STAR WARS EPISODE VII!?

It’s hard to argue that J.J Abrams is one of the most successful producers on the planet.  Especially when it comes to television series.  He’s been a part of so many incredible projects.  When it comes to filmmaking, he’s achieved even greater success having been a part of several HUGE franchises.

He’s about to add the biggest franchise to that list when he takes on Star Wars Episode VII.  Questions have already begun to float around the internet.  Can he handle both Star Trek & Star Wars?

XTRA | The Number 1 Reason Why J.J Abrams is Perfect for Star Wars Episode VII

Given his track record, I think he’s more than earned a shot at the Mouse House that George Lucas built.  Now that he is officially directing Episode 7, I thought it would be great to look back on my favorite projects he’s been a part of.  There are many.  I had to focus on the projects I’ve actually seen so series like Felicity are absent from my list.  Regardless, there was plenty more to choose from while scanning his IMDB page.

With Star Trek Into Darkness around the corner and Star Wars Episode VII on the horizon, the best is yet to come.

14. REVOLUTION

TV Series (Producer)

I tried to get into this series when it premiered in 2012 but I just couldn’t.  It made this list purely on the ambition that fuels each episode.

13. JOY RIDE

Producer

This was a movie I rented long ago with some friends and really enjoyed it.  I had no idea he was a producer.

12. ARMAGEDDON

Co-Writer

I may be wrong but this appears to be J.J Abrams first foray into space! Many people dislike the film & Michael Bay but I’m a fan.  Armageddon is an epic action story co-written by J.J Abrams.  It’s one of those movies you spot scanning the TV guide and before you know it, you watched the whole thing.  Especially if it’s a Sunday and you have nothing else to do.  Explosions.  Space.  Brainless entertainment.

11. ALCATRAZ

TV Series (Producer)

I liked Alcatraz and was disappointed when they cancelled it after a single season.  I think a big part of the problem was the lack of answers.  With Lost, J.J Abrams and co. got away with it.  People weren’t willing to wait this time and I’ll admit the show was a tad frustrating at times.  That doesn’t mean I wasn’t interested in the answers.

10. THE OFFICE – COCKTAILS

TV Episode (Director)

I’m obsessed with The Office.  I’m still coming to terms with Michael Scott’s departure and the upcoming series finale.  I had no idea J.J Abrams directed an episode back in 2007.  It’s no surprise it involved big character moments like Roy finding out Pam kissed Jim.

8. PERSON OF INTEREST

TV Series (Producer)

My wife and I loved the first season of this show.  It seemed like a simple tale at first following a villain of the week structure.  Slowly, we became fascinated by the characters.  I haven’t had a chance to catch up on season two yet but it’s on the list.

9. ALIAS

TV Series (Producer, writer)

Arguably the series that really put J.J Abrams on the map.  (Or at least nerd’s maps.)

7. MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL

Producer

Brad Bird’s first live action movie was extremely entertaining and a worthy follow up to the third installment directed by J.J Abrams.

XTRA | Inside the edit: Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol Trailer

6. CLOVERFIELD

Producer

One of the first film’s to truly showcase J.J Abrams’ secretive approach.  The marketing campaign’s behind Cloverfield and later Super 8 were phenomenal.  I couldn’t wait to see these monster movies.

5. FRINGE

TV Series (Producer, writer)

I’m in the middle of Season 3 on DVD right now so don’t ruin anything!

4. MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 3

Director

One of my favorite opening scenes of all time.  Owen Davian vs Ethan Hunt.

3. STAR TREK

Director

I was never a big Star Trek fan growing up.  Yet, J.J Abrams created a Star Trek I loved and ignited my interest in the legacy that came before the reboot.

2. SUPER 8

Writer/Director

My favorite movie of 2011.  An astounding movie about young kids making movies together and the monster they discover in the process.  It’s exactly how I grew up…  Except there was no monster.

