Open Forum Friday: J.J. Abrams… Brilliant or Overrated?
J.J. Abrams is everywhere lately, what with his hit TV shows Alias and Lost, his producer credit on Cloverfield and of course him being handed the reins to the Star Trek franchise, but I find it interesting that his name has automatically become a seal of quality for so many people in such a short period of time. I’ll admit, as a massive Lost fan, I’m guilty of it too… that association alone is usually enough to get me interested in something. But does he really deserve all the credit he’s currently being given?
If you look past Lost and Alias, it’s interesting to note that he started his career doing comedies. He was the co-creator of the TV series Felicity, and he co-wrote the scripts for such movies as Taking Care of Business starring James Belushi and Gone Fishin’ starring Joe Pesci and Danny Glover. He also wrote the screenplay for Mike Nichols’ Regarding Henry, the Steve Zahn/Paul Walker thriller Joy Ride, and he was one of 6 names credited for writing Michael Bay’s Armageddon. So far, I am not really seeing what the big deal is.
The only feature film he has directed thus far is M:I3, which I liked a lot… although I am struggling to think if his direction had anything to do with it. As much as I like Lost, I think the show benefits from the contributions of many other talented people and an ensemble cast. As for Cloverfield, if it turns out that it does live up to the hype, Abrams didn’t actually direct it… Felicity co-creator Matt Reeves did. So what do you think? Do we have any reason to think he’ll do an amazing job with Star Trek? I’m not sure. He’s certainly been associated with some great stuff, but all it would take is one false move for all his stock in Hollywood to plummet considerably. Is J.J. Abrams the real deal or just a guy who was in the right place at the right time? Give us your thoughts here on Open Forum Friday.
Comments (11)
As someone whose only experience with JJ Abrams is Mission Impossible 3 – Ouch. That movie is across the board awful and criminally guilty of wasting Philip Seymour Hoffman. So at the moment anything with Abrams name on it tends to scare me away. I also recall his Superman script being positively horrible at the time.
Lost, Star Trex Redux, etc.
Posted by Kurt on January 18th, 2008I was just debating this with a friend and I have to think Abrams knows a good idea when he sees it, but I don’t think he is the one who brings it all together. Correct me if I am wrong, but hasn’t how involved in LOST he is dwindled since season 1 and in my own opinion I enjoyed seasons 2 and 3 more (although I don’t think that is directly related) and if Cloverfield is great I am going to have to hand that to Matt Reeves. Abrams is just a name to draw people in at this point.
Posted by John on January 18th, 2008I really liked Mission Impossible 3 and I’m a huge fan of LOST, so I tend to be excited whenever I hear Abrams’ name attached to something. In the case of Cloverfield I’m more excited about the prospect of a new monster movie than the fact that he’s involved though. In the case of Star Trek, I don’t like the franchise, so I’m only slightly interested because of JJ. That’s not necessarily saying that I’ll see the film, but he does bring something to the table for me.
As far as all those sub-par movies and shows that you mentioned are concerned, I think that if you look at the origins of a lot of famous actors, directors, producers, etc., you will find some mediocre skeletons in their closets. Just because he co-wrote Armageddon and Gone Fishin’ doesn’t mean that he hasn’t progressed past those meaningless efforts to a more worthwhile stable of projects. Jack Nicholson was in the old Roger Corman Little Shop of Horrors. Leonardo DiCaprio was in Critters 3. James Cameron directed Pirahna II. Does anyone hold those films against the talent behind them who became great later in their careers? I don’t think so.
Posted by Rian on January 18th, 2008“So at the moment anything with Abrams name on it tends to scare me away.”
Thats not really fair. While I cant vouch for Alias, Lost is necessary to give a chance. Abrams is the ‘visionary’ I guess at most, but its Lindelof and Cuse that have made Lost what it is.
Posted by Goon on January 18th, 2008“he was one of 6 names credited for writing Michael Bay’s Armageddon”
Hahaha, really? In that case, I’d like to award him full genius status for participating in the script that gave us the image of Ben Affleck yelling “I LOVE YOU!!!1!” at Bruce Willis. Comic genius, I tell you.
Posted by Liz on January 18th, 2008I was one of those who jumped on the JJ Abrams bandwagon early on. Without really knowing why. Of course, I LOVE Lost and I was kind of fond of Alias, despite what everyone else thinks. But the more you take a step back to analyze Abrams’ credits, like Sean just did, you see that he was more of a guy experiencing the “right place at the right time” scenario.
Although he started up Lost, I don’t turn to him as the reason this show is so kick-ass anymore. MI:3 was somewhat decent (way better than John Woo’s in my opinion) but like Sean mentioned, I don’t think it was because of Abrams’ directing it.
I do think he is overrated as he has not accomplished that much on his own but he tends to associate himself with brilliant projects. I sure as hell know that Cloverfield really fed off the “from the Lost creator” publicity stunt mixed with a marvelous viral-marketing campaign. The reviews are in and I have no reason not to go see this one next week.
A question for this week’s podcast: Should I just avoid it since Cloverfield seems to realy heavily on the spoiler-free spirit of the campaign…?
Posted by Julien on January 19th, 2008Hes so overrated. the only reason lost is so praised is because he goes online on forums to see how to fix the show. He gets other peoples views and writes them in his work. He brings up an idea, leaks it, lets the audience do the work and then he writes their ideas.
Posted by dude on January 20th, 2008Why knock the guy? He’s obviously talented enough to come up with some good ideas and surround himself with people who can help make them successful.
Posted by paul on January 20th, 2008He really is overrated.
Posted by Edgar on February 2nd, 2008New secret JJ Abrams project?
Hi guys,
I heard a rumour from a friend, that JJ Abrams has just released a secret project under a different name onto Youtube.
My friend who works as a VFX compositing artist at the Moving Picture Company (MPC) in Soho, London, told me on an evening out this weekend that he has recently finished working on a viral/Youtube only series. My friend said that he had been painting out people and vehicles on some footage of London and that it was for a secret JJ Abrams project.
I haven’t seen anything announced or mentioned anywhere. Can anyone here let me know if this is true.
I have seen the episodes and think that they are quite cool. It seems to be made as a real documentary, it’s kind of I am Legend meets Cloverfield. I don’t recognise the actor used in the film, but if they did use a recognisable person it would instantly shout film I reckon.
I can understand why they have been made in secret as some people seem to be going along with the story as it’s presented as a real situation.
I think it’s a cool idea for an established director to make something in secret though, and it certainly looks like the kind of weird and spooky project he would be involved in.
Has anyone else heard about this?
Here is the link:
http://www.youtube.com/pauldavis78
Posted by Paul on August 6th, 2008Leave a Reply