There's A Cold Wind Coming Off The Ocean

The Adventures of Tintin (Spielberg, 2011)

Earlier this month I wrote a post about nostalgia in film, with The Muppets and Hugo being the focus of that piece. After stepping out of the theater I could not help but think of the term nostalgia when considering The Adventures of Tintin. Though Spielberg may be appealing to a certain nostalgia by adapting the reporter-detective Tintin (Jamie Bell) for the big screen, it seems odd because I am sure the vast majority of the US audience (myself included) has little familiarity with the character or the comic series. What this leaves then is Spielberg working in a realm where he is evoking nostalgia for his past adventure movies. The Indiana Jones, Jaws and Jurassic Parks of the world. Now aside from those dinosaurs I have a great displeasure for the majority of 'classic' Spielbergian movies, yet seeing Tintin I think I finally realized why many of his movies are so beloved.

I Shoot The Lights Out

Super 8 (Abrams, 2011)

As I was driving home today I thought back to my psychology classes in high school. One day we talked about multiple personality disorder. The details are sadly scarce, but I like to think that the concept has its place in cinema as well. That at some point during the construction of J.J. Abrams's latest film, Super 8, the split between Cloverfield~esque monster movie and coming of age tale ala almost any film that involves children and/or teenagers. The first genre has enough high points to make me interested, while the latter is my cinematic kryptonite, so despite Abrams making a direct appeal to Steven Spielberg nostalgia, of which I have none, I hoped that Super 8 would find a way to bring these two genres together for some huge awesome cinematic cocktail.