Joel Courtney, Elle Fanning and Kyle Chandler in the J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg movie ‘Super 8’

It isn’t every day that we see what we recognize today as two names in big box office moviemakers from American film collaborating to make a movie. Eleven years ago, this came to pass. J.J. Abrams directed and produced the Steven Spielberg produced movie Super 8 (2011). Abrams wrote the screenplay for what feels to be a nostalgic look back at childhood and place mixed with the feeling of a thriller coupled with monsters.

(From left, Gabriel Basso as Martin Read, Ryan Lee as Cary McCarthy, Joel Courtney as Joe Lamb and Riley Griffiths as Charles Kaznyk in the J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg movie Super 8).

The story of Super 8 follows a group of young teenagers in the fictional town of 1979 Lillian, Ohio. Filmed in Weirton, West Virginia and surrounding areas, the group aims to film a homemade movie using super 8 cameras and film available at the time. The group, including Joel Courtney as Joe Lamb, Riley Griffiths as Charles Kaznyk, Ryan Lee as Cary McCarthy and Gabriel Basso as Martin Read, capture a train derailment while filming a movie scene overnight in their fictional Ohio town.

(From left, Kyle Chandler as Deputy Jack Lamb, Joel Courtney as Joe Lamb, Elle Fanning as Alice Dainard and Ron Eldard as Louis Dainard in the J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg movie Super 8).

A subtext of the movie includes the mourning of loss that has occurred before the movie has started. For Joe Lamb and his father, police deputy Jack Lamb of the Lillian police force, as portrayed by Kyle Chandler, lost a mother and wife Elizabeth to a workplace accident. Alice Dainard and her father Louis, as portrayed by Elle Fanning and Ron Eldard, respectively, are cast in the awkward position of being linked to that loss for Jack because Elizabeth was working a shift for Louis when Elizabeth died. Jack blames Louis for Elizabeth’s death.

(From left, Riley Griffiths as Charles Kaznyk and AJ Michalka as Jen Kaznyk in the J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg movie Super 8).

Joe and Alice become emotionally close, despite the above reality and Joe’s coping with the loss of his mother. As the train derailment destroys the location where the teenagers were making their film while also separating them temporarily, they regroup to find their gravely ill biology teacher, Dr. Thomas Woodward in the wreckage. Crates of strange white cubes are found as well, which Woodward warns them to forget and ignore. The kids flee an Air Force convoy, with Colonel Nelec finding an empty super 8 film box in his team’s perusal of the wreckage. Glynn Turman portrayed Dr. Woodward. Noah Emmerich portrayed Colonel Nelec.

(From left, Joel McKinnon Miller as Mr. Kaznyk and Jessica Tuck as Mrs. Kaznyk in the J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg movie Super 8).

A series of weird events commence from here, which includes suspicious behavior by Nemec to the detriment of deputy Jack Lamb professionally and the personal relationship between Jack and his son Joe. The teenagers, meanwhile, engage the help of Charles Kaznyk’s older sister, Jen Kaznyk. The support requested aims to help address the loss of pets, irregularities in electrical service, and other activities that follow the train accident. AJ Michalka portrayed Jen Kaznyk. The story develops from here with plenty of adventure to sustain the interpersonal narratives established with these characters.

(From left, director, producer and screenwriter J.J. Abrams and producer Steven Spielberg in support of the J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg movie Super 8).

There is much to appreciate and enjoy in the Steven Spielberg style of movie that is Super 8. The focus on childhood experiences and viewpoints reflects the strength of the storytelling. There’s feeling and cleverness whose aim reaches for the likes of E.T. the Extra Terrestrial (1982), The Goonies (1985) or Stand by Me (1986) without necessarily landing on the magic of any of these. The film does feel to me like the most Steven Spielberg movie I’ve seen that was directed by somebody else, which in this case is good. I grant Super 8 as directed by J.J. Abrams 3.75-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.

Matt – Saturday, January 15, 2021

Matt Damon, Christian Bale and the film ‘Ford v Ferrari’

It was avid car aficionado in the form of Lynn‘s West Virginia uncle who turned me on to the biopic film about the 1966 automobile race 24 Hours of Le Mans. This particular film, and the facts underpinning it, tells the story about the stranglehold that the Ferrari brand had on the race at the time as well as the battle Ford had in becoming relevant there for a four year stretch beginning in 1966. The film that addresses this contest is Ford v Ferrari (2019).

(From left, Matt Damon as Carroll Shelby and Tracy Letts as Henry Ford II in the film Ford v Ferrari).

The crux of the film starts around the time that the Ford Mustang as a vehicle was introduced, with Ford owner Henry Ford II (as played by Tracy Letts) making an overture to Ferrari owner Enzo Ferrari (as played by Remo Girone) to acquire the motor company owned by Ferrari, and being soundly rebuffed in a move to increase the sales price to Fiat. This led to a courting by Ford of Carroll Shelby (as played by Matt Damon) and Ken Miles (as played by Christian Bale).

(From left, Stefania Spampinato as Enzo Ferrari‘s English Translator and Remo Girone as Enzo Ferrari in the film Ford v Ferrari).

The means of being rebuffed by Enzo Ferrari opened, or perhaps revealed, an emotional rivalry between he and Henry Ford II that revealed some interesting dynamics in the way Ford was operated as a company. Lee Iacocca, as portrayed by Jon Bernthal, brought Carroll Shelby into the Ford company when Henry Ford II demanded engineers and money into the company to have the wherewithal to compete with Ferrari at Le Mans.

(From left, Jon Bernthal as Lee Iacocca and Corrado Invernizzi as Franco Gozzi in the film Ford v Ferrari).

The compelling notion of what worked in the movie Ford V Ferrari was first the racing story with the fortunes of two automobile companies at the center of it. Also there were the personalities within Ford, with Shelby and Miles as clearly outsiders to the corporate culture of the larger company. Iacocca was a bit of a middleman between that culture and the work getting done by Shelby and Miles.

(Josh Lucas as Leo Beebe in the film Ford v Ferrari).

Josh Lucas as Leo Beebe was the face of that corporate culture, and in many ways vilified for his role in how the 24 Hours of Le Mans came to a resolution in 1966. There was natural tension in his trusted role in Ford and the natural conflict that arose in holding the Shelby / Miles team to an account that also reflected on the public face of what Ford wished to project. Said another way, a story of Ford v Ferrari was the means for how mean with well-defined senses of self worth worked together. This came into play as well between Shelby and Miles, the both of them and Beebe, and the full lot of them and Henry Ford II with Iacocca in the middle. Ken Miles and his wife, Mollie Miles as portrayed by Caitriona Balfe, had their own form of intrigue as shown in Ford v Ferrari.

(From left, Caitriona Balfe as Mollie Miles and Christian Bale as Ken Miles in the film Ford v Ferrari).

I found the movie Ford v Ferrari both entertaining and interesting. There’s history in the telling, despite some clear fictionalized dramatization included for the sake of the telling. The fiction offered something that worked for me in this case, though there are some muscle car folks that might not agree. I rate Ford v Ferrari at 3.75-stars on a scale of one-to-five.

Matt – Wednesday, July 15, 2020