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Super 8 (2011)
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This week on the Everything Actioncast, Zach and Chris head back to 1979 and discuss the team-up of JJ Abrams and Steven Spielberg, 2011's Super 8 for its 15th anniversary, and with a new Spielberg alien movie in theaters, Disclosure Day.
Inspired by movies like E.T., The Goonies, and Stand By Me, Super 8 follows a group of friends filming a zombie movie in their small Ohio town. While filming a scene at the local train station, the group witnesses a massive train crash and eventually learns that an alien has escaped and is wreaking havoc on the town while the Air Force tries to cover everything up. Zach and Chris discuss whether the alien is actually misunderstood or really evil, how the movie melds the styles and themes of Abrams and Spielberg, Kyle Chandler being a supercop, how horrific the death of Joe's (Joel Courtney) mother at the steel mill was, and more.
You can rent/buy Super 8 from Amazon or Apple TV. Next week, we're trying to survive the zombie apocalypse of George A. Romero's classic Day of the Dead, which is getting a new 4K release.
We want to hear your comments and feedback. Send them all to contact@everythingaction.com. Also, let us know your movie suggestions for us to discuss.
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Transcript
Intro
Introduction and Anniversary Discussion
00:00:20
Zach Sheets
Hello and welcome to the Everything Action Cast podcast week of June 8th, 2026. your host, Zach.
00:00:26
Chris Prime
your co-host, Chris.
00:00:28
Zach Sheets
And this week we're heading back to 1979 2011 and talking about Super 8's because it's celebrating its 15th anniversary. It came out on
Spielberg's Return to Aliens
00:00:36
Zach Sheets
June 10th, 2011. And also Super 8 was produced by Steven Spielberg bringing a new Steven Spielberg alien movie this week in theaters, Disclosure Day.
00:00:49
Zach Sheets
think it's the first time he's been
Spielberg and Abrams Collaboration
00:00:49
Zach Sheets
back to Aliens since War the Worlds. He's been doing a lot of like, you know, based on true events or based on his own life kind of movies, but he's finally back to like the Aliens.
00:01:00
Zach Sheets
And Super 8 teamed up between Steven Spielberg and J.J. Abrams right after J.J. did the first Star Trek. It's actually sandwiched between the Star Trek movies.
00:01:11
Zach Sheets
And Super 8 definitely feels like a melding of their styles and their tones. like It's got like the J.J. Abrams kind of like you know visual flares, like the lens flares, obviously. And then it has like his like mystery box structure where it's kind of you're unraveling this mystery throughout the whole movie.
00:01:29
Chris Prime
Yeah, and it also has that frantic group that has to do something together. like No one
00:01:35
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
Character Dynamics and Family Themes
00:01:36
Chris Prime
does anything alone.
00:01:38
Chris Prime
Which I think and both directors have movie characters where there's like companions. So you can feel like there's a lead, but you know there's like he it's like a group of companions doing things all at the same time.
00:01:51
Zach Sheets
And then like Spielberg side, it's got like, you know, but it's focused on a bunch of kids. And it kind of has like, it's like sort of an E.T. story.
00:02:00
Zach Sheets
And it has kind some of those. was like, it's got like quite a few like chaotic family scenes where like everyone's like talking over each other.
00:02:09
Chris Prime
I'm not sure if that's a Spielberg thing or a J.J. Abrams thing.
00:02:13
Zach Sheets
I think that's definitely more of a Spielberg thing. That was like, he really started doing that in like his, like E.T. and like some of the like 80s movies and that kind of like everyone started doing that after him. was like this like naturalistic, like it's not like, all right, you you speak, then you speak, then you speak. It's like everyone just start talking all at once.
00:02:29
Zach Sheets
That's like, it's like more like realistic.
00:02:32
Zach Sheets
And I feel like both of them kind of have like a thing with like dads too. Like both their movies, all movie both their movies have like kind of like a dad issues or dealing with dads.
00:02:42
Chris Prime
Yeah, I feel like that's the middle ground. Either dads or some family member. I think J.J. Abrams had Loss, which had sort of like surrogate dads.
00:02:52
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:02:53
Chris Prime
E.T. from Silverberg, of course, where it's like Elliot didn't know his dad.
00:02:57
Zach Sheets
Yep.
Nostalgia and Generational Gap
00:02:59
Zach Sheets
Last Crusade was all about Indy and his dad. And then like JJ, like, start star Star Trek, like his like Kirk's dad dies before he's born or when he's but like right when he's born.
00:03:04
Chris Prime
Star Trek.
00:03:11
Zach Sheets
which see yeah that that that's That's a major theme of Super 8 along with what is what is going on with the Air Force and the city like these odd alien things going on.
00:03:21
Zach Sheets
And yeah, so it's 1979, which it's it's definitely, it's J.J. Abrams' like childhood because he was born in 1966. So like all the kids are like around, sure, the age he was when he was 1979. Like 12, 13. Mm-hmm.
00:03:36
Zach Sheets
twelve thirteen
00:03:38
Chris Prime
Yeah, it's just like nostalgia for both these guys, but Spielberg was like already in his like 20s or late 20s. think during this time, like Spielberg was like like movies for he was already making Jaws.
00:03:55
Zach Sheets
Oh, Johnson's 75, yeah. So yeah, he you know he's he already cranking him out.
00:03:57
Chris Prime
Yeah.
00:04:00
Zach Sheets
it's i think it's JJ's nostalgic for Steven Spielberg movies, but also like his childhood. His childhood watching Steven Spielberg movies.
00:04:10
Chris Prime
Yeah, I can see, like, they both can relate it on this one ground. I feel like you really don't see, like, this was, like, sort of a, like, hey, remember that time kind of moment for both of these guys.
00:04:24
Chris Prime
But I don't know if Spielberg ever did another team up where it's such a big generation gap. Like, more so.
00:04:34
Zach Sheets
Yeah, and then, and movie like, movie where it's, like, so clear, like like, he had, seemed like he had a lot input, or, like, at least, like, a lot of his, like, style and themes were, like, in in it as well. Like, yeah, he'll produce a lot stuff, but it'll be, like, kind of just, like, a name only. Like, it doesn't really feel like a Steven Spielberg movie, just because it's just his name's on it, but he didn't really, like, do anything. It's like, sure, I'll put my name on it.
00:04:59
Zach Sheets
And then this this feels like a classic Spielberg movie, but with like you know the more modern J.J. Abrams visual style and some of the more modern stuff in it. it
00:05:07
Chris Prime
I also think it's the more modern pacing of what the audience was in for. I think it is a reintroduction to people who didn't like the film techniques from Spielberg, like the classics.
00:05:14
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:05:21
Chris Prime
So this was a, this is the middle ground where you have J.J. Abrams, like pacing, frantic pacing, but you have the slowness at the right moments that Spielberg was the master of, of like creating tension and like,
00:05:37
Chris Prime
making you care and yeah the all thing I think more so that gets come across during like the the action sequences that like slowly ramp up and then there's like a break where it's like the characters are like what's that like you know like it's it doesn't have the the like by comparison by most modern movies like you you hear cues early for like get ready for this
00:05:38
Zach Sheets
In awe, the awe of Steven Spork, yeah.
00:06:06
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:06:07
Chris Prime
Where in this, it's it catches you off guard at times. And
Plot and Character Development
00:06:10
Chris Prime
I think both guys are good at like pacing those details. And as we get into the movie more, we'll talk about like the the big like set piece draws that made this movie feel like a summer blockbuster.
00:06:27
Zach Sheets
Yeah, especially especially the the train crash, which we'll get to in a little bit. but But it kicks things off. it's So yeah, 1979. You've got you've got Joel Courtney playing Joe Lamb, who's like our main character. He's basically like our Henry Thomas.
00:06:43
Zach Sheets
And then it right from the start, it's like it's a kid his mother has died in a apparently horrific steel mill accident that Like, i it's artistic the way i do it, but, like it's like, people talking about it is, like, what actually happened. Because they they kind of show this, like, very, like, tasteful, like, a guy is, like, taking the numbers off of a days, days, accidents, like, counter.
