Super 8 – Movie Review by Kate

Super 8

Reel reviews for real people

Plot: In the summer of 1979, a group of friends in a small Ohio town witness a catastrophic train crash while making a super 8 movie and soon suspect that it was not an accident. Shortly after, unusual disappearances and inexplicable events begin to take place in town, and the local Deputy tries to uncover the truth – something more terrifying than any of them could have imagined. ~Paramount

Rating: PG 13 for intense scenes of sci-fi action and violence, language and some drug use

Starring: Joel Courtney,Elle Fanning, Kyle Chandler, Ron Eldard, Noah Emmerich, Zach Mills, Gabriel Basson, Ryan Lee, and Amanda Michalka

Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy

Director: J.J. Abrams

Producer: Steven Spielberg

Running time: 1:51

Kate says – 3 1/2 stars ” Super 8 is a good old fashioned sci-fi suspense thriller that’s a pays homage to an earlier, more simple time in American cinema (think E.T., Close Encounters, Stand By Me, Goonies).  This movie has a great story packed full of innocence, adventure, humor, suspense, young love, a scary monster, government secrecy and the plain and simple love of movie-making. Super 8 is written and directed by J.J. Abrams (Star Trek, Mission Impossible 3, Lost) and produced by none other than Mr. Movie, Steven Spielberg. While watching Super 8, I felt something that seems to be missing in most movies these days, a sense of joy wonder at the whole movie going experience.  Even though Super 8 has it’s fair share of action and special effects, Abrams somehow doesn’t let that over shadow the characters and their relationships.  The young cast of actors is refreshing and surprisingly good. And to top it all off, it’s NOT in 3-D!”

Ebert says – 3 1/2 stars “Super 8″ is a wonderful film, nostalgia not for a time but for a style of filmmaking, when shell-shocked young audiences were told a story and not pounded over the head with aggressive action. Abrams treats early adolescence with tenderness and affection.” (read full review)

USA Today (Claudia Puig) says - “Super 8 packs the emotional punch of vintage Steven Spielberg with the spectacular effects and sense of mystery at which writer/director J.J. Abrams excels…The young cast — particularly newcomer Courtney and the impressive Fanning — is mesmerizing.” (read full review)

EW (Lisa Schwarzbaum) says – ‘A’ “Loving, playful, and spectacularly well made, Super 8 is easily the best summer movie of the year — of many years. And I make that declaration with full knowledge that the season has just begun. It’s been eons since a movie has conjured up such intense, specific feelings, images, memories, and nostalgic fantasies about American summertime youth — everyone’s American summertime youth, regardless of current age, nationality, sex, or climate.” – (read full review)

Rolling Stone (Peter Travers) says – 3 stars “What happens when a kid with a camera finds reality rocketing beyond his eeriest alien fantasies? For answers, catch Super 8, a retro monster mash with a child’s heart, a prodigy’s unstoppable imagination and FX dazzle to spare. Writer-director J.J. Abrams and producer Steven Spielberg have tapped their youthful cellu­loid dreams to craft the ultimate home movie, a creature feature built to scare you silly and maybe save the world.” (read full review)

Snide Remarks (Eric Snider)  says - ‘B+’ “Abrams is remarkably adept at the art of good old-fashioned storytelling — in addition to being a whiz at the technical side of moviemaking — and “Super 8″ is a reminder of how often those crucial elements are missing from big studio productions. You draw the audience in with a story that has a hint of mystery to it, you give them characters to root for and situations they can relate to, and you take them on a ride. It’s simple to explain, hard to execute. Abrams gets it.” (read full review)

~Kate

Related articles

• No Secret: J.J. Abrams’ ‘Super 8′ Is Thrilling and Great (time.com)
• Steven Spielberg and J.J. Abrams discuss how they met and reveal the true origins of ‘Super 8′ (insidemovies.ew.com)