'Super 8' may actually live up to the hype

By Sarah Sluis

Since its teaser trailer first hit in May of last year, Super 8 has been high on the anticipation list for movie bloggers like myself. Last night, Paramount hosted a preview of twenty-odd minutes of Super 8 footage at the Walter Reade Theater in New York City. Paramount CEO Brad Grey gave an enthusiastic introduction for J.J. Abrams, the writer/director, identifying him as an important member of the talent stable the studio has assembled.

Set in 1979, Super 8 has a pleasant, nostalgic feel. Hallmarks of Steven Spielberg (who teamed with Abrams as a producer and collaborator) abound, but when I spoke to Abrams afterwards he said he wasn't trying to create a homage or imitation, but a "recreation" of how he felt as a kid and the movies that were important to him. In fact, Abrams was thirteen in 1979, right around the age of the group of kids in his film. What I liked most about the preview footage was how Abrams creates a world that feels very familiar, from a cinematic perspective, without being derivative. His characters feel real and sweet, and Elle Fanning (who I took a liking to in Somewhere) is a standout.

The footage fills in some of the gaps created by the trailer. (Spoiler alert). The first scene we saw, about twelve minutes into the movie, sets up the night of the film's momentous train crash. Fanning steals her Dad's car and agrees to star in the kids' amateur monster movie. First-time actor Joel Courtney is the son of the sheriff whose mother just died in a mill accident. He's the group's makeup artist and harbors a huge crush on Fanning. As they're filming a scene at the train station, Joel witnesses a pickup truck drive into an oncoming freight train, derailing it and unleashing the unseen monster. The kids escape with nothing more than sooty faces and scratches. White Rubik's cube-like things spill out from the wreckage, and Joel leaves with one. The crashing part of the scene went on a little too long, and Abrams confirmed that the scene will be cut shorter.

The second scene, later on in the movie, confirms Abrams as a master movie-maker. When it comes to monster encounters, this man knows what he's doing. The concealment and suspense come not from cutting away (though there's some of that), but some really satisfying auditory wizardry. A sheriff drives into a gas station to fill up, but has trouble getting the attention of the zit-faced gas station attendant, who has the volume up on his new-fangled Walkman. When he goes back outside, his lights and radio turn on and start flashing. The gas meter, which has been steadily clicking out the dollars and cents, goes progressively faster and faster, turning into one long tone by the climax. The Walkman boy can't hear any of it, so his eventual realization has a satisfying punch to it. Without the use of the Walkman and the gas station meter, this scene would be completely run-of-the-mill. This kind of sleight-of-hand suspense replaces the usual: gory play-by-plays or exhausting flagellation of a character by a monster. We even get a peek at the monster in a reflection from pooling gas, but I won't say what I see.

I'll make a reckless, premature guess: Super 8 will be the Inception of summer 2011. The June 10th release will probably have a PG-13 rating, making it a teen and family-friendly outing. There are also (gasp) characters. This monster feels like a means for a small town to band together and a group of friends to grow closer and grow up. There's also a strong undercurrent of innocence. The trailer shows more cars flashing their headlights, and one of the first signs that something is amiss are the town's missing pets. Missing pets! You can't get more small town than that. The tinkling, chiming score brings to mind vintage John Williams scores for Spielberg. There's also an interesting theme running through the movie that will feel familiar to fans of Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T.: That of a small town and its authority being overrun by outsiders (be they media or military) after something terrible is unleashed there. Super 8 may be the nostalgic, just-scary-enough monster movie that takes place in the small town we all wish we lived in and could protect.

Spotlight: J.J. Abrams, the guy who can make 'nerd' films everyone sees

By Sarah Sluis

Last weekend the Comic-Con darling Scott Pilgrim vs. the World opened to a disappointing $10 million. The cult movie Kick-Ass also opened soft, to $19.8 million, though I can vouch for both films: they deserved more. This has led to writers sounding the alarm about so-called nerd films that fail to cross over to the rest of the marketplace.