00:07:10
Zach Sheets
Like, days since last accident counter, it was up to, like, 700 days. Now it's not down, like, one. And they cut to like, the funeral. then everyone at the funeral is just talking about, like, how horrible it was.
00:07:21
Zach Sheets
So it's like, did show's fall into like a machinery? or like like what what actually happened
00:07:29
Chris Prime
I'm thinking, like, the way it's so, like, shot and paced, it's as if, like, as if the mom, like, was abducted by aliens or something. You know, it's sort of the towns in mourning.
00:07:43
Chris Prime
It's got this, like, coldness that happens when, like, I don't know, like.
00:07:49
Zach Sheets
We'll call this because that's a winter.
00:07:50
Chris Prime
but Right, but in the sense of like, it may seem super tragic, but we don't know how tragic. It's just, everyone keeps commenting. And I get it, they wanted to to show sadness without drawing the focus, because you forget, like, it doesn't, this opening, you forget that, like, it's about an alien.
00:08:11
Chris Prime
You know, like, it just, it's just like, oh it's about this family drama. And then it's like, put that on the shelf, let's go make this movie. So, Yeah, it's a little, it starts off with just this emotional beat that's so strong, and then it never gets back to that same level again.
00:08:29
Zach Sheets
And everyone's everyone everyone's also commenting about like how Joe's father, like, hopefully he'll step up because they didn't have the best relationship. It was like, like joe Joe was like super close to his his mom. And then his dad's kind this like, you know, a typical 70s dad, like very like, no not emotional kind of distance.
00:08:49
Chris Prime
But like, it's the 70s dad thing. So I don't know what what was different between like every besides like the dads that really love their family, you know, like I guess they ate dinner every night and then they cared about their daughter's clothing.
00:09:05
Chris Prime
I there's no other, and you know, like every other dad was either like yelling at their daughter or, or you know, their child or just like getting hassled by like the cops.
00:09:09
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:09:17
Chris Prime
You know, I there's no like other example we see of like another dad in this town. Like two extremes. It's either the dads that didn't care or really care. That's it.
00:09:29
Zach Sheets
it It is odd. there's like two There's like two dads that need to like kind of figure out how to be a dad and relate to their their children.
00:09:34
Chris Prime
How to be a dad.
00:09:37
Zach Sheets
Because you get...
00:09:39
Chris Prime
Yeah, like that, that's kind of like over what like because even the. Alice's dad who is responsible, which I'm not sure if that's like revealed early. It's something I just kind of like forgot, like that Alice's dad is the one that caused the accident at work.
00:09:57
Zach Sheets
you don't You don't find that out like way later, I think.
00:10:00
Chris Prime
But like, are we supposed to not know that that's her dad?
00:10:04
Zach Sheets
No, I mean, i think I think when Joe goes to her house and is like, oh, hey, it's your dad is that guy. OK.
00:10:09
Chris Prime
But how do you not know the last name?
00:10:12
Zach Sheets
Yeah, I guess. I mean, yeah, you wouldn't know an adult's first name. You wouldn't know their last name. be like, hey, Mr. Dannard or to whatever you're saying.
00:10:21
Chris Prime
Yeah, yeah. So that's why I'm like, that doesn't make sense. And this is such a small town that everyone knows. You know, everyone... So, like, how did you not know...
00:10:33
Zach Sheets
He's
00:10:35
Chris Prime
and he didn't ask about that for four months?
00:10:38
Zach Sheets
like, oh, that was weird when my dad like arrested a guy threw him out of my mom's funeral.
00:10:44
Zach Sheets
yeah, it doesn't...
00:10:44
Chris Prime
You know what's weird, too, is that also the company where this happens, it seems like they never, like, did anything else. It's not like another co-worker stopped by and was like, hey, you know, just checking in on it.
00:10:56
Chris Prime
Because it makes it seem like a year passed. It's like four months is nothing when you come into the grief. You know, like, it's that's ba that's only like.
00:11:08
Chris Prime
It's almost like 20 weekends. So I'm like, that's nothing.
00:11:13
Zach Sheets
But yeah, I mean, Joe seems mostly okay after to four months. Like he's, you know, he's carrying around his mother's necklace. like It's kind of like his, one of his main things, but like he he, like he's having, he and his friends are having fun making like a, a super eight movie.
00:11:25
Chris Prime
summer movie
00:11:25
Zach Sheets
yeahp His friend Charles is the director. like He's like like trying to get entered into like this contest. and I do like the constant... Charles is reading
Significant Scenes and Performances
00:11:37
Zach Sheets
like magazines and books and he's like getting all these like different ideas of what he needs to like add to the movie.
00:11:42
Zach Sheets
It's like, we need like we need like a wife character. So you care about this guy. know, like, i think that's what, I mean, that's what books say. You just, it's like an emotional tie to like him or something. And he's also talking about like, like, kind talking about like production value, like using like all the, like this horrific things are happening as production value.
00:12:00
Chris Prime
It must be exhausting to be friends with, like, director.
00:12:03
Zach Sheets
A director.
00:12:04
Chris Prime
Yeah, director, or producer, just always seeing what you can use, you know, from your site at the time. And especially a kid where you're so excited about learning, so you learn by doing, which is great method.
00:12:17
Chris Prime
However, like, again, super exhausting. And then... Uh, this is the J.J. Abrams, like, self-insert. Like, I guess they both can relate. Both both movie directors and producers here can...
00:12:32
Zach Sheets
yeah charles Charles is the Spielberg and like the J.J. Abrams. Like he's the director.
00:12:36
Chris Prime
Combine. Yeah. But he's probably, like, it's probably taken out of both, like, real things that they both have done, where it's, like, you know, film value and then, like, screaming at, like, people or even just saying, I hired this person so I could flirt with them. Yeah.
00:12:51
Chris Prime
which i which Which one was that? think that's a Spielberg move.
00:12:58
Zach Sheets
Yeah, charles Charles would be canceled if this was like a but a but if he was a modern director.
00:13:04
Zach Sheets
but yeah, yeah they're they're making like a like a zombie movie. It seems like they're heavily inspired by like Night the Living Dead. That would have like just come out, or like it came out like 10 years ago. Yeah, I guess it was it it out for like 10 years. so They had seen it and they were inspired by it.
00:13:23
Zach Sheets
Like, there's a look Like, one of the places they' in their in the movie within the movie is, like, Romero Chemicals and stuff like that, so...
00:13:31
Zach Sheets
And, uh... But yeah, so they they... Like, so Charles, uh... Hires, uh... This girl, Alice, who they know from school, who's been by Elle Fanning, to be, like, the the wife character for, Uh...
00:13:46
Zach Sheets
martin who is uh by Gabriel Basso who became the night agent that's the what he's currently doing it was it was
00:13:54
Chris Prime
Yeah, a lot of, like, this is, like, a lot of big breakout roles. I think Ella Fanning, like, before this, would just remember being, like, such a young child actress and then being, like, a voice actress in, like, anime things.
00:14:07
Zach Sheets
being being like Dakota Fanning's sister it's like there's another one
00:14:10
Chris Prime
Yeah.
00:14:13
Zach Sheets
It's like, oh, and they're also like she's also like insanely talented? Yeah, I don't know i don't what's going on at the Fanning House, but apparently like they're just like like pumping out is like like insane actors.
00:14:25
Zach Sheets
I do love, one of my favorite things is like, like Alice, like is this kind of like, i don't know anything about acting. Like but what am I supposed to be doing here? And then like, she like switches on, but there's like, like an Oscar worthy performance.
00:14:39
Chris Prime
Yeah, it's like, was she practicing this? And it's like...
00:14:42
Zach Sheets
That's just like off the cuff. That's just like her like improvising.
00:14:46
Zach Sheets
Well, she looked at the script once like, oh, okay. I just read this. i just remember this and read it. but she's like gives us like super like emotional performance
00:14:57
Chris Prime
But she's not even like in the drama club or anything. So, again, is it just like things that she watched and just does well or respite.
