HomeVideodrome: Abrams’ Not So ‘Super’ Ode to Spielberg
by Hunter DuesingOn this week’s edition of the HomeVideodrome podcast, we talk about this week’s releases, the sad state of American independent cinema and film festivals, Troy Duffy’s bad attitude, and we give “Rushmore” a lot of love. We packed this one with more discussion than usual, so head on over to The Film Thugs to listen, and enjoy!
We’re all aware that we live in an era where blockbusters that are either remakes, sequels or based on comic books reign supreme. When a film based on any well-known property, you know studio castrati are taking no risks, going out of their way to make sure their multi-million dollar waste will appeal to everyone. This mainstream mentality makes me more inclined to champion a big film with an original story that isn’t banking to cash-in on a built-in audience.
“Super 8″ was a rare blockbuster this summer that wasn’t based on anything. There was no overt brand to sell it apart from the names of director J.J. Abrams and producer Steven Spielberg. I would have been most pleased if it were this year’s “Inception,” the original title that comes out of nowhere that knocks audiences out and shows that people want good stories and not cynical branding.
It’s too bad that “Super 8″ simply sucked rotten eggs down in the mud with the rest of fanboy crap.
Make no mistake, that’s what “Super 8″ is: a fresh fanboy bowel movement of the highest order. It just doesn’t have a brand to spritz perfume to mask its stink. Instead, it boasts Abrams’ skills as a hype-monger con-artist in order to trick people into spending money on seeing it.
“Super 8″ isn’t all bad. The film’s young cast turns out some nice performances, and the group of youngsters have solid chemistry going on. The best part of the movie is the cheapie zombie film-within-a-film the cast of kids make that rolls while the end credits grace the screen. That’s where the movie shines, it has that let’s-put-on-a-show feel film lovers can vibe on. Everything else involves Abrams heating up Spielberg’s moldy leftovers and serving them on cheap TV dinner trays.
(Spoilers Ahead)
What this film does is attempt to combine the aesthetic of “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” with the childlike wonder of “E.T.”, but the alien the characters encounter isn’t nice like the ones we see in these Spielberg classics. What we’re up against is an extra-terrestrial that indiscriminately murders the inhabitants of the film’s small-town setting, yet “Super 8″ tries to tug at our heartstrings in the laziest manner possible by showing us how we should feel sorry for the big bloodthirsty guy.
Abrams attempts to excuse the alien’s murderous behavior by trying to sell us on the premise that it’s because he was mistreated by the U.S. military, therefore earning the monster a free murder pass and an idiotic “we understand you” speech from the protagonists. This is followed by a scene of sub-Spielbergian wonder-corn that attempts to rival the spectacle of the spaceship arrival in “Close Encounters,” but the fact that such emotion isn’t earned makes everyone involved seem lobotomized.
“Super 8″ is a celebration of early Spielberg movies that comes off as a fanboy exercise that acknowledges, yet doesn’t understand, the humanity inherent in Spielberg’s early sci-fi work that made films like “Close Encounters” and “E.T.” beloved films. Terrence Malick once said, in relation to his approach to the movie “Badlands,” that nostalgia is so powerful that it can drown out everything around it.
While “Close Encounters” and “E.T.” take place firmly within the time in which they were shot, “Super 8″ is a movie that wallows in the feces of ’70s nostalgia, something that serves no purpose except to make the Gen-Xers in the audience wax poetic about the good ol’ days, and younger members of the audience attempt to channel the good ol’ days based on what they know through braindead rose-tinted movies like this one.
When I walked out of “Super 8,” I wanted to like it so much that I convinced myself that it was decent, if flawed movie, and I labeled it as such. A few days of marination brought the awful truth out. Don’t get fooled by the heavy layers of movie-geek make-up, the gal wearing it is a vapid bore.
Other Noteworthy Releases
Conan the Barbarian: Being someone who enjoys Robert E. Howard’s short stories about Conan the barbarian, thief, pirate and warrior-king, I don’t share the erroneous opinion that Arnold Schwarzenegger is the only man who is allowed to play Conan. While I’m on record as being a fan of Milius’s “Conan” film, Arnie hardly resembles the character Howard created on the page. In this new take, Jason Momoa looks more like Howard’s description of the dark, sleek Cimmerian warrior than Arnie does, yet it doesn’t sound like this new take captures the essence of Howard’s memorable adventures. I fear this, because director Marcus Nispel is a director incapable of telling a proper story. That said, I’m going to see it anyway. Maybe I’ll do it on a double-bill with “Solomon Kane,” so I can two iconic Howard creations get potentially bungled in one drunken evening.
Available on 3D Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD
Three Amgios: El Guapo may be the best name for a villain in a movie, ever. And now you can see every crevice in Alfonso Arau’s beautiful face in glorious high-definition! This is why Blu-ray was invented, folks.
Available on Blu-ray
12 Angry Men: Sidney Lumet’s classic starring Henry Fonda gets the Criterion treatment. The fantastic cover art is one of my favorites of any DVD/Blu-ray release so far this year. This film is a proof positive that if you have a good script, you don’t need a lot of fancy effects or elaborate sets to engage the audience. If the words on the page are good, the movie will be good. Sell your old “Men” DVD and trade up, Criterion always makes it worth your while.
