Visitors Review

filipeduarterusso (2012-05-25 18:45)

Truly terrible !

This is without a doubt, one of the worst movies I ever watched in thecinemas.After watching the trailer, I thought I was gonna see an intelligentmystery with an intelligent plot.I was wrong. I was presented with a movie with a ridiculous plot,mediocre actors (more on this later on), and with a story that has beendone so many times before. It is basically a movie for teens-kids, butthe real problem is that it seems to have been done by...well, kids.Regarding the actors, I gotta say the young ones did a fairly good job.Ironically, I thought that the worst acting in the movie came from theolder actors. The reason I give it 2 stars instead of 1 is because Ithought the kids did a fairly good job acting and also because someamazing visuals in one or two scenes.But what most bothered me is the misguided advertising. This movietries to advertise has serious thriller-mystery, but in reality is morea semi-adventure mixed with family and sci-fi genres. If you are looking for a serious movie do yourself a favor and skip it.If you are looking to have some fun with the family and kids maybe it'snot that bad of a choice. Just make sure to turn off your "intelligentmovie scanner" and turn on your "I know it's gonna be bad, but let'sjust try to enjoy it for what it is".

(2012-05-25 15:10)

Enjoyable movie, but kind of falls a bit flat. (potential SPOILERS)

This review is from: Super 8 (Amazon Instant Video) I have read alot about parallels to E.T. and such regarding this movie. I would say those are loose comparisons at best. While there is a scene that is specifically reminiscent of E.T., this movie is quite a bit different. The alien, for one, actually eats people, and is far from the small, cute, and cuddly alien featured in E.T...also, it doesnt really develop relationships with people. It is seeking a way to "go home", as it were, and there is a military quarantine. Anyway, the cast was pretty good, and the interaction between the featured children (of tween age i think) was decent. The premise that they were filming a zombie movie when they end up witnessing a train derail, which ends up freeing the alien, was pretty cool. The local animals fleeing the area (presumably due to the presence of an unnaturally large predator) seemed like something that would actually happen.Where the movie falls flat to me is...the alien is a massive predator, eating people, and destroying a bunch of stuff, but is also cast as a sympathetic character. They try to rationalize this approach by saying that it learned to hate humans after it was initially captured (Roswell), held prisoner, tortured and tested upon by our military scientists. It is able to communicate telepathically through contact (would that be empathically?). Still, it doesnt seem to care about the humans it captures for food, even though they are just ordinary folks with no ties to the military or their scientists. Yet, when the star tween touches him, he suddenly decides not to eat anybody else, and rather focus on finishing his ship and leaving.There is no fond farewell, no conversation outside of a single empathic moment between the tween and the alien. It just kind of ends. The alien leaves and everybody is left to pick up the pieces of a shattered town. Presumably, the gov't would later say a hallucinogenic gas was released into the air accidentally by way of a weather balloon causing the locals to see things as they destroyed their own town (at least, i figure that is how this would play out in real life). The movie though...it just kind of ends. The alien leaves and everybody is happy (outside of those people who were killed by the now seemingly misunderstood alien). To me, the movie was basically a big build up where everybody is scared which then shifts suddenly and tries to become a social consciousness type message about kindness and understanding. Didnt really work for me. No real peak...the movie just kind of flatlined. Had i known before watching this that JJ Abrams was the responsible party, i would probably have skipped this one, since i know better than to trust any project he is involved with. Nonetheless, i dont regret watching this movie, but i was far from impressed.

(2012-05-24 20:27)

Spielberg as if Stephen King wrote the script

Too gory for a kiddie film, this is nevertheless a wonderful picture dealing with friendships, both terrestrial and other. The creature is King-like (Stephen, that is). Very well done and beatifully crafted. 5/5.

