J.J. Abrams
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Super 8 ILM VFX Master Dennis Muren Talks Spielberg, Going Back to 70s
Dennis Muren is the godfather of visual effects artists. Hired by George Lucas in 1976 to work on Star Wars and help launch Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), he went on to make the key breakthroughs that led to where VFX are today. Muren has won nine Oscars, including Visual Effects awards for Jurassi...
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News Wrap: Abrams Opens Up on Super 8 Secrets, Apple Threatens Cable, Boondock Saints Web Sequel
During production on Super 8, director J. J. Abrams was notably secretive--as producer Steven Spielberg likes to be as well, preserving the mystery, hiding the alien. Now that the film has delivered a strong $35.5 million opening weekend, he is being less tight-lipped. [SPOILER ALERT] In an interview with MTV, Abrams was open about the many-limbed, mysterious monster in the film. He noted that Neville Page, the same man who created the monster in his 2008 film, Cloverfield, designed the creature for Super 8, but there was no “same-universe” connection. “They actually look very different,” he said, “but they both have two eyes, a nose and a mo...
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Weekend Box Office: Super 8 Pulls $38 Million, Beats X-Men: First Class for Number One Slot
As Paramount labored to both downplay expectations and build up word-of-mouth via advance sneaks, Super 8 exceeded box office predictions and got off to a strong start. Anthony D'Alessandro reports:Super 8’s projector bulbs burned brighter than expected as Paramount’s sci-fi drama bested its lowest ...
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Weekend Preview: Can the Fab Super 8 Beat Holdovers X-Men & The Hangover?
First, check out J.J. Abrams' Spielberg homage, Super 8: you'll have fun discussing it afterwards.
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Super 8 Inspires Cinephile Debate
Super 8 reviews are by no means uniformly positive. It is in fact inspiring considerable cinephile debate. While I am convinced that the movie will 1) please most fans 2) be a huge hit and 3) inspire a Spielberg lovefest at this point in his career, the issues raised by the film's detractors are wor...
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Spielberg & Abrams: Working Together On Super 8 Was "Crazy Good," What's Next
How was it working with Steven Spielberg on Super 8? "Crazy good," says director J.J. Abrams. "Working with Steven Spielberg was a dream, and I was kind of nervous about it because he was like a hero of mine since I was a kid." Will they work together again? Given how successful Super 8 should prove...
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Super 8 Reviews: "Early Spielberg Classic," Spielberg & Abrams "Spiritually Clash On-Screen" UPDATED
I went in to see Super 8 with modest expectations. I kept waiting for the movie to derail and lose its footing at some point. That never happened. I was instantly caught up with this group of kids trying to shoot a movie (the final result unspools over the closing credits, so stick around) and then ...
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Super 8 Q & A: Spielberg and Abrams Talk to EW About Growing Up, Obsessions, Their Inner Child
Writer-director J.J. Abrams was smart to pull Steven Spielberg in as a producer on PG-13 sci-fi adventure Super 8, set in 1979, which is the ultimate homage to the great Spielberg movies of the 70s and 80s, referencing Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and of course, E.T. Paramount understood that they were selling, in effect, a non-Spielberg Spielberg film. And the movie feels as comfortable as an old shirt: the second you enter this world, you know exactly what the rules are. As Abrams understood the DNA of the Star Trek universe, so he understands the kids at the core of Super 8, their relationship to their parents, their love of ma...
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Super 8 Opening Projections Are Irrelevant; Word-of-Mouth Will Sell This Critics' Darling
Having seen Super 8 Tuesday--it did not disappoint--I agree with box office analyst Anthony D'Alessandro's assertion that it doesn't matter if Super 8 opens soft. It's an original that plays like gangbusters and as such, the eventual returns will dwarf its opening this weekend, whatever it is. (This...
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Entertainment Weekly's Best of Summer: Bateman, Galifianakis, Aniston, Carell, Gosling, Abrams, More
EW's Best of Summer edition is on newstands May 27. As for the Best of Summer Movies, they've culled some soundbites from the stars. A selection is below.
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