Super 8 is super 8!

B+ (8.1)

JJ Abrams has to be the God of geeks today. He was the co-creator of the TV show Lost, earning a widespread fanbase through its first seasons but then when the ratings trumped the series finale renewed interest and debate. Abrams also earned respect from the Trekkies for rebooting Star Trek, a deeper and solid prequel counting the first days of the original TV series. Now his latest film Super 8 may well be a love letter to his longtime hero and influential filmmaker Steven Spielberg whose still stuck in producing movies now.

It's 1979 and has been four months since Joe Lamb (Joey Courtney) lost his mother in a car accident and is now living with his widowed father (Kyle Chandler) who's the Sheriff of a rural town. Joe set to help out his best friend Charles (Riley Griffiths) to make his zombie movie as an entry for a nearby film festival. The film also involves Alice (Elle Fanning) acting in his film. In spectacular fashion, a freight train derailed while the kids were in the middle of shooting a scene. Following the aftermath of the event, the military are all around the town, dogs evacuate since they know better such and residents suddenly disappear. I've told half of the plot summary because I don't want to place spoilers in particular 'The Thing'.

In a summer filled with a lack of originality, following sequels, prequels, remakes and movies based on comic books, Super 8 is the exception to that rule. It's almost the most original summer blockbuster since Inception. But saying that it's original is like saying a photograph had been taken but it's literally filled with tens of people you've previously took before. Super 8 is a collection of nostagia paying homage to Spielberg's greatest material from the past, directed and produced focusing on the themes, characters and the style Spielberg put into his films. These include Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, E.T., Jaws, The Goonies and even Saving Private Ryan (if you know what I mean). But it also pay tribute to Abram's previous film (he produced) Cloverfield, the monster movie which not a lot of people enjoyed.

Though the homages was executed well, for me, it somehow doesn't feel inventive or fresh as much as Inception was and it may have been a rehash as there's too much. If it had been directed by Spielberg himself, he would've gone back to his roots that had made him the greatest contempory filmmaker ever. Having said that, this is not the first time Spielberg's work was referenced so much. Earlier this year, we had Paul, the E.T. parody starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost also a love letter but to the science fiction genre cleverly satirising it.

Abrams' direction is visceral as he brings not only a high level of imagination and concept that will make this film a crowd-pleaser, but also bringing in an emotional poignancy to its heart. The cinematography is crisp as well as the production design capturing the year of 1979. The soundtrack from Michael Giannchano mesmerises you to the adventures.

As already mentioned, the heart of Super 8 is brought to an emotional rise that doesn't contain a bit of sediment. The heart of the film are the kids paralleling the characters of The Goonies and E.T. The casting of the children are perfect for this film and they are revelations. Joe Courtney who plays Joey reminds me of the boy from E.T. who experiences loss from his parents and the romance between him and Alice (a star-maker for Elle Fanning) to move away from these feelings seems equate to the relationship between E.T. and the boy. Riley Griffith who plays Joe's best friend and amateur filmmaker steals the show playing the role of comic relief in this film with his swearing and profanity. It's the first time I've seen a cast of kids do so well because of the realistic and witty dialogue from Abrams that is not dumbed down to a certain point. Kyle Chandler is fine as Joe's single father.

Where the film comes to the last 15 minutes, the film's final moments make it felt downright corny and tries too hard on Spielberg by copying his endings which feels so inconsistent to his films when Super 8 became immensely good. But if you have time to leave at the start of the end credits, don't. There's a special treat during that help pick up the film's tone.

Overall Super 8 is a crowd pleaser, whether you're a Spielberg afficionado bringing in the intense, sometimes scary, and emotionally compromised material he used to do. This may not be going for any Oscars, but it's the best blockbuster of the summer and may land a spot at my end-of-year best list

Cloverfield

B+ (7.6)


It is obvious that in a monster flick, some hybrid giant creature like a dinosaur or a dragon will invade a huge city and people are not just trying to defend themselves from the monster but also trying to attack it. The biggest problem with this kind of movie is that it involves a lot of computer generated giants just destroying the city while the city's residents does the most predictable things to put it down (i.e it focuses greatly on effects, rather than screenplay). Ask that to Godzilla.

Cloverfield is an exception. Like many movies of its kind it start off at ten minutes with the monster beginning to destroy the city. That city, Manhattan.

But before that, the whole movie is actually found footage obtained by the US Defence where everything is shot by some amateur named Hud. hud is documenting a farewell party for his friend Rob who is going away to Japan where he has a job there. However a mysterious monster destroys part of New York and he and six friends instead of escaping finds a girl whom Rob has went out with.

Cloverfield is like Blair Witch Project except this is 100x the budget. They features unknown actors and is shot in hand-held camera. However the great similarity both movies have is that it is not only focused on their characters, but also based it on their point of view.

Directed by Matt Reeves and produced by J.J Abrams, this is not your generic monster flick. It is not only based on some average citizen's sighting but it has heart and it is genuinely an exciting, tight and gripping experience that will scare you several times.

Generally, Cloverfield seems to be inspired by monster flicks such as Escape From New York where the head from the Statue Of Liberty crashed in one scene and Godzilla where the monster seems to be a hybrid of Rodan and that monster but it seems to be reminding me of Hitchcock where Reeves seems to think that this should have a sense of fright and terror in a city with a huge population.

Where Cloverfield avoids genericness is that where in the plot a group of friends not only survive but going deeper into the city by finding this one girl in where the heart cares for and what it is. Ten minutes before the monster invades we see a social gathering where there's conflict between two characters so that way we know that this movie solely focused onto its characters, which is a great aspect about this movie.

Cloverfield happens at post 9/11 where obviously New York is still recovering after two planes collided with the World Trade Centres. However there is little to say that there is one allusion since there isn't one other than the fact that is shot like footage showing 9/11. More so Cloverfield's monster is never told in this movie with huge depth since we don't know know what it is except a few pauses of the monster's face will tell you.

Also the characters are never developed much but the performances are nevertheless convincing.

Unfotunately nobody couldn't embraced the hand held camera and the ending is a bit too vague. If it is, then it is Blair Witch all over again.

IF you're looking for a great monster flick that is neither cheesy nor tasteless then this is for you. Groundskeeper Willie has a love for amateur movies. This is a prime example of a great movie shot by amateurs