Super 8

Super 8 - J.J. Abrams (2011)

Steven Spielberg. It's hard to come up with another filmmaker who had such a tremendous impact on pop culture. Just in the 1980's alone, he directed E.T., and all three Indiana Jones movies not to mention worked as producer on The Goonies, Back to the Future, Gremlins, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit. He did a lot to shape my own childhood as well as the formative years of JJ Abrams. In fact, as teenagers Abrams and Matt Reeves (who directed Cloverfield and Let Me In) were hired to restore some of Spielberg's home movies that were shot on 8mm. It's no surprise that Abrams first collaboration with Spielberg would be evocative of the man's most beloved films. Super 8 not only pays homage to some of those aforementioned pictures as well as Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It acts as a tribute to a time when all you needed to make a movie was passion and ingenuity, rather than $200 million and the rights to a hip comic book.

Super 8 is set in the fictional town of Lillian, Ohio during the summer of 1979. Though set in the 70's, this sleepy little burg seems more like a time-lost town existing perpetually in the 50's, untouched by the modern world far past their city limits. This is a time before the instant gratification of the digital era, back when you had to wait three days to develop your film. Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney) has suffered the tragic loss of his mother due to an accident at the steel mill. His father, Jackson (Kyle Chandler), a sheriff's deputy, is equally distraught and doesn't know how to deal with his grief or his son. Jackson wants to send the boy off to baseball camp, but Joe has promised to help his best friend, Charles (Riley Griffiths), with his zombie movie. Charles thinks of himself as a junior George Romero though his zombies look more Raimi than Romero. Charles has a ragtag group of pre-teens to work as his cast and crew. There's lead actor Martin (Gabriel Basso), a nerd with thick glasses; Preston (Zach Mills), a nerd with big ears who is their utility player; and Carey (Ryan Lee) who has a penchant for fireworks and setting things on fire. Naturally, he is their special effects guy.

For his latest feature, Charles has snagged Alice Dainard (Elle Fanning), a pretty girl who Joe has a crush on, to be their starring actress. While shooting a night scene at the train stop, the kids witness a massive wreck as a pick-up truck collides head on with an oncoming train. Soon, the Air Force, led by Col. Nelec (Noah Emmerich), arrives en masse in Lillian and offers the barest of information to Jackson and the other local officers. Electronics are stolen, dogs run away, and people begin disappearing. Something escaped from the train and it's up to the pint-sized protagonists to investigate these strange happenings.

Super 8 is a compelling blend of old-fashioned storytelling with modern filmmaking techniques. The film could probably be described as Stand By Me meets Cloverfield and set to a John Williams-esque score by Michael Giacchino. The children possess a sense of wonder and curiosity that makes them aware of the dangers around them while the adults remain ignorant or disbelieving. Super 8 also delves into issues of father-son relationships, which have been at the center of many Spielberg productions.

The child actors Abrams has cast are phenomenal, despite Super 8 being the debuts of many. They not only give brilliant performances, but they even look like they could have been in an 80's movie. Joel Courtney, who makes his film debut here, resembles Henry Thomas in E.T. while the huskier Riley Griffiths looks a bit like Jerry O'Connell in Stand By Me. Both are great, but the scene-stealer is Ryan Lee as the mischievous Carey. Lee possesses the holy triumvirate of cute kiddie attributes: braces, a lisp, and an overbite. Then, there's Elle Fanning, the younger sister of Dakota who comes off a fantastic and naturalistic turn in Sofia Coppola's Somewhere. Fanning manages to give two great performances in the movie as well as in Charles' movie-within-a-movie. There's a magnificent moment when Alice displays her acting abilities for the first time and completely bowls over her male peers.

The dynamics between the kids and the creation of Charles' amateur movie form the spine of Super 8. It is a slight disappointment when the story devolves into a standard creature feature. One of the criticisms levied at Abrams and the way he apes Jaws in the slow build up to the reveal of the monster. The shark was logically hidden by his underwater habitat while Abrams finds artificial methods to keep the thing from viewers. I didn't have a problem with any of that so much as I had a problem with the repetitiveness that gradually came about. Abrams dips into the well once too often by using multiple scenes in which oblivious characters investigate a strange noise only to be snatched away screaming. The climax is far too chaotic and builds to a resolution that ultimately feels rushed. The idea of the creature as a metaphor for Joe's pain comes off as ham-fisted and never fully effective.

