Considering my nostalgic mood I got a bit excited when I read about Super 8.
Spielberg produced, directed by that JJ Abrams bloke that did Lost and Startrek! Couldn't be bad could it? Also it was my first trip to the cinema in a depressingly long time. I was starting to feel like a big kid already.
Me and Soph started with possibly my favourite part of going to the cinema... guess the ads! You must have played that as a kid. Watching cluelessly as a loud flashy music video looking stream of images bash your eyeballs. Then you see the brand logo on screen and both shout out FORD!! followed by a few F*%$s and T!£*s as you realise it’s a draw. Never mind, on to the next ad. So after annoying the people around us with our giggles and cursing the film started.
Bloody hell what a slow and depressing start. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Now for the film review bit.
Super 8 is set in 1979 in small town America. It follows high school kid Joe Lamb and his group of misfit friends as they try to make a zombie movie on a Super 8 camcorder. Charles is the bossy Orson Wells wannabe director, Cary the nutty, braces wearing explosives nut and Martin the nice but dim leading man of their little production. I’m sure there was another friend but I can't quite remember what he did... And then there is Alice, troubled and sad, who steals our little Joe's heart.
There is more than a touch of The Goonies about the group, or possibly Stand By Me. The film geeks will instantly spot a couple of flattering homages throughout.
Following the above mentioned slow start the film really begins when the group are out shooting a scene one night and capture a huge train crash on film. Soon their quiet town is swarmed with mysterious air force men and strange goings on.
The main story might annoy a few people but I was too charmed by the boys banter and the films friendly style to care really. It never gets close to the manic boisterousness and pure chemistry of the kids in The Goonies but there are some really good scenes of childish bickering that made me smile.
As the town goes mad and events spiral way past the control of a group of children I really did start to feel for them. Some decent performances from Joe (Joel Courtney) and Alice (Elle Fanning) really hold things together. Also Charles (Riley Griffiths) has some good moments. Stick around while the credits are rolling for probably my favourite part of the film!
There is clearly an attempt by Abrams to pay homage to some great films from the past, for which I salute him. Strands of ET, The Goonies, Stand By Me and Night of the Living Dead among others are obvious yet it never quite captures the magic of these. I did leave the cinema with a smile on my face and a tinge of melancholy nostalgia for a long gone childhood. When you could spend all summer running around obsessed with the latest film you had seen (I wanted to be in Highlander sooo much one time I spent months sparring with bamboo canes with my friend shouting "there can be only one!") The boy’s obsession with making their movie really brought that home.
Far from perfect but very likeable.
7/10.
Spielberg produced, directed by that JJ Abrams bloke that did Lost and Startrek! Couldn't be bad could it? Also it was my first trip to the cinema in a depressingly long time. I was starting to feel like a big kid already.
Me and Soph started with possibly my favourite part of going to the cinema... guess the ads! You must have played that as a kid. Watching cluelessly as a loud flashy music video looking stream of images bash your eyeballs. Then you see the brand logo on screen and both shout out FORD!! followed by a few F*%$s and T!£*s as you realise it’s a draw. Never mind, on to the next ad. So after annoying the people around us with our giggles and cursing the film started.
Bloody hell what a slow and depressing start. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Now for the film review bit.
Super 8 is set in 1979 in small town America. It follows high school kid Joe Lamb and his group of misfit friends as they try to make a zombie movie on a Super 8 camcorder. Charles is the bossy Orson Wells wannabe director, Cary the nutty, braces wearing explosives nut and Martin the nice but dim leading man of their little production. I’m sure there was another friend but I can't quite remember what he did... And then there is Alice, troubled and sad, who steals our little Joe's heart.
There is more than a touch of The Goonies about the group, or possibly Stand By Me. The film geeks will instantly spot a couple of flattering homages throughout.
Following the above mentioned slow start the film really begins when the group are out shooting a scene one night and capture a huge train crash on film. Soon their quiet town is swarmed with mysterious air force men and strange goings on.
The main story might annoy a few people but I was too charmed by the boys banter and the films friendly style to care really. It never gets close to the manic boisterousness and pure chemistry of the kids in The Goonies but there are some really good scenes of childish bickering that made me smile.
As the town goes mad and events spiral way past the control of a group of children I really did start to feel for them. Some decent performances from Joe (Joel Courtney) and Alice (Elle Fanning) really hold things together. Also Charles (Riley Griffiths) has some good moments. Stick around while the credits are rolling for probably my favourite part of the film!
There is clearly an attempt by Abrams to pay homage to some great films from the past, for which I salute him. Strands of ET, The Goonies, Stand By Me and Night of the Living Dead among others are obvious yet it never quite captures the magic of these. I did leave the cinema with a smile on my face and a tinge of melancholy nostalgia for a long gone childhood. When you could spend all summer running around obsessed with the latest film you had seen (I wanted to be in Highlander sooo much one time I spent months sparring with bamboo canes with my friend shouting "there can be only one!") The boy’s obsession with making their movie really brought that home.
Far from perfect but very likeable.
7/10.
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