Contest: Win a 'Super 8' DVD
Make your case for the film's Oscar worthiness
We're closing in on the holiday season, so what better time to start up our contest circuit? The swag is coming fast and furious and I need to unload it before it takes over my dining room table like a fungus. #humblebrag
Paramount Pictures has been giving it the old college try on bringing "Super 8" back around and situating it in or near the awards conversation. The film -- which you'll recall wasn't exactly a high mark for me this year -- was beloved by many and I imagine a number of readers would like a crack at some free goodies. So let's give this a whirl.
I have two DVD copies of "Super 8" to give away. So if you want one, help Paramount make its case for the film in the awards season. In 100 words or less, explain why the film is, to you, one of the year's finest and why it deserves serious Oscar consideration. The two answers that come closest to making me consider the implications of the argument (since, alas, no argument is likely to outright convince me) get the spoils.
Deadline is Wednesday at noon, PT, and I'll note the winners in the comments section here. Now... Go!
Related Events
-
movies -
movies
2012-2013 OSCAR PREDICTIONS
Best Picture
Best Director
Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actress
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Original Screenplay
Best Cinematography
Best Costume Design
Best Film Editing
Best Makeup And Hairstyling
Best Original Score
Best Original Song
Best Production Design
Best Sound Editing
Best Sound Mixing
Best Visual Effects
Best Animated Feature Film
Best Documentary Feature
Best Foreign Language Film
Latest Posts
-
Oscar Isaac is a revelation in melancholy study of arrested artistrySunday, May 19, 2013
-
Putting a bow on last year's awards season with a few laughsSunday, May 19, 2013
-
How has the franchise fared at the Academy Awards over the decades?Saturday, May 18, 2013
-
Competition's first outright dud is a major letdown from Arnaud DesplechinSaturday, May 18, 2013
Comments
Option 1
Comment instantly as a guest GuestOption 2
Option 3
Login or create a HitFix account Login SignupJoey
December 5, 2011 at 3:14PM EST Reply to CommentThe only things I can remember from Super 8 is that scene where Elle Fanning starts crying and the screeching of the train as it crashed. Longest. Crash. Ever.
Joey Wow. I meant "are" in that sentence. This Monday is killing me.
December 5, 2011 at 3:15PM ESTDerek 8-Track
December 5, 2011 at 3:32PM EST Reply to Comment'Super 8' deserves serious Oscar consideration because, when audiences heard that the train wreck was paying homage to best picture winner 'The Greatest Show On Earth' people went out, rented it, and watched the Cecil B. DeMille film... And that was a hilarious trick to play on people.
Helen Stockwell
December 5, 2011 at 4:01PM EST Reply to CommentIt has the guy from Friday Night Lights... he won an Emmy!
ASchu
December 5, 2011 at 4:17PM EST Reply to CommentIn a year when most films in its genre require special glasses for proper viewing, SUPER 8 successfully recreates the magic and excitement felt while watching classic films like THE GOONIES and E.T. in good old-fashioned 2D format. But beyond weaving a tale of mystery and suspense, the heart of the film lies in the coming-of-age of a group of kids dealing with love, loss, and friendship. The top-secret plot may initially pull you but that part of the story quickly takes a back seat as soon as the talented young actors deliver their first lines.
Andrej
December 5, 2011 at 4:24PM EST Reply to CommentIn the year when Spielberg's spielberging with his treasure finding action adventures and dramas of loyalties through wartimes, Super 8 truly brought back the nostalgia for two of his masterpieces by homaging E.T. The Extraterrestrial and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The offbeat childhood friends biking through the streets, the parents who care too much but can't put it in words, the mysterious monsters who really aren't monsters, and a town, which for better or worse, is in the middle of nowhere. It's all there, for this new generation's sci-fi geeks.
Also, The Case? Best short film live action.
Brock Landers
December 5, 2011 at 4:39PM EST Reply to CommentDragon Tattoo Fincher's worst movie? Get outta here.
Brock Landers Whoops, meant to post this in another spot.
December 5, 2011 at 5:07PM ESTJLPatt
December 5, 2011 at 4:41PM EST Reply to CommentIt may not be an exceptional piece of cinema, but "Super 8" is still a mighty good time, thrilling in the right places and surprisingly touching in others. And while parts of it can feel unfortunately derivative, the film is headlined by two absolutely top-flight performances - still two of the best of the year, for me - by young Joel Courtney and a beautifully assured, mature Elle Fanning.
Jbernst22
December 5, 2011 at 4:49PM EST Reply to CommentSuper 8 is a funny, scary, and enchanting movie that really takes hold of an audience the way Spielberg’s 80’s classics did. These days, special effects can be all that is good about a Sci-Fi film, but here the special effects are used to move along a story about love, loss, and coming of age. The film boasts a star making performance by Elle Fanning. As Alice, she portrays a character of maturity, while boasting a childlike innocence that really makes for an outstanding combination. A supporting nod for Fanning, as well as a nod for Michael Giacchino’s emotionally charged score are just two of the awards I see coming for this film.
