The wait is finally over – after all the casting news, teaser trailers and mysterious hints, “Super 8” arrives in theaters today. The action vehicle delivers all the heart, tension and explosive-laden sequences you’d expect from a J.J. Abrams-helmed, Steven Spielberg-produced flick, but the most potent takeaway is the group of misfit kids at the center of the narrative.

In the vein of “The Goonies,” “E.T.” and “Stand By Me,” “Super 8″ catapults us into the lives of small-town youngsters in 1979. All the archetypes are accounted for: the overachieving (overweight) aspiring director, the braces-clad pyromaniac, the vomit-prone worrywart, the awkward-yet-sweet-natured protagonist, the unattainable and alluring popular girl.

Picking up the pieces from familial upheaval and one epic train wreck, the kids will charm their way into your nostalgia-swelled heart – heck, even the movie’s much-mused-about monster can’t overshadow their chemistry. Which is why we’re willing to bet that you’ll find yourself pining for a piece of the clan’s know-how long after the credits roll. So, without further ado, a handy link-laden guide to eight lessons revealed in “Super 8.”

1: How to Apply Zombie Make-Up
If central character Joe Lamb’s (Joel Courtney) mad skillz with a brush and paint kit put you in the undead state of mind, check out this helpful guide to creating the perfect putrefying palate. And if you’re having trouble envisioning the decomposing visage, this video should fill in the blanks. Pro tip: arrange a “Walking Dead” marathon, for inspiration.

2: How to Make a Model Train Look Antique
Adorable Joe Lamb may’ve used his explanation of choosing the perfect shade of grey to age his model train in order to woo crush Alice Dainard (Elle Fanning), but – believe it or not – there’s actually an art to it. Pro tip: “train car” should not be used metaphorically in a discussion with a member of the opposite sex (refer to number four).

3: How to Operate a Super 8 Video Camera
Scary to think that there’s a whole generation of kids who don’t even know what a VHS tape is (see also: we’re old), but the “Super 8″ crew operates in what we’d consider a decidedly quaint, vintage mindset. We 2011 types don’t even wait an hour for photos to be developed, let alone three days! Regardless, if you want to revel in a little blast from the past, here are the basics to using a Super 8 camera. Pro tip: Kodak’s website delves into further detail, and also offers a list of vendors that supply Super 8 film.

4: How to Make a Girl Like You
Ah, the eternal question. Sonnets have been written, songs have been penned, movies have been scripted – a painter even cut off his ear – in desperate exploration of the subject. And “Super 8″’s naive Joe Lamb isn’t immune to the seemingly unnavigable labyrinth that is his crush on Alice Dainard. Maybe he should’ve studied up first (we wholeheartedly endorse the awesomely bad video embedded at the end of this list). Pro tip: culling pointers from SNL Digital Shorts will only lead to heartbreak.

5: How to Communicate Telepathically
In the spirit of remaining spoiler-free, this is one we’re going to leave to your imagination (ohh, pun!) until you’ve seen the flick. But, hey, there’s actually an exercise guide available! Pro tip: you might want to practice this with your cat before moving on to – ehem – more substantial mental opponents.

6: How to Make Fake Blood
The gloppy, gelatinous scarlet-hued goo gets a key scene in “Super 8″’s trainwreckage, and we found a surprisingly comprehensive guide to creating your own faux-hemoglobin (some versions are even – shiver – edible!) Pro tip: we hereby renounce any responsibility in the event that you’re mistaken for a member of the undead when lesson number one and a palatable version of this pointer are used in conjunction with one another.

7: How to Cry on Cue
Alice wows director Charles (Riley Griffiths) and the rest of “Super 8″’s movie-within-a-movie crew with her ability to serve up an emotional wallop, but – aside from purposefully stubbing your toe on a tripod, how does one muster waterworks on a movie set? There are a few ways to conjure ‘em, apparently. Pro tip: the effects of mastering this art may greatly help – or heed – your chances with number four. Use your newfound powers with discretion!

8: How to Create Lens Flare
We’re getting a little meta here, but this one’s an homage to Abrams’ version of an homage to Spielberg: slapping his trademark lens flare on “Super 8″’s scenery. There’s a helpful guide to siphoning the power of the light-sourced goodness when using a digital camera. And, after the release of Abrams’ similarly lens flared “Star Trek,” Trekmovie.com put together this hilariously comprehensive list of post-production lens flare apps and examples. Pro tip: combining this with number three is what “Super 8″’s Charles would consider “production value.”

Tell us what you think in the comments section and on Twitter!

There’s a lot to love in “Super 8,” not the least of which is the fairly spoilery viral clip that was released yesterday, detailing the monster at the center of the film.

