movies that I saw as a kid in the '80's, i.e. "Goonies", "E.T.", "Stand by Me", and to some extent even "Close Encounters of the Third Kind"; while at the same time, "Super 8" was in many ways better than any of those other movies.

- I liked the "movie within the movie"; the filming of the amateurish zombie film was very clever. Also enjoyed the seeing the poster of the original "Halloween" (1978) on the kid film director's wall. And, I liked how the naming of the "Romero Chemical Company" was obviously an homage to G.C. Romero, who directed the original late '60's classic "Night of the Living Dead" - very nice!

- It was a great idea to cast largely?! unknowns as the kids, so when watching the film you wouldn't have any preconceived ideas about them, and thereby could really buy into the late '70's setting.

- The train crash was truly spectacular, and is probably the most impressive train crash I've even seen on film (much better than the one in 1993's The Fugitive, which was, for that time period, very impressive as well).

- The scene when the main character & the E. Fanning character were watching the film with him (as a baby) and his mother was very touching.

- The Monster was amazing - great design, which was both creepy & well-done. When I first saw the film, I actually thought it was supposed to be a prequel to JJ A.'s previous film "Cloverfield" (which I thought was great as well) since the monsters looked similar, but later read that this was just a coincidence.

- Excellent ending, i.e. the Monster "building a model" space-ship using the metal in the town. Awesome.

- Great closing credits w/fantastic music & visuals - instead of just having the credits themselves, the credits started with "Don't Bring me Down", then showed the complete amateur zombie film, then finished up with "My Sharona", which the kids had been singing earlier in the film - brilliant!

All in all, an incredible film. They sure don't make them like this anymore...

Just saw this on Netflicks, and LOVED it! I wish I did see in a theather. It really reminded me of the great movies of my youth.

I had no issues with any of the above remarks. I just sat back and loved every minute of the 1:51 run time.

Very cool movie, fun to watch and the kids were great. Some of the best teen dialog ever in a movie.

My GF and I laughed forever when the chubby kid said "I just haven't Leaned out yet"

Great tension with the kids, parents etc.

Hijack...

Hey roundshort, is it as relateable as TinTin?

(mod note) I'll go find the tintin thread.

I am not aware of this Tin Tin of which you speak?