XTRA | Super 8 Unspoiled

1. LOST

TV Series (Producer, writer)

I didn’t see an episode of Lost until a few months before Season 5 premiered.  A friend of mine loaned me his DVDs and I absolutely crushed every disc like it was my job.  For weeks I would attempt to watch ONE episode but I couldn’t resist hitting play again.  Lost is one of my favorite television shows of all time.  It also changed the way we looked at scripted television forever.

Years after it’s finale, we are still hoping to find the next ‘Lost’ every Fall.

SPOILER WARNING: Don’t click play if you haven’t seen Lost.  It just happens to be my favorite promo for the show.

What’s your favorite J.J Abrams project?

Click here for more Movie Countdowns

XTRA | Star Wars Episode VII Story Round Up

Today’s POST is all about new worlds.  Inspired by the return of the amazing Fringe, IGN has posted a list of the best alternate realities on television.

XTRA | Fall Television: Adding new shows to your team.

I have to say I’m biased and have to say Fringe is my favorite alternate reality… That’s mainly because I’m right in the middle of season 2 and I’m completely obsessed with that show.

A while back IGN also published the Top 25 Fantasy Movies of All-Time which include some of the best worlds ever realized on film.

We all love escaping into world’s like Pandora, Middle Earth and Tatooine.  Likewise, there’s nothing like a well developed alternate reality like the one featured on Fringe or Back to the Future for that matter.  It’s what makes film and television so much fun to discover.

XTRA | Check out my top 10 movie fantasy worlds.

Have a post you’d like to see featured on The Athletic Nerd?  Click here.

Over the course of the summer, I discovered two new shows that I’ve happily added to my list of obsessions. Fringe and Game of Thrones.

XTRA | Screenwriting & The Game of Thrones Theme

Let’s start with Fringe. I honestly can’t believe it took me three seasons before I finally gave the show a shot. It’s not like I avoided it. I simply never had (or took) the opportunity to sit through an episode. The tales alternate dimensions and freaky science evaded me regardless of J.J Abrams’ involvement and the shows mystery driven story arc. Much like Lost, one of my favorite shows of all time, each episode contained an incredible story while continually developing a larger mythology.

XTRA | A Tribute To J.J Abrams

Fringe should have taken a hold of me the second the pilot premiered years ago. Except it didn’t and quite frankly neither did Lost. I didn’t discover Lost until the end of the fourth season! Some might argue that catching up on a television show is a great way to avoid cliffhangers for long periods of time. Especially between seasons. This is true to a certain extent as pushing play on the next episode is better than waiting for an entire week but did I miss out on the “Lost” experience?

The answer is yes and became apparent to me when I arrived at work the day after a mind-blowing episode in season 5. People were talking about it and I knew what they were talking about. I experienced those last two seasons with the rest of the world. While it sucks to have to wait a week for a new episode, the whole point is to experience the anticipation and wonder.

The same can be said about Game of Thrones. I didn’t start watching until the first season was over. I caught up On Demand. If I didn’t listen to the advice of some co-workers, I would have never discovered the show.

Finding television shows that capture your imagination like that can be difficult. You never know which shows will take hold. I know I didn’t think Fringe would.

YOUR SHOWS.  YOUR TEAM

Each day another show takes the field and you hope it delivers. My team lost a couple great players over the last few years. Some shows, like Lost, retired but others got demoted like the increasingly disappointing True Blood.

This Fall, I’m ready to sign some new shows and add them to my team which features heavy hitters like Dexter, Fringe and The Walking Dead. There are a lot of spots open but many will not make the cut.

I’m excited to discover new shows from the beginning this year. My PVR is in for a work out as I add new dramas to my lineup.

With another year of amazing television upon us, here are my top 3 prospects looking to make the big leagues this season:

Terra Nova

Person of Interest

Alcatraz

I’ve decided to dedicate this special 25th edition of The Rundown to J.J Abrams and continued coverage of the amazing Super 8.

J.J Abrams has yet to be involved in a project that I didn’t absolutely adore.  The man is one of the most gifted pure storytellers on the planet.  He’s been handed the keys to several huge franchises like Mission: Impossible and Star Trek and he exceeded expectations every time.

But it’s his original projects that make him great.  He has given us amazing feature films like Cloverfield and unbelievable television projects like Lost, Fringe and Alias.

