Super 8 (2011 - 10th Anniversary) Review

 

I don’t always get the chance to do a special ‘Anniversary’ review for a film, but for this year, there was one that I knew that I wanted to do since the film in question is one of my favorite films of all-time from one of my favorite directors. Said film came out on June 10^th, 2011, a little less than a year before I officially started this site in May of 2012. Thus, my original review for that film was on my old Rotten Tomatoes account and the only instances where I’ve ever addressed it on this site were A.) whenever I mention it as a part of its director’s filmography and B.) an incredibly old and thoroughly outdated post that I did in 2013 where I listed my Top 10 Favorite Films of 2011. But today, in honor of the 10^th anniversary of its release, it’s time for us to take a proper look at the 2011 sci-fi/monster adventure, Super 8. Super 8 was the third feature-length directorial outing from J.J. Abrams and was an original project that he made in-between the two Star Trek films that he directed, the franchise’s titular 2009 reboot and its 2013 sequel, Star Trek Into Darkness. Much of the film was inspired by Abrams’ experiences making Super 8 films when he was younger, including a notable run-in with none other than the legendary Steven Spielberg, who had once hired him to repair some of his old Super 8 reels. And if that wasn’t enough, Super 8 is produced by Spielberg via his production company, Amblin Entertainment. So, in other words, Super 8 can very much be described as a modern-day Spielberg film albeit one that wasn’t directed by the man himself. And while some have argued that its attempts at paying homage to the films that inspired it may have been a bit too much (which, ironically, wouldn’t be the only time that this argument has been applied to a J.J. Abrams film), it’s also one of the main reasons why this film has thoroughly stuck with me after all these years.

In 1979 in the town of Lillian, Ohio, teenager Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney) suffers a devastating tragedy when his mother Elizabeth (Caitriona Balfe) is killed in a steel factory accident. Several months later, Joe begins to help his best friend Charles Kaznyk (Riley Griffiths) produce a zombie film for a local Super 8 film competition along with their friends Cary McCarthy (Ryan Lee), Martin Reed (Gabriel Basso), and Zach Mills (Preston Scott). Charles also recruits the help of their classmate Alice Dainard (Elle Fanning) despite the intense animosity between her father Louis (Ron Eldard) and Joe’s father Jack (Kyle Chandler), the town’s Deputy Sheriff, for the former’s inadvertent role in Elizabeth’s death. While filming at a train station one night, they witness an Air Force train get into a head-on collision with a truck, and while they barely manage to survive the experience, something mysterious breaks free from the train that begins to cause a series of strange incidents all over town with multiple people disappearing. Eventually, the gang realizes that they managed to get a glimpse of whatever broke out of the train on film, thus leading them on a journey to try and find it before the Air Force ends up destroying it.

When people say that this is basically J.J. Abrams’ ‘Spielberg film’, it’s admittedly quite easy to see why and not just because Spielberg himself produced it. From a narrative standpoint, Super 8 thoroughly maintains a lot of the story beats that defined many of Spielberg’s most iconic films, especially when it comes to the overall concept of kids from a quiet town going through a truly otherworldly experience as seen in films like E.T. and The Goonies (even though Spielberg technically didn’t direct the latter). And while I know that some critics gave Abrams some major flak for how overt his homages to Spielberg’s work were, I think that he handles this aspect of the film excellently, thus giving Super 8 a pleasantly nostalgic vibe but one that’s done under a modern aesthetic. Really, the only ‘Spielberg trope’ that he didn’t need to utilize here was the decision to not overtly show this film’s alien creature for most of the run-time. Sure, it worked with the shark in Jaws but that was back in the ’70s and was a result of Spielberg overcoming the problems that stemmed from the mechanical sharks that were used during the production which, as you can probably guess, is something that usually isn’t an issue nowadays in an age where most visual effects are CGI-based. And yet, this doesn’t prevent the film from being a wholly engaging story that also excellently hits its biggest emotional beats. I’ve always felt that one of J.J. Abrams’ best traits as a director is his strong handling of a story’s most important emotional moments and Super 8 is another prime example of that as it explores how both the Lamb and Dainard families have struggled to cope with the accident that has forever tied them together.