Which made me think of someone who has managed to inspire both cult followings and crossover audiences with his work: J.J. Abrams. "Lost" drew in diehard fans as well as mainstream audiences (although some of the less devoted, such as myself, dropped out before the final season). Last year, he managed to attract wide audiences for that apex of nerdom, Star Trek. Never did I think I would go to a Star Trek movie and not think of all the Trekkie nerds I knew in school, but he did a great job making the story accessible and somehow appealing to the kind of people who wouldn't be caught dead at a sci-fi convention, or who had never even seen a single episode.

What stronger sign that someone has "made it" than when Steven Spielberg collaborates with you? The two are working on a sci-fi/aliens/teen-oriented project called Super 8, which is coming out next summer. Both directors have a populist sensibility that also works well with critics, and I bet they'll be able to come up with something incredible together. Let's not forget that both Jaws (Spielberg) and Cloverfield (Abrams, producer) were both the types of action/horror movies that usually receive a much more low-brow treatment.

This week, Abrams announced that he's also working on the nostalgically inspired 7 Minutes in Heaven, which will focus on two teens who disappear in a closet for their seven minutes in kissing heaven, only to return to find their friends dead. It's a clever pairing that juxtaposes the innocence of youth with murder--isn't that what all teen slasher movies are about? Of course, there could be other forces at work, but a slasher is the first that comes to mind, unless Abrams wants to go The Happening route and create toxic trees.

On a lighter note, Abrams appears to have a thing for numbers, and it's only a matter of time before he can count to ten with his films: There's Super 8, 7 Minutes in Heaven, Mission Impossible III and the planned MI:IV, Star Trek the first and the upcoming Star Trek sequel. Now he just needs to make a film with a five or six.

'Star Trek' back with a $76.5 million opening

By Sarah Sluis

With J.J. Abrams at the helm, Star Trek has officially relaunched. The prequel gave the franchise its biggest open ever. Including Thursday evening screenings, which tacked on $4 million to the total, Star Trek earned $76.5 million. IMAX screenings of the film added 11% to the film's bottom line, consistently selling out and counting for $8.3 million in ticket sales. The film also did better Saturday than Friday, which usually indicates positive reviews and the likelihood that the film will have legs at the box office.

While Wolverine dropped 68% from last week, down to $27 million, the film was number one overseas. Star Trek wasn't franchised internationally and thus tends to underperform globally, which dampens its profitability in an age where most films rely on international box office in order to make a film go into the black. Still, that doesn't seem to be changing any plans to go ahead with the next Trek film.

Next Day Air, a mix-up comedy that deals with the fallout when drugs are delivered to the wrong house, brought in a modest $4 million and grabbed the #6 spot.

Despite the presence of two tentpoles, the rest of the top ten dropped just 30-45%. Tellingly, most of the titles remaining in the top ten skewed towards females, kids, and families, apt films for those not in the mood, or old enough, for sci-fi or action. At #3, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past dropped just 32% to earn $10.4 million, and teen-themed titles 17 Again and Hannah Montana: The Movie both held on in the top ten, bringing in $4.4 million and $2.4 million. Monsters vs. Aliens, in its seventh week of release, brought in $3.3 million, and Earth, a documentary that focuses on the lives of animal families, reeled in $3.3 million.

Among specialty debuts, Rudo Y Cursi, which released in 70 theatres, brought in $3,000 per location. The per-screen average is light for a specialty title, and may indicate that the Spanish-language film could have benefited from more specific Hispanic marketing, most famously used in last year's Beverly Hills Chihuahua. Little Ashes, only at 11 locations, did better from a per-screen perspective with $6,400 per theatre, and Atom Egoyan's Adoration earned $4,000 across ten locations.

This Friday Angels & Demons releases, marking the third week in a row dominated by a tentpole. Because it's based on a mass-market paperback, there's a chance it will bring in a different, possibly older and more female audience than the previous two big-budget films. With both Star Trek and Wolverine out of the gate, everyone will be watching to see how they hold up in their second and third week of release.

