Friday, June 10, 2011

The Cinematheque Reviews: J.J. Abrams' Super 8

Even the poster, with its obvious nod to late seventies, early eighties adventure movies, has it in spades.  Has what you ask?  Nostalgia, that's what.  In Super 8, J.J. Abrams homage to his mentor and master Steven Spielberg, a movie that is at least on the surface a monster movie, we get a full dose of nostalgia.  A nostalgia for those woebegone days when we as kids ran around our neighborhoods playing all sorts of make-believe.  You know, the kind of imagery that the younger Spielberg once populated his films with.  Abrams gives it a less cloying and more bang-pop-ness than his idol and it is in this blend of stylistic choices that Super 8 (see, even the title rings of nostalgia) succeeds as a movie.  And I like the blue lens flares too.


1 comment:

Dan O. said...

Abrams remembers the simple rule that a majority of his contemporaries have forgotten: action and mayhem have meaning only when an audience cares about the people trapped within the maelstrom. And I cared for all of these characters, even that drunk dad that gets arrested in the beginning. Nice Review! Check out mine when you get a chance!