Grubi
December 5, 2011 at 5:13PM EST Reply to CommentSuper 8 deserves Oscar consideration because it wasn't just a family popcorn flick. Like Hugo and The Artist, it helped explain to the audience why making movies is such a cherished art form. Just to see the sheer joy on the kids faces during the zombie flick at the end made me hope that movies will still be around in 50 years.
Also, it resulted in my Dad asking me one of the stupidest questions I've ever heard come out of his mouth. "Wasn't that chubby kid also in Stand By Me?"
Shalom
December 5, 2011 at 6:47PM EST Reply to CommentI think that Chris Cabin put it best when he said that this film "earns its stripes when it handles bigger scenes with no dialogue, such as the train derailment and the boys running through a suburban war zone after the visitor attacks their bus. Releases like this are what Blu-ray technology was invented for."
This film is a visual feast and a love letter to every Amblin film that came before it. For the emotion, the action, and the legacy of Amblin Entertainment this film deserves your serious consideration.
Joe7827
December 5, 2011 at 6:51PM EST Reply to CommentThere are two reasons that “Super 8” should be considered. The first is Kyle, and the second is Chandler. Many movies released this year are nostalgia trips about movies from a bygone era, but this one is actually about the filmmaking process itself; heck, the makeup technician is the protagonist! The characters are interesting, and Joel Courtney and Elle Fanning are adorable. But through all of the childlike love for the magic of movies, Kyle Chandler stands as the anchor with his sincere, expressive performance. Oh, and any movie that casts Noah Emmerich is okay with me.
tms
December 5, 2011 at 7:21PM EST Reply to CommentSuper 8 deserves consideration because of the story which is told around the excitement of train crash and alien rampage - how kids deal with grief and begin to understand the dynamics they are sheltered from as long as possible. The performances of the two fathers and two motherless kids has layers of nuance that made the emotional intensity of the action sequences and stakes sing.
Joe Lamb doesn't understand the layers of grief, guilt, rage and loathing that festers between his father and Louis Dainard. He doesn't understand having contact with Alice would make it rise to the surface. Alice, more worldly wise, does understand that she is the catalyst - not the real reason for the anger.
Too many movies feel the need to spell all of these things with dialog, yet Super 8 lets the actors express with with looks, action and silence a whole panoply of emotion. Kyle Chandler especially manages to express the repression - that desperate retreat into a cop's professionalism - which is how Jackson Lamb is maintaining a semblance of normalcy.
Finally, Super 8 manages to still have fun, find humor and above all does not indulge in the too aware, fourth wall breaking that seems to infest family movies these days.
Guest Guesto
December 5, 2011 at 8:06PM EST Reply to CommentI just want to say that there is a moment in the film where Joel Courtney's character mentions Alice's name and his eyes light up in the most naturalistic and honest way possible. I believed not just that this character was in love but that this kid actor already knows what love is. It's that rare case when an actor conveys not just an emotion but a disposition. We’ve all felt it but how many could convey it this well? Most films are lucky to break in one notable actor, this film breathes with an entire cast’s worth.
bhamed
December 5, 2011 at 8:28PM EST Reply to CommentSuper 8 can enter the conversation this year under the "movies about movies" heading. As such, it brilliantly addresses questions about censorship, action, and acting all through the eyes of these teens. And if you want to focus on specific awards, the sound mixing, editing, and visual effects are not only top-notch, but done in a clever and economical way.
JMAN253
December 6, 2011 at 12:33AM EST Reply to CommentExciting. Funny. Thrilling. Charming. Very few movies these days can capture all of these elements and fit them appropriately into a two hour runtime. The young cast wowed with true and heartfelt performances, Abrams provided the spectacle, while Giacchino once again supplied a magical score. Sure, it still felt much more like a summer flick than a piece of Oscar bait, but maybe that's the point. This is one of the last things you'd expect to see in theaters in December, but Abrams' Super 8 is as close to Oscar gold that you could get in the middle of June.
crossie
December 6, 2011 at 4:18AM EST Reply to CommentIt was good enough I want a free DVD of it.
Andre Wells
December 6, 2011 at 7:59PM EST Reply to CommentSuper 8 is the kind of movie people say they don't make anymore. If it falls down anywhere it's in making the monster sequences feel like an afterthought compared to the story of a broken family trying to connect. That is not a bad flaw to have.
Regardless of your feelings on the film it's indisputably a story from the heart, told with reverence and wonder and without an ounce of cynicism and on a blockbuster scale. How can Hollywood signal to the world that they're ready to make movies like this again? I can think of one way.
Roy
December 7, 2011 at 11:15AM EST Reply to CommentThe Artist and Hugo are winning the hearts of Academy members nostalgic for Hollywood's Golden Age, but no film does a better job of capturing the warmth and wonder of the Spielbergian Age than Super 8. Technical elements are strong across the board from sound mixing and special effects to Giacchino's haunting score, but Elle Fanning And Joel Courtney deserve serious consideration as well for keeping the story grounded in the human elements of love, loss, and hope. And what a better way to cap off the Year of the Beard than with some extra nominations for this labor of love?
Kristopher Tapley
December 7, 2011 at 5:34PM EST Reply to CommentThanks everyone for participating. I'm going with ASCHU and GRUBI for the winning entries, so can the two of you drop me a line at ktapley@incontention.com and we'll get you your prize? Thanks!