The Spielberg Entity

Love, loss, zombies, monsters... and kids
By Morgan P Salvo

I have an immediate aversion to any movie with Stephen Spielberg’s name on it. Not just because Spielberg and George Lucas singlehandedly changed movies for the worse in the 70’s by making special effects induced blockbusters and taking away the strong story driven anti-hero movies of that era, but because nowadays everything Spielberg touches has antics that make a decent flick get all cute with bad schmaltzy music and some sort of cornball ending. Plus he has this “never grow up” attitude to convey and all the money God can dish out to make things over produced and over extravagant (think Transformers franchise for starters). Super 8 is no exception to all these agendas: it’s a kid’s movie from start to finish. By the way, I pride myself that I have never seen ET. This fact will be engraved on my tombstone along with “never sang karaoke.”
Teaming up with the brains behind TV’s Lost J. J. Abrams (also responsible for Mission: Impossible III and Star Trek) this movie is a combo of Stand By Me, Cloverfield meets ET with a smidgeon of District 9 thrown in for good measure. Don’t get me started on how LAME I thought the ending to Lost was or we’ll be here till next Tuesday.
In this 1979 Ohio period piece, several youngsters (Elle Fanning, Joel Courtney, Gabriel Basso) are hard at work making a zombie movie with a Super-8 camera. In the midst of filming, the friends witness a horrifying train derailment. They discover that the crash was no accident followed by a series of unexplained events and disappearances. Deputy Jackson Lamb (Kyle Chandler), the dad to one of the kids and the designated “grown up” in the bunch searches for the terrifying truth behind the crash.
There was a lot of secretive buzz on this flick culminating in high expectations. But even though Super 8 seems destined to score big at the box office, it might miss its intended mark. Don’t get me wrong - if I was a kid I’d probably love this movie, but I wouldn’t be old enough to compare it to the outdated and overrated ET or Goonies. And I’m guessing not too many people will even remember what Super 8 film is. Predating video and digital, it will seem too archaic to the youth of today and only seminal for people that are old enough to remember what shooting on film was like. I still have my Super 8 editor from high school film class. Despite all this nostalgic filmmaking Super8 still falls on its face and falls back on corny fluff.
The period piece also falters as the filmmakers attempt to juice up the dialogue with slang of the time like “mint” used to describe something cool. But then in an attempt to keep youngsters riveted they fall back on jargon no one used in the 70’s like “dude” “awesome” and “totally”. Plus there’s only so much of cute suburban white kids a person can take.

Super 8 has a decent buildup then convenient filmmaking takes over and the movie ends way too quick in an unbelievable blur of crap. Best part was the kids finished zombie film at the ending credits.
With all the special effects you can pull out of a techno geek’s wizard’s hat along with suspense and cuteness intertwined, Super 8 provides the perfect Spielberg entity. I know hoards of people will be entertained out of their wits but I miss that story-driven anti-hero time when actors, writers, producers and directors were on the same page about art and integrity and if it happened to make a buck, all the better. Now, thanks to the revolutionary Star Wars shift in cinema comes pre-ordained, studio driven, market researched junk. We are doomed to take the ultra lame with the so-so.Super 8 pulls out all the F-stops and hits a wall.

Super 8

Starring Elle Fanning, Joel Courtney, Gabriel Basso, Kyle Chandler
Directed by J. J. Abrams
2 stars

Mutant Brotherhood

Action packed morality lesson saves the world and the franchise
by Morgan P Salvo

After the last two X-men installments (X-Men: The Last Stand & Wolverine) I expected this new one to suck, but such is not the case. X-men First Class teeters on the brink of redemption. Then again this movie is not excellent by any means as its flaws still outweigh its attributes. At least it made me realize there’s still hope.

XFC reveals the origins of Professor Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender) before becoming mortal enemies as Professor X and Magneto, respectively, the antagonists were also played by old guys Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen and in the first films. The saga of Professor Xavier and Magneto begins in a WWII Nazi Camp intertwining their relationship cutting back and forth, juxtaposing images of both their lives before they meet, sealing their all too bittersweet bond and ends up in 1963 incorporating the Cuban Missile Strike. First Class also follows the two former allies as they lead a powerful team of mutants on a mission to save the planet from nuclear annihilation. The story moves right along and the plot unfolds easily which also involves attempts by CIA agent Moira McTaggert (Insidious’ Rose Byrne) along with CIA honcho (Oliver Platt) to use Xavier to battle Sebastian Shaw (a criminally fun Kevin Bacon) who presents a threat to world peace.
Then there’s Xavier’s school for humans with superhuman abilities aka mutants: Raven (Jennifer Lawrence), Hank/Beast (Nicholas Hoult), Alex/Havoc (Lucas Till), Sean/Banshee (Caleb Landry Jones), Armondo/Darwin (Edi Gathegi from Twilight fame) and Angel (Zoe Kravitz). Liberties are taken with the “whys” and “how comes” in the training period. One glaring irritant is these kids act totally 21st century, not early 1960s; one of them utters “whatever” and they even do a name chant to spur on the antics of Havoc.

I was an original X-men comic fan and having this knowledge helps and hinders as the rules have changed. I can remember when the Beast was just melancholy and sad---not the color blue. When Marvel Comics updated and modernized those of us who were there from the start have to take a lot of high tech nuances with a grain of salt. Sure X-men always included diversely cool Mutants with special mutant powers be it telepathic or messing with the elements but why in these newer versions do they end up looking like satanic demons, mosquito-winged fairies and blue werewolves? Plus there was one red devil dude that could inexplicably disappear who looked like he belonged on a bottle of hot-sauce.
I ‘m curious about Jennifer Lawrence… was Winter’s Bone a fluke? She continues to not impress as in The Beaver and now this lackadaisical sub-par performance. It’s nice to see McAvoy use his real accent for a change. Fassbender’s acting chops go all out achieving the ultimate task of making us feel his comic book pain. Landry Jones was interesting to watch only because he was played the same weirdly quirky dude from The Last Exorcism. Bacon exudes humorous pleasure in being evil. When he is absorbing nuclear power it’s a laugh riot. The rest of the mutant teens are just background filler geeks and too many to care about or follow. There are also a slew of recognizable actors in small roles. Unfortunately Shaw's two evil henchmen are not even introduced or explained. They just do mutant-like things.
Adapted from a story and produced by original director Bryan Singer it still boggles the mind that this is the same guy who brought us The Usual Suspects.
Under Director Matthew Vaughn’s (Kick-ass) care the action scenes totally deliver. Vaughn knows his stuff displaying nice cinematic/comic book strength although everything is taken way too seriously. The military scenes have a Dr Strangelove/ Fail Safe look but the groovy 60’s period piece backdrop just makes you feel like you are watching Austin Powers episodes without the idiotic humor. The special effects are set just above dazzle always being the saving grace of the X-men franchise. The mutant recruiting process with telepathic brain machine is too farfetched even though it brings a fun psychedelic dream state to the screen.
There is some super lame “save the universe” music but the major downfall is the overwrought dialogue about what gigantic odds mutant faces. Too much emphasis is put on being true to one’s self. Acceptance is the theme. This concept is shoved into our faces. We get it—conquer your fear and hatred from others and you can excel with your mutant abilities and nerd emotions.
When all is said and done XFC is good harmless fun but I doubt I will live long enough to see this never-ending saga played out. At one point Prof X tells Magneto to find the spot between rage and serenity. Now if only I can obtain that sweet spot I might start liking more moves.

X-Men First Class
Starring James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Kevin Bacon
Directed by Matthew Vaughn
Rated PG-13
2 ½ stars