Movie Review: Super 8

On Friday I went to check out the film Super 8 with my youngest daughter and some friends. The early trailers for the film didn't do much for me, but when I saw the first full trailer, and realized that this movie was going to be an homage to personal favourite films of my own including E.T. and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, it quickly moved up my list of must-see films.

Set in 1979 in a town called Lillian, Ohio, the film follows a thirteen-year-old boy named Joe Lamb, who, with a number of friends is hard at work on a film they are making for an upcoming contest. The film follows this young group of friends through the making of their film which is interrupted by a train wreck which releases some thing into the area.

Overall I enjoyed the film, but much like the videogame Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, it felt almost like two seperate stories spliced in the middle. What begins as something sort of like E.T. very quickly begins to move in a different direction.

I was very impressed by the special effects and the acting on behalf of the kids - the three main kids: Joel Courtney, Riley Griffiths, and Elle Fanning all brought a great sense of fun and realism to the film that I found wonderful and refreshing.

The film does have a more than a few plot-holes, but is totally worth the watch and if you can, it does deserve a big screen viewing.

Bookmonkey's Top 5 Films to see in Summer 2011

Superheroes. This summer sure can’t seem to get enough of them and I’ve got to admit I’m feeling in the mood for some super-heroic films myself, hopefully I’ll try not to limit myself to only one sub-genre, but let’s see what’s coming out.

As with previous lists I’m trying to avoid listing the films I’ll probably see due to my kids, like the final Harry Potter Film or possibly Spy Kids 4 (oh, who am I kidding, I’m a big Robert Rodriguez fan at heart) or my BFF Mike (I think if I skipped Green Lantern it may irreparably damage our friendship) or the ones I’ll see but only if they are playing nearby (like August’s Don’t be afraid of the Dark, co-written and produced by Guillermo Del Toro).

Here they are, in order of release, my top five must list for theatre viewing this summer:

Thor: Here’s the thing about Thor, I started out wanting to see this movie simply because it’s directed by Kenneth Brannagh. Then I actually checked out some Thor comics (the ‘80s stuff by Simonson and the more recent run by Straczynski), and you know what, this movie just looks really fun. I’m hoping I won’t have to eat my words in a couple weeks, but for right now, I’m really excited about this movie.

Super 8: After seeing the first actual trailer, this movie looks like a nice throw-back to Close Encounters, but made by the guy who did the recent Star Trek reboot I liked so much. It looks like exactly the kind of alien-related fun I’m into.

X-Men: First Class: Here’s the thing, I just spent my last few months watching The Avengers, and one of the things that The Avengers helped influence was the Hellfire Club and specifically Emma Frost in the X-Men universe, both things that are going to be in the next film, add to that the movie has Nicolas Hoult, who I liked a lot in About a Boy and was really impressed by in Skins, and you’ve got a movie I’m going to be checking out.

Captain America: The First Avenger: I love the idea of setting a superhero movie in the Second World War. One of my favourite sub-genres of speculative fiction is alternate histories, so the idea of adding superheroes to a war movie seems like a really great cross-genre idea for me.

Fright Night: I loved the original of this, and in a way that makes me both excited and in fear for how this movie is going to go down. The original was both funny and scary, and the fact that this film will have previous Doctor Who David Tennant in it (doing the Roddy McDowall role from the original) has got me pretty intrigued into what this film will end up looking like.