This movie review is brought to you by Saumya Goel (Ting Ting Tiding!)
What were the last few alien movies you watched? I remember either the animated ones likes Megamind or Planet 51 where aliens are shown as like-able and cute; or the serious/creative ones like Avatar, District 9 where the logic was to show that aliens could be as humane as humans are or even something more complicated! So after this plethora of alien movies, the number ONE reason I can think of as to why you should watch Super-8 is that it transports you some 30 years back in time!
Plot in a line: Its alien vs human, all over again!
Director & Writer: J.J. Abrams
Stars:Elle Fanning, Amanda Michalka and Kyle Chandler
A sub-tearrainian alien being transported through Lillain, OH escapes after the train derails! All hell breaks loose in the town. The fate of the own now lies in the hands of a bunch of kids, who happen to be at the site of accident while filming for their movie on a Super 8 mm (that explains the name!) – an entry to a film festival.
Innocence is priceless! The kids who are undoubtedly the heroes of the movie, charm you throughout. There is Charles, the cute, chubby, director kid who is bent on getting the “production value” for his film! Alice is the only female cast of the movie in the movie and is of course, the center of attention! Joe – the real hero of the movie(also, with a short flashback!) is the make-up artist and Alice’s “love-interest”. My favorite of the lot was Cary, the Zombie-kid with the firecrackers (Vishnu Vishwanath, he totally reminded me of you! :D).
Apart from the kids and the movie that they make, there are some adults with their own problems and then this lost alien who wants to escape earth. Of course, like in yesterday-er movies, for the first half of the movie, the alien is just shown by sounds, flickering lights, and destruction. And then when the alien comes on screen, expect it to be as dramatic as the sounds it made. Not the Avatar-kind!
Super-8 was a sci-fi thriller with little logic. This movie is pure fiction, watch it for the pure joy of watching an alien movie. Like we did when we were little kids! Apart from this, the movie is plain simple -nothing extraordinary! Oh wait! I must mention, in addition, you do get to watch the movie that was made in the movie, by the kids! That in my opinion was the highlight of Super-8!
My roomie(now-ex) Saumya Goel gave me a parting gift – a gift-card to a local theater! The next few movies I watch with that shall be in reviewed in honor of her – Bring on the Saumya Goel Series! (Well-wishers could take her example!)
Re-Vi-You 