The Super Film, Super Eight In J.J. Abram’s film, Super Eight, a group of middle-school aged children become involved in the investigation of the strange events that occur in Lillian,Ohio after they witness a massive trainwreck. The film takes place in the summer of 1979, four months after the main character, Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney), mother dies in a horrible accident at a steel mill. All the while his best friend, Charles Kaznyk (Riley Griffiths), is trying to make a monster movie for the Cleveland International Super Eight film festival. This turns out to be rather ironic, because they are shooting a monster movie within a monster movie. They continue to shoot regardless of the military occupation that overrun their small Ohio town. This …show more content…
Abrams chose to create his movie helped to convey the overall theme. The most obvious technical choice that the director made was the color pallette his used throughout the entire movie. Abrams kept the colors mostly muted and somber, except for the explosions. This kept the film on the more serious side. If he chose to use brighter colors and had the characters wear more flamboyant clothes, the film would take on a completely different tone. It may be seen as more campy or directed towards a younger audience. Darkness and darker tones also typically convey a feeling of mystery, which goes along with the theme of hidden secrets. Abrams, in order to keep the audience in suspense and further the secrets he chose to hide information till the end. For example, he didn’t fully expose the monster till the very end of the movie. He gave little glimpses, providing suggestible minds with the horrors of what this thing was and what it looked like, but never allowing it to be shown. The other major theme, of challenging authority, is conveyed at first through his choice of having the main characters mostly be adolescents. Their age group as the connotation of rebellion, especially since they are on the brink of becoming teenagers. He also wrote the military to come off as being total jerks, which made the audience root against them. If they were portrayed as being heroes, or at the least honorable, the …show more content…
It felt like something retro but with better special effects. This was surprisingly satisfying, because as technology progresses, even though a movie classic’s storyline may be phenomenal and the characters iconic, there is still is that craving for better visual effects. This movie kind of breathed a new life into that same feeling that movies like E.T. or the Goonies, give the audience by providing advanced CGI graphics. The provided the audience with some of the nostalgia, but the fact that the main characters were children is really what did it. It helped tremendously that the writer made sure his protagonists didn 't appear to be overly contrived. Many films with child stars tend to have the characters perform actions that would realistically be above the scope of ability for someone in their age group. But J.J. Abrams did a great job of fully developing each of their personalities. He let them show more of the emotions that would be expected from real life children. They shed tears, they were afraid. One of Joe’s friends, Preston (Zach Mills), even refused to go. Not a single one was unrealistically heroic or did ridiculous stunts, they were courageous but not so much so that they audience couldn’t suspend disbelief. And another refreshing aspect of the film, was the ‘romance’ between Alice and Joe. Abrams kept it on the more platonic side as it should be. Six graders should never be sexualized in film which unfortunately
Even though they are written for children, the authors and illustrators did a very good job creating them for anyone to read and get informed about the main characters. I think that the two characters, Florence Mills and Lou Gehrig, were portrayed and positioned really well. As a reader, you really get an understanding of how each character lived, and what struggles they were faced with as they got older, and how they might have overcome them. Florence Mills had to face the reality of racism when all she wanted to do was show what she was passionate about, which was singing and dancing. That didn’t stop her though. She was brave, and did everything she could to get herself noticed. Lou Gehrig on the other hand was one of the best baseball players that lived. He was hardworking, and loved the sport he played. He did not let the disease he got diagnosed with stop him from being apart of the team he was on for 14 years. That is what made everyone love him so much. Though he couldn’t play, he wanted to do whatever he could before he couldn’t anymore. He showed so much compassion for what made him
The book had a lot of thought put into it by the author and it appeals to many audiences of different ages. The book put me on the edge of my seat throughout the whole book, and it was one of those books that you never want to put down. The way the author wrote it had quite a suspenseful, eerie, dramatic feel to it and that is what made the book so great, on top of the plot. The plot of the book was also very well thought out and put together, and I enjoyed reading it. Although the movie was great, I don’t think that it did the book enough justice. There were so many great aspects of the book that they left out, that would’ve made the movie just that much better. They should have put in some of the missing scenes and still portrayed the characters the same as they were in the book. However, I think that it would be hard to create the same feel as Ray Bradbury did in writing the book. It was the way that he connected with his audience that made the book appealing. Both the book and the movie were fantastic ways of portraying the story. If they had kept all of the scenes and properties of characters as they did in the book, the movie would have appealed to me more. But, the movie version of the story could appeal to others more than the book
In the film, symbolism was everywhere. In the beginning of the film, the pictures of the city were in black and white and dull shades, giving the city a gloomy look. The camera angles made the cars in the city appear tiny, and the buildings appear very large to symbolize how small everything was amongst the city. The interiors of the office buildings and the panic symbolized that there was no way out. The soundtrack of the film was symbolic to the tension of the film. The darkness of visual composition of the lighting in the film, symbolized the darkness of the human nature in the story.
Lighting, editing, camera angles/movements and sound are used in many different ways. Ness didn't know what the bookkeeper looked like, this initially raised the tension and it continued to rise when he had to deal with the baby. All the elements together work red in different ways showing different things to the audience and helped to bring them into the scene. I think the movie was very successful, it had a lot of dramatic scenes which made me feel excited and tense. The actors and script were excellent, I learnt a lot about this period of American history and also the type of fashions that were popular.
