Super 8

Impressions before seeing it
Like Cloverfield before it, Super 8 kept its trailers mysterious so that they didn't really betray what it was about. Mystery = interest, and it was getting good reviews, so high expectations.

How was it?
This was one of those movies that I was already liking in the first five minutes. It reminded me of The Goonies (and, I assume, Stand by Me, though I still haven't seen that one) because it was kids bordering on childhood and adulthood in a serious situation. These kinds of movies come with that wonderful sense of nostalgia for what it was like to be a kid and still feel like what you were doing was as important as what the grownups do. Even if it does take place in 1979, before I was born.

To explain it briefly, six kids are filming a movie when a crazy train crash happens right next to them. What they find spilling out of the cars, and the repercussions of the accident, lead to a lot of trouble and weird stuff happening.

With Spielberg producing, it's probably no coincidence that Super 8 feels like a Frankenstein of Spielberg films: there are elements of E.T., Close Encounters of the Third Kind, War of the Worlds, and maybe even a little Jurassic Park. And let's not forget that he also produced The Goonies, which I mentioned above. To some that may make J.J. Abrams look like a hack for writing this, but it's better to borrow a little from each than to take a lot from just one. Anyway, I'd say this film is just as much mystery as it is sci-fi. We see a lot of weird things going on without an explanation for them, and we don't get a good look at the crazy alien monster until late in the movie. But as fun as all of the special effects and action and weird occurrences were, I just liked watching the kids be kids. Amidst all the chaos, Super 8 is really just six kids trying to make a movie, and since I am fascinated by filmmaking, that was fine with me. As a bonus, you even get to see their finished short film in its entirety during the end credits.

Recommendation
I can see this one making my top 10 of 2011 list, unless 10 more really awesome movies come out in the next 6 months. Highly enjoyable, and all those child actors actually held up really well in the acting department. I'm going to go with the typical movie blurb line and say "If you only see one movie this summer, see Super 8!"