It also goes without saying that one of the biggest ways in which this film pays tribute to the Spielberg aesthetic is how it largely relies on a cast that’s primarily made up of kids. Back when Super 8 first came out, almost all its young leads were genuine newcomers, and while several of them have gone on to be in other projects since then, Elle Fanning was basically the only one of them who had any sort of experience in the industry at that time. Despite this, however, they all do a fantastic job in their respective roles. Their camaraderie is top-notch and while the story does mainly focus on its two main protagonists, Joe and Alice, the other members of the group do get to have their standout moments, from Charles getting a lot of the best comedic lines (which helps to make up for his admittedly abrasive personality) and Cary’s overt obsession with fireworks that other characters find concerning. Ultimately, though, the biggest stars of the show are Joel Courtney and Elle Fanning. Fanning is arguably the biggest standout of the entire film, showcasing some impressive maturity for her age, and while Courtney’s performance is more subdued by comparison, it still very much feels right in line with other similarly aged Spielberg-esque protagonists such as Elliott from E.T. Finally, to close out the main cast, we have a solid trio of performances from the film’s adult leads; Kyle Chandler as Joe’s father Jack, who struggles to reconnect with his son, Ron Eldard as Alice’s drunk but emotionally traumatized father Louis, and Noah Emmerich, who’s appropriately sinister as Nelec, the Air Force colonel who’s revealed to have a history with the alien creature that has been unleashed on the town.  

I still fondly remember the anticipation that I had for this film’s release, which all started when its first trailer ran in front of Iron Man 2 all the way back in 2010. Since this was right around the time that J.J. Abrams’ first Star Trek film was quickly becoming one of my favorite films of all time, I was very much hyped to see his next film, especially since it was going to be produced by the one and only Steven Spielberg. And while I wouldn’t properly play it until many years after both it and the film’s release, it’s also cool to note how Super 8 was promoted by one of the most popular video games of the year, Portal 2, which featured an ‘interactive trailer’ for the film that put players on the Air Force train that carries the alien creature as it gets into its big crash. Basically, to make a long story short, Super 8 was a prime example of J.J. Abrams’ ‘mystery box’ approach to marketing his films so that he could avoid the leak of major spoilers. Granted, this trademark of his ended up attracting a mostly negative reaction from both critics and audiences due to its debatable effectiveness, especially in the wake of Star Trek Into Darkness’ big reveal surrounding its take on the character Khan Noonien Singh. That said, though, I do think that he deserves credit for what I view as a noble attempt at pulling all this off in an age where film-related spoilers and leaks are practically commonplace. Now, with all that in mind, I can freely admit that I don’t necessarily consider Super 8 to be J.J.’s best film, mostly due to a few plot elements here and there that could’ve benefitted from some additional development.  

Ultimately, though, it’s safe to say that the biggest talking point surrounding this film was its status as Abrams’ tribute to the filmography of Steven Spielberg, a move that attracted both its fans… and its critics. In other words, the discourse surrounding this film isn’t that far off from the ongoing debate that film fandom has had these past few years about nostalgia in general and how it’s heavily defined a lot of recent media. Case in point, as I alluded to back in the intro, this was not the first time (nor was it the last, for that matter) that a J.J. Abrams film attracted a bunch of attention over its nostalgic elements; just look at how a nagging nitpick about The Force Awakens ended up becoming the defining criticism of The Rise of Skywalker. And yet, as someone who considers himself to have a neutral stance on the whole nostalgia debate (in other words, someone who’s totally fine with it but not to the point where it’d cloud my judgment on anything), I believe that J.J. Abrams very much succeeded in making this his ‘Spielberg film’. In fact, I’d even bet that anyone who goes into this completely unaware of the fact that J.J. Abrams directed it wouldn’t have guessed that it wasn’t a Steven Spielberg directed film until the end credits. In short, while I may not have been alive during the era in which this film takes place, it wholly succeeds in bringing you back to a time where Steven Spielberg gave us some of the greatest films of all-time, effectively making Super 8 the second J.J. Abrams directed film after 2009’s Star Trek that will always have its place as one of my favorite films of all time.

Rating: 5/5!