IGN RANKS EVERY SINGLE LOST EPISODE

Now, the director has teamed up with Steven Spielberg and created one of my favorite movies of all time.  Super 8.

READ MY FULL SUPER 8 REVIEW HERE.

I remember thinking that the film could crack my top 10 of all time about 30 minutes into the film.  There was no monster yet.  There was only a group of kids dealing with very real and very relatable issues.

In an interview over at /Film, Peter Scirreta made a comment that was spot on:

“Most action movies these days you don’t care much about the characters.  This movie, I could have seen a whole movie in an alternative reality where the train never crashes and it’s just a Stand By Me-style drama following the kids and I would have still loved it.”

J.J Abrams’ response was fascinating to me:

“I love that you said that.  Thank you so much for that.”

His intention was to make a movie that could stand on it’s own without the monster becoming a crutch as the story moved along.  Super 8 is more about the kids than the monster yet it’s still packed with action and thrills.

The full interview is a great read with J.J commenting on everything from working with Spielberg, to Lost’s infamous smoke monster.

CHECK IT OUT THE FULL INTERVIEW AT /FILM HERE

J.J ABRAMS’ ON WORKING WITH STEVEN SPIELBERG
Courtesy of Time

A lot of the talk surrounding Super 8 was the power house team up of Spielberg and Abrams and their quest to bring back the magic of films like E.T.  They definitely succeeded.

Many young filmmakers started out much like the characters in this story.  Much like Abrams and Spielberg.  I grew up making movies myself.

Super 8 was definitely made for me.  For us.

XTRA | TOP 10 MOVIES LIKE SUPER 8

The story behind Super 8 is just as intriguing as the movie itself.  Abrams describes how the story came to be in an interview posted on Flicks and Bits.

“Super 8 came out of two separate ideas. One was an idea of doing a film about kids making super 8 movies in the late 70’s, early 80’s. And the other one was an idea of a monster movie that I’d had. One was a group of characters I had loved, but without a story that I thought would compel people to go and see it. And the other was a compelling premise but with no original characters. So I kind of combined the two and found that they serviced each other in a cool way.”

From a screenwriting perspective, the idea of combining two completely separate ideas is both inspiring and terrifying.  You’ll never know what happen if you take the best elements of two ideas and combine them.

Why not try it?

CHECK OUT A 3 PART VIDEO INTERVIEW WITH THE DIRECTOR HERE
Courtesy of Trailer Addict & SciFi Mafia

For more great interviews click here and here.

SUPER 8 LINKS

OFFICIAL SITE

IMDB PAGE

BOX OFFICE REPORTS

ROTTEN TOMATOES

Super 8 definitely inspired me.  As I stated in my review, it’s easily my favorite film of 2011 thus far and could very well crack my top 10 all time.

XTRA | The Athletic Nerd’s Movie Power Rankings

I’m already looking forward to what will surely be an amazing Blu Ray release.

THE ATHLETIC NERD ON J.J ABRAMS

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All Time Best: Movie Trailer

Battle Los Angeles & Super 8…  Alien Movies!

I Call These Movies…  Awesome Movies

10 Flicks: Movies From Awesome Directors

TOP 5 J.J ABRAMS PROJECTS TO LOOK FORWARD TO!

#5 PERSON OF INTEREST
TV Series | Producer

Teaming up with Jonah Nolan!? I’m there.

#4 CLOVERFIELD 2
Feature Film | Producer

Will we find out more about the creature’s origins?  Will it be a prequel or sequel?  Will it even happen?  Director Matt Reeves has stated it will.  I can’t wait.

#3 ALCATRAZ
TV Series | Producer

This series tops my most anticipated list.

#2 MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE GHOST PROTOCOL
Feature Film | Producer

I can’t wait to see what Brad Bird does with the Mission: Impossible series. Especially with Abrams involved after the stellar third installment he directed.

#1 STAR TREK 2
Feature Film | Producer/Director

Still waiting on official word that this movie is happening but I loved the first and I’ve never been a Star Trek guy.