Rate "Super 8"!

[Josh500 1,615]

Well?

I hope this poll hasn't been done here before, I used the search machine but couldn't find anything.

Anyway, what's your opinion?

[Jay 37,287]

Fantastic score. I still have the "Evacuation Theme" running through my head daily. That's the one in The Evacuation of Lillian and A Truckload of Trouble

[Quintus 5,399]

Film and score: serviceable. 3.5 for effort.

[Thor 7,465]

I thought the film was fine. Got a 4.

But I didn't like the score and I don't like Giacchino in general. So 1.5 for that.

[Jonesy 55]

I can't stop listening Letting Go.

[publicist 4,643]

The movie was atrocious - trying to outdo Spielberg by making ape love to THE GOONIES won't do. 2 Stars for the trainwrecking and the girl.

The score was infinitely better, but no more than 3 stars (it sounds like what it is: pedantic mimicry of the 80's by a competent composer)

[Thor 7,465]

The movie was atrocious - trying to outdo Spielberg by making ape love to THE GOONIES won't do. 2 Stars for the trainwrecking and the girl.

The score was infinitely better, but no more than 3 stars (it sounds like what it is: pedantic mimicry of the 80's by a competent composer)

Actually, the opposite was one of my main criticisms of the score -- that there was NO mimicry or pastiche of that 80's style, just more boring and grating Giacchino drones.

[publicist 4,643]

Actually, the opposite was one of my main criticisms of the score -- that there was NO mimicry or pastiche of that 80's style, just more boring and grating Giacchino drones.

Nah, MG crosses Williams' muscular militaristic stylings of the late 70's (CLOSE ENCOUNTERS, BLACK SUNDAY) with the more mushy COCOON sound Horner established in the mid-80's. It may not meet your expectations but it's very hard to deny those throwbacks. I wouldn't be quite as hard on the score, but the fanboy raves are puzzling all the same.

[Josh500 1,615]

Sure, the movie had a budget of just 50 million, but the box office result of "only" $260 million must have been disappointing!

When it came out, I thought it was THE blockbuster movie of the year (I mean Spielberg and Abrams?), but it sure turned out differently. Even Tintin has made $360 million already!

[indy4 155]

3.5 for score, 4 for film. It's a good score but it lacks something to make it great.

[Jay 37,287]

I guess I am just hearing things in that score you guys aren't. I think it's Giacchino's best.

The two main themes are really good and the criminally underused Evacuation Theme is good enough to be the main theme in another score!

[Thor 7,465]

Actually, the opposite was one of my main criticisms of the score -- that there was NO mimicry or pastiche of that 80's style, just more boring and grating Giacchino drones.

Nah, MG crosses Williams' muscular militaristic stylings of the late 70's (CLOSE ENCOUNTERS, BLACK SUNDAY) with the more mushy COCOON sound Horner established in the mid-80's. It may not meet your expectations but it's very hard to deny those throwbacks. I wouldn't be quite as hard on the score, but the fanboy raves are puzzling all the same.

I don't hear what you're describing at ALL, but it's been a while since I saw the film.

[publicist 4,643]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rNmH4ThbkQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrrZhxPBJPY&feature=related

[Admiral Holdo 16]

I love the movie, it's one of the "kids' adventure" flicks I would have worn out watching a VHS copy of as a kid. It's also a shock/relief for a big-budget Hollywood movie to have relatable characters (I was totally Charles Kaznyk)! Imagine. Ditto for the score, has a lot of heart and warmth to it. The suspense/alien material isn't as memorable, mostly because the alien in the film isn't the story. It's all about the kids.

[Jay 37,287]

Right!

[Wojo 2,453]

Haven't seen the movie. I bought the score, gave it two or three spins, and never gave it a second thought.

[KK 3,307]

I personally enjoyed the film but found the score to be a bit disappointing. The children's theme is fantastic but sadly underused. The main theme is surprisingly simplistic in its 3 note phrases yet emotionally potent at times. Overall, the score was rather simplistic and so did little to reach out to me. But there are some amazing highlights like Letting Go. So I don't see how a 5 star rating can be given to this score, so I'm going to stick with a strong 3.5. Its a good score, but not great or amazing.

Film - 4 stars

Score - 3.5 stars

[mrbellamy 6,272]

3 for the film, 4 for the score.

The first half hour of the film had my absolutely undivided attention, but it lost me sometime after the train crash. I didn't even think the stuff with the kids went anywhere particularly special. But I enjoyed (and continue to enjoy) the score. Just that swell in the main theme as the Amblin logo came up was able to hit a nostalgic sweet spot that the movie itself couldn't capitalize on, ultimately. Though of course I'm happy for those who got more out of it than I did.

[Brónach 1,301]

Film: 4/5. I don't like the teacher surving the impact against the train. They should have set it up differently, with the vehicle unnmaned and the teacher getting injured while trying to escape.

Score: 4/5. Wonderful moods, but it feels a bit underdeveloped. Or maybe that's the point. I dunno.