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019) review

In 2014, Disney released their then-latest live-action remake of one of their animated classics, Maleficent. The film served as a reimagining of the studio’s 1959 film Sleeping Beauty, but as the title suggests, the focus was shifted from the titular ‘Sleeping Beauty’ AKA Princess Aurora to its iconic villainess, Maleficent. However, instead of just simply maintaining the character’s villainous nature from the original film, Maleficent ended up going a radically different route and turned the character into a tragic anti-hero whose actions served as an act of revenge against those who wronged her while also forming a genuine mother-daughter relationship with Aurora. As you might have guessed, this new characterization didn’t exactly go over well with everyone, thus contributing to the film’s overall mixed reception. And yet, that didn’t stop it from being a massive hit at the box-office where it grossed over $758 million worldwide, effectively continuing the financial hot streak of Disney’s live-action remakes. Thus, half a decade after the original’s release, the ‘Mistress of All Evil’ (and yes, I will use that title in this instance even though this version of the character isn’t a villain) is now back in a new film, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, albeit with a notable change in director. Whereas the first film served as the directorial debut of production designer Robert Stromberg, this film is directed by Joachim Rønning, who’s fresh off directing the fifth Pirates of the Caribbean film with long-time directing partner Espen Sandberg (though, to be clear, this one is Rønning only). And while Mistress of Evil does continue to go with its polarizing heroic rendition of its main character, those who were fans of the first film will find this to be yet another solidly entertaining dark fantasy all bolstered once again by Angelina Jolie’s truly excellent turn in the title role.

It has been five years since the powerful Dark Fey Maleficent (Angelina Jolie) saved Princess Aurora (Elle Fanning) from the death-like sleeping curse that she had inflicted upon her as a baby due in large part to the motherly affection that she had developed for the young Princess. Since then, Aurora has dutifully served as the ruler of Maleficent’s kingdom, the Moors, and on one faithful day, her dashing suitor Prince Phillip (Harris Dickinson, taking over for Brenton Thwaites from the previous film) asks for her hand in marriage. Despite Maleficent’s objections over this due to her own past experiences with love, Aurora convinces her to travel to Phillip’s home, the Kingdom of Ulstead, and meet with his parents, King John (Robert Lindsay) and Queen Ingrith (Michelle Pfeiffer). However, this doesn’t end up going very well as Maleficent soon begins to feel threatened by Ingrith, especially after she claims that this union will result in her becoming the mother that Aurora ‘never had’. Thus, when Maleficent lashes out at this remark in a manner that seemingly curses King John into a perpetual sleep like she did with Aurora, she becomes vilified by Ingrith, who promptly begins to mount an all-out war against the Moors. During this time, Maleficent also ends up coming across other Dark Feys, led by the duo of Conall (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and Borra (Ed Skrein), who find themselves in disagreement over this impending conflict. Whereas Borra is hellbent on wiping out humanity to save their kind, Conall believes that Maleficent’s the only one who can use her powers to unite the two sides.

One of the things that these Maleficent films have always excelled at is their phenomenal production design. Sure, just like practically every other recent live-action Disney remake of the past few years, they mainly utilize CG to craft their environment and the non-human creatures that inhabit it, but they still succeed immensely when it comes to bringing the truly unique fantasy world that they’ve created to life. Plus, when compared to the ‘arguably a bit too dark’ aesthetic of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland (not counting its follow-up Alice Through the Looking Glass since it did, at least, brighten things up considerably), these two films manage to achieve a good mix between dark and atmospheric and bright and colorful. But just like the first film, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil stumbles a little when it comes to its story. While it does notably have the benefit of not having to adhere to any specific bit of source material since it obviously did the whole Sleeping Beauty arc in the previous film, everything here is still rather basic in terms of plot. But perhaps the most disappointing aspect of this film is that there aren’t as many scenes with Maleficent and Aurora together, which I only bring up because the whole mother-daughter relationship between them was very much the heart of the first film. Thankfully, they aren’t separated for the whole film and the biggest scenes that directly involve the two of them are easily amongst its best moments. Plus, despite boasting a longer runtime than its predecessor (Mistress of Evil runs a little under two hours whereas the first was only an hour and a half long), the film still retains the solidly breezy pacing that served the first film nicely.

But, of course, the biggest highlight of these films is the continuously excellent work by Angelina Jolie in the title role. Even if you aren’t a fan of how these films eschew Maleficent’s villainous characterization from the original Sleeping Beauty, there’s no denying that Jolie perfectly nails the role in every possible way. She obviously has the look down, excellently maintains the character’s classic mannerisms, and in the context of these films, has a solid on-screen camaraderie with Elle Fanning that impeccably illustrates the strong relationship between Maleficent and Aurora. It is this relationship that has arguably made Fanning’s take on Aurora superior to her animated counterpart, and this is well-reflected in the sequel thanks to a noticeably matured turn from Fanning performance-wise. Another key returning player from the previous film is Sam Riley as Maleficent’s raven confidante Diaval, and while the character does get somewhat sidelined in the same way that the film doesn’t have a lot of scenes between Maleficent and Aurora, Riley still excels at making Diaval a fully endearing sidekick. Speaking of sidekicks, the film also makes the wise decision to downplay Aurora’s three pixie caretakers; Knotgrass (Imelda Staunton), Thistlewit (Juno Temple), and Flittle (Lesley Manville). In retrospect, I admit that I may have been a bit harsh on these three in my review of the original Maleficent back in 2014, but I still stand by what I said about how they ended up being one of the weaker aspects of that film due to them being portrayed as far ditsier than their animated counterparts. Sure, the trio of Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather had their silly moments (e.g. their squabble over the color of Aurora’s dress), but the first Maleficent arguably went a bit too far with their humor in its attempt to show that Maleficent was a far better caretaker for Aurora than they were. Thankfully, that’s not as big of an issue this time around because while these three do still maintain their bumbling personas, they don’t play as big of a role in the story this time.  

