Tag: close encounters

Super 8: Cinefantastique Spotlight Podcast 2:22.1

Posted on by Dan Persons

The Effects Extravaganza Gets Real: A junior filmmaker (Joel Courtney, foreground) confronts a genuine threat in SUPER 8.
The Effects Extravaganza Gets Real: A junior filmmaker (Joel Courtney, foreground) confronts a genuine threat in SUPER 8.

J.J. Abrams, the man who set the deliriously enigmatic pace for LOST in that show’s pilot and upended STAR TREK by blowing up Vulcan (we still haven’t recovered) now sets his sights on the Spielbergian kids’ adventure in SUPER 8. Set in a small-town, rose-tinted version of 1979, the sf/fantasy film tells the tale of a group of tweens — prime amongst them Elle Fanning — who while filming their zombie movie capture on-camera a spectacular train crash and the unleashing of something malevolent from within. With Abrams idol Spielberg himself stepping into the producer role, will SUPER 8 be the film to take the Master’s visionary fantasy/drama template from the seventies and eighties and reconcile it with Abrams’ ability to work nuanced, character-based drama into a genre framework? Or is the inexorable pull of CLOSE ENCOUNTERS’ sense of wonder too strong even for the man who in the past few years has acquired a reputation for his own, unique storytelling style? Join Cinefantastique Online’s Steve Biodrowski, Lawrence French, and Dan Persons as they discuss the issue.
Click on the player to hear the discussion.

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Abrams’ Super 8 Teaser and Info

Posted on by Dennis Routledge Tizzard

J.J. Abrams (STAR TREK, CLOVERFIELD) and Steven Spielberg (E.T., JURASSIC PARK) have been working together on a rather hush-hush project called SUPER 8 over the last year, and the first teaser trailer has begun showing before screenings of IRON MAN 2. You can watch the teaser on the left, and we also have new information regarding the film, courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter, below.
So what is SUPER 8 all about? Contrary to earlier rumours it’s not connected with CLOVERFIELD in the slightest. It will, however, share a tonal similarity with the sci-fi monster hit as it revolves around ordinary people encountering something most extraordinary. Abrams has written the script and will directing the film himself while Steven Spielberg will serve as producer. The film, which is rumoured to be about a group of teenagers stumbling upon alien lifeforms whilst shooting an amateur film on super 8,  will not be shot using ‘shakey-cam’ and is being given a budget of between $45-50 million.
If you don’t want anything spoilt for yourself, read no further and instead visit the official site here as it’ll soon be hosting the teaser in much better quality than the bootleg available on YouTube. Said trailer is simply brilliant as it continues Abrams’ gift for creating a mystique around his films and in turn, generating hype. We don’t see much, but what he do see is more than enough to have me thoroughly excited for the film.
Abrams and Spielberg are currently working hard on SUPER 8 in time to release it next year.