Monday, June 13, 2011

'Super' Hit of the 70s and Godard's Latest 'Film'

I think I'm getting too punny with these headlines.

J.J. Abrams' "Super 8" is not quite the summer movie to end all summer movies, but it's still a solid entry into the Spielberg homage genre. No, seriously, it's a lot of fun and has a number of sincere moments between its stellar teen cast.

It's only when the barrage of special effects and explanations begin pouring in that the film slightly loses its grip. Nevertheless, it's significantly better than any of the other blockbusters I've seen this summer or year so far.

Unfortunately, Jean-Luc Godard's much ballyhooed "Film Socialisme" did not leave as memorable an impression on me. I love Godard's films, but I'll honest: I'd take his 1960s and 1970s pictures any day over most of his latter day work.

I found "JLG/JLG" to be compelling and his previous film, "Notre Musique," has some fascinating moments. The same can almost be said of "Socialisme."

The opening scenes on a Mediterranean cruise ship are no less fragmented than the rest of the movie, but there's a certain hypnotic pull to them. But the movie crashes to Earth in its second sequence - located at a gas station - and by the time we come to the final third, it's a little too late.

Check out my reviews here.

Next week, I'll finally (hopefully) catch up with "Beginners" as well as this week's entry in the cinematic comic-book-a-thon of summer 2011 - "Green Lantern."

No comments:

Post a Comment