{"id":101,"date":"2011-09-14T11:01:29","date_gmt":"2011-09-14T15:01:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.drfilm.net\/blog\/?p=101"},"modified":"2020-12-06T21:34:53","modified_gmt":"2020-12-07T02:34:53","slug":"spielberg-without-the-schmaltz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.drfilm.net\/blog\/?p=101","title":{"rendered":"Spielberg Without the Schmaltz"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve taken a lot of verbal abuse through the years for my aversion to two \u201cclassics\u201d by Steven Spielberg, specifically ET <\/em>and Back to the Future<\/em>.\u00a0 I\u2019m not in the camp that hates any film with Spielberg\u2019s name on it.\u00a0 In fact, I have grudging respect for Close Encounters<\/em>, I really liked 2 of the 4 Indiana Jones <\/em>films (the last one has some good moments), and I thought Schindler\u2019s List <\/em>was a great film.\u00a0 Spielberg, in my humble opinion, is an amazing director with a great sense of camera placement and movement.\u00a0 On the other hand, sometimes he is unable to pick a good script, and sometimes he can\u2019t resist doing the cheesiest possible cinema tricks to extend a scene.<\/p>\n

This is why I was very hesitant to see the newest Spielbergy picture, Super 8<\/em>.\u00a0 Now, I realize that the film is the brainchild of director JJ Abrams, but then Back to the Future <\/em>was ostensibly Bob Zemeckis\u2019 picture.\u00a0 It\u2019s long been my contention that the streak of schmaltziness that runs through the center of Back to the Future <\/em>belongs to Spielberg, since most of Zemeckis\u2019 other films suffer less from it.\u00a0 And then there\u2019s the Spielberg-(executive) produced The Goonies<\/em>, which was so bad that I couldn\u2019t even make my way through it. (Yes, I realize that there\u2019s a group of people who think that was a great film, and I weep softly for them.)<\/p>\n

Abrams is a mixed bag for me.\u00a0 I saw some of his TV series Lost, <\/em>but one of the things it lost was my interest.\u00a0 I understand it spent several years building to a cheat \u201cwhoops, I\u2019m dead\u201d climax, something out of Twilight Zone 101.\u00a0 Star Trek <\/em>I didn\u2019t see, because I just couldn\u2019t face the idea of it.\u00a0 I\u2019ve enjoyed Abrams\u2019 Fringe <\/em>on the occasions I\u2019ve seen it.\u00a0 And, strangely, I was the one guy who liked Abrams\u2019 writing debut, Regarding Henry<\/em>.\u00a0 \u00a0 Well, I guess there were a few others, but for some reason, there are a lot of people who hated Regarding Henry<\/em>.<\/p>\n

What generally bothers me about the Spielberg-produced \u201ckid films\u201d is that they all have similar themes.\u00a0 You can run them off like a laundry list: 1) All of the adults are idiots.\u00a0 2) The kids are magically smart.\u00a0 3) There will be a stupid plot device late in the film that will be milked past the point of credulity… one that will make me squirm in my seat.\u00a0 4) The main kid will have trouble with his father or father figure because Spielberg himself did, and, since he can\u2019t get over that, we have to sit through him working it out in all his movies.<\/p>\n

Abrams doesn\u2019t do this!\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t fall into the Spielberg traps!\u00a0 Amazingly, Super 8<\/em> does a very good job of working on two levels: a) it\u2019s aimed at 15-year-olds with lots of explosions and chases but b) it\u2019s not so stupid that adults wince while watching it.\u00a0 This is an amazing feat these days.<\/p>\n

People leave me nasty comments if I don\u2019t talk about the plot a little, so I will: A group of kids accidentally capture a train wreck on film during the making of their amateur horror picture.\u00a0 It turns out to be an Area 51-type conspiracy.\u00a0 The train was carrying an alien who may or may not be evil and murderous.\u00a0 And the Air Force wants to cover the whole thing up.<\/p>\n

I have a number of things to say about the film, and I\u2019ll segment it into three categories:<\/p>\n

THE GOOD<\/p>\n

Abrams\u2019 teen characters are believable and feel real.\u00a0 I really liked the interaction, and it did feel like it was taking place in 1979.<\/p>\n

The 8mm filmmaking material is impeccably handled.\u00a0 Extra bonus points for the courage to show the teens\u2019 finished film over the credits.\u00a0 Classy.<\/p>\n