00:15:08
Zach Sheets
she's just like a a natural like an insanely natural gifted actress
00:15:12
Chris Prime
But okay, the other thing is what happened to her mom?
00:15:17
Zach Sheets
Oh, I think she i think she left. i think she just, like, had, like, she just, like, left the the family.
00:15:23
Chris Prime
Okay, so that that's like her anchor moment because I guess that pain gives her the motivation to like tap into something deep. Because good actors kind of pull from real sources or, like, know the pain very intimately.
00:15:39
Chris Prime
It's just that, like, this small town is full of, like, I don't know, like, emotional children that and just, like, came together perfectly to film this movie.
00:15:53
Chris Prime
who happened to be at a train yard, like at the perfect time. Like it's like too many quinn, quinn instances, you know, like i think it would have been one thing uh, they were filming the movie and they were really bad at it, like really bad at it.
00:16:10
Chris Prime
That's like one thing. But I think that genuinely they had like a, like a evil dead quality movie coming through like that.
00:16:20
Zach Sheets
Yeah. like it's
00:16:21
Chris Prime
That's like the weird accident.
00:16:23
Zach Sheets
it's It's too good for kids to make.
00:16:25
Chris Prime
Yeah, it's a slightly it's like J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg couldn't help it that like even their meta versions had to have a a decent movie, like a decent premise and and sort of like film the right way. It might not look the right way, but they had all the right parts.
00:16:44
Zach Sheets
And they're actually doing like so so some like sophisticated like like makeup and like special effects. and they have like They have squibs.
00:16:54
Chris Prime
Yeah, that's crazy, right?
00:16:55
Zach Sheets
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
00:16:56
Chris Prime
For middle school kids?
00:17:01
Zach Sheets
But yeah, they said so they decide they decide to film at the local train depot, which doesn't seem that local. It seems like it's like way, way, way, way outside town, like in the middle of nowhere.
00:17:13
Zach Sheets
But yeah, they go there to film like this one scene, and then a train's going by, they're like, oh, shoot shoot the train we can have in our scene. Which then, it's funny because then it's like they have to yell their dialogue to be heard over the train.
00:17:29
Chris Prime
Maybe they'll ADR it later.
00:17:31
Zach Sheets
Do they have ADR?
00:17:33
Chris Prime
i mean, you just... I don't know if they could. either is It was all shot in film, so you couldn't re-dub it.
00:17:42
Zach Sheets
I mean, they do have like a boom mic. So I guess it's if it's cool so they can pick it up. And you see the i mean you see like the the full the full thing later in the credits.
00:17:52
Zach Sheets
So I guess that scene worked, I guess. But yeah, there's a, while they're filming, a pickup truck drives into the middle of the train tracks and then causes a insane crash. Like one of the most, like over the top train crashes in movie history. Yeah.
00:18:10
Zach Sheets
But but would would would a pickup truck like cause that big, like would it derail a train? I don't think it would. like I think the train would just like blow through that pickup truck. I'm not sure how it would cause like this huge accident, but it it does.
00:18:22
Zach Sheets
Unless Dr. Woodward had like explosives in his truck, which he didn't. It's like he just drovevis just hit the like the the front of the train with his truck.
00:18:32
Chris Prime
I don't know, like, how could that one pickup truck really derail, like, this military train that wasn't, like, a special train?
00:18:41
Zach Sheets
That's what I'm saying, yeah. Because, like, we've all seen footage of a train just, like, barreling through cars and not even slowing down.
00:18:47
Chris Prime
Yeah, just sort of, like, maybe the the first leading, like, engine part of the train gets a little bumpy, but everything else doesn't, like, do backflips.
00:19:00
Zach Sheets
yeah this is, like it's like, the truck hits the train and, and like, every car is, like, every car is like flying on top of each other and and flying in the air, crashing down, exploding, flipping.
00:19:11
Zach Sheets
and then
00:19:11
Chris Prime
Everything is like rocket propelled. It is as if physics sort of took a nosedive. And then i don't know, like. There was like another train that crammed into that train.
00:19:26
Chris Prime
Like if you haven't seen it, it does feel like the first crash happens and then somewhere in the back, another train hits that first train and then just like more parts keep coming because it's like impossibly huge how this explosion happens from a simple pickup truck, which is not like obliterated.
00:19:44
Chris Prime
It's like it has a little front damage.
00:19:46
Zach Sheets
Yeah, its he got like you like clipped it kind of like moved off the side of the tracks.
00:19:50
Chris Prime
yeah He was perfectly... He was in the safest spot causing the train wreck. Everything else was, like, in the hot zone.
00:19:54
Zach Sheets
a
00:19:59
Zach Sheets
And I think the crazy about this whole scene is that the kids like come through are like completely unscathed. Even though it's like it's like hellish explosions are going off and like train cars are falling from the sky around them. They're just like, wow, that was crazy.
00:20:14
Zach Sheets
we got a little sit our faces, we're okay.
Alien's Role and Moral Ambiguity
00:20:16
Chris Prime
How'd they all not, like, suddenly... temporary death you know like it's it's such a loud explosion and it it was that train also had like i don't know like chemicals and and things
00:20:30
Zach Sheets
There was a few there's a fuel tanker, I think, that blew up at one point.
00:20:33
Chris Prime
it in itself was his own problem which you know like that that's not addressed
00:20:42
Zach Sheets
But yeah, there there's like, I think one of the kids is like, I gotta cut. It's like, alright. So all of you should be dead. all all of you i don't know how you survived at like this like it's insane explosion, like destruction.
00:20:55
Chris Prime
Also, I didn't get how none of the friends were like, I'm out. Like, I don't want to film anymore.
00:20:59
Zach Sheets
Yep. Well, Alice does. Alice is like, I'm out. That was too crazy. which She's like the only smart one.
00:21:06
Chris Prime
Well, she's like the new person. I get her.
00:21:07
Zach Sheets
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
00:21:09
Chris Prime
Her first night filming, and then this just happens, and to them, this is just like a Tuesday. They're just like, oh, yeah, like, a lot of accidents happen around us. We have no idea why.
00:21:21
Zach Sheets
But yeah, but they see they see the somehow still alive Dr. Woodward. This is like the like honors science teacher at the school, too. So they they know him as like a teacher at the school.
00:21:31
Zach Sheets
But then he apparently was like a top secret Air Force government scientist.
00:21:38
Zach Sheets
And then, yeah, he tells them to like forget what you saw here. I'll kill your you and your entire family.
00:21:44
Chris Prime
Okay, to be fair, yeah i kind of was trying to figure out what his story was. Alright, get this. So that science teacher, you find out later that he used to work for the military that's like studying the alien, right?
00:22:02
Zach Sheets
yep
00:22:04
Chris Prime
He was let go of, let's say, 68? So he's been hanging out this town for 10 years waiting to derail this train?
00:22:14
Zach Sheets
i mean was he because you also find out that he like psychically linked to the alien So were they like, so like still communicating across like distances or was he just like, was just plotting like, Oh, like how, how did he find out they're moving?
00:22:27
Zach Sheets
Like if he's not in the air force anymore, like how is, or like working for them, how you know like where the train is going and like, they're moving the alien and they're moving like the aliens, like, like cubes and stuff.
00:22:35
Chris Prime
No idea.
00:22:38
Chris Prime
But like, let's say they are cycling, right? So the alien knows about humans and not every human is evil. Because they forget that part at convenient times.
00:22:51
Zach Sheets
Well, i think I think he says in Because later on, they watch like a a movie, like like another like Super 8 movie, or like a kind of film strip movie that they filmed at the... i don't Not Area 51, or maybe maybe it was, who knows? but it's just like At the secret government facility.
00:23:08
Zach Sheets
and he's And then it's like, Woodward's talking, he's like, we tortured him so much that he turned evil. like we like He just wanted to escape, and they they they kept him here and locked him up, and then he like went crazy.
00:23:21
Chris Prime
then he But he's still linked to this alien and it doesn't help the alien from not going crazier or like something.
00:23:21
Zach Sheets
I'm going him get out.