[publicist 4,643]

Film: 4/5. I don't like the teacher surving the impact against the train. They should have set it up differently, with the vehicle unnmaned and the teacher getting injured while trying to escape.

That's the least of the problems. The whole story is so idiotic you can just feel it was dreamed up by some kid from the valley fed on television and hardly any real-life connections to the people he directs or the story he wants to tell. I find it just as sad that people can actually watch such a bankrupt movie and feel somehow 'moved' by its mechanical plot devices.

[Brónach 1,301]

Yeah like shooting films in Super 8?

It's nowhere as idiotic as people make it to be, there's actually some quite clever bits. The concept of the little cubes, to put an example, brought me right back to several hard sci-fi concepts I've been reading about. I love how what they are is announced first via the space shuttle poster.

Now the guy in the car, that puts me off.

[Jeff 10]

I LOVED the movie and I'm the sole voter who gave it 5 stars, I guess. It did all the things I really want a movie to do - it drew me in and made me forget I was watching a movie; it attached me to the characters and made me interested in their fate; it had an emotional impact that made me actually feel something (that's pretty rare for me); and it engaged me intellectually and had me thinking about the film long after I left the theater.

Any flaws that can be pointed to me are irrelevant - if a film can do the things I just described, nothing else matters. Of course, that makes my rating highly subjective.

I haven't heard the score separate from the film, but it did its job.

[Brónach 1,301]

It did all the things I really want a movie to do - it drew me in and made me forget I was watching a movie; it attached me to the characters and made me interested in their fate; it had an emotional impact that made me actually feel something (that's pretty rare for me); and it engaged me intellectually and had me thinking about the film long after I left the theater.

I felt pretty much the same way, every word of that

I wish I could someday make something that does that to someone else.

[publicist 4,643]

it engaged me intellectually

???????? What do you watch normally?

[Jeff 10]

Oh, don't mind me, I'm one of those people who liked Inception.

I'm not saying it was a brain-contorting philosophical enigma. But neither was it a mindless explosion-fest a la Transformers. All I mean is that it got me to think about relationships, life and death, childhood, coping with loss, moving on - those types of questions.

[King Mark 3,625]

3.5 stars movie

4 stars score

[publicist 4,643]

But neither was it a mindless explosion-fest a la Transformers. All I mean is that it got me to think about relationships, life and death, childhood, coping with loss, moving on - those types of questions.

Thankfully most movies aren't. I don't begrudge you the enjoyment but i found the whole thing so shallow and calculated (and not in a good way) that i was wondering about the intellectual...

[King Mark 3,625]

I agree that the movie felt too calculated

Especially in mimicking specific Spielberg scenes and shots

[Wojo 2,453]

Nuts. Super 8 isn't available for streaming over Netflix.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Film is a 3.5

Score is a 4

[scallenger 481]

Film: 4

I really enjoyed watching it in the theater, but I felt like the film kind of "lost it" in the final act. Sure, it still had some standout moments like the bus attack and the final scene... but did anyone else feel a bit underwhelmed with how it all came together? However, the short film "The Case" totally made up for it, and was probably the best "during credits" thing I have seen for a movie, especially with it's relevance to the story. On BluRay, however, the experience is somewhat tainted. For some reason the audio mix is totally off. It's REALLY quietly mixed for dialogue and even music, but any time some crazy sound effects happen, it's like an explosion of sound! Perhaps this was intentional, and if it is, it isn't effective: it's annoying. Now that I recall, it was kind of like this in the theater too. The loud parts sounding fantastic, but the quiet parts a bit TOO quiet, sometimes even hard to understand. A few of my other friends agreed with me on this too, and it's just surprising the actual BluRay reviews (even on BluRay.com) praise the audio quality. I don't get it. And yes, this does factor in my enjoyment of watching the film. Nothing is more annoying than to have to have a remote in your hand to turn the volume up and down every 5 to 10 minutes when you just want to watch the damn thing.

Score: 4.5

One of the best, if not, the most memorable score of last year. Yes, even better than both Williams efforts. Even if you don't agree with me on that, you have to admit that Super 8 is Giacchino's best work. It combines the sweetness and sadness of "Up" with the tense and dramatic sound of his "Lost" scores, mixed with the "sound" of classic Williams. The combination is brilliant, and transcends the film. Even though we now know the OST is not quite as complete as once thought, it is close enough to be definitely the most satisfying album of last year to merely just listen to without being aggravated with much listening. I'm not usually the biggest Giacchino fan (hell, apart from a few tracks from his Oscar-winning "Up", I feel that score is highly overrated). But this score is really good as a whole, not just for a few cues. None of them ever drag on for too long. And it seems like he really put his heart and best effort into this one.

[Incanus 5,713]

I haven't seen the film yet.

As for the score I give it 4 stars. It really is Giacchino's love letter to the 80's film music and it has great thematic interplay, a couple of truly wonderful themes and the album has a strong dramatic arc and a knock-out finale. One of the best scores of 2011. I particularly love Giacchino's consistent thematic writing and his adherence to the old fashioned orchestral style (appropriate for the film but also in general) of film composition.