The adults in this film have a real story and aren\u2019t just idiots.\u00a0 Rather than being one-dimensional clich\u00e9s (ET<\/em>), you can see interpersonal struggles and it works well.\u00a0 They are trying to be good people and parents under bad circumstances.\u00a0 There is no Spielbergian happy ending in which the clueless parent suddenly wakes up and hugs his kid.\u00a0 The hug happens here, but it resonated with me much better, because it was a happy reunion: the kids and the adults had come through the same troubles and worked through them.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been sick of the interminable computer-generated monsters for years.\u00a0 Abrams is really smart about his monster.\u00a0 We don\u2019t even see it for some time, and then when we finally do, it\u2019s only in little bits.\u00a0 There\u2019s an extended suspense of \u201cwhat is this?\u201d that is handled in the same way it might have been done in the 1950s.\u00a0 We never actually see the alien in the full sunlight, so the spidery sinewyness of the creature is never lost on us.\u00a0 Sometimes we see more when we see less.\u00a0 (Please read this paragraph, Michael Bay.)<\/p>\n

Elle Fanning as the teen romantic interest is an amazing actress.\u00a0 She is able to express emotions fluidly and well.\u00a0 She steals every scene she\u2019s in.\u00a0 I predict that good things lie ahead for her.<\/p>\n

THE BAD<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve seen train wrecks and the one in this film is ridiculously over the top.\u00a0 It lasts too long and gets silly in its excess.\u00a0 I remember in physics class they taught us that momentum = mass times velocity.\u00a0 Some of those cars are moving faster after the accident than before it.<\/p>\n

I know that modern films avoid having real plots.\u00a0 I\u2019m not quite sure why this is.\u00a0 Could we get more explanation of what the alien is doing on the water tower at the end?\u00a0 I\u2019m sure that there\u2019s probably a director\u2019s cut of this film that makes more sense than what got released.\u00a0 Is it too much to ask that plot points be explained a bit?\u00a0 Just a bit. Please?<\/p>\n

There is a scene near the end that is classic junk Spielberg.\u00a0 The kid who loves explosives can\u2019t get his lighter to ignite at the proper moment, which is milked as a suspense point.\u00a0 Fortunately, Abrams doesn\u2019t drag it out interminably.\u00a0 Please note that ET\u2019s \u201cdeath\u201d and the Christopher Lloyd\u2019s endless fumbling at the top of the bell tower in Back to the Future <\/em>are far worse.<\/p>\n

THE UGLY<\/p>\n

Yes, it\u2019s cool that Abrams really shot this in anamorphic Panavision.\u00a0 There are a few dozen of us who actually understand this.\u00a0 However, the photography in general is pretty mushy and indistinct, which probably means the digital intermediate was not done well.\u00a0 Furthermore: \u201cYes, JJ, we understand that you love the blue Panavision lens flares.\u00a0 We get it.\u00a0 Please don\u2019t do them in every night shot.\u00a0 It gets old.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abrams does an admirable job of fluid camerawork, but some of his direction is a little too precious and brings attention to itself.\u00a0 It\u2019s faux-Spielberg, and it\u2019s the one area in which he fails to live up to the standard.\u00a0 Spielberg is a master at setups, and Abrams is simply very good.\u00a0 He\u2019d be better if he tried to be less flashy.<\/p>\n

For some reason, it was seen as necessary to shoot Noah Emmerich\u2019s acne scars to look as bad and deep as possible, in the classic Dirty Harry <\/em>tradition.\u00a0 Can we move past the tired idea that flawed face equals flawed character?\u00a0 For heaven\u2019s sake, folks, these guys should start a union: \u201cPockmarked actors for stock movie villains.\u201d<\/p>\n

THE CONCLUSION<\/p>\n

Most of the reviews compare Super 8<\/em> to the Spielberg \u201cclassics\u201d that inspired it, and many have said, patronizingly, that it\u2019s a nice effort, but the old ones are better.\u00a0 I disagree.\u00a0 Super 8 <\/em>is actually better than many of the early Spielberg films.\u00a0 I hope he watches and takes some hints from it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve taken a lot of verbal abuse through the years for my aversion to two \u201cclassics\u201d by Steven Spielberg, specifically ET and Back to the Future.\u00a0 I\u2019m not in the camp that hates any film with Spielberg\u2019s name on it.\u00a0 In fact, I have grudging respect for Close Encounters, I really liked 2 of the … Continue reading “Spielberg Without the Schmaltz”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"powered_cache_disable_cache":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[207,4],"tags":[11,10,9],"class_list":["post-101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-film","category-views-and-reviews","tag-abrams","tag-spielberg","tag-super-8"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drfilm.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drfilm.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drfilm.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drfilm.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drfilm.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=101"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.drfilm.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103,"href":"https:\/\/www.drfilm.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101\/revisions\/103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drfilm.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drfilm.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drfilm.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}