00:23:32
Zach Sheets
Yeah, there is there is a really weird thing with the alien where i think ultimately you're supposed to be like, oh, I'm glad he got away. I'm glad he got out. But then it's like, he's like murdering people.
00:23:45
Zach Sheets
it's like It's like if E.T. was going around like like killing people, and then at the end you're like, oh, well, at least he escaped. he's good's He's good now. Okay. Yeah.
00:23:53
Chris Prime
That that like will save him, just give him absolute freedom now that he's mentally broken. but it does yeah I don't know, but yeah we should get into that as the story goes, because it does not paint the alien in a better picture.
00:24:06
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:24:08
Chris Prime
but yeah so like For me, when you find out that this hyso-scientist's whole plan was to somehow know that this train was coming...
00:24:20
Zach Sheets
derail it, and then hope hope hope his alien your friend escapes with like with all of his alien queues, which are his ship, or part of his ship.
00:24:21
Chris Prime
derail it and just hope for the best.
00:24:31
Chris Prime
But there is something the movie doesn't do well is to address that the alien actually is a peaceful alien.
00:24:42
Zach Sheets
Yeah, yeah.
00:24:44
Chris Prime
It sort of implies that because the doctor helps. But if you think about the military's guy, his obsession really is insane. But if he just didn't kill the scientists later, it really sounds like that doctor is brainwashed by an alien to convince that it's a good guy.
00:25:04
Zach Sheets
Yes.
00:25:06
Chris Prime
And then the military is like, that thing's actually like a killer alien. We know we've been hunting it. Like it took us a while. Like, I also don't know why the military allowed the scientists to stay in the same town as this.
00:25:24
Chris Prime
Like, wouldn't you keep track on the guy that got possessed?
00:25:26
Zach Sheets
Why don't
00:25:30
Zach Sheets
Yeah, i mean I don't think they cared about the town until like the crash happened. But yeah, like maybe not send your train through a town where you know where you it's like a known, like disgruntled scientist who knows your secrets it lives.
00:25:44
Chris Prime
No, no, I think the scientists, the the underground facility where they did the testing was under the town.
00:25:50
Zach Sheets
No, I don't know don't think it was.
00:25:52
Chris Prime
You don't think it was?
00:25:53
Zach Sheets
No, they were transporting the alien from whatever where their facility their secret facility and then just happened to like crash in this tiny town in Ohio.
00:25:57
Chris Prime
Like another town?
00:26:03
Chris Prime
Really? I thought it was this this, like, town had a secret tunnel system.
00:26:09
Zach Sheets
No, the alien dug the tunnel system.
00:26:12
Zach Sheets
that's what That's what the alien's doing besides like capturing or seemingly killing people, but then we find out like he's like been capturing them.
00:26:19
Chris Prime
which not for good reasons either. Well, we'll talk about that.
00:26:21
Zach Sheets
no
00:26:22
Chris Prime
So, okay. Okay. So, yeah.
00:26:26
Zach Sheets
yeah because because
00:26:26
Chris Prime
Well, i mean, they can't predict. Okay. That makes the train crash even crazier because like, how unless the alien was like, kind of like, Hey, I'm passing through this stop.
00:26:36
Chris Prime
You got to meet up. Like, you know i mean Like it, it's playing landmark telephone with the the scientist guy saying, Hey, I'm over here. see if you can get there.
00:26:46
Zach Sheets
Yeah, because Dr. Woodward has like he's a map with all the all the stops on it, or like all the like the like possible like places he can intercept the train. So he knows the entire route of the train, and then he decides like to hit it like outside of his town that he lives in. and
00:27:01
Chris Prime
He's like, well, i don't have to go far. I just have to, you know, go down the road and there it is.
00:27:02
Zach Sheets
yeah
00:27:07
Chris Prime
Yeah, that's crazy. Like just the like plotting and then it's like his whole obsession while also waiting for summer school to let out.
00:27:17
Zach Sheets
Yeah, I gotta finish the school year before I like do my crazy alien escape.
00:27:24
Zach Sheets
like Or luckily, the train's not coming before summer vacation. like or It's coming during summer vacation.
00:27:28
Chris Prime
like
00:27:30
Zach Sheets
Oh, yeah, they get out school and they're like, oh, let's go to the train station tonight and film at midnight.
00:27:30
Chris Prime
It's just like, see what I mean? Like, this is like, that train crash happens the day of like middle school letting out.
00:27:43
Chris Prime
Yeah,
Character and Plot Resolutions
00:27:44
Chris Prime
that's why i I'm just going like, the what are the odds?
00:27:50
Zach Sheets
and yeah You also find out later that he he has like like an entire like secret trailer or like a secret room at the school where all of his research is. like He has like all this like secret government documents in this like tiny like middle school in Ohio.
00:28:01
Chris Prime
and like a shack.
00:28:02
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:28:02
Chris Prime
Yeah.
00:28:06
Zach Sheets
Someone getting there just started showing stuff on the new... like it's like I found this film strip with like aliens. like Aliens are real. The science teacher had it.
00:28:17
Zach Sheets
But yeah the air but the air force yeah, the Air Force sweeps in and like next basically the next day it starts like you know covering everything up. And then... found it funny... They set up a scene before the train crash everything where Kyle Chandler, who is Joe's dad, Jack, they're setting up to be like, oh, he's an alcoholic, he's after his wife But then...
00:28:40
Zach Sheets
because when it after like etra is like wife died but then when all this stuff starts going down, like, he is, like, insanely competent. Like, he is, like, like like a super cop.
00:28:50
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:28:50
Chris Prime
Yeah, he he's just, like, action ready. Which I did not really suspect that. I always thought he would be that, like, bumbling cop that's, like, he really can't back up what he means, but then it's like, oh, no, he's, like, he's almost like a spec ops, like, like, soldier.
00:29:07
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:29:08
Chris Prime
He just knows how to blend in, knows how to keep cool, Yeah, like, it doesn't quite make sense, but that's our, like, action hero for the rest of the movie.
00:29:20
Zach Sheets
Well, the sheriff gets like picked off by the like the alien at like a gas station. so then Kyle Chandler basically has become... like He's the de facto sheriff. And then like he is like hoarding everything.
00:29:32
Zach Sheets
And then also is i able to listen in on the the the military channels.
00:29:37
Chris Prime
The military?
00:29:39
Zach Sheets
And he's like organizing all the other like deputies. And he's like running the town hall meetings.
00:29:45
Chris Prime
Yeah, so that's i'm like, he's really good at being a cop, just really bad at being a dad.
00:29:51
Zach Sheets
Yes.
00:29:53
Chris Prime
But it's really not much of a difference. Just like, say I love you now and then.
00:29:58
Zach Sheets
He's just like, um'm I'm sending you to baseball camp.
00:30:01
Chris Prime
Like, did Joe play baseball?
00:30:01
Zach Sheets
You need to get away from those f freaks that make movies.
00:30:05
Chris Prime
But it's like, did the Joe even have like play sports? Yeah.
00:30:10
Zach Sheets
No, I think the thing was like, oh, you got to start playing a normal kid to play sports. like you know I don't want you to be like this like movie-making freak with your friends.
00:30:18
Zach Sheets
Like, yeah, yeah, yeah, like do normal American things like play baseball.
00:30:23
Zach Sheets
Which, did which also, it just never comes up. Like that they had that one like, like depressing like dinner at the like the local bar where it's like, I'm sending, I'm sending the baseball camp and then just nothing does come up again. It's like totally separate like storylines.
00:30:36
Chris Prime
Yeah, it it almost seems like this movie, well, this movie has a problem with like, starting subplots and then just dropping them. Because no matter what, it's so much like other drama and stuff going on, but the thing has to lead to the alien.
00:30:53
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:30:53
Chris Prime
Once you look the alien in the mix, forget every, like, minor drama point that didn't find a finish line or, or like, lead into where the alien plays a part into it.
00:31:07
Chris Prime
It's not like the alien later on plays baseball with Joe, you know, or, or it's like the alien brings back Alice's mom.
00:31:10
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:31:17
Chris Prime
Like, you know, it like none of that comes back.
