Super 8

Saw this with my 13 year old son.

It sort of worked for me and it didn't work for him at all. He thought it was boring.

Set in late 70s, certainly after StarWars, it was clearly JJ Abrams' homage to Steven Spielberg's ET and Close Encounters of the Third Kind plus others like the Goonies.

Very nostalgic, and if I didn't know it was a JJ Abrams movie, I would have thought it was directed by rather than produced by Steven.

A group of friends is making a movie over the summer, and are out filming one night when they see a train wreck which is swiftly followed by the army taking over the site and their town. It becomes very apparent that there is something very sinister out there that the army want to contain. This has been captured on the film.

There are some funny lines like "can I have my film developed in 24 hours" "no one can do that, the best I can do is three days on a rush". "What are you listening to?" "It's a walkman, you can listen to your cassettes." "People wandering around with personal stereos, it's the thin end of the wedge, you mark my words".

The teens in the screen looked at some of the things and said what is that, and you realise how far we have come in terms of technology.

If I had seen Super 8 in 1978, I would have thought it was amazing. Children these days are so blase about special effects. If it isn't fast and very pacy, they get bored. That doesn't bode well for movies in the future.

Elle Fanning literally burned up the screen when she was on it. She was amazing. Definitely one to watch!

Captain America: The First Avenger

Captain America has a very retro feel, not old fashioned, just retro. It evokes 1940s wartime really well. I loved the dirigibles in the London skies and the slightly muted colours and the deliciously demonic evil Red Skull who is too evil even for the Nazis.

Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) is unfit for duty for the Army. He desperately wants to fight for his country. Dr Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci) sees something more in him and Steve becomes a guinea pig in Project Rebirth which enables Steve to use his maximum human potential. It basically means that the good in you is magnified and the inverse is equally true.

What then follows is good guys fighting bad guys and a very interesting ending. You get all the usual suspects, and the continuity is great. I love the way Samuel L Jackson keeps turning up in cameos, cannot wait until The Avengers next year.

It was a very authentic adaptation, but it didn't emotionally engage me at all. I'm not a Captain America fan, but my 13 year old son seemed to like it well enough (his favourite is still Thor).

Please stay until after the end credits as you get another teaser for The Avengers featuring Nick Fury, Thor, Howard Stark, Hawkeye and Black Widow.

Tree Of Life

I have tried to write the review for Tree Of Life for a couple of weeks now. Well actually.....no I really haven’t, I tried for a couple of days, then gave up, now I’m coming back to it.

When the film was over, the first words out of my mouth were "Oh Thank God!" just a little too loudly!

I've now read a bit more about Terrence Malick and it seems that this was autobiographical or at least semi, in which case, he is trying to make sense of his youngest brother's death. TM had an overbearing father who sent his youngest son to Spain to study gutar with Segovia, who apparently was a legendary cruel taskmaster. TM's brother broke both his own hands and his father asked TM to go over to Spain to help youngest brother and TM refused. TM's father went over and returned with his youngest brother's body. Therefore TM wasn't there when his brother needed him most.

The first hour especially and indeed the entire film was visually stunning. It was like a perfect mood board to set up the story, but the film then just stalled. Just like that.

Didn't really matter whether story was linear or non, there really wasn't much being told here only implied. Give the audience its due, we tried, REALLY HARD to stick with it, and no one walked out which I know has happened in other screenings.

I quite accept we are all part of (a) tree(s) of life, and our place on that tree draws together the interdependence through the tree down to the roots and searching for a meaning of what happens to us through memories can be incredibly painful/daunting. The meaning of life might that in God’s grand plan, nothing matters much or one ripple creates a butterfly effect. You're here, then you're not, your people mourn, reflect, reminisce, get on with it or don’t.

But really, Terence Malick is well educated who makes lovely films and should have been able to finish off The Tree Of Life without having the audience scratch its collective bemused head and be pleased the 'ordeal' was over.

A woman in my screening asked me if I understood the meaning, and I just shrugged my shoulders, shook my head and thought here is another 2 1/2 hours of my life I will never get back. And that sucks!

Or maybe I’m just completely missing the point which is quite possible. In that case, nevermind!