So here’s a new feature I’d like to take a crack at. Every week, linked to a theatrical release show in my This Week in Cinema, I’m going to recommend a couple (occasionally more) films that I think would go well with a film that’s been released in cinemas. Sometimes I’m going to be a bit shallow or really introspective, since from time to time I’ll not have seen the latest release myself yet, but that’s besides the point. So make sure to comment and let me know what you think:Every once in while you’ll watch a movie and think to yourself that you’ve seen bits of this before, or it looks very similar. Well that’s usually because it’s true. However, with that said that doesn’t necessarily mean that there’s anything wrong with the film, just that you’ve watched one too many. What a lot of people, including myself, like to do is to compliment that movie by checking out related (directly or indirectly) films that might give you a bit of more insight into the genre, filmmaker, actor or just general idea of the film. I think today’s selections may seem a bit obvious, but I hope that coming weeks will prove a bit more interesting.
This week the big release has got to be J. J. Abrams‘ latest science-fiction directorial effort, Super 8. The film is about a group of children in a small town that witnesses an accident with a train and a number of weird happenings start to take place in their town.
Three films I think would go down well with this movie would be:
Cloverfield
In 2008, out of almost nowhere, came Cloverfield. The movie was heavily marketed, but in all honesty a lot of the general audience wasn’t sure what to expect. The marketing was filled with a lot of holes of what the film was actually about and it played a lot on the element of surprise, which it delivered beautifully.
In New York City one night it has been attacked. We’re not sure by what, but it’s obvious that something has gone very wrong. We follow a group of people documenting their survival through the night as they run from block to block trying to stay together, alive and as far away as possible from whatever is making all that ruckus.
I feel this movie is a great, and possibly the most obvious, accompaniment to Super 8 since it is the same idea as it, but just done a bit differently. If you remove the child focused subplot and about 80% of the movie making references then you’re going to get this movie pretty much.
But if Cloverfield isn’t your kind of thing, or you’ve already seen it then maybe;
Stand By Me
One of the most powerful aspects of Super 8 is that it’s a story about children. Children have a very interesting perspective on life and every once in a while their innocence can push them do amazing things. If there’s a film out there that allows us to study children and let their innocence push them into a story that can seem gargantuan then that’s Stand By Me.
While I won’t go so far as to say that this movie has all the science-fiction elements of Super 8, obviously, that doesn’t make it anymore a good follow up to the film. You get to spend a lot of time just hanging out with these children and as the story gets more and more involved the characters find themselves having to grow up a lot quicker than you’d imagine, just like the main cast from Super 8.
But if you really just want a sci-fi kick then maybe;
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
I’ve seen a lot of people on twitter, and I guess I have to agree with them, claiming how much Super 8 basically “ripped off” from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It’s true, you can basically rename the town and turn Dreyfuss‘ character into a group of children making a movie and you’ll get Super 8. However, what I think makes CEotTK a bit more unique is the contact that we’re given. While Super 8 shrouded itself in mystery this movie decided to allow a lot more contact with not only the aliens but also the government and made it into a lot more interesting detective film that happened to be about aliens.