00:31:19
Zach Sheets
a
00:31:22
Zach Sheets
Yeah, there's like there's a lot of like just like random so there's a random scenes where the alien like is like just like kind of attacks someone. Or like is like doing something strange, like digging digging into like the ground outside of like a cemetery or gathering like gathering stuff at junkyard.
00:31:35
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:31:36
Chris Prime
Or like stealing car parts.
00:31:40
Chris Prime
Or making all the dogs run away.
00:31:42
Zach Sheets
Well, guess I guess the dogs sense that like some something odd is happening and they just ran away.
00:31:49
Chris Prime
Or the alien got them and ate them.
00:31:51
Zach Sheets
Maybe, yeah.
00:31:53
Chris Prime
That's the thing, it's like this movie tries to make the alien seem like friendly E.T. or something, but in actuality it's not.
00:32:00
Zach Sheets
It's the chlorofield monster.
00:32:01
Chris Prime
more, yeah, it's more close to the Chlorophyll monster. If anything, then this is a Chlorophyll prequel where at the end, like, the kids get eaten by, like, the alien.
00:32:10
Chris Prime
But, okay, also, the alien doesn't play a part in the kids' movie either. Like, the the movie they made, was they they still make that same movie. They don't switch gears. They're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, we saw an alien.
00:32:21
Chris Prime
Yeah, it did a whole bunch of town destruction, which
00:32:23
Zach Sheets
Well, I think the thing is they they didn't see the alien. Like, the camera caught it, and then they watched, like, I think Joe and Charles watched the like footage, like, way late into the movie.
00:32:33
Zach Sheets
Like, like it was, like, the third They're like, oh, we should might watch that, like, the footage from the train accident. it And like they're like...
00:32:38
Chris Prime
I get that, but I'm saying in terms of how the alien plays the role in the other subplots, a movie that Charles makes has nothing to do with that alien either.
00:32:49
Chris Prime
And
00:32:50
Zach Sheets
No, yeah, it's a zombie movie. Mm-hmm.
00:32:53
Chris Prime
and wait and also, one last thing, is like they since he's all excited about like re like you know getting quality like reusable shots and all that, the town was a war zone. How did you not include that in your short film?
00:33:08
Chris Prime
like It looked like it got messed up.
00:33:12
Chris Prime
And like streets were on fire. There were tanks. and they were like All these other things. And it's just like, nope, we film exactly how I wrote it down in the draft.
00:33:21
Zach Sheets
maybe thiss Maybe it's the next day that we didn't see at the end of the movie. And we're walking around town with like the Super 8 camera or just filming like destruction.
00:33:29
Chris Prime
yeah I think about Peter Jackson's King Kong. And how Jack Black was that obsessed film director who was filming everything to kind of put together his movie.
00:33:39
Zach Sheets
We'll find it in the edit. We'll find the movie in the edit.
00:33:40
Chris Prime
Yeah. I am surprised Charles didn't do that.
00:33:44
Zach Sheets
Just constantly filming.
00:33:45
Chris Prime
Like, like film everything. We'll figure it out. And then that's it. And because he didn't get a shot the alien, he makes a zombie movie.
00:33:53
Zach Sheets
I mean, I don't know how expensive Super 8 film was, but I mean, it's still film, so it's not like you have like unlimited shooting.
00:34:00
Chris Prime
I get that, but...
00:34:01
Zach Sheets
Because I think the whole thing is Super 8 was like that was like a cheaper way of shooting movies and stuff. That's why like kids and like you know Spielberg did it stuff like that. so And GGMs did it.
00:34:13
Chris Prime
Yeah, but it was just cheap but available. like so That's why i'm like, the whole joke would be he's always buying more film. Or he's trading stuff to that camera guy for film.
00:34:26
Zach Sheets
Stealing money from his mom, like he says one time. He's like, I'm going steal some money from my mom.
00:34:33
Chris Prime
I mean, that house, Charles is like a family of like five kids or something. Yeah,
00:34:38
Zach Sheets
think it was like i'm like eight kids at least, I think.
00:34:40
Chris Prime
yeah so it's like the mom's just like, whatever, money doesn't stay in this house.
00:34:45
Zach Sheets
Yeah, they're they're like a classic Spielberg family where just like there's like tons of kids. It's say it's like absolute chaos every time like every time you cut to their house.
00:34:54
Zach Sheets
yeah But yeah, there's basically it's basically like there's like two... like Joe is in like here's it's kind of investigating things. There's weird stuff going on. I'm going find out what's going on while we're making We're also making the movie, but I'm trying to like figure out like what was digging near my mom's like cemetery. And like in like why is the gu why why is the Air Force here now?
00:35:15
Zach Sheets
And then his dad is also like investigating, but that he gets arrested. And thrown in jail for like like the whole like middle of the movie.
00:35:24
Chris Prime
Yeah, he just says, okay, well, i I mean, is Alice's dad supposed to be like the classic drunk dad?
00:35:33
Zach Sheets
Yeah, he kind of seems like what they were saying Kyle Chandler ought to be. He's like, oh, um'm like I'm drinking. like I'm a wreck. like I can't deal with my wife's death. and i have to deal but okay I can't relate to my son. i'm just going to drink my problems away.
00:35:45
Zach Sheets
But then, he like we said, Kyle Chandler is like yeah is like super competent. like That isn't effective at all. And then, yeah, Alice's dad is like the classic like you know drunk alcoholic dad.
00:35:58
Chris Prime
Who just can't stop getting into accidents. Or being hassled by like. The military or police.
00:36:05
Chris Prime
Like. He crashes his car chasing after his daughter.
00:36:08
Zach Sheets
Oh my god! Their high-speed chase like they have after their fight. like it's like a full like He's like going like full speed.
00:36:16
Zach Sheets
And she's like on her bike. It's like, going to run your daughter over if you go that fast.
00:36:22
Chris Prime
Like. Come on man. Like. you're <unk>re not really liked in this town already.
00:36:28
Zach Sheets
yeah then he Yeah, and he smashes his car into the other car. like That's like a... like He should be like horribly injured, too. but then he sees Alice like getting like picked up by the alien.
00:36:40
Zach Sheets
So like he's like, oh my god, that something grabbed my daughter.
00:36:43
Chris Prime
You know, it's also weird. It's like he he doesn't know what an alien looks like after this, like, car accident where he's got like you know a concussion
00:36:52
Zach Sheets
yeah
00:36:54
Zach Sheets
Who knows what, like, yeah, he could be seeing things, like, he could be hallucinating.
00:36:59
Chris Prime
yeah and like does he tell the cops like hey an alien took my daughter and like get in the drunk tank
00:37:04
Zach Sheets
Yeah, and I don't think anyone helps until, you Kyle Chandler, like, breaks out of, like, a military facility steals, like, a military, like, outfit and, like, gets back to town.
00:37:13
Zach Sheets
like and he like he Like he knows how to handle like like an M16.
00:37:18
Chris Prime
Well, okay, so it's 1979, so maybe the dad went to Vietnam?
00:37:21
Zach Sheets
Vietnam,
00:37:22
Chris Prime
Yeah.
00:37:23
Zach Sheets
maybe, yeah. i don't think they mentioned that at all, but...
00:37:27
Chris Prime
Well, maybe it's implied based on, like, the post-Vietnam years, and the dad is just like... But that's the thing. The dad doesn't really have that, like, moment where he's like, you know, son...
00:37:39
Chris Prime
you know i still I haven't learned to love since the war. The only person that taught me how to love was like you know your mom. Now she's gone. like she He doesn't have that moment.
00:37:50
Zach Sheets
My dad wasn't there either, so like I'll try to be better than my dad or something.
00:37:54
Chris Prime
Doesn't even have that. It's just more like a, hey, hey dad, thanks for saving me from like you know the military, I guess.
00:38:02
Zach Sheets
we both didn't get killed by this alien.
00:38:04
Chris Prime
The alien of like, who we don't even know is like a good guy. He's really not.
