How to Get the Best Experience Out of Watching Super 8 This Summer
By Dustin Rowles | Posted Under Think Pieces | Comments (31)
Last night in New York City, Paramount held an event for industry types highlighting its Summer 2011 movie schedule, an event that included, among others, previews of Mission Impossible IV and 22 minutes of Super 8. J.J. Abrams was even on hand to introduce a couple of out-of-context scenes from that film.
How cool would it have been to attend that?
If you’re super curious about the vibe of those two scenes, I encourage you to check out Matt Patches’ write-up. He’s a smart guy; a good writer; he knows what he’s talking about.
Just don’t tell me what he wrote.
There was also a new IMAX trailer released, I believe yesterday, that revealed a small amount of new footage that wasn’t included in the original theatrical trailer. You can watch that here.
Just don’t tell me anything about it.
Our own Cindy wrote up a post for the first full-length trailer last weekend. I got the impression from the first paragraph of that post that Cindy was excited about the film. If you want to see that trailer, check it out.
But again, please don’t tell me anything about it.
All I know about Super 8 at this point is that Steven Spielberg produced, J.J. Abrams directed it, and Kyle Chandler is in it, plus what little I could glean from this short teaser trailer, posted a couple of months ago.
That, folks, is all I want to know about it until I walk into the movie theater. And if you want the very best experience from watching Super 8, I encourage you to avoid, to the extent that is possible, everything that is written or posted about it. I understand that that goes counter to the interests of this very site (and there are no plans to stop running Super 8 posts because, come on: We’re a movie blog. That’s how we make a living), but if I were you, I wouldn’t click on those posts. (Click on another posts twice instead!)
Why? Because Super 8 is this year’s Inception. One of the very few (if not only) super big blockbusters that’s not a sequel, a remake, or based on an existing property. It’s unknown, and until I experience it first-hand, that’s the way I want it to remain: Unknown. That doesn’t mean I’m going to love or hate the film, but no amount of marketing materials, posters, trailers, behind-the-scenes videos, or interviews is going to encourage or discourage me from seeing Super 8. I’m going to see it. I’m going to see it on opening day. And I made that decision the second the film was announced. I confirmed that decision with myself when I found out Kyle Chandler was in it.
I’m probably going to watch all the trailers for Captain America and Thor and Conan the Barbarian and The Green Lantern, etc., because what the hell are they really going to spoil for me? We already know about those characters, and the trailers may actually give us an idea of what to expect, and for some, be one of the deciding factors in whether or not to see the film. Your decision was probably already made about Super 8. You’re probably not even going to read any reviews of the film until after you’ve seen it. I’m not. Because I don’t want to know. Because I want to go in to Super 8 like I went into Inception, with next to no knowledge of the plot or the characters.
That’s a rarity these days, and you actually have to work at remaining blissfully ignorant. But based only on the principals involved, I think Super 8 is that one movie this summer where the effort it takes to avoid the marketing, the hype, and the reviews.
Who knows, though. Maybe the movie will blow alien chunks. But I’m going to find that out while I’m watching it. I’m going to let Super 8 surprise me, one way or another.
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Comments
Posted by: Slash at March 24, 2011 12:05 PM
Stand directly in front of a snow blower? That's kinda what the header picture looks like.