And if you loved the lens flares in Star Trek, you'll love the lens flares in Super 8, a trademark Abrams borrows liberally from Close Encounters. If you didn't, you may find them distracting, particularly when a lens flare pops up while the kids are spelunking down a dark subterranean tunnel. Still, Abrams direction is strong and the train wreck stands as one of the best action sequences of the year. The children run for their lives amidst a mass of explosions as train cars careen in every direction. My eardrums nearly burst during the IMAX screening I attended.

Super 8 isn't empty spectacle. It's a blockbuster with genuine emotion and an aura of magic hearkening back to the heyday of Spielberg's classics. It's not a film only about special effects, but about summer friendships, first love, and pure imagination.

Rating: *** (*****)

Winter's Bone

Winter's Bone - Dir. Debra Granik (2010)

Winter's Bone was 2010's little indie film that could. It didn't have major studio backing or big name stars, but still managed to score numerous accolades, including a nomination for Best Picture at this year's Academy Awards. Not bad for a movie budgeted at $2 million, which probably wouldn't have even paid the catering bill for some of its fellow nominees.

Much like 2008's Frozen River, Winter's Bone features a strong-willed female protagonist and highlights a region rarely shown in media through a story about the people who have fallen through the cracks of modern society. Jennifer Lawrence gives a star-making performance as 17-year old Ree Dolly, who lives amidst the Ozark Mountains of rural Missouri. Ree has taken on the tremendous responsibility of raising her younger siblings and caring for a mentally ill mother. Family bonds are tested when they learn Ree's father, Jessup (a known cook for the local meth labs) skipped bail after a recent arrest. The wayward patriarch had paid that bail by putting the family home up as collateral. If he does not make his court date, the county will repossess the house and the Dollys will be thrown out on their asses. Ree embarks on a harrowing odyssey in search of her missing father, not so much for fear of his well-being, but for fear of losing a roof over their heads.

Ree's journey takes her deep into the backwoods of this loose-knit community filled with dangerous and unpredictable individuals, many of whom are her family and neighbors. Make no mistake about it; these people aren't the folksy, salt of the earth types from a Steinbeck novel (or even The Dukes of Hazzard). Most of them are the creepy, rape-you-in-the-woods types who are now running meth, instead of moonshine. Perhaps the most intimidating of the bunch is Ree's uncle, Teardrop, played with quiet menace by Deadwood star John Hawkes. His true feelings and motivations remain ambiguous for much of the film. Does he know where his brother is? Does he even care about his brother? You're never quite sure if Teardrop is there to help Ree or strangle her.

Director Debra Granik and D.P. Michael McDonough shot Winter's Bone with the digital RED camera, giving the film a crisp look that captures every bump and wart of the landscape. The world of Ree Dolly is filled with as many dichotomies as its inhabitants. There's a haunting beauty to the rural area heightened by the gray-toned color palette. The look of the picture actually matches up well to the post-apocalyptic wastelands of The Road. It is also reminiscent of the beautiful bleakness of Roger Deakins' work on the Coen Brothers' No Country for Old Men and True Grit. Speaking of which, Winter's Bone could almost act as a contemporary companion to the critically acclaimed Western. Much like Mattie Ross, Ree undergoes a harsh coming-of-age quest, but without the assistance of Jeff Bridges or Matt Damon.

Ree is on her own when it comes to searching for her missing dad and shepherding her family. Jennifer Lawrence is undeniably superb in the role, displaying all the toughness and vulnerability needed. Lawrence (who will be seen next as the young Mystique in X-Men: First Class) certainly needed to be tough after learning how to fire a rifle, chop firewood, and skin squirrels for the part. While Granik doesn't shoot the film in a documentary style, there is a documentary feel in much of it thanks to the naturalism displayed in the scenes with Ree and her little brother and sister. When the kids notice a neighbors' smokehouse full of food, she imparts a tidbit of wisdom, "Never ask for what ought to be offered."

Granik and co-writer Anne Rosellini based the screenplay on the 2006 novel by Daniel Woodrell. They have penned a refreshingly unique take on people some would derisively refer to as hillbillies. The film does not simplify its subjects into mere caricatures nor does it descend into an overly sentimentalized and pedantic study of "simple folk." Some of the characters may be odious human beings, but Granik does not demonize or lionize their way of life. It is what it is and is presented in a realistic manner.

Winter's Bone is an exceptional picture. It is a gripping drama, a crime thriller, and a modern day Grimm Brothers' fairy tale, all rolled into one. Without a doubt, one of the best films of 2010.

Rating: **** (*****)