00:38:11
Zach Sheets
No, yeah, the only the only thing we we know, we've seen the alien, like, brutally attack people, and he's clearly harvesting people to be food for, like, his journey home. because we And we literally see him eating, so like, he's eating a person underground, and, like, like one of the kids, like, Carrie's like, he's eating someone. Like, he's eating a person.
00:38:33
Chris Prime
See, I get it if the alien was eating the... Sorry. If that alien was eating the military team, like all the the people that abused it,
00:38:46
Zach Sheets
Yeah, it's just just them. like not and Or like could like sense if someone was like evil or good or something. and like not if it If it thought you were like a good person, wouldn't attack you.
00:38:58
Chris Prime
the the alien is straight up like snatching anybody it sees.
00:39:06
Chris Prime
So we're not on Team Aliens for just like very good reasons. like I guess as a kid where you don't really know morality well, and it's like you just kind of want to see cool things.
00:39:17
Chris Prime
But on a rewatch about this, you're just like, that alien is just... I get like it's feral. like it It sort of distrusses the species that kidnapped it for twelve 12, 13 years?
00:39:30
Zach Sheets
And we're torturing it and like doing all sorts of experiments on it.
00:39:31
Chris Prime
Question mark?
00:39:33
Chris Prime
Which, after 13 years of experimenting, what are you doing? Just like, alright, we're gonna like throw battery acid on this alien and see if it likes it.
00:39:40
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:39:40
Chris Prime
Like, what? And then just like every day a new thing? you run out of things to do so they just need transport it to some other facility to do god knows what?
00:39:50
Zach Sheets
yeah it's like It's like a crazy evil alien versus like an evil like Air Force colonel. Noah Emmerich is just like equally evil. like He like kills Dr. Woodward with like some sort of like lethal injection.
00:40:03
Chris Prime
Yeah, so like, the he's evil, he makes the monster evil, the alien into a monster. monster But you think, okay, alien kills the evil colonel, that's it, right? Maybe stop being less evil?
00:40:18
Chris Prime
Nope. Monster now just keeps being a monster.
00:40:22
Chris Prime
So I don't understand, like, that's i'm like, oh, but we don't know if the alien wasn't like that to start with. And that's why Nolan, like, that's why the colonel just like, I got to keep doing this. Like.
00:40:36
Chris Prime
This alien crash land on Earth and like ate my family. We, you know, we don't know that.
00:40:41
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:40:42
Zach Sheets
I need to do a false flag like forest fire to like evacuate the town to get everyone out of this town so we can just like blow each other town up and kill this alien.
00:40:52
Chris Prime
I mean, for all we know, like he actually is like a good guy up until like, see, if he didn't kill the scientists.
00:41:00
Zach Sheets
Hmm.
00:41:00
Chris Prime
It's like, I understand why this colonel is like, you understand, like this alien is actually really evil. Like it shouldn't be allowed to like leave and like, you know, hang out with kids.
00:41:15
Zach Sheets
Yeah, you were saying like that'd be a great twist if like it turned out like the alien was like it wasn't building a ship was building a weapon. And it's like like but like it convinced the kids who are like psychic link. It's like you got to help me build my ship. I need i seem to get home.
00:41:30
Chris Prime
Yeah, like I like that twist. it it just It plays on what Spielberg and J.J. Abrams are leading to about this like very feel-good 80s thing. Then you realize that it's like, oh no, that like monsters sometimes are obvious.
00:41:43
Chris Prime
like Sometimes this monster is just a monster.
00:41:44
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:41:47
Chris Prime
That's why I'm like, I didn't... I kind of like this movie and I kind of don't at times just because the monster shows itself that it's a monster and there's not enough like moments where the monster's sort of like, oh, forgive me.
00:42:03
Chris Prime
it sort of just goes like, yeah, like, I want to live.
00:42:06
Zach Sheets
Well, it it definitely doesn't earn like that last scene where Joe is like get picks gets picked up the alien and is giving him like like the Goonies speech.
00:42:16
Chris Prime
my god, yeah.
00:42:17
Zach Sheets
Where it's like, bad things happen, but you can you can still live. You can still live. And then the alien's like, hey, you know what? You're right. I'm good now.
00:42:25
Chris Prime
Psychic link to you? But that's the thing. The alien had a psychic link to the kid to understand that? Or did the alien always understand English? I have no idea.
00:42:34
Zach Sheets
I mean, i it would have been like way too much of an E.T. ripoff, but like the alien should have had this some sort of like link with Joe for like the entire movie.
00:42:41
Chris Prime
It should
00:42:41
Zach Sheets
And he's
Ending Critique and Comparisons
00:42:41
Chris Prime
have been after that accident, right?
00:42:41
Zach Sheets
like, yeah.
00:42:44
Chris Prime
The alien psychic links with Joe. And like the trauma of bad things happening to both of them.
00:42:52
Zach Sheets
They're like, yeah, they're like kindred spirits. Like, it's like, oh, your mom, you're like something horrible happened to you. Something horrible happened me. Like, we're like the same.
00:42:58
Chris Prime
Yeah, it's like, I feel pain, like pain is universal between species. It doesn't matter like that. It's like from your mom passing or or the military doing weird torture to you.
00:43:10
Chris Prime
It's pain is pain. But then it's like, did the scientists not have anything for the monster to understand? Even though it's psychic linked with him? You know what i mean?
00:43:22
Chris Prime
Like the the monster didn't learn pain through the scientist to be like, hey, I'll get you out because the monster just doesn't seem grateful at all for the scientist for stopping that train.
00:43:30
Zach Sheets
and
00:43:32
Zach Sheets
no yeah he's He's killed in a secret like a secret like room in the Air Force base.
00:43:32
Chris Prime
There's no like note that the monster leaves behind for the scientist or like this the scientist like forget the kids don't know the scientist is dead.
00:43:44
Chris Prime
That was just like a one off thing for them. They're just like.
00:43:50
Zach Sheets
He's injected with lethal chemicals and to kill him.
00:43:55
Chris Prime
So that's not brought up again. No one goes, yeah, we killed the scientists. And then the monster doesn't seem to care, even though it made it do.
00:44:05
Chris Prime
The scientists did its bidding of like figuring out the train routes, like colliding with the thing. And then i don't know, like telling the kids to get away.
00:44:15
Chris Prime
Like the scientists didn't even give the kids like a mission. was Hey, continue my work. Like the, you got to do what the monster wants. Like it,
00:44:21
Zach Sheets
He says yeah she says, keep your mouth shut or they're going to kill you and all your your your entire family.
00:44:27
Chris Prime
So I get the military straight up not the good guys. But I if they if they were more just like men in black where it's like we have to keep the silent.
00:44:38
Chris Prime
You know, we're not we're morally gray. But like that's because like the monster can corrupt people's minds. And yeah, I would like to have the military be like more like ambiguous but then maybe one guy takes it too far for some strange reason but then maybe like we don't need to know and that's like the thing about this movie that i think just sits like different for me because i kind of want like the classic spielberg where this is the good guy this is the bad guy you kind of get a little bit of both but like honestly it's like
00:45:15
Chris Prime
now i'm like the more the more re-watches the more it really questions it you know and there's certain movies that like spielberg that like you re-watch it and they just get better or they get more like uh enriched from just having your memories remembering when you watched it and stuff like that super eight i think is a movie that like i've seen three times and it's and like each time it's the same question like hey is the alien a good guy
00:45:23
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:45:44
Chris Prime
And by the end, it's not. It's like a straight-up horror movie with the alien like chasing the kids.
00:45:50
Zach Sheets
And then it has like this big like triumphant kind of awe-inspiring Spielberg ending where it's like, look it! We're helping him! He's going home!
00:46:00
Chris Prime
it's It's too triumphant. when you
00:46:02
Zach Sheets
And he's standing in the burning rubble of our town.
00:46:06
Chris Prime
We did it. We sent our friend an alien. we We sent Bruce Greenwood back. Because apparently the alien's played by Bruce Greenwood.
00:46:11
Zach Sheets
oh my god, yeah.
00:46:13
Chris Prime
What?
00:46:14
Zach Sheets
Just doing growling noises. It's like... ra ra
00:46:19
Chris Prime
It's like, was Frank Weller busy? What?