“Super 8″ is far from the first movie to create an informational video to catch audiences up to speed on the film’s central premise. In fact, it’s turned out to be something of a sci-fi staple. Everything from “Jurassic Park” to “Wall-E” has seemingly incorporated some element of these retro, potentially viral informational clips as a means to educate their viewers on the background of their films.

After the jump, we’ve picked five of our favorite videos-within-movies and detail why they’ve stuck with us for so long.

Mr. DNA, “Jurassic Park”
There’s something inherently charming about this super simplified look at how the scientists over at Jurassic Park created their dinosaurs. It sure made science class seem a whole lot easier after watching the movie!

DHARMA Initiative, “Lost”
Unsurprisingly, this other J.J. Abrams-created masterpiece made the cut with its own mystery-inducing videos within a larger work. The DHARMA Initiative videos gave us more questions than answers, but that only meant we were more invested when a new one arose within the context of the narrative.

Total Rekall, “Total Recall”
Roy Brocksmith’s Total Rekall commercials might not be selling exactly what they’re advertising, but they certainly get across the right tone for the film’s technology. The full commercial is a bit different than what’s seen in the movie, but definitely sets the stage for what’s to come in the Schwarzenegger action vehicle.

Would You Like To Know More?, “Starship Troopers”
These infomercials constantly pop up throughout “Starship Troopers” as a way to relieve the tension in the film and also carry the story along. It helped that the commercials were not only hilarious, but also kept us up-to-date on the war against the bugs.

Buy-N-Large commercials, “Wall-E”
The Buy-N-Large commercials, voiced by BnL CEO Shelby Forthright, at first seemed like they were only included to set the stage for the world Wall-E lived in than to actually advance the plot, but the more the movie evolved, the larger a purpose they held. It turned out that they were actually the most important informational videos included out of our whole list.

What other videos did we miss from this list? Which are your favorites? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

It feels like only yesterday that a mysterious viral video of a horrific train crash containing a presumably even more horrific creature first found its way online. But now, the menace is here. “Super 8” has arrived, and it is awesome. You may have already seen it if you paid attention to yesterday’s advanced screenings. If you haven’t seen it, perhaps our review of the flick will convince you. Regardless, it’s here, ready and waiting for you to embrace it.

In “Super 8,” director J.J. Abrams goes back to his earliest days as a filmmaker, reminding us what it’s like to shoot your very own homemade movie. And it got us thinking — we’re pretty sure that plenty of you guys would want to share your homemade movies, too!

To celebrate the arrival of “Super 8,” we’re asking YOU to make your very own homemade movie! Head over to Your MTV and upload a one-minute homage to “Super 8.” Whether it’s a recreation of the trailer, a scene from the movie, something using the “Super 8″ iPhone app or another idea entirely is completely up to you, so long as you’re specifically paying tribute to “Super 8.” And hey, if we like what we see, we’ll post our very favorite “Super 8″ homage right here on MTV next week!

So what are you waiting for, a train wreck? Get cracking, aspiring moviemakers — get your “Super 8″ homage videos online at Your MTV by Monday (June 13) for a chance to be featured here on Movies Blog!

I know not all the film fans of the world are as nerdy about film scores as I am, but hopefully you’ll trust me when I say that the score for J.J. Abrams’ mystery-thriller “Super 8” is everything you would want backing a fantastical, Spielbergian, must-see summer movie.

If you don’t want to take my word for it, allow me to introduce Oscar-winning composer Michael Giacchino, who took us through the nuts and bolts of how he came up with such a wonderfully unique and tintinnabular creation.

“A lot of it comes out of my childhood,” Giacchino said of how he began crafting the film’s score. “I grew up making super 8 films, that’s all I did growing up, my whole life was devoted to making movies.”

“Aside from all the craziness in the film, that was my life with the kids in my neighborhood, so to me it was this huge nostalgic trip back to my past,” he added. “This film feels, in some weird way, like one of those movies I grew up with and yet it’s not one of them. It’s still its own thing.”

Getting into the specifics of the score he composed, particularly the high-pitched, transcendent tinkling sound that reverberates throughout, Giacchino explained which instruments make up the distinct effect.

“[There is] a celesta, which is kind of a bell piano, a very short piano with bells,” Giacchino revealed. “You play it like you would a piano, but with bells. A Hammond organ was a big part of the score as well, which is interesting because you normally only hear those in church or in blues songs,” he added. “We used it with the [103-piece] orchestra, which was really fun. There was guitar actually, but done in a very ethereal way, you would never know it was a guitar.”

For my fellow score nerds, what did you think of Giacchino’s score? Tell us in the comments or on Twitter!

We know that the world of J.J. Abrams is completely and entirely focused on the opening of his wonderful new thriller, “Super 8,” which we’ve been obsessing over non-stop, but that doesn’t mean we can avoid asking him for “Star Trek 2” updates when we have the chance.