There is one notable change regarding the returning cast of characters, however, as Harris Dickinson takes over the role of Prince Phillip from Brenton Thwaites due to scheduling conflicts for the latter. Thankfully, this change doesn’t affect the film in any notable way as Dickinson has solid chemistry with Fanning and it also helps that Phillip has a larger role in the story this time (even if it’s still a generally minor supporting role) whereas Thwaites’ Phillip only appeared in two major scenes near the tail-end of the previous film. As for new characters, the biggest addition, of course, is Michelle Pfeiffer as Phillip’s mother and, subsequently, the film’s main antagonist, Queen Ingrith. And while it would’ve been nice to have some more scenes where Pfeiffer and Jolie interact with each other directly (if only for the opportunity to see more of these two iconic actresses together onscreen), Pfeiffer brings a great commanding presence to the role that fits nicely with the backstory and motivations that she’s given. Finally, closing out the new cast of characters is the duo of Chiwetel Ejiofor and Ed Skrein as Maleficent’s fellow Dark Feys Conall and Borra. Both are natural fits in their respective roles, with Ejiofor being the noble leader and Skrein being the fierce warrior. However, you may be surprised to learn that Ejiofor doesn’t factor into the film as much as its marketing may have implied to the point where Skrein arguably ends up having more screen-time than him.

As I’ve been alluding to throughout this review, the overall reception of these Maleficent films is primarily dependent on one’s views of their radically different portrayal of the title character. Thanks to her role in the original Sleeping Beauty, Maleficent has consistently been regarded as one of the greatest villains in a Disney animated film. In contrast to that, the Maleficent films make her the main character of the story and portray her in a generally more heroic manner. Thus, if you’re not a fan of this characterization, you’re better off sticking with the original Sleeping Beauty and various other bits of Disney media that maintain her villainous status; in fact, you’ll probably wonder why this sequel decided to go with the Mistress of Evil subtitle even though it isn’t an accurate descriptor for this iteration of the character. But for those who were fans of 2014’s Maleficent, you’ll be pleased to know that this film does continue to maintain many of the aspects that made its predecessor such a big hit with audiences. Its visual effects and production design are still second to none, Angelina Jolie continues to prove why she was born to play the title role, and it’s easy to appreciate these films’ commitment to their female-led narratives. The only major downside to this film is that it doesn’t provide as many heartwarming moments between Maleficent and Aurora as there were in the first film, which is why I admittedly wouldn’t call Mistress of Evil a ‘superior sequel’. Ultimately, though, this does not prevent the film from being yet another solid live-action outing from Disney.

Rating: 4/5

Maleficent (2014) review

In 1959, Disney released their 16^th feature-length animated film, ‘Sleeping Beauty’, based on the 1697 fairytale ‘La Belle au bois dormant’ by Charles Perrault, which was later adapted by the Brothers Grimm in 1812 as ‘Little Briar Rose’. While the film received generally mixed reviews at the time of its release and it also performed rather disappointingly at the box office, it has since become a Disney classic and one of the greatest elements of the entire film was its main villain, Maleficent. Easily one of Disney’s finest villains, Maleficent was graceful and elegant, but also incredibly sinister at the same time, even if her motivations in the film were rather questionable, being that she was ‘offended’ at not getting an invitation to Princess Aurora’s christening. Still, she was a great villain and now with this new film ‘Maleficent’ we get to see her side of the story because this basically is the live-action version of the story but told from Maleficent’s point of view. Because of this, this film offers quite a different take on the story than one might expect, but overall it does offer an intriguing new look on the story ‘we thought we knew’ and of course is headlined by the terrific performance by the perfectly cast Angelina Jolie as the ‘Mistress of All Evil’.

