Super 8 - Super 80s

I pretty much knew what I was getting myself in for when I went to see Super 8. I went to the movie assuming I'd get an homage to Spielberg's kid adventure flicks from the late 70s and 80s. It would be fun, there would be some cool special effects, some great acting, and I'd go home.

And that's what it was. But what I didn't realise was how much I missed these movies, and how good it would be to see something in this vein again. It was so good to see a group of kids whose issues are simple - not unimportant, but simple. It was good to see a movie that isn't in any way about sex. It was good - oh my God it was good - to see a movie where the kids are innocents. They aren't jaded. They go outside. They have imaginations. They don't live in fear of their neighbours. Bliss!

So yes, I enjoyed it immensely. You know which camera shots are coming up. You know when it is time to tense up, and what the fat kid's going to say next. And that might be my only real criticism of the movie (wait, there's one more criticism. Later): it's too safe.

I want to speak about J.J. Abrams' direction. But first, I want to get my other criticism out of the way (it's relevant, I swear). At some point, I would have loved someone to slap Abrams on the back of the head and say "just because you have a truckload of money to spend, doesn't mean you need to spend it ALL!" Some sequences were just expensive filler. Specifically, a scene where the kids are running through the town as tanks and artillery are going off everywhere. Could someone please tell me what possible relevance that sequence had for the rest of the movie? Cos I just don't see it.

OK, rant over. J.J. Abrams must be at a time in his life where he's looking at cinema and saying: "There's nothing new out there. I miss the good old days." and along comes Mission Impossible. And then Star Trek. And then Super 8. This is from the guy who did Fringe and Lost and Alias (and, well, yes... Felicity). We know he has original thoughts in his head. So where are they? I won't make comment on specific plot developments, but in general, I knew what was going to happen from start to finish.

And I didn't care.

I didn't care because it was beautifully crafted, and perfectly cast. We laughed with delight as each character was introduced, and sighed when our protagonist first caught sight of Alice Dainard - played by Elle Fanning. It took me back to Elizabeth Shue and Kerri Green. Fanning plays Alice to perfection. Alice is innocent, if a little bruised around the soul, but with a generally happy attitude. Fanning shows us a little bit of Alice at a time, but by the end we know her very well.

Super 8 is an interesting movie to make a recommendation for. I'd say "definitely" to anyone my age, who grew up with the Goonies and Explorers and E.T. And I'd probably push younger audiences to take a look as well. It definitely stands up as a movie in its own right. Who knows, maybe they'll come out of it saying "wow, are there more movies like that out there?"

Why yes. Yes there are.

4.5/5

A break from movies - 40 Books to read before you're 40

Realising, of course, that I’m 4 years shy of being an expert here.

Realising further, that they come from the top of my head and that the list would change if I wrote it again tomorrow. . .

Almost finally realising that there are lots of series in this list. You don’t have to read all of them, but I always read series in order.

Finally realising that there is no order to these beyond the order they were dredged from my memory.

1.     Lord of the Rings – there, I did it. Deal with it. Ha!

2.     Magician – Raymond E. Feist. The companion  series to this – Servant of the Empire etc by Janny Wurtz is worth it too.

3.     My Year of Meat – Ruth Ozeki

4.     The Stand – Stephen King

5.     Tess of the D’urbervilles – Thomas Hardy. It’s a classic, but it has a modern feel to it.

6.     The Years of Rice and Salt – Kim Stanley Robinson

7.     The Otherland Series – Tad Williams

8.     The Discworld Series – Terry Pratchett (he’s literally a god) but my favourites are: Reaper Man, Small Gods, Interesting Times and Lords and Ladies.

9.     The Dresden Files – Jim Butcher – urban fantasy at its best

10. The Maltese Falcon – Dashiel Hammett. Before the movies and the ripoffs came the book. Go for it!

11. Winnie the Pooh – A.A. Milne (and all his other stuff)

12. The Bible – various. I don’t care how atheistic you are, nobody can get by in western society without knowledge of the references in this book.

13. Anno Dracula – Kim Newman – I’ve never read anything by Newman that I haven’t liked.

14. The Muddleheaded Wombat – Ruth Park. A childhood without Wombat, Tedda, Mouse and Tab is a childhood half lived.

15. Odd Thomas – Dean Koontz. Koontz is a poetic writer of popular horror fiction. The Odd Thomas books are less horror and therefore a good recommendation for those that don’t need horror in their lives.

16. Uglies, Pretties, Specials and Extras – Scott Westerfeld. He’s a teen fiction writer who is so much better than so many adult writers out there.

17. Mother Goose’s book of nursery rhymes – nominally by “Mother Goose” – pop culture necessity

18. Grimm’s Fairy Tales – although if you can find some more original works, you’ll have a better read – Perrault’s Red Riding Hood is much grimmer than Grimm’s.

19. The Wheel of Time – Robert Jordan. I loved the first 7 books and the last 3. . .

20. The Power of One – Bryce Courtney – will be read for centuries to come.

21. To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee – easy to read, lots in it

22. Catch 22 – Joseph Heller – I loved this book

23. One flew over the cuckoo’s Nest – Ken Kesey – don’t read anything else he’s read, but definitely read this one.

24. Harry Potter – JK Rowling – I don’t care how pretentious you are, these are good books, good stories, with good characters that the author obviously cares about.

25. Anything by Jasper Fforde – although my favourites are the Thursday Next series and the Nursery Crime series.

26. The Brentford “Trilogy” by Robert Rankin. Then keep reading

27. American Gods – Neil Gaiman (I’ll cheat here and call Anansi Boys part of this series – but you can read it alone and it’s a much funnier book).

28. Good Omens – Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

29. The Talisman – Stephen King and Peter Straub

30. The Dark Tower series – Stephen King

31. Imajica – Clive Barker -  incredibly graphic, sensual and disturbing, with the best descriptions of things that don’t exist ever and an interesting Jesus myth to boot.

32. His Dark Materials – Phillip Pullman – atheist and master craftsman. Go for it.

33. A brief History of Time – Stephen Hawking – short book, very enlightening.

34. Tuesdays with Morrie – Mitch Albom – although the movie is a very good adaptation .

35. Ender chronicles – Orson Scott Card

36. Alvin Maker series – Orson Scott Card

37. Wicked – Gregory Maguire

38. The Book Thief – Markus Zuzak

39. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime – Mark Haddon – did you know this was a Sherlock Holmes reference?

40. The Red Dwarf Books – Rob Grant and Doug Naylor and Grant Naylor –

I feel really bad about all of the books I left out – Leon Uris, Tom Holt, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Sara Douglass, JM Barrie – but really, I’ve concentrated on books that I might recommend that others wouldn’t. You already know what’s good out there people. Now GO AND READ SOMETHING.