Carlibra (2012-05-24 07:11)

Almost unwatchable for me

This movie is so lame on so many levels, where to begin? Direction - do we have to have a crane or a moving camera for every shot? Lighting - same problem as in "Star Trek" blue light smears all over the screen, very annoying! Don't you know about the lens shade yet? Acting - most of it is amateur over-acting & over-reaction. Plot - the main plot and sub-plots just don't ring true. Final scene - totally unbelievable. I walked out mubbling "crap" and I could hear another couple mentioning the same thing. Hollywood, we don't need or want anymore of your crappy, gimicky, stupid movies. This movie is a failure! Any critic claiming this is a great movie is just over-hyping it and is unsophisticated. Time Mag. says, "The year's most thrilling movie." Scratch that critic off my list....

(2012-05-22 08:37)

This movie is "Mint!"

I saw Super 8 at IMAX today. LOVED it and want to see it again, soon! I laughed, I cried, and I jumped up out of my seat 8 times! It was a fun, fun nostalgic ride on an early summer afternoon. The late 1970's music, costumes, location, and set props were right on. Fantastic cinematography, sound design, and special affects.Ahhhh, but this movie has heart in the story and in the acting. Kyle Chandler, Elle Fanning, and the new young actor who plays Joe Lamb steal the movie. This 'coming of age' story is set in a more innocent time, before middle schoolers began 'hooking up.' The rest of the kids who make up the motley film crew are believably hilarious. Each cleverly has his or her own specialty in film making. You can only imagine a young JJ Abrams doing the same thing when he was a boy.Super 8 is not the BEST movie I've ever seen, and the ending is somewhat predictable. But it is the BEST movie I've seen in a long, long time.

(2012-05-21 16:45)

Abrams is "Super"