Before she became known as the ‘Mistress of All Evil’, Maleficent (Angelina Jolie) was once a young fairy who lived in a magical realm known as the Moors, which bordered a human kingdom. One day, she meets and befriends a peasant boy named Stefan and eventually they fall in love. However years later, when Stefan (Sharlto Copley) returns to her after having not seen her for a long time, he ends up betraying her by cutting off her wings so that he can become king. Heartbroken and outraged, Maleficent enacts revenge on Stefan on the day of his daughter Aurora’s christening. Maleficent curses the infant child proclaiming that on her 16^th birthday, she will prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and fall into a sleep-like death, and can only be awakened by true love’s kiss. In the hopes that this curse can be avoided, Stefan has Aurora sent away from the kingdom to live in hiding with three pixies (Imelda Staunton, Lesley Manville, and Juno Temple) until the day after her 16^th birthday. But as Aurora (Elle Fanning) starts to grow up, Maleficent, who ends up taking care of her more than the pixies do, begins to grow more attached to her, resulting in her trying to find a way to remove the curse from Aurora before it’s too late.

Now if you’re coming into this expecting Maleficent to be the bad guy, you’re probably going to be rather disappointed because it’s more like ‘Wicked’ in that she’s the protagonist in this. Sure she does curse Aurora with the sleeping curse and for a little while early on she doesn’t like her that much, but for most of the movie she’s just a misunderstood character who was betrayed by King Stefan, the real main antagonist of the film, which ends up leading her on a path of revenge. But she soon starts to care more for Aurora, whose cheerful persona starts to change Maleficent’s outlook on humans. Overall, the relationship between the two, which is sort of like a ‘mother-daughter’ relationship, is the best part, and ultimately the heart, of the movie. The movie also benefits from some pretty excellent visuals, which is not that surprising seeing how this was directed by someone who’s been a production designer, which help immerse us in this film’s universe. Plus, at just 97 minutes, making it the shortest of Disney’s recent live-action fairytales, the film doesn’t overstay its welcome and never drags at any point.   

As it’s been well documented by pretty much everyone who’s seen this movie, Angelina Jolie does a fantastic job as Maleficent. She looks the part, acts the part, and was just a perfect choice to portray the character. She’s so good here that… well, she admittedly overshadows everyone else in the film. Now I’m not saying that the rest of the cast is bad; it’s just that this movie really belongs to Jolie and the fact is that Maleficent is focused on the most here more than anyone else. While Aurora is just your average ‘nice’ princess (Prince Phillip (Brenton Thwaites) is really just serving as a cameo here), if I remember correctly she wasn’t the most compelling lead in the original animated film either. Still, Elle Fanning does do a very good job with the rather limited material she has to work with but as I stated earlier, the relationship between her and Jolie in this movie is really top-notch. Sharlto Copley also doesn’t really have as much to work with as Stefan but he also does a pretty good job here as well. However, the three pixies here do get rather annoying at times, not in their performances but how they are portrayed in this. I haven’t seen the original ‘Sleeping Beauty’ film in quite some time, but I don’t recall the three fairies in that film being as incompetent as these three are. It’s clearly shown that Maleficent is a far better caretaker of Aurora than them. I really don’t know what went wrong in the translation from animation to live-action, but here they’re more like the Three Stooges.

When it comes to Disney’s recent big-budget live-action fairytales, I find that I like ‘Maleficent’ more than ‘Alice in Wonderland’ and almost as I much as I liked ‘Oz the Great and Powerful’. At the end of the day, ‘Maleficent’ turns out to be a pretty good film. Director Robert Stromberg, who has been mostly known for his work as a fantastic production designer on films like ‘Avatar’ as well as the previously mentioned ‘Alice’ and ‘Oz’, makes a pretty good first debut with this film and a lot of that is because of the brilliant performance by Angelina Jolie as Maleficent. Sure, she’s not the bad guy in this, which I’m guessing will be rather disappointing for some people, but her relationship with Aurora in this film certainly makes up for it. And while Jolie does overshadow everyone else in the film, they all do a pretty fine job even if they don’t have as much to work with. Plus, the film has really nice visuals and doesn’t really drag at any point seeing how it is much shorter than both ‘Oz’ and ‘Alice’. So overall, if you’re okay with the fact that this film’s Maleficent isn’t the main villain, then I do recommend this movie because I don’t think that having Maleficent be the protagonist in this betrays who the character was in the original film. It’s just a very interesting new take on the story of ‘Sleeping Beauty’ from her perspective.

Rating: 4/5