00:46:24
Zach Sheets
Yeah, what yeah that's that's that's totally a Frank Welker thing, just like having to make weird noises.
00:46:28
Chris Prime
Frank Welker or the dude from Star Wars, Clone Wars and Bad Batch.
00:46:35
Zach Sheets
Oh, did he Bradley Baker?
00:46:36
Chris Prime
Yeah, Dee Bradley Baker. Like, just you don't need another kind of actor that not really known for monster work.
00:46:44
Zach Sheets
Because, yeah, he doesn't have dialogue. You no you don't hear like the alien's thoughts. Yeah.
00:46:48
Chris Prime
understand. if See, thing it's like I think they tried they thought about it. They're like, hey, Bruce Greenwood's a pretty good actor. Maybe at at one point he mind melts with like one of these characters and like you hear his voice.
00:46:58
Zach Sheets
It's like, i'm I'm talking to you in the language that you understand, like your your language.
00:47:05
Chris Prime
give us Give me your delicious human meat.
00:47:07
Zach Sheets
yeah
00:47:10
Chris Prime
We don't get that at all. yeah That's why I'm like, I'm definitely more on the like, this alien, I think you need to burn it because it's it's gonna like eat all your townspeople.
00:47:21
Zach Sheets
It would have been great if like it's this like big like Spielbergian like the ships flying off and everyone everyone's just like, oh, wow, look at it. And then it's like a laser like shoots out of the bottom of the ship blows up the earth.
00:47:33
Zach Sheets
The
00:47:35
Chris Prime
Yeah, and it's just like the message is like, don't trust things.
00:47:39
Zach Sheets
entire town is nuked.
00:47:41
Chris Prime
Or, okay, since we're getting to the end of this, like, it would have been weirder and funnier that, like, this is actually the Super 8 movie that Charles makes, like, years later, based on his experience with the alien.
00:47:55
Chris Prime
Like, that happens, and then it's, like, it cuts to, like, the end.
00:47:56
Zach Sheets
but
00:48:00
Chris Prime
you're like, what? And then it zooms out or something. Then it's, like, an older Charles is, like, sitting in the movie theater, and just like, what'd you think about that movie?
00:48:06
Zach Sheets
Yeah. It cuts like 2011 and Charles, like now he's like a a major like Hollywood but director.
00:48:15
Chris Prime
yeah He's like as old as J.J.
00:48:16
Zach Sheets
He's a J.J. Abrams.
00:48:17
Chris Prime
Abrams.
00:48:17
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:48:19
Chris Prime
it's just it's it's it's ja It's the full circle of like the J.J. Abrams of where he seems himself now sitting at like the China Theater and just like turning to his friends who were there with him.
00:48:35
Chris Prime
And then it's like, yeah, they're like, hey, man, like we get it. But remember, the alien got away before all that. It's like, yeah, I know.
00:48:44
Zach Sheets
JJ Averson's stage. like like It's like, let me welcome to the stage like a talented filmmaker. like Charles, whatever like whatever his name is.
00:48:51
Chris Prime
Oh my god, yeah.
00:48:51
Zach Sheets
Charles Zanuck.
00:48:52
Chris Prime
It becomes like the the Wolf of Wall Street kind of style where like the guy introduces himself and then it's just like, oh my god, this movie.
00:48:56
Zach Sheets
Yep.
00:48:58
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:49:01
Chris Prime
I don't know. I kind of like the idea of it being something that inspires the movie and then the super is just like catalyst. Cause like you said, a lot of these directors who started in the classic form of movie and movie making and storytelling, they had a super eight camera. They filmed things that they saw and inspired by, or even took like a few elements from their life and then made like the fantastical element.
00:49:29
Chris Prime
And it's not like you took a huge stretch. Like a lot of this movie, before the alien shows up, is just family drama.
00:49:37
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:49:38
Chris Prime
It's not like the alien at the beginning, you know, like an E.T. where it shows up and it fixes a lot of the family drama, or like it it it changes a lot of things. If you cut away a good amount this movie, this this is like, you can replace like the alien with a Jason Voorhees character.
00:49:54
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:49:56
Chris Prime
And it's the same thing. so
00:50:01
Zach Sheets
The monster really is like a slasher for like a movie, just like stalking people, and like just like grabbing them and like seemingly killing them. But then you find out, oh he's just like cocooning them for like a intergalactic snack.
00:50:11
Chris Prime
For later. But like. that I mean. Some so other killers. They kidnap everyone. And then. At the. the The movie. Aliens. Does the same thing. Where.
00:50:22
Zach Sheets
hmm.
00:50:22
Chris Prime
and The alien. Doesn't always kill the prey. Like it just. Takes people back. To its lair. And then later on. You find out like. The. The overall. Master plan. Of the alien. Is to like. You know.
00:50:34
Chris Prime
Take over. Or breed. Or. Like. Have food. Like you said. So. like this could have been alien earth too like this this is own structure which is like different storytelling i i just feel like it didn't quite land that whole uh like nostalgia punch because of our modern views of like foreign monsters and
00:51:04
Chris Prime
And you just don't trust aliens without like proof. You just this alien is just like, yeah, man, I get it. And it's just like, oh, yeah, the children get tricked. But like children get tricked all the time. That's like half of the Spielberg movies is like them always getting tricked.
00:51:18
Zach Sheets
It would have been if they played up the whole like ET phone home if they were like trying to help the alien the contact like its like species or something and they they see but then it it's like an invasion.
00:51:31
Chris Prime
It like signals the invasion.
00:51:33
Zach Sheets
It's like oh no
00:51:36
Chris Prime
I feel like that's something else. Like, that can't be from...
00:51:38
Zach Sheets
That's like a Twilight Zone like our limits kind of thing or something.
00:51:41
Zach Sheets
It's like
00:51:41
Chris Prime
my god, that's like, yeah, it's like to serve humans.
00:51:44
Chris Prime
It's just like, that's how it ends with the Twilight Zone, where it's like, oh my god, it was a cookbook all along.
00:51:45
Zach Sheets
e
00:51:50
Chris Prime
Or to serve mankind or something.
00:51:52
Zach Sheets
Yeah, to Surf Man.
00:51:53
Chris Prime
Yeah, it could very Twilight Zone-y, but i I... I don't know, like... In this movie, it's it's meant to be a summer blockbuster movie. You're supposed to watch this during the summer because I remember seeing this in theaters during the summer and just seeing it on the big screen first time.
00:52:13
Chris Prime
Great experience. The explosions, the the horror scenes, you feel it. It's great. and Like follow up rewatches. Yeah, you start picking at this.
00:52:24
Chris Prime
And at the end, it really it's either you you like what's going on or you've got questions like us.
00:52:24
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:52:30
Zach Sheets
Well, wild that it doesn't even show you like a like yo for like two weeks later, four months later, but some sort of time jump after like the alien flies away. Just to show like david i've everyone's been changed by this experience. Maybe Joe and like his father have like a better relationship now, or like you know they're they finished a movie or something. But it's just like it's a hard to cut. It's like, well, your town is destroyed.
00:52:53
Zach Sheets
good luck. you have you have nothing you You're all homeless with like nothing do know
00:53:00
Chris Prime
Yeah, an actual chemical spill probably happened during this.
00:53:05
Zach Sheets
Because it's like every, like, when there's like the scene where kids like running through like a literal war zone where like the, like tanks are going off and stuff. And I think also like the, like the military but says like that they're just going off their own because the alien is like interfering with electronics or something.
00:53:19
Zach Sheets
So they're not even like aiming, like they're not a anything. They're just like shooting wildly because like they're all their like artillery and but tanks are just like shooting because of the alien. Yeah.
00:53:29
Zach Sheets
So it's not even targeted like, oh, we're trying to like not hit these houses. It's like everyone's houses are getting bombed out and blown up and businesses are getting blown up. This
00:53:39
Zach Sheets
like this like this town is like decimated.
00:53:40
Chris Prime
Yeah. And like a lot of people are affected by not just the military being there, but the fact that they were a whole like group of townspeople just eating in space.
