Review: SUPER 8

OK, so you probably know the drill by now: I've written up a review of J.J. Abrams' new film, Super 8. The review in its entirety is over here, at Arts Hub, but here's an extract to whet your appetite:

Like the young protagonists in Rob Reiner’s Stand By Me (1986), the main characters in Super 8 are in their last days of innocence before puberty sends them raging into adolescence. Their precarious position, on the cusp between childhood and their teenage years, means a very specific – and deliberate – tone permeates the film; an awareness that something threatening, powerful, and irresistible is lurking just out of sight.

This ‘puberty-as-monster’ subplot is by no means original – it’s a key theme of The Lost Boys (1987) for example – but here it’s played out subtly, more as a mood or a motif than as an overt theme of the film. Other films Super 8 references include The Goonies (1985) and E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial (1982), but while the film is clearly crafted as a homage to the movies of Abrams’ childhood, it is simultaneously contemporary and engaging, playing to the sensibilities of modern 12-14 year olds as much as to their nostalgic parents.

Modern references abound – such as a scene evoking post 9/11 New York, when Joe posts a message about his missing dog on a local notice board, only for the camera to pan back and reveal his flyer is just one among dozens – alongside obvious homages to even earlier horror films, most notably Christian Nyby’s Cold War classic, The Thing From Another World (1951).

Performances are strong – particularly Elle Fanning, who is exceptional – and the film looks fantastic, though Abrams still can’t seem to resist an excess of lens flare in several key scenes, which some will find distracting. The film’s ending borders on the mawkish, but just holds back, while its evocation of period and obvious delight in referencing its cinematic forbears sometimes feels a touch contrived, and consequently occasionally distances the viewer instead of allowing one to be swept up in the drama...

So, that's my take on the film - what did you think of it?

Seminal video clips of the 80s

No special reason, just a couple of the songs I loved at the time, and which I still get a kick out of today. Part one in a (possible) series.

BRONKSI BEAT - Smalltown Boy



I can still remember the first time I saw this clip on Countdown; I was a gay teenager growing up in a small country town where I was bullied on an almost weekly basis, and you wouldn't believe just how much this clip resonated for me at the time...

THE BUREAU - Only For Sheep



Not quite sure why this one has always stuck with me, the jaunty ska rhythm aside. Maybe because it was one of the first examples of a song excoriating the emptiness of the 9-to-5 working routine?

MEN WITHOUT HATS - Safety Dance



So I had strange taste at 15. So sue me.

ADAM AND THE ANTS - Stand and Deliver



"It's kind of hard to tell a scruff the big mistake he's making." Wiser words were never spoken, Adam old son.

Gary Gygax RIP

I've just learned (via TobyToby's Facebook status update) that Gary Gygax, the father of fantasy roleplaying, has died aged 69.

Gygax co-created the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game, which despite its flaws and faults, provided me with countless happy memories from the age of 15 onwards. While I don't play D&D any more, having moved on to other games and more flexible systems, I mourn his death all the same.

D&D taught me a lot about collaboration, creativity and communication; indeed I'd go so far as to say that without it, I would have had a much more miserable, poorly-socialized adolescence.

And that's just the impact the game had on me personally. On a wider scale, we probably wouldn't have the range of roleplaying games, including popular computer games such as World of Warcraft, that we have today had not Gygax and his co-founder Dave Arneson fleshed out their game's rules back in 1974.

Yes, life goes on, but right this moment, I'm remembering being in high school again, and getting together with my old friends in the Latrobe Valley on weekends for an afternoon of rolling dice, fighting monsters, casting spells and gaining treasure and experience points...