Search - Super 8 (Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy) [Blu-ray] [Blu-ray] (2011); Ryan Lee on Blu-ray

Super 8 Ryan Lee Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy UR Few filmmakers have ever had a run at the tables like Steven Spielberg, whose output from 1971's Sugarland Express to, say, 1982's E.T. displayed an amazingly unforced melding of huge set pieces and small human gestures. E...  more »ven at their most chaotic, they somehow felt organic. Super 8, writer-director J.J. Abrams's authorized tribute to classic Spielbergisms, hits all of the marks (Lived-in suburbia backdrop, check. Awestruck gazes upwards, check. Parental discord, check. Lens flares, amazingly huge check), but its adherence to the formula squelches much of its own potential. Appealing as it is to see a summer movie that retro-prioritizes character development over jittery quick-cut explosions, the viewer is always aware at how furiously it's working to seem effortless. Set in 1979, Abrams's script follows a group of movie-crazy kids attempting to make a zombie flick, only to have their plans cut short by a close encounter with a train derailment. As the military pours over the wreckage and neighbors start disappearing, the gang realizes that their footage contains a cameo appearance by an extremely grumpy guest star. For a film whose promotional campaign hinged so strongly on creating an air of mystery, Super 8 is a fairly straightforward melding of E.T. and Jurassic Park, albeit one featuring an oddly schizophrenic monster (he eats people... until he doesn't). Abrams makes his young cast shine (particularly when developing a hint of romance between leads Joel Courtney and Elle Fanning), while also providing a nice character arc for Kyle Chandler, as a widowed deputy who can see his relationship with his son slipping away. Aside from a few primo early jolts, however, the creature-feature aspects feel increasingly shoehorned in alongside the more assured coming-of-age elements. Abrams's film has more than enough bright spots to warrant a viewing, but its insistence on worshipfully following the master's playbook is a bit of a bummer. Imitation isn't always flattering.  « less

4 Larger Image

Movie Details

Similar Movies

Cowboys Aliens Director: Jon Favreau 58    1hr 58min

Prometheus Director: Ridley Scott 54    2hr 4min

Paramount Cloverfield dvd/lenticular O-sleeve 271

Battle Los Angeles Director: Jonathan Liebesman 40    1hr 56min

Battleship Director: Peter Berg 32    2hr 11min

Cowboys Aliens Blu-ray+DVD+Digital Copy in Blu-ray Packaging Director: Jon Favreau 37    1hr 58min

Star Trek Into Darkness Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy Director: J.J. Abrams 30    2hr 12min

Battle Los Angeles Blu-ray Director: Jonathan Liebesman 17    1hr 56min

World War Z Director: Marc Forster 52    1hr 56min

Good Will Hunting Miramax Collector's Series 220    R   1998   2hr 6min

American Hustle Two Disc Combo: Blu-ray / DVD +Ultraviolet Digital Copy Director: David O. Russell 12

Limitless Blu-ray 15    UR   2011   1hr 45min

Gangs of New York Blu-ray 154    R   2008   2hr 47min

Ender's Game +UltraViolet Digital Copy Director: Gavin Hood 29    1hr 54min

X-Men Days of Future Past Blu-ray Director: Bryan Singer 15