I had been planning to see my next movie on a Wednesday night, but I just couldn't pull the trigger with the selections from Memorial Day Weekend - they didn't hold a real interest for me. Even the new X-men movie barely made a blip on my radar. Although, I have heard both X-Men: First Class and Kung Fu Panda 2 are actually pretty good films. If I had tons of money, I might have been more willing to take a chance on one or both of those films, but since I, like so many people these days, am not a gazillionaire, I try and choose wisely what I spend thirty dollars to go see in a theater. This is the week I have been waiting for all year - a movie worth my shelling out the equivalent of half a tank of gas for is finally upon us.
Super 8 will open this Thursday Night/ Friday Morning and you can bet that I will be there in line, even if the NBA finals are still going on. But hopefully they will finish before I make the short trip to my local theater to check out this summer blockbuster.
The buzz around this movie is weird. Anyone who knows me has heard me talk about the awesome potential of this film for months, but I get a mixed reaction from others. Most people see it as I do: A throwback to Spielberg of the 70s and 80s. Which, in my book of hit and miss assessments, is a great thing. But there are others who don't see it that way, and I can understand their concerns. An over-18 crowd might not be interested because of the age of the lead actors. They may assume it is only a children's movie. And child actors can be hit or miss as far as performances, too. Spielberg has a knack for getting great performances out of his young actors, but he is not directing this. This is JJ's first real crack at directing a film that relies so heavily on youngsters. The fact that people have been held in suspense about the creature, much like Cloverfield, could also get under their collective craw. A frustration with the trailers and not knowing what they are going to see, much like the town folk who repeatedly ran when the boy cried wolf, might dissuade a percentage of people from the theaters.
I think the producers are right not to show the creature until they have to. Industrial Light and Magic is doing the effects after all, so naysayers can rest assured that the creature won't suck. Many trailers for films these days show so much of the film that you know what happens before even going to the theater. That is not entirely the case with this movie. We know there is a train wreck as kids are filming a super 8 movie, and that chaos breaks out afterwards as the creature escapes. But we don't know what the creature looks like, its motivations or history. It worked for Spielberg with Jaws. And it has me counting down the hours till 12:01 Friday morning to see this movie.
-aap
Showing posts with label Jaws. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jaws. Show all posts
Monday, June 6, 2011
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
May: Tweaking The Plan
For a year the path to e-publishing had been clear, but now things have become muddled with uncertainty. Even though progress continues, the way ahead no longer seems as giving of itself. Time has begun to slow while also whizzing by. The Plan to e-publish, as it was, had to be altered. (You can go back and check the beginning of this blog to see how "The Plan" originated.)
The Old Plan was to release each part, (then, three parts, and now, four stages) beginning in July, as e-books, throughout the rest of the year, and then release the paper versions once, or as the final stage is released. To some extent the plan has not changed much. Yet the release dates will be bumped to later days. When will the first stage be available? I cannot say as of yet.
I want to bring you the best possible product that I can. For me to rush it, just to keep to the early plan, would be foolish. This delay of publishing is not a bad thing; it may actually turn out to benefit the overall quality of the finished novel.
The movie Jaws always seems to come to mind when such setbacks occur. They had so many problems with the mechanical shark that they had to be more creative in order to finish the movie. It was on the boat, as the cast and crew were waiting on "Bruce" the shark, that they made some of the film's greatest scenes. All the delays required rewrites and allowed for more takes, which helped greatly. The problems also meant that more and more underwater POVs would be needed along with an iconic musical score to make up for the mechanical shark setbacks. But, in the end, it all helped to make Jaws a better movie. I'm trying to keep that in mind as July draws closer and closer, like a shark in the e-publishing waters.
The big day of this year is November tenth. Why? It marks the day one year prior to the opening of the story in Monarch. That is the latest possible day I am willing to consider releasing Stage One. So, if you are interested in knowing when you might be able to get your hands on the novel, there looks to be a time frame of about four months in which the first stage will be released.
D-DAY: July 1st - November 10th
-aap
The Old Plan was to release each part, (then, three parts, and now, four stages) beginning in July, as e-books, throughout the rest of the year, and then release the paper versions once, or as the final stage is released. To some extent the plan has not changed much. Yet the release dates will be bumped to later days. When will the first stage be available? I cannot say as of yet.
I want to bring you the best possible product that I can. For me to rush it, just to keep to the early plan, would be foolish. This delay of publishing is not a bad thing; it may actually turn out to benefit the overall quality of the finished novel.
The movie Jaws always seems to come to mind when such setbacks occur. They had so many problems with the mechanical shark that they had to be more creative in order to finish the movie. It was on the boat, as the cast and crew were waiting on "Bruce" the shark, that they made some of the film's greatest scenes. All the delays required rewrites and allowed for more takes, which helped greatly. The problems also meant that more and more underwater POVs would be needed along with an iconic musical score to make up for the mechanical shark setbacks. But, in the end, it all helped to make Jaws a better movie. I'm trying to keep that in mind as July draws closer and closer, like a shark in the e-publishing waters.
The big day of this year is November tenth. Why? It marks the day one year prior to the opening of the story in Monarch. That is the latest possible day I am willing to consider releasing Stage One. So, if you are interested in knowing when you might be able to get your hands on the novel, there looks to be a time frame of about four months in which the first stage will be released.
D-DAY: July 1st - November 10th
-aap