Rushmore: Criterion is upgrading their release of Wes Anderson’s greatest film to Blu-ray. Anderson’s first three films (“Bottle Rocket,” “Rushmore” and “The Royal Tenenbaums”) have incredibly well-realized characters that you can’t help but fall in love with. People forget that that Owen Wilson fellow you saw in so many bad comedies could crank out a killer script after locking himself in a room with Anderson and his awesome record collection.
Available on Blu-ray
The Devil’s Double: This tale of a man plucked from Iraqi society to be the body double of Saddam Hussein’s vicious (and thankfully no longer living) son, Uday, looks a bit like “Scarface” in Iraq. Dominic Cooper, who had fun supporting roles in movies like “The History Boys,” “An Education” and “Captain America” stars in both roles.
Spy Kids 4 – All the Time in The World: While the first “Spy Kids” film was an imaginative, fun family affair, Robert Rodriguez’s all-ages oriented movies have become unwatchable and undesirable at this point. Not content to only bungle 3D effects this time around, here his movie infects audience’s nostrils as well. I’d say throw the stink-o-vision cards away, but one could just do the smart, frugal thing and skip the movie altogether.
Available on 3D Blu-ray/Blu-ray/DVD combo and DVD
Birth of a Nation: This one is a bit like “Triumph of the Will” in that it’s a film renowned for its brilliant, groundbreaking technique, but it also exhibits a hideous, bigoted worldview. It’s a bit hard to believe that D.W. Griffith, the father of film grammar, was as oblivious to the overt racism in this story as he claims. He made “Intolerance” his greatest achievement as an artist, by way of an apology, which is probably the most epic way of saying “I’m so very sorry” in human history. “Nation” is required viewing for film scholars and history buffs, but anyone else will probably just find it appalling. Kino gives the film its Blu-ray debut this week, and like Criterion, they always give you bang for your buck.
Way Down East: Another Kino Blu-ray release, this one being a far-less controversial Griffith film. The sequence involving an icy river is the stuff of silent-movie legend, because back then they did a lot of their insane set-pieces for real.
Available on Blu-ray
This post originally appeared over at Parcbench
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27 Comments
Hunter, you might enjoy this essay on Super 8 and why the film more or less falls apart: http://badassdigest.com/2011/06/11/spoiler-movie-...
I wanted to like it more than I did and I agree that the stuff with the kids and their zombie movie was great but it didn't leave a lasting impression. And seriously, how long did that train crash last?!
I picked up Three Amigos today. It even includes 20 minutes of deleted footage but I was disappointed to find out that Sam Kinison's scenes (he played a bandito) have been lost forever.
"What is a plethora?"
I love "Rushmore." One of the most quotable movies in film history. Great soundtrack, too.
Max Fischer: So you were in Vietnam?
Herman Blume: Yeah.
Max Fischer: Were you in the s**t?
Herman Blume: Yeah, I was in the s**t.
"12 Angry Men". The movie that singlehandedly explains why many people have a wrongheaded concept of what "reasonable doubt" means and also shows Henry Fonda flagrantly violating every standard of ethics as a juror and getting away with it (From introducing evidence not produced in the courtroom during deliberations; to acting more like a defense counsel by impeaching witnesses out of the blue without reference to any established facts). I can never stomach watching it again.
"… wallows in the feces of ’70s nostalgia.
Gee, Hunter, thanks for embedding imagery into my subconcious and my memories of that era.
"Jefe, do you know what a plethora is?"
Or one of my favorite exchanges:
"Do you know what foreplay is?"
"…No."
"Good, neither does El Guapo."
Oh no doubt, from a legal standpoint, 12 ANGRY MEN is a farce. My praise comes simply from a dramatic standpoint.
Would I be an idiot if, even after reading that very funny review, I still rented 'Super 8' anyway? I'm not expecting much, but my curiosity is simply too strong to ignore.
Also, a sidenote about 'Birth of a Nation': my recollection is that Griffith made 'Intolerance' as a riposte to the intolerance he perceived on the part of critics of 'Nation'. That is to say, he thought they were being jerks (as opposed to admitting his own jerkiness), so he made a film that essentially asks, "Why can't we all just get along?" I could be wrong. 'Birth of a Nation' is one half of a masterpiece. The other half is obscene drivel. But still well-made. I'd throw 'Potemkin' in there along with 'Nation' and 'Triumph of the Will', too, in the sense that they are all incredible cinematic accomplishments made in the service of terrible ideologies.
Best news here—Birth of a Nation on Blu-ray by Kino. I was amazed at what Kino did with Metropolis, and am hoping this matches that excellence. Top of my Christmas list now
"Instead, it boasts Abrams’ skills as a hype-monger con-artist in order to trick people into spending money on seeing it."
That's a very fair assessment of the man. "Lost" is "The Prisoner", had the latter been written by P.T. ("there's a sucker born every minute") Barnum; no offense meant to Mr. Shapiro, but it is.
