Film: Super 8

GENRE: Sci-Fi/Thriller
RATING: PG-13 for violence & language
RUNTIME: 1 hour and 52 minutes
STARRING: Joel Courtney (newcomer)
Kyle Chandler (FNL) Elle Fanning (Benjamin Button)
DIRECTOR: JJ Abrams (Star Trek, Mission Impossible 3)
WRITER: JJ Abrams(Alias, Lost, Felicity, Armageddon)
PLOT: In the summer of 1979, a group of friends witness a train crash and its precious cargo escaping, all caught on their video camera.

FIVE OBSERVATIONS:
1 Mix E.T. with Stand By Me with Close Encounters of the Third Kind with Cloverfield with Goonies with War of the Worlds and you’ll get a sense of what Super 8 is all about. (Not some bad company to be associated with.) This film is simply amazing and gets almost everything right.
2 My only big issue with this film is the use of Abrams patented lens flare that was used so extensively in Star Trek. There are some scenes in Super 8 that look like they were filmed in 1979 with the perfect amount of graininess and tone but the lens flare makes it look too contemporary. It’s a minor point but one I thought was worth mentioning.
3 The kids are amazing in this film. Their camaraderie is infectious. They bring so much life to this film. Joel Courtney’s performance as Joe Lamb is heads and tails above Henry Thomas’ Elliot role in E.T. I’,m just sayin’. Wow!
4 I found the ending a little too convenient and neatly done but overall a wonderful story that keeps you engaged the whole time. Makes me want to take my video camera and do some shooting this summer.
5 This film is definitely anti-drugs. They state it outright in a very hilarious scene.

RECOMMENDATION: See this in theatres now!
UPCOMING REVIEWS: 2011 Emmy nominations

Film: X-Men: First Class

GENRE: Action/Adventure
RATING: PG-13 for sexuality, violence & language
RUNTIME: 2 hours and 12 minutes
STARRING: James McAvoy (Atonement, Wanted)
Michael Fassbender (300, Inglourious Basterds)
DIRECTOR: Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass, Stardust)
WRITERS: Ashley Miller & Zack Stentz(Thor)
Jane Goldman & Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass)
PLOT: In this prequel, Charles and Erik recruit superhuman beings to help out during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

FIVE OBSERVATIONS:
1 James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender are the heart and soul of this movie. Their chemistry and extraordinary acting propel everything about this film. It makes it all the more tragic to know what is to come in future films.
2 I haven’t read the comics so I don’t know how true they are or if the continuity rings true with the other X-Men movies but to be honest, I really don’t care. This was just plain entertaining, even if you knew nothing about the X-Men.
3 Kevin Bacon makes a great villain. He’s played bad guys before but this performance stuck out to me for some reason. Maybe it was his creepy mustache in his first scene.
4 While there are some great action sequences and explosions, there were a couple of special effects that bordered on cheesy. Beast running fast and Erik overturning the lab in Germany come to mind.
5 The parental guide states that there is “one memorable use of the F-word”. They could not be more correct. Funniest moment in the whole movie. It happens during the recruitment montage. It still makes me laugh.

RECOMMENDATION: Some nice Special FX for theatres
UPCOMING REVIEW: Super 8