J.J. Abrams has not made a lot of films, but each film has been very good, embracing the genre and giving fans something to celebrate. Even "Mission Impossible III", derided because of Cruise's shenanigans, was very good, better than the first two installments. But each film has been a stepping stone. Considering the quality of these films, the possibility of a filmmaker of Abrams' skill and caliber working on a personal project has been tantalizing.Now, with "Super 8", Abrams makes a film based on his own idea. He blends all of his superlative filmmaking skills with a personal story and the effort is almost magical. "Super 8" is by far the best film I have seen this year. And it will take a lot for a new film to take this position away. It just may end up as the best film of the year.Set in small town Ohio, in 1979, a group of kids gets together to make a film using their super 8 cameras. Originally a zombie film, the director, Charles (Riley Griffiths), a pudgy kid from a large, noisy family, decides his magnum opus needs more drama, so he enlists the help of Alice (Elle Fanning), who his friend and cameraman, Joe (Joel Courtney) has a crush on. The whole group sneaks out at midnight and heads to the local train station. As a train approaches, Charles shouts for the crew to get ready, he wants to capture the "production value" of the train speeding by. But a truck soon appears and begins driving directly for the locomotive. The kids watch in horror as the truck crashes into the train and the whole thing derails. They run for their lives, trying to escape the carnage. As the dust begins to clear, they realize there have been no injuries amongst them and run off just as ominous government agencies begin to arrive to do the clean-up. Charles and Joel also find the camera. It is broken, but they decide to develop the film anyway. Over the next few days, Joel's dad, Jackson, the Sheriff (Kyle Chandler) begins to realize something strange is going on; dogs begin to disappear, then his boss is missing, then the government steps in and gives him a story about the train wreck. Jackson confronts Nelec (Noah Emmerich), the leader of the army's 'clean-up' efforts. Just as the rumors begin to fly, and stories of mysterious sightings begin to circulate, the town is evacuated because of a wild fire. Joel and his friends try to escape to figure out what is going on.From the moment "Super 8" begins, you know you are in for something special. Abrams sets the film in 1979 which also seems to be a homage to the sort of film his mentor, and producer of the film, Steven Spielberg made during the same period. Everything about the film seems authentic and real. People are wearing new Walkmans. The clothes and cars are all period specific. The attitudes are even a little more innocent. Even better, when Abrams decides to feature some new-fangled item, like the Walkman, for instance, it becomes a part of the story. This takes the moment from being a simple wink-wink nudge-nudge type of thing and shows how clever Abrams really is. It is very easy to make a visual reference like this. It is much more difficult to make it a believable part of the story. Abrams always does the more difficult and makes it work.Charles is part of a large, noisy family who seems to be bursting out of the walls of their house. Yet, there is always room for Joe at the table. Joe and Charles are best friends and this helps to make the film seem even a little more nostalgic. In fact, there seem to be more similarities in this film to Spielberg's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" than to the oft-mentioned "E.T.". Charles large family and their crowded dinner table are similar to the Neary family's. At one point, an electrician is fixing a power line. He stands in the bucket on his truck and rises toward the junction box. Roy Neary was also an electrician who is trying to fix massive power outages. "Close Encounters" is set in Indiana, "Super 8" in Ohio, Both feature people from small town America dealing with something they could never have imagined.The real key to the success of "Super 8" is the kids. Everyone of them gives a good performance and really raises the bar for future child actors. Joel Courtney plays Joe, the son of the local Sheriff. A family tragedy puts a strain on the relationship between the two and Joe escapes the pressures of his everyday life with his large group of friends. Courtney is just so natural, so at ease, he never seems like he is acting. He deals with his grief, with his dad, with the drama in his town like anyone his age would. They escape into the making of their film. Joe is also extremely nervous when Charles announces he has asked Alice to act in the film because he has a huge crush on Alice and becomes a bit tongue-tied. Joe becomes the hero of the film, fighting every inch of the way to find out what is going on and then fighting to end the problem. It is a very good, richly observed performance. More amazing, this is Joel Courtney's first film.Riley Griffiths plays Charles, the director of the film the kids are working on. It is difficult to tell for sure, but I will bet that this character is closely modeled after Abrams when he was a kid. Charles is a funny guy; his face always buried in a movie magazine, thinking of new scenes, new ideas to make their film that much better. He has clearly read everything he could possibly get his hands on and relishes every bit of it, even the stuff he doesn't completely understand. At the train station, he walks around framing the picture with his hands; he seems obsessed with capturing 'production values', like the real train passing. When they retrieve the camera after the wreck, they take the film to the local photo shop and send it away to be processed. His performance is funny, but not overly jokey; he is just a normal kid who loves everything about filmmaking. More amazing, this is Riley Griffith's first film as well.Elle Fanning, the veteran of the group, is very good. Alice seems intrigued to be involved in the film, but she is also asked to help provide the transportation for the group, which puts her on edge when the Sheriff's son shows up. She doesn't have a driver's license and is afraid of getting into trouble. But Joe quickly puts her at ease. When they arrive at the train station, they are all amazed by her acting ability. Throughout the course of the film, she and Joe spend a lot of time together and become closer and their relationship provides many sweet innocent moments to the film.The rest of the kids are all great. Each is different, fun and unique.Kyle Chandler does a great job as Jackson, the man who is a Sheriff first and a dad to Joe second. He quickly realizes something is going on and becomes even more determined to figure things out when he meets Nelec and realizes they aren't telling him the whole truth. His town is experiencing something big, and it consumes him, so it takes him a while to realize his son is getting into mischief. But when he does, he quickly puts a stop to it. Then he becomes busy again, leaving Joe to his own devices. The relationship between the two is not good, and hasn't been good for a long time. Then, the family tragedy only pulls them further apart. Chandler does a very good job of showing us all of the different responsibilities Jackson is dealing with.Toby Emmerich adds another shady government/ villain-type role to his resume. The role is good, believable and suitable for the story. But the character actor has played this role before, many times.Ron Eldard plays Louis, Alice's no-good dad. Louis is haunted by many demons and adds complexity to the film.The real beauty of "Super 8" is that Abrams is simply a great filmmaker. He seems determined to make films in which he reveals as little as possible about the creature/ monster/ alien/ threat to the main characters as possible. In "Cloverfield", a film he helped write and produce, the threat is viewed in brief snippets, often in grainy cell phone or camcorder footage. For the majority of the film, you never see it fully. This does two things. It makes the menace more believable and it creates more suspense. Because we can't see the whole thing, we are less likely to find fault in it, or to disbelieve in the existence of it. Also, because the threat is revealed in small, fleeting moments, we are never sure when it will show up. I know some people don't like this film, but the cinema verite style, the unknown cast and the snippets of footage of the creature all served to create a memorable monster film.Abrams continues this same sort of idea in "Super 8". The threat to this small town is not revealed for a long time. But to maintain suspense, we see bits of what it can cause. Joe watches through small, high windows as things fly into the air. The electrician watches things happening in a maintenance building in the distance. Even when we are placed close to the action, Abrams uses some fairly brilliant methods to hide the identity of the threat.When everything starts to fall into place and we realize what is going on, it all makes sense and we are committed to the ride because we have spent so much time in this universe, with these characters.It is also unusual (unfortunately) for a summer film to capture any emotion, let alone anything that could seem real and move us. In "Super 8", Abrams sets up the story with a sad event, which helps to inform us of the relationship between Joe and Jackson. And throughout the story, we see how strained their life together is, how difficult. And this all leads to a very emotional moment, which I confess, made me tear up.Ultimately, "Super 8" has moments that are funny, scary, suspenseful, exciting, dramatic and more. It has everything. Better yet, everything seems necessary to the characters and the story.A couple of weeks before the film was released, I watched the trailer for "Super 8" before another highly anticipated summer film. After the trailer, someone mumbled "E.T., phone home" causing some laughter. But this remark is more of a compliment than a dig. Abrams has captured the same sort of innocence, the same sort of wonder Elliot and his brother and sister experience in "E.T." And because of this, he captures the same sort of innocence, the same sort of wonder for us to relive.If it sounds like I am gushing, I am. Go see this movie. Go. Go already.

