J.J. Abrams: Seven films that shaped ‘Super 8?
Geoff Boucher at The Hero Complex (LAT) with this feature:
No one plays their cards closer to the vest than J.J. Abrams, and that’s why “Super 8,” which arrives in theaters June 10, is still a bit of a mystery to most moviegoers even in this age of relentless ramp-up hype and show-everything movie trailers. The director of “Star Trek” and co-creator of “Lost” has only talked a bit about the film, but we know it’s a small-town coming-of-age story told against the backdrop of an alien-on-the-loose adventure and involves the spectacular wreck of a secret government train in 1979.
The filmmaker winces watching the marketing saturation of contemporary summer movies that may accomplish the job of filling theaters but also saps the magic revelation of movies — he misses the days when audiences bought a ticket and sat down in the dark both literally and figuratively: “To me, all people need to know is that it’s an adventure about a small town and it’s funny, it’s sweet, it’s scary and there’s a mystery: What is this thing that has escaped? What are the ramifications of its presence? And what is the effect on people?”
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“It’s difficult to separate memories of being a kid in 1979 from the movies of the era,” Abrams said. “That was the year ‘Alien’ came out, it was a couple of years after ‘Close Encounters’ and ‘Jaws,’ and then were movies a couple of years later, like ‘Stand By Me,’ that were so impactful. There’s jumble of movies that I love, some of them the mainstream movies but also the gruesome horror movies that I loved so.”
Which of those films inform “Super 8?? Hit the link to find out.