Spielberg thread - Super 8

[Rob McCow]

Here's a thread about Spielberg's films in general, but more specifically Super 8, which is coming out soon in the UK. www.super8-movie.com

The film has been picking up extremely positive reviews. Although it was directed by JJ Abrams, who had a huge success with Star Trek the other year, it has Spielberg on board and is apparently very evocative of his late 70's / early 80's movies such as E.T. and Close Encounters of The Third Kind.

Will you be going to see Super 8? Which are your favourite Spielberg movies? Or is he an over-rated, sentimentalist bore?

[Jon Masters]

I saw the trailer recently, and despite looking OK my heart sank when I thought of it being a Spielberg film.

I may well get slaughtered for saying this but I hate the way Spielberg fills many of his films with cute kids becuase you know, just KNOW that whatever the peril is not one of them is going to die.

Now that's fine for a film aimed at kids, like ET or Indianna Jones, but this looks like a serious attempt to do a scary monster thriller - I doubt I'll be taking my kids to see it (and what the hell is a rating of PG 13 anyway ?) If that's the case, then kids in peril should be just as likely to get killed off as the adults.

The worst example of this is Jurassic Park , where adults are killed off for cheap laughs and those snotty nosed brats walk away with barely a bruise (despite one clearly being electrocuted).

[Alex]

I may well get slaughtered for saying this but I hate the way Spielberg fills many of his films with cute kids becuase you know, just KNOW that whatever the peril is not one of them is going to die.

I couldn't agree more. The way he 'sanitised' ET by replacing guns with walky talkies was just ridiculous as well.

I think he's the most over-rated director ever, to be honest, the way Empire magazine wet their pants every time a new film by him comes along sickens me, there are so so so many more inventive and talented film makers out there who often rarely get any coverage at all.

I will say he's a fairly talented action director (or at least was) - Jaws, the Indiana Jones movies, Minority Report and Catch Me If You Can are all pretty enjoyable (though I'm not as big a fan as Indy as I used to be) but as a 'serious' director he's awful - I have enormous problems with Schindler's List, and the way it manipulates the audience, I could easily write a 2000 word essay on what I feel is wrong with it.

Just thought I'd point out that Super 8 isn't really a Spielberg movie btw, as whilst he did produce it, it was written and directed by JJ Abrams and Spielberg wasn't involved that much in the filming, apparently. I've seen the trailer and it looks okay, but I shall happily wait for it to appear on dvd / tv.