Super 8

Garbage.

Just another one of Bhowie's troll posts... don't worry about it. Its supposes to be good, I'll probably see it at home though.

+ the universe

i think it might be good in the theatre, if i have time id probably see it

I'm going to have to agree. If you've seen a contemporary monster movie you've already seen Super 8 ad infinitum. It's the same Hollywood conventions. No hooks, no surprises, and no interesting subtext.

Actually, upon further thought the film not having something potentially going for it isn't true. It could have had a sentimental edge to it if the boy's narrative with his mother, father, friends, and love interest weren't so thin. And even then, its cinematic accomplishment would have been being a paternal redemption/coming-of-age monster film. Either way, still a pretty boring and tedious affair.

^ Rather like reading your posts. On topic, RubeBabes™ III & IV and I went the other night. It was exactly what I hoped for: two hours of action, loud noise and escape.

This is a decent movie. Its more about the boy than it is about the Alien. To tell you the truth, the alien's story would have happened wether the boy was there or not. The alien would have left even if it never met the boy. That is what made the movie very real to me, that it was about a boy and his father dealing with the loss of their mother, amongst a few other plots; but the alien was only in the background and to compliment the story about the boy.

Have to strongly disagree with this part. I never felt that the movie stalled. In fact, the pacing was one of the biggest strengths of this film, and it is something Abrams seems to do well. After coming off of a viewing of Tree of Life (now THAT was tedious), this movie moved right along.

Anyone else catch the similarities to E.T.?

I'm not sure I could. When it comes to recent, the best thing I can think of would be 28 Days Later. That said, I can see zombie films being such a highly defined niche that they are considered something other than a monster movie sub-genre.

The best examples I can think of in the monster movie genre are Jaws and Alien.

Also, what does everyone consider a monster movie? I can see how some people would take exception to Jaws as it's not an alien or some toxic waste mutated animal or myth come to life, but I feel that it counts because of the films conventions.

While I don't necessarily consider character development realizing or aesthetically validating (it's just a part of a whole and contingent on other factors within a narrative. Sometimes characters are more defined and believable because in some ways they don't develop. Moby Dick would kind of suck if Ahab learned to forgive that great white whale), I would ask how the main character developed. He is introduced with a scenario that is an appeal to our emotions. Mom's dead, he's a sweet but obviously sad kid, and he's left with an emotionally stunted father who doesn't comprehend him. Other than having things occur to him and being generally likable, the only thing I can see being emblematic of some internal occurrence are of him communicating with the monster that "bad things just happen" (not verbatim) and subsequently letting go of his mother's locket. He stands up to his dad but is never identified as having suffered cowardice and he forgives his friends and love interest but is never identified as being unforgiving or even that aware of their potential transgressions. If anyone developed, I'd say it was the parents, and once again I'd consider their transformation pretty trite and thin.

Yeah, I thought it had "Ode to Spielberg" written all over it. It's been over a decade, so I'm probably wrong here, but I actually thought the ship was sort of evocative of Close Encounters and E.T.