Andy Gapin

Super 8 may not be in any way at all related to Cloverfield as a project, but you’ll feel a very familiar vibe while sitting in the theater watching it. It’s a bit of a different style, but the creatures are very reminiscent of each other. Though, this make sense as J.J. Abrams produced Cloverfield and the same guy designed both monsters.

Super 8 opens with one of the most powerful opening shots I’ve seen in a movie. It’s simple and nothing is said, but those first few seconds really set a tone for the whole movie and convey so much more than any words could have. Beyond this, the movie keeps with a steady pace and focuses on a handful of nerdy kids making their own film to enter into a contest. Abrams does a great job of creating characters that we actually care about and in some ways remind us of ourselves 15-20 years ago, almost in a Goonies or Stand By Me kind of way. Almost. When shit goes down in their small town (rhyme not intentional), you feel a legitimate connection to the kids.

While much of the movie’s success relies on an element of surprise that was carefully curated, you won’t actually find much to be surprised about. For the most part, you won’t be disappointed about not being surprised, however.

Super 8 brings a return to a more innocent time where integrity matters in a way that will  remind you of the Spielberg-branded films of the 80s you grew up with. Super 8 is not the the perfect film, but it’s engaging, sucks the viewer right in, and has no lack of great acting carrying it through.  The bottom line is that this is a solid film and worth two hours of your time.

Rating: A

I’m not a Star Trek fan. Never was. I tried watching it as a kid, but never really got into it. Yet, the previews for this iteration sold the hell out of it for me. I got really excited for it. And all of the positive reviews for it didn’t hurt either.

So I saw this last night…

Blown. The. Fuck. Away.

Literally everything about this film was absolutely stellar. I can’t speak for Star Trek fans, but it felt like there was something for everyone here. J.J. Abrams did a great job of making the franchise really accessible to the rest of us. I guess this was helped by the fact that he was never a Trekkie himself. In fact, apparently, he hadn’t even seen the previous Star Trek movies? This works in our favor.

There was action all over the place and things moved very fast with plenty of comic relief. A lot of ground was covered really quickly without skipping out on the important things or getting confusing. There was no real prior knowledge of the series necessary. And the few parts that got a little confusing were explained and cleared up literally seconds later. I think it’s rare that a movie can pull off messing around with time travel and black holes without getting too confusing or convoluted, but there was no issue here. This alone is impressive.

It’s not often that I say this about movies that are over two hours long, but when the credits started to roll, I sat there and thought to myself how easily I could sit there and watch two more hours. I think this may have to do with how fast things moved, but it didn’t feel like two hours at all. I wanted more.

The casting was absolutely great. I wouldn’t have done anything differently. Syler–sorry, Zachary Quinto–was amazing as Spock. And while it seems like he’s really only good playing a serious role, it’s nice to see that he can do something different than Syler very well. Chris Pine as Kirk pulled off the badassness and arrogance flawlessly. Very impressive. I would have liked to have seen more Simon Pegg, since I love everything he does, but I think any more of him may have actually been overkill.

For someone that isn’t a Star Trek fan, it was awesome to have all stereotypical Star Trek catch phrases covered. They did feel slightly forced, but I’m kind of glad they were there.

I don’t even know what else to say. Go see it.

Rating: A+

I read this article about Cloverfield and all of the stuff that I missed out on leading up to the movie. It helps a lot.

I can’t believe it’s taken me four days to finally get a chance to blog about this, but after having it raved about relentlessly by a few of my friends, I went to see Cloverfield on Saturday night.

I went in with pretty high hopes based on what my friends were saying, but at the same time I knew that Blair Witch (and the movie that it completely ripped off, The Last Broadcast) and Godzilla had both been done before so I was a bit apprehensive about what this movie could offer that hasn’t been done.

Walking out, I felt both very satisfied, but also slightly underwhelmed. For the most part, I loved the movie. I thought that it was very well done and the point of view and style that was used really helped add to the experience. However, at the same time, the whole making a film that is supposed to be the playback of a camcorder that was found does have some serious drawbacks. Especially for a movie like this. Granted, all of these are to be expected and I knew this going in, it’s still a bit annoying. The camera was hardly ever pointing where I wanted it to be or where it seemed that a real person in that situation would be pointing it. It also seemed to be on at unnatural times a lot. While the shaking did add to the affect of the movie a lot, there were times where it was quite annoying. Then there are also the silly things like how the hell did the battery last that long? The movie was less than an hour and a half long, so it’s very plausible that the battery would last the whole time, until you factor in the fact that they had turned the light on to see in the subway tunnel and the battery probably wasn’t fully charged when the night started.

For the most part, I kind of liked the characters with the exception of Marlena. She just annoyed me in most every way. I was actually glad to watch her explode. Rob’s character seemed to be pretty realistic and Hud reminded me of someone I know who just always has something to say, but never actually knows what he should be saying. Just kind of runs his mouth a lot while saying silly things, yet still a totally good dude in every way.

While it was obviously intended and this was not the type of movie to answer all questions, there is a lot that I want to know! Was it in fact a sea monster? How was Beth able to RUN down the street after having piece of rebar go through her chest? What exactly made Marlena explode? Where the hell was everyone? Sure everyone fled through the tunnels and the bridges, but you have to figure that Manhattan still has a few million people and getting them off the island would have taken a long time during such a crisis and no one knowing what was going on. Why were there not more dead, crushed bodies throughout the city? How the hell did the three of them and the camera survive the helicopter crash, but neither of the pilots did? How were the police so organized in the beginning of the attack? How was the power still on in the subway tunnels and how did all of the people get out of the subway trains? Some of them must have gotten stuck in the middle of tunnels. Did the “hammer down” kill the monster? Was there only one monster or were the more in other cities? The questions go on and on…

But like I mentioned, it wasn’t the type of movie that is supposed to answer all of the questions. You were meant to be left hanging like that. In the end, I would definitely recommend the movie and I want to see it again. I’d say it gets an A-.

Edit: I just read this interview with Matt Reeves. It’s pretty good and provides some decent insight into some of my questions.

Edit 2: Apparently, if I had stayed until the end of the credits, I would have heard Rob say “it’s still alive.” That answers that!