When MTV News caught up with the man behind the mysteries at the premiere of “Super 8″ this week, we asked him what’s going on with the highly-anticipated sequel.

“We’re working on that right now,” he said of the on-going negotiations with Paramount with regard to the film’s overall plan and production schedule. “I hope to have some information soon.”

And will Abrams be stepping back into the director’s chair for this film?

“I would hope so, but we’ll see,” he said. “No decisions [have been made] yet, but I look forward to having the answer soon.”

Always the master of mystery – and the short and very sweet soundbite, that Abrams.

We take all these discussions to be a very good sign. After all, at one point, there was a strong possibility that Abrams would not be directing “Star Trek 2,” due to scheduling conflicts, but recently those rumors seemed to have died down. What we need now is for the collective stars to align like they did with the first film. From all appearances, all the actors who appeared in “Star Trek” are more than game to sign on to the second flick. Writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman have also consistently said that their script for the sequel is always a work in progress.

So, “soon”… can you get here already? Our patience is wearing thin!

So what’s next for “Star Trek 2?” When is the big announcement coming? Tell us in the comments or on Twitter!

“Super 8” isn’t a perfect movie — really, no movie is — but for my money, it’s pretty darn close. J.J. Abrams has lovingly crafted the exact kind of summer blockbuster you wish you could see more often these days : plenty of action, one hell of a train crash (trust me, the trailers and commercials don’t do the real disaster justice), and a whole lot of heart.

There’s a lot of mystery surrounding the new Amblin Entertainment movie, yes, so I’ll do my best not to spoil any of the big surprises for you. But for now, I don’t think it’s spoiling anything to say this: cheesy as it sounds, “Super 8″ really is (wait for it) super great. Check out five reasons you need to see this movie past the jump.

The Nostalgia Factor
The comparisons to “E.T.,” “The Goonies” and other Spielberg-approved movies of yesteryear are more than fair. From plot and premise to performances and execution to its very heart and soul, “Super 8″ feels like a movie that was made 30 years ago, today, if that makes sense. This is a deeply personal effort for Abrams, who’s quite clearly digging back to his childhood roots as a filmmaker and coming back out of the hole with some great new stuff. By necessity, “Super 8″ is a movie that’s always looking back — but it doesn’t do so at the expense of barreling forward.

The Kids
The kids of “Super 8″ absolutely steal the show. Joel Courtney is perfect as doe-eyed protagonist Joe Lamb, delivering a character that’s one part Mikey Walsh, one part Elliot, and several parts of… well, himself. He’s a great character surrounded by equally memorable children, the kinds of kids I expect many of you found yourselves hanging around with in grade school. (Or maybe that’s just me.) Oh, and Elle Fanning — if you don’t fall in love with her (in the non-creepy way) during the train scene, well, perhaps you just don’t have a heart. The young lady has a fantastic career ahead of herself.

Kyle Chandler
Though the kids are the central focus of “Super 8,” this is also the story of Jack Lamb, the deputy with the weight of his town and his family on his shoulders (perhaps in that order, at least to start) played by Kyle Chandler, late of the excellent “Friday Night Lights.” While the story doesn’t always serve the character — indeed, his arc is probably the one I found most problematic — the nuanced performance that Chandler gives as Jack is really something to behold. To put it crudely, Chandler acts the crap out of “Super 8.” If this guy isn’t a consistent big-screen leading man over the next several years, then Hollywood casting agents simply aren’t doing their jobs right.

The Monster
No, I’m not going to tell you what it is. No, I’m not going to tell you what it wants. While I’m not sure that the complete veil of secrecy shrouded over the “Super 8″ antagonist is entirely necessary, there’s no question that this thing works best in bits and pieces — not just in terms of marketing, but within the movie itself. That said, when you do see what’s plaguing this quaint Ohio town… well, for me, it did not disappoint.

The Credits
Trust me, I do not say this lightly: “Super 8″ has the best credits sequence I’ve ever seen in any movie. Stick around. You do not want to miss it. If you really need to know why, watch the video below — the cast will explain everything. But it goes without saying… SPOILERS ahead!

Tell us what you think of “Super 8″ in the comments section and on Twitter!

Filed under: Movie News, Hot Topic, Cinematical

Ever since Stephen Spielberg’s ‘Jaws’ burst into theaters back in 1975, Hollywood has viewed summer as blockbuster season. That sweltering stretch from June through September has become the place for big-budget flicks with broad appeal, and the legacy endured to this day. The only real change to the whole “summer blockbuster” paradigm has been that “summer” now apparently starts in April.

Adding an entire extra month (or two) to the schedule has allowed studios to cram in more movies designed to lure bored teenagers and families on vacation into the theater. However, 2011′s season is so packed with pictures that some pundits are worrying that this could be the year where box office gridlock has an adverse effect on the bottom line.

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