'Star Trek' to boldly go to 3,849 theatres

By Sarah Sluis

The big films of the weekend are Star Trek (3,849 theatres) and holdover Wolverine. While Star Trek will clearly grab the top spot, there's a sense that there's only so much pie out there, and either Wolverine will drop harder than expected and Trek will do phenomenally, or Wolverine will dip modestly and dampen Trek's first-weekend gross. It appears that Trek studio Paramount is expecting the latter, as it's laid out relatively modest expectations for the picture, starting at $50 million. However, even with a smaller debut, Paramount won't lose face, since they're positioning the film as a type of Batman Begins, with the idea that there is a Dark Knight down the line.

Manohla Dargis at the NY Times pinpointed the greatest achievement of the re-launch: "Mr. Abrams doesn't treat Star Trek as a sacred text, which would be deadly for everyone save the fanatics." Indeed, the tale is appropriate for nearly everyone, as our reviewer Ethan Alter noted: "If this version of Trek doesn't become a four-quadrant hit, than Paramount might as well stop trying."

For those not interested in sci-fi, many specialty films are opening this week to provide counter-programming. Rudo Y Cursi opens in NYC. Coming from Carlos Cuarn, it's a tale heavy on fate: two brothers (one plays goalie, the other offense) are recruited from rural Mexico to the major leagues, where they struggle with their sudden good fortune, and, to the consternation of the viewer, keep on making decisions that threaten to push them back into their unknown, rural world. I found the film fanciful and fun, though those going to look at the hunk-like visages of Gael Garcia Bernl and Diego Luna will find them marred by terrible, terrible haircuts (think Brad Pitt in Burn After Reading).

Twilight fans may be in for a surprise when they check out Little Ashes (NY/LA: 12 theatres), which stars Robert Pattinson, Matthew McNulty, and Javier Beltrn, who play 1920s trio Salvador Dali, Luis Buuel, and Federico Garcia Lorca. The three have a flirtatious sort of friendship, but, according to our reviewer Stephen Farber, nothing really develops. The "diffuse script...disappoints," giving the film a "handsome but meandering" feel.

The documentary Objectified, Gary Hutsit's follow-up to Helvetica, offers intriguing explanations of everyday objects like chairs, techno gadgets, and vegetable peelers. The designers' perspective is contagious, and after the film you'll find yourself examining everyday objects with the same thoughtfulness as the designers.

Tilda Swinton stars in the thriller Julia (NY/LA: 3 theatres), playing an alcoholic with a poorly conceived kidnapping plan. The documentary Outrage, which just debuted at Tribeca, outs closeted gay politicians, calling them out for their hypocritical voting. It's been generating controversy among audience members, which will probably only drive more curious people into theatres.

I'll see you back on Monday to discuss just how out-of-this-world Star Trek performed.

J.J. Abrams to produce diamond heist film

By Sarah Sluis

Today's project-to-watch is J.J. Abrams' pickup of a Wired story on an unsolved jewel heist. The alleged mastermind of the crime, Leonardo Notarbartolo, served ten years based on circumstantial evidence.

Just released from prison this week, he spilled his story to writer Joshua Davis (a CAA-represented freelancer who executive produces films based on his articles).

The play-by-play has all the twists and tricks that make for a fantastic heist film. In fact, one of the ploys used in Ocean's 11 actually took place. The team recreated a vault that they used for dry runs, practicing disabling the different devices (who knew hairspray could disable a heat sensor?) and enabling them to carry out their work in the dark. The whole thing comes undone when Notarbartolo's partner goes crazy and has a panic attack after two days of being awake, strewing evidence they had intended to burn later--although the photograph of the garbage left behind doesn't look that blown around, so maybe Notarbartolo is stretching the truth. The topper to the whole story is the double cross. After completing the heist, the team realizes their take is around $20

million instead of the $100 million they expected. Notarbartolo

believes that the jeweler who initiated the heist tipped off his fellow jewelers, telling them to keep their gems out of the vault and then later claim they were stolen, thus committing insurance fraud.

Many of these moments just fly off the page, and would make for the perfect adaptation for someone like J.J. Abrams, whose work on "Lost" demonstrates a knack for intricate plots, divided allegiances, and unexpected twists. He also recently bought a New York Times story about a family who enlisted architects to build a puzzle into their house, which his Bad Robot production company will produce. With so many successes at age 42, and the eagerly anticipated Star Trek releasing this May, it appears there's much in store for the writer/director/producer.