"In a way, all of us has an El Guapo to face. For some, shyness might be their El Guapo. For others, a lack of education might be their El Guapo. For us, El Guapo is a big, dangerous man who wants to kill us."
Matt, if you're curious, I'd say go ahead and see SUPER 8. Lord knows when there's a movie that I'm already curious about, bad reviews only make me want to see it for myself.
I had heard Griffith made INTOLERANCE to show how not-racist he was, but I'm only going on what professors have told me, I have yet to read Griffith's biography.
Good call on POTEMKIN! A great, innovative film that serves an awful worldview.
I know Spielberg and Abrams are liberal pinheads. This said "Super Eight" was a good movie with all the kids giving excellent performances. I will buy it.
I love the film…but I was recently dwelling on that, too. I finally decided that the film only needs to conclude with a note about how the released kid later killed two other people.
To "Lost", we should add "Cloverfield". A marvelous concept, fantastic trailer… and then a very well-made film that follows around a very boring guy as he tries to rescue a forgettable girl. Marlena, the only interesting character with any witty dialogue ("Woah, you know who Superman is?" "Oh my god! We must be having some kind of connection!! Have you heard of Garfield?"), disappears from the story in a hasty explosion. The doofus cameraman is more interesting, but almost never shown. The denouement that is supposed to tie it all together is bungled (at the end, the last remnant of the Coney Island trip footage from a month previous supposedly shows the monster arriving from space and impacting the ocean in the background, but it's too tiny to be noticed).
Yeah, but at least "Cloverfield" didn't string us all along for 6 YEARS…still a letdown though, I agree.
"Its too bad that Super 8 simply sucked rotten eggs down in the mud with the rest of fanboy crap."
THANK YOU! Finally someone else who feels the same way about this overblown piece of crap film as I do! This movie was a HUGE failure, not because it was bad (it was mediocre, with TONS of gaping plot holes and flaws), but because it sprang from the minds of the same guys who delivered Raiders of the Lost Ark and the Star Trek reboot. They should have known better, and they definitely could have – should have – done better. The premise had so much potential! I was actually angry by the time the big finale rolled out in act 3. Super 8 sucked. Severely.
"El Guapo may be the best name for a villain in a movie, ever. And now you can see every crevice in Alfonso Arau’s beautiful face in glorious high-definition! This is why Blu-ray was invented, folks."
It is one among a plethora of reasons why Blu Ray was invented…
…what is a "plethora"?
Many call "Intolerance" a Mea Culpa on Griffith's part, but for my money – when you actually view the film – it's more of a backpeddling from "Birth". To me "Intolerance comes of preachy, rather than empathetic, and seems to say "Hey, I felt this way all along! That other thing? Pay no attention to that!"
Potemkin is an outstandingly revolutionary piece of cinema. Pun intended.
We watch it every year. We quote it all the time. Critics panned it. I don´t know why.
Hunter, I have a question which isn't related to any of these movies. Have you watched Largo Winch and Solomon Kane? I'm waiting for these to be released in the states. I can purchase Largo from Amazon but Kane still isn't available. Just curious if you've viewed either one yet…thanks
Unlike "The Three Amigos" I find that there is always less to enjoy about "12 Angry Men." The cast is wonderful but the whole thing increasingly feels (over the years) over-written and self-congratulatory. Reginald Rose's script telegraphs it's punches from about three miles away and you aren't more than five minutes into the film when you say "Oh I get it. This is a group of twelve distinct "types."
There's the nervous ad-man (Robert Webber), the NYC baseball fan (Jack Warden), the bigot (Lee J. Cobb), the schmuck (John Fiedler), the regular guys (Edward Binns, Jack Klugman , Mr. Decency (Henry Fonda) etc. Maybe the concept has become too familiar but "12 angry Men" hasn't held up nearly as well as some of the other dramas from "Televisions Golden Age."
I haven't seen either. SOLOMON KANE actually hasn't gotten distribution in the U.S.
What's so quotable about those lines?
I enjoyed Super 8 – the kids' movie that played over the end credits was hilarious. If you're going to dump on a JJ Abrams movie, pick on Cloverfield, that was just not good. This one was fun, I watched it with my 16-year old daughter and had a great time.
You mean tortured, raped, and set fire to a busload of nuns, orphans, and puppies.
Gone With The Wind is just as offensively racist as Birth of A Nation, but no one seems to notice. Probably because they put Rhett Butlers Klan escapade offscreen. Slaves are either content (Mammy) or stupid (Sissy).
I thought Super 8 was pretty darn good. The complaints I hear are those of unfulfilled expectations; something that is not considered when making a film. That factor is self induced. Watch the film without the expectations of extreme CGI action sequences or over the top humor, etc. and take it for what its worh. It was a refreshing piece of filmmaking taking you back to a time where your imagination was actually accessed and you didn't need edgy dialogue to keep you attentive. The soundtrack was good, the score was creepily sentimental, the story endearing and mysterious, and the characters' dynamic was realistic. The biggest let down to me was that, in an era of increasingly longer films, it was too short and the final act could have shown more creature/human screentime.
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