Super 8 (2011)

  I wasn't very interested in seeing this when it first came out.  Don't get me wrong; I love Spielberg and I'm starting to really appreciate JJ Abrams.  The whole idea of it left me cold, though.  I mean, we already have The Goonies and E.T. so why would we need this one?  I'm all for video mash-ups but come on.

But New Boyfriend wanted to see it, so what the hell.  If it sucked I could just use it as leverage to make him see something I want to see that he doesn't, like Dead Snow. 

It doesn't suck.  In fact, if I had been in the 5th grade, it probably would have been my favorite movie so far this year.  New Boyfriend disagrees with me on whether this film is suitable for the younger set or not, mostly because he practically jumped out of his skin when the moster slams into an Air Force prison bus when all the kids are locked inside.  Why are five pre-teen boys locked in the back of an Air Force prison bus?  Watch and find out.

It's summer in the late 70's and Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney) has had a rough year.  Four months before school lets out, his mom is killed in a factory accident and his dad (Kyle Chandler), the town deputy, withdraws into a manly emotion-coma.  All Joe wants is to spend the summer helping his friend Charles (Riley Griffiths) finish a zombie film for submission to a young film-makers festival.  They even manage to get local age-appropriate hottie Alice (Elle Fanning) to be their female lead.  While filming a touching scene between the two leads, the kids witness a truly epic train vs pickup match.  In a surprise finish, the truck is the clear winner, being the lone survivor and the kids manage to talk the driver who turns out to be the school science teacher.  Meanwhile, a creature escapes from the train compartment and the US Air Force sweeps into town.  Most of this takes a backseat to the developing rapport between Joe and Alice, despite their dads' hatred for each other.  (Alice's dad was drunk and called out of his shift, which Joe's mother took and it got her killed.)  Can we say Romeo + Juliet, anyone?  But pretty soon, Deputy Dad is way too busy trying not to get his town annihilated by the monster or the military to give a damn about who his kid is hanging out with, especially after the sheriff disappears.

Then the creature takes Alice and it is on for some child gang rescue ops.  This is easily the best part of the movie, where the kids take matters into their own hands since everyone around them is either useless, distracted, or actively out to get them.

All of the child actors in this movie do great jobs in their respective roles.  I have some particular love for Cary (Ryan Lee), the pyromaniac with the severe overbite.  Doesn't everyone wish they had a bag full of illegal firecrackers at some point?  He's also the one most likely to end up with his name on several watchlists.  I respect that.