There is still something intangible that is lacking and keeps this score from rising up to the 5 star tier. But it has gotten better with each listen.

[Richard Penna 3,670]

Loved the film - 4.5 stars. I felt it dragged a little during the underground alien sequence, but for sheer entertainment, it was superb.

Score, 3 stars. I like the family related material, but the alien material appeals to me less, partly because of Giacchino's style of doing suspense and action - it gets a bit too raw and sparse for me (the recording quality also has an effect there).

And I know it's cliched, but the 'letting go' scene was very well done, and I usually get a tear in my eye when listening to that cue.

[crocodile 7,984]

3 for the mediocre (if inofffensive) film.

4 for really good score. But Giacchino can still do better and samples from John Carter seem to indicate that.

Karol

[Romão 2,274]

Film 1 star; dreadful piece of work

Score 2 stars

[KK 3,307]

Was both the film and the score really that bad for you?

[publicist 4,643]

Considering all the premature praise it got it was stunning how daft it actually was. That Spielberg blessed it repeatedly either means he's become a total pragmatic (read: cynic) or doesn't understand himself why his earlier work once conquered the world in storm. It isn't a disgrace, just a regular badly scripted summer movie made by committee without any real personality.

[Faleel 5,339]

Film: have not seen it

score: 2.5 it bored me, but the action music had a good feel, and I love this theme:

but on the whole the score was uninteresting to me, something that has become a habit with giacchino.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[Hedwig 5]

Considering all the premature praise it got it was stunning how daft it actually was. That Spielberg blessed it repeatedly either means he's become a total pragmatic (read: cynic) or doesn't understand himself why his earlier work once conquered the world in storm. It isn't a disgrace, just a regular badly scripted summer movie made by committee without any real personality.

It's interesting that you mention Steven not understanding why his earlier work was so popular. I haven't seen the film but a friend of mine has and said it was only OK because it was trying to be a Spielberg film like E.T but it was missing something that made a film like E.T so good. What, in your opinion, is missing?

[Faleel 5,339]

but on the whole the score was uninteresting to me, something that has become a habit with giacchino.

What has become a habit with Giacchino? Him writing scores that are uninteresting to you? I think that's what he does best!

Yes, after Up and Ratatouille, his work has declined IMHO.

[KK 3,307]

Considering all the premature praise it got it was stunning how daft it actually was. That Spielberg blessed it repeatedly either means he's become a total pragmatic (read: cynic) or doesn't understand himself why his earlier work once conquered the world in storm. It isn't a disgrace, just a regular badly scripted summer movie made by committee without any real personality.

I too found myself disappointed from the film after all that hype, but I still enjoyed it enough to give it 4 stars. I still can't see this film as a 1 star film. Its disappointing, but not THAT bad.

but on the whole the score was uninteresting to me, something that has become a habit with giacchino.

What has become a habit with Giacchino? Him writing scores that are uninteresting to you? I think that's what he does best!

Yes, after Up and Ratatouille, his work has declined IMHO.

I miss the days of his epic Medal of Honor scores. Nowadays, I feel like theres something missing in his recent scores...

[Quintus 5,399]

Considering all the premature praise it got it was stunning how daft it actually was. That Spielberg blessed it repeatedly either means he's become a total pragmatic (read: cynic) or doesn't understand himself why his earlier work once conquered the world in storm. It isn't a disgrace, just a regular badly scripted summer movie made by committee without any real personality.

It's interesting that you mention Steven not understanding why his earlier work was so popular. I haven't seen the film but a friend of mine has and said it was only OK because it was trying to be a Spielberg film like E.T but it was missing something that made a film like E.T so good. What, in your opinion, is missing?

Conviction.

And by the looks of it, an editor.

[Hedwig 5]

Considering all the premature praise it got it was stunning how daft it actually was. That Spielberg blessed it repeatedly either means he's become a total pragmatic (read: cynic) or doesn't understand himself why his earlier work once conquered the world in storm. It isn't a disgrace, just a regular badly scripted summer movie made by committee without any real personality.

It's interesting that you mention Steven not understanding why his earlier work was so popular. I haven't seen the film but a friend of mine has and said it was only OK because it was trying to be a Spielberg film like E.T but it was missing something that made a film like E.T so good. What, in your opinion, is missing?

Conviction.

And by the looks of it, an editor.

Haha could you elaborate on that?

[publicist 4,643]

It mimics trademark Spielbergian traits and camera movements, but all in aid of a slapdash 'story' that seems to have sprung out of the fertile mind of a 10 year old fan.

But there's no sense of why there are those children, what makes their time so poignant, no sense of wonder etc. It's all second-hand as if a computer tried to emulate certain ingredients et voilá, here's your movie. And it's so obvious i found myself almost weeping out of frustration at the end, when it's all resolved in a MAC & ME manner.

[Brónach 1,301]

What do you mean "no sense of wonder"?

[John Crichton 4]

Film: 4. Score: 4.5. My favorite of the year on both counts.