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BD Review: Fresh ‘Super 8’ Perspective; Write Your Thoughts on ‘Super’ & ‘The Ward’

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Watching Twitter over the past two weeks has been quite interesting. People either seem to love JJ Abrams’ Super 8 or hate it. It’s evolved into an escalation of insults like “I don’t know why they liked/hated it…” The good news is that it has people talking, the bad news is that it isn’t tracking very well. That’s disappointing considering it’s one of the sole movies arriving this summer that isn’t pandering to the franchise crowd.

Anyways, while I already reviewed the film a few weeks back, David Harley has chimed in with his thoughts that can be viewed inside. In addition, it’s now your turn to write your own reviews to tell all of Bloody YOUR thoughts. Good? Bad? I’m the one with a gun (whoops, wrong movie.)

Also now available on VOD is John Carpenter’s return to horror in The Ward, a psychological horror film I considered to be highly disappointing. Again, it’s your turn: write your reviews and tell all of us what you think. Am I wrong? Do you think it’s a solid flick?
Super 8Amblin is a name that is synonymous with film geekdom. Started in the early 80’s, the production company run by Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall has produced some of the most memorable and timeless films around during the decade of its conception. Most of the stand-out productions are multi-layered stories dealing with characters in the most formative years of their lives as an unexpected danger helps create a string of moments that will come to define who they are. But, most importantly, they give viewers a sense of wonder and amazement as they’re drawn into the situation to watch the characters grow. They have a very distinct feel and formula attributed to them, yet they rarely feel stale. Super 8 delivers on this for the most part from the moment Elliot flies across the screen on his bicycle in the opening credits, but it loses the sweet, whimsical feel somewhere along the way.

After the untimely death of his mother, Joe (Joel Courtney) and his distant father, Deputy Jackson (Kyle Chandler), are having a hard time adjusting to the gaping hole in their lives. With his father filling the void by working around the clock, Joe spends his free time building Moebius models and helping his ragtag group of friends work on aspiring director Charles’ (Riley Griffiths) zombie film. While sneaking out one night to shoot a scene at the train station, with Alice (Elle Fanning) in tow, the crew witnesses a train crash to end all train crashes. Given a cryptic warning by a survivor, the kids hightail it from the wreckage when the military shows up, eager to canvas the area for something unknown to the townsfolk and local authorities. But, the truth is soon made apparent as appliances are stolen, mysterious cubes are found scattered at the crash site, and Charles’ super 8 footage is developed.

Abrams makes good on the Amblin name by focusing on Joe’s transformation throughout the film. Still feeling the shockwaves of his loss, his budding – and forbidden – relationship with Alice is a form of rebirth for him, alleviating his loneliness by giving him a new connection to life and easing the pain of his father’s passive aggressive abandonment. While it gives the film its level of summer-sized fun, the creature is merely a catalyst for him to deal with his grief. The entire cast is superb (and the rapport between the kids reminds me of The Goonies), but Courtney really sells it, giving Joe the adolescent awkwardness needed to make the situation feel as authentic as the 1979 way of life portrayed on screen.

But not everything rings as true. Abrams crafted the creature as equal parts E.T. and the invaders from War Of The Worlds, two Spielberg films that couldn’t be more different from each other, and the result is sort of confusing. The script presents the visitor as curious and extremely aggressive (with more of an emphasis on the latter) throughout most of the film, and then attempts to make the audience sympathize with it as it continues to tear through the small town. Its reason for having a disdain towards humans is justifiable, but it’s hard to feel bad for something that is constantly causing destruction and death.

Super 8 will bring waves of nostalgia crashing down over those who cherish Spielberg’s directorial and producing output of the 80’s. Even though it doesn’t quite follow through on the warm, fuzzy feelings it seems intent on delivering from the get-go, Abrams’ coming-of-age tale is more about the journey than the destination, which is worthwhile. The snapshot of Americana 1979 feels as real as possible with the help of Michael Giacchino’s score and fantastic casting, but if there’s one thing the mysterious director needs to work on, it’s conceptualizing his creatures better, both design and personality-wise.

Score: 4/5 Skulls

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‘Final Destination: Bloodlines’ Adds “Chucky” Actor Teo Briones and More to Lead Cast

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Chucky Actor Teo Briones
Pictured: Teo Briones in "Chucky" Season Two

The Final Destination franchise is returning to life with Final Destination: Bloodlines. With filming now underway, THR reports that three actors have joined the lead cast, including “Chucky” actor Teo Briones.

Brec Bassinger (“Stargirl”) and Kaitlyn Santa Juana (The Friendship Game) join Teo Briones, who played Junior Wheeler in season two of “Chucky,” as the leads in the sixth installment of the horror franchise.

Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein (Freaks) are directing the fresh installment that also includes Richard Harmon (“The 100”, Grave Encounters 2), Anna Lore, Owen Patrick Joyner, Max Lloyd-Jones (The Book Of Boba Fett), Rya Kihlstedt (Obi Wan Kenobi), and Tinpo Lee (The Manor) among the cast.

Production is now underway in Vancouver.

What can we expect from the upcoming Final Destination 6? Speaking with Collider, franchise creator Jeffrey Reddick offered up an intriguing (and mysterious) tease last year.

“This film dives into the film in such a unique way that it attacks it from a different angle so you don’t feel like, ‘Oh, there’s an amazing setup and then there’s gonna be one wrinkle that can potentially save you all that you have to kind of make a moral choice about or do to solve it.’ There’s an expansion of the universe that – I’m being so careful,” Reddick teased.

Reddick continued, “It kind of unearths a whole deep layer to the story that kind of, yes, makes it really, really interesting.”

Final Destination: Bloodlines is written by Lori Evans Taylor (“Wicked Wicked Games”) and Guy Busick (Scream), with Jon Watts (Spider-Man: No Way Home) producing.

Producers on the new movie for New Line Cinema also include Dianne McGunigle (Cop Car) as well as Final Destination producers Craig Perry and Sheila Hanahan Taylor.

This will be the sixth installment in the hit franchise, and the first in over ten years. Each film centers on “Death” hunting down young friends who survive a mass casualty event.

The latest entry is expected in 2025, coinciding with the original film’s 25th anniversary.

 

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