Just in case if you guys are wondering why I'm holding back on my top 30 favorite movies, don't worry about it. The problem that was going on with my countdown was that I had to study for my finals, and I finished it. All I have to do now is wait and see if I passed my class. So I will continue with that eventually. Now, with that being said, I just saw Super 8, and the first half of that name sure lives up to its title! [IMG]http://i1111.photobucket.com/albums/h474/chenwei9/Movies/super8.jpg[/IMG] Before I even started to watch this movie, my brother and sister told me that they were going to see it with our friends from church. However, I couldn't go with them, because they didn't have enough room for me to with them in their car. That, and they didn't want to take 2 cars with them, just like how they did it when we went to see Kung Fu Panda 2, which I will eventually get into. Luckily, my grandma got a check from her insurance company that was enough for here to buy me out dinner at Applebee's and go see Super 8. Most of Abrams' recent work have either been okay, or just disappointing for me. And no, I'm not saying that Cloverfield was disappointing at all, only because it wasn't that bad. I'm just saying that Lost was disappointing for me. GOT IT?! This movie, I believe, was much better than his other movies. The teamwork between J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg couldn't have made this movie awesome, and just right. I wasn't expecting to think that this movie would be that good, nor was I expecting it to suck. I thought it was just going to be a good 2 hours to spare. 1, the 2 hours were worth sparing, and 2, I loved this film. It starts off with a kid, who's mother just past away in an accident, and becomes grieved about it. Cut to 4 months later, and school ends for the summer vacation. He hangs out with his friends, doing what they loved to do, and that is making movies. Their movies are more based off of horror movies, slasher movie, and zombie movies too. Until one night, while making one of their movies, they see a train accident, that so happens to be an Air Force train, carrying the alien inside. Their movie that they were making captured the alien, and how it looked like. So throughout the whole time, it starts to go, not only a sci-fi movie, but also a mystery movie too, as well as a suspenseful movie. This movie takes just about every single element of Steven Spielberg's past movies, which is what I adored about it. The kids acted more like the kids from E.T., the bus scene where the kids were attacked in the military bus felt a lot like when the T-Rex was attacking the car in Jurassic Park, and the premise felt sort of like Close Encounters in a way. And if there is one thing that I would like to add from J.J. Abrams, I might give it away. For those of you who seen the movie, you might know what I mean. The kids were great. They acted and felt like they were from the 70s, as well as everyone else. Most people might see this as a family movie, and might end up walking out, saying that it wasn't a family movie. It's not trying to be a family movie. The kids cuss out a storm! So it's kind of like Bad News Bears. And to top it all off, you even have a pot head in it too, as well as a alcoholic. Do I need to say more? No? Good, because that was pretty much all I can say. What can I say that I found bad about this movie? Hmm? ...well, there was the whole thing of the military forcing the town out, just so they can just attack at random. Seriously, did they even achieve anything? It was like they threw in a bunch of tanks and explosions, just for the sake of throwing in dramatization. It didn't make any sense at all to have any of that. That, and the theater that I watched it in made the movie too loud to watch. I was looking at my grandma covering her ears, and, yeah. I don't blame her. My eardrums started to hurt too. But other than that, this movie did not forget to show us the alien, just like my dad thought that Abrams wouldn't do. You do get to see how it looks like. But I won't give that away. The movie was better than I expect it to be. It is definitely worth the money. 4.5/5

[b]javie wrote:[/b] [quote]Seriously, did they even achieve anything?[/quote] [b]***********SPOILERS (maybe?)************************[/b] Well, obviously, in the end, no they didn't. However, I thought their reasoning was pretty obvious. Nelec, apparent head of this brand of research, was on a power trip and didn't want to let anything stand in his way to recapture the beast. They were laying a trap for the alien (as he specifically stated) by bringing him into the town. We were supposed to dislike the foolish arrogance of Nelec, and to that end the job was done well. Another thing I really liked about the film was Abrams' typical strong female character. She was still a kid, and most definitely still a girl, but she was first or foremost strong. I feel like a lot of people are overly harsh on Abrams due to Lost. I personally have mixed feelings on the subject. First of all, we probably wouldn't hate it so much if it weren't for the Lost fans. But really, the show had an interesting premise...the only problem was that it ran for too long, and as twist upon twist was revealed over the years, the premise was all but lost (zing!) and with it, all that made the show excellent. I think that the show was the victim of its rabid fanbase, and if they hadn't been so crazy into it, it would have died when it still lived as a work of beauty in our minds. That said, I really didn't care too much for the show. :P I don't see why you pluralized "movies" when you talked about his disappointing works. Also, I'm not sure what you're considering his works. He actually only directed two episodes of Lost, while co-writing and producing the rest. If we're going by his producer credits, it's really an impressive list: Forever Young, Alias, Cloverfield, Star Trek, Fringe, and Super 8, just to name a few. His writing credits? Armageddon, Mission Impossible 3, Fringe, Super 8 (again, just to name a few). Or maybe his directing credits, where pretty much everything he did was really solid. That said, I would disagree with your rating, and I think that once you see it again after it comes out on DVD, you may be inclined to agree. I think you might be affected by two factors. Firstly, you just saw it. Secondly, you had mediocre expectations to begin with. It was a decent movie, not quite forgettable, but I don't think I'd refer to it as 'super'. I'll recommend it to my friends and probably see it again on DVD once or twice, but that's about it.

To clarify, I'm not trying to insult you or your review, I'm just offering my two cents. :)

Yeah I liked Super 8 more than I expected to. I'd probably give it a 3.5/5. It's solid but has its own troubles. The young cast of unknowns did a great job and the writing for them was good as well. They really held the film together for me - I liked them and was concerned about their plight. Plus I enjoyed the angle that they're making their own movie. That's always appealed to me and seeing their work in the credits was a nice touch. The ending kind of fell away but I also enjoyed the way the film kept many of its secrets well into the second half, adhering to the rule that what is not seen is more intriguing than what is seen. It's one of the most enjoyable films I've seen this year.