Why is this genre so important to the theme of the movie? The film itself is a drama, which is a “serious presentations or stories with settings or life situations that portray realistic characters in conflict with either themselves, others, or forces of nature (Filmsite.org).” In the definition, we read the word “conflict”, and when one is faced with a serious conflict one is looking for hope. Therefore making this genre of film the perfect fit for a film with this particular theme. Looking deeper one must ask, what makes a film a drama, and more specifically as dystopian drama. Erika Gottlieb in her book Dystopian Fiction East and West: Universe of Terror and Trial talks about many of the characteristics that shape the genre of a dystopian drama. There is still a government in place which is typical in a dystopian movie. With lots of nudges towards political satire. Erika Gottlieb refers to this characteristic commonly seen in dystopian films as, “Dystopia as a no man 's land between satire and tragedy (Gottlieb 13).” Where the film, “is a tragedy, but a somewhat unusual form of tragedy that also accommodates the didactic strategies of satire (Gottlieb 13).” Many things are immoderate crimes in this world reflecting Gottlieb’s characteristic “The deliberate miscarriage of justice: the protagonist’s trial (Gottlieb 10).” Even though there is no trial towards the protagonist this film has many corrupt laws from the mandatory fertility test to not being able to interact with any refugees. All of these actions are crimes against society. When thinking about this genre we know the people in these dystopian worlds are looking for salvation or hope. There are stories in the bible where similar redemption is shown like the story of Noah and the Arche. Within the genre itself is the evident theme with religious
This is shown in how Wises presents the themes in the movies. Also in how he shoots the film/ how he uses new technology. The most prevalent theme that was displayed was the “atomic” theme. This is where Wises uses to talk through the characters, to tell the public that there should be peace on earth. As well as saying that really most of the world’s squabbles are insignificant in the grand scheme of things. This “atomic” theme stems from the Second World War. Were atomic weapons had just been developed and no one really knew how much power they had because they were this new fancy technology that could destroy the world which made people scared, or power the future. Wises aim with this theme in the film was to say that the world doesn’t need nuclear weapons, and that the world would be better off without them. Because
Kane, Kathryn. Visions of War: Hollywood Combat Films of World War II. Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1982.
The film stays in line with classic noir in many ways. The usage of dark sets and high contrast lighting, which creates heavy shadows on the actors faces, makes the movie feel like it all happens at night and in dark alley ways. The story focuses on the inhumane parts of human nature. Each of the main characters experiences some kind of tragedy. For Vargas his tragedy was in dealing with Quinlin who has set out to frame him and his wife. For Quinlin his entire life represented a man consumed with darkness who lives his life with a “Touch of Evil.” Menzies was a hopeful man who looked up to Quinlin but was let down. For the viewer, film noir represents truth, even if it is not a truth that all people would like to hear.
It was made to appeal to older people, but many young people would like this film. There are scenes in this movie that are very intense and will keep all people attached to the screen. The one scene that stood out to me the most was the ending. Daniel had been building up all his anger and rage and when he released it all on Eli Sunday it put into perspective just how cruel of a man Daniel is. Eli had embarrassed him years and years ago, but Daniel never let that go. He had been waiting for the moment he could get his revenge in Eli. This movie is one that you would want to watch by yourself or with only a few friends. It will always keep your
I believe this movie does a good job incorporating what we have discussed in class in terms of adolescent development. Although the movie is greatly exaggerated and blown up, the movie does emphasize on key factors to the development of an adolescent. Aside from the self-identity and friendship, the film incorporates parental relationships, academics, teacher-student relationships, risky behaviors, and moral development during adolescent
Fans of the novel like the way you get to see inside Grace and Marty 's personalities, and the way that these two kids are just like any other, if not a little more unusual. You will find yourself glued to the pages until you have finished reading the novel. The adventures will make it so that you only breath about every once in a while and you will like the characters you are reading about, even if you are an adult. The novel is vivid in description and it is almost as though you are able to make a movie of things in your head. Some felt that they were along for the ride with the heroes, Grace and Marty, in this one and they enjoyed every moment of
These three major themes which were appearance vs reality, the importance of free thought, and man vs. society were revealed throughout the book in many different scenes, and through many different characters. These major themes gave us a better understanding of the book and the characters of the book, and what some of them wanted to achieve.
Tom Clancy does character development in a very realistic way, and he uses backstory to justify the characters’ reactions, for example, Jack when he was fighting the terrorist he did not kill he tried to disable them he's a marine which goes against most of his training but he says that he did this because his dad was a cop and that's why he says that he only wanted to keep him from coming after him when he was dealing with all the Terrace. This book is categorized as the thriller and it deserves
Although I enjoyed the main portion of the movie, there were some obvious likes and dislikes in my opinion. I believe that I learned from this movie and it helped me understand more of what the people of that time were feeling.
To be honest, I didn’t think I was going to make it through this movie. It didn’t have a lot of talking, I think I could count the number of conversations on my hand. But there was something very powerful about this movie that caught me, I think it was the sense of the father and son bonding, something that isn’t very common. Another thing that was special to me about this movie is the fact that it stays in its common setting throughout the whole movie. It never leaves the lake.