On 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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