00:53:56
Chris Prime
Do the kids tell them that they found the people? like Do they lie to keep the like the overall phenomenon experience of the alien wholesome for everybody?
00:54:06
Zach Sheets
ye Oh, it's like, oh, they died in the fire. The forest fire that we we all know is real. and so That's what the same thing happened to, like, Dr. Woodward. He died in the fire.
00:54:18
Zach Sheets
They should have submitted, like, Woodward's, like like, his, like, film footage as, like, their movie. It's like, here's our movie.
00:54:25
Zach Sheets
it reveals aliens are real to the world or whatever at least this film festival he entered
00:54:33
Chris Prime
Say that again.
00:54:34
Zach Sheets
in they should have like sent like the Woodward's film like his like like archive footage of like the alien ship and everything to the film festival
00:54:42
Chris Prime
Oh, yeah. Like if they they figured out how to make their zombie movie make sense about the phenomenon and that's like it's from the footage. So they're able to like I mean, that's true. Grilla, like filmmaking, just sort of grab what you can get. Right. And then fix it and edit, fix it in post and all that.
00:55:02
Zach Sheets
But also, like, reveal that aliens are real.
00:55:05
Chris Prime
Yeah, but
Legacy and Genre Contribution
00:55:05
Chris Prime
like the town gets it. It'd been funny if they submitted it, but like the they're like, it goes and they go all the way. This movie's too impossible. Like the premise is too big and it's like, nah. like And it's like, you know, the Charles like, no, this is based on like real events, but the film festivals are like, no, like stop lying. That's like if someone really did make a horror movie that was just like a found footage movie, but it's actually like real found footage and then it's like, this ain't real.
00:55:35
Zach Sheets
Today, I'd be like, oh, that's AI.
00:55:36
Chris Prime
Yeah, now it's like an AI. It's like, oh, you AI that, you AI that. It's like, that that that time, that alien had five fingers. It was like six fingers. It's like, that's a six-finger alien. It's no, it has to be five. No, you're wrong.
00:55:48
Chris Prime
They just get into like a Twitter beef about that.
00:55:51
Zach Sheets
yeah i i do really like i do like that they showed like basically the entire movie that the kids made during the credits.
00:55:58
Chris Prime
Yeah, I like that short film of it.
00:55:58
Zach Sheets
With... it including scenes that they we didn't see that they must have shot like before the movie started or like like off screen we didn't see.
00:56:07
Zach Sheets
yeah yeah you kind of get you to see like how like it all like kind of works like works together.
00:56:12
Zach Sheets
but yeah, overall, I mean, it's it's a... it's a you know, a fun little movie. definitely had Definitely some, you know, the alien definitely needed to like, if they wanted it to be like a sympathetic character, they definitely need to have more interaction with the kids or at least want like some sort of like connection with the kids. They would want to like help it or something. But I guess that would it more like 2ET, I guess. They'd probably be like, oh, this is just a ripoff of ET.
00:56:40
Zach Sheets
But with the but now but like a not not cute alien. Now it's like a giant like Cloverfield monster alien.
00:56:47
Chris Prime
Yeah, it's like they they try to just either make a chlorophyll monster or like make an E.T., but when to put it together, it's like confusing for us.
00:56:56
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:56:58
Zach Sheets
and yeah just And just like we said, like the all the aliens' actions are just like... like if that's They're not really... They're not really the actions of a like creature you want to like sympathize with.
00:57:11
Zach Sheets
And also, like the like like joe like the whole like thing where Joe like he like gives up his mom's necklace at the end, too. for some like It's like oh i i like, I had like that one-minute scene with the alien. now I'm over like i get i' over my grief now.
00:57:25
Zach Sheets
I can let my mom go.
00:57:25
Chris Prime
Again, it's only been four months.
00:57:27
Zach Sheets
Yeah. and blue i
00:57:29
Chris Prime
I can't... You can...
00:57:30
Zach Sheets
I'm symbolically letting my mom go
00:57:32
Chris Prime
Oh my god. And it's like, you can still take the photo out of the jewelry locket.
00:57:36
Zach Sheets
And it's like, that's the final piece that completes like the the ship. Oh, and also, Joe's line was like, he's building a model, like me.
00:57:50
Chris Prime
but like is joe also kidnapping people and using them for like snacks i
00:57:57
Zach Sheets
Yeah, that was just like a shoehorned end of like, Joe builds models and it's the aliens building a ship like a model. Yeah.
00:58:04
Chris Prime
yeah i mean okay so this movie did really well in like
00:58:09
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:58:10
Chris Prime
reviews and then just like revenue it it did like this movie like i know we're like bashing out on like the most obvious parts but i guess like again nostalgia it was a nostalgia bait it was like a great summer blockbuster movie but yeah if it's not summer like it's not like the right conditions it's just this isn't a halloween movie even though it feels like it should be a halloween movie
00:58:30
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:58:35
Zach Sheets
And they were definitely doing the same. They were trying to do like the Cloverfield thing, which i'd I don't really remember too much about like the the viral marketing campaign, but apparently it had like like a huge...
00:58:41
Chris Prime
Thank you.
00:58:45
Zach Sheets
They were doing like you know secret websites and flying find clips across the internet. And there was a Portal 2 tie-in, where it's like you played Portal 2, but you were in like a Super 8 little like segment.
00:58:59
Zach Sheets
i was I was reading my old review on the site from 15 years ago. and i was like i was talking about the marketing campaigns. I'm like, and i'm like i don't remember it being like that overwhelming.
00:59:12
Chris Prime
I mean, by today's standard, I think you don't need such a like multimedia marketing thing to promote a kids
00:59:23
Chris Prime
adventure sci-fi thing. Stranger Things pretty much like topped it, and now anything that gets close to that level like gets compared to it. And if it doesn't have all the right parts, and especially if it can't stick the landing, I don't think it's going to live up to it.
00:59:41
Chris Prime
Because even Stranger Things is debatable if it stuck the landing or not.
00:59:45
Zach Sheets
yeah
00:59:47
Chris Prime
And the Super 8 kind of doesn't stick the landing for us these days because we're just like, what was it all about? Like, what was...
Podcast Conclusion and Preview
00:59:54
Chris Prime
Is the alien coming back later?
00:59:56
Zach Sheets
no yeah most of but most of my issues with super 8 are the ending it's this it's like way it's like way too rushing this like emotional connection to the alien most of the rest of it is like is like yeah I'm fine with
01:00:09
Zach Sheets
And, yeah, anything else, Chris, or?
01:00:11
Chris Prime
yeah I think we talked a lot about this, about what we thought about, but I still don't know if the alien's good or bad or not.
01:00:19
Zach Sheets
Yeah, we need, like, a sequel where, like, the like now yeah it's like all the fall all film crew kids are, like, making an actual, a real movie now. They're all in Hollywood. then it's, like, an alien.
01:00:28
Chris Prime
I know the Super 8 happens.
01:00:30
Zach Sheets
whatever Whatever the format is now, like, digital.
01:00:33
Chris Prime
four k just just Yeah, IMAX
01:00:34
Zach Sheets
IMAX.
01:00:38
Zach Sheets
he but yeah it's like the brand of camera it's like sony sony red 1826 d
01:00:49
Zach Sheets
but uh yeah i think they'll do it for this week Come back next week. Speaking, so with this movie had a you know meta movie about zombies. And we're watching one of the OG zombie movies, Day of the Dead.
01:01:00
Zach Sheets
Because it's finally it's fun getting a like a big like fancy 4K collector's edition next week. So we'll dive into the George Romero classic next week. And you can head over the site. And we've got all kinds of stuff there. We've got news, reviews, trailers. You can check out all the like Summer Game Fest presentation posts. We've got, there was like Sony, Summer Game Fest Live, Xbox and Nintendo. Nintendo was like actually like earlier this week with a the Ocarina of Time remake or re yeah, remake being announced. It was kind of like leaked along with Star Fox.
01:01:35
Zach Sheets
And all kinds other stuff is up there as well. however Check all that stuff out. And yeah, so for Chris, I'm Zach and we will see you next week.