(2012-05-20 21:59)

Entertaining, engrossing and extra-terrestrial - Derivative but from the very best

Super 8 is admittedly not a perfect film, but I enjoyed it so much, and was so taken by the characters and the actors playing them, that I didn't really mind the occasional inconsistency or lingering "awed expressions" scene.Set in a small town in Ohio in 1979, the basic plot centers around Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney), a 13-year-old boy whose mother recently died in a factory accident, leaving him with only his father, Jackson (Kyle Chandler), a sheriff's deputy who's a more than decent man but who has never known how to really be a father. Jackson's escape is burying himself in his work, while Joe's is helping his best friend Charles (Riley Griffiths) make an amateur zombie movie with the help of their other friends Preston (Zach Mills), Martin (Gabriel Basso) and Cary (Ryan Lee). But Joe's involvement becomes truly committed when Charles persuades Alice Dainard (Elle Fanning), a girl he secretly has a crush on, to join the project.Things taken a sudden turn when, in the midst of shooting a midnight scene at the local railroad depot, Joe sees a pickup truck suddenly drive onto the tracks, directly in the path of an oncoming freight train, resulting in a spectacular crash that sends freight cars derailing everywhere and the shocked kids running for cover. The plot quickly thickens when Joe gets a glimpse of something bursting out of one of the freight cars, and when they find the driver of the pickup, badly injured, is Dr. Woodward (Glynn Turman), their biology teacher, who warns them to get away and to never speak of what they've seen to anyone or they - and their parents - will be killed. And then there's the knocked over Super 8 camera that has been continuing to roll throughout everything, capturing something that no one else saw while they were busy tried not to get crushed by flying debris. Something that will become important later as strange things begin to happen: dogs fleeing the town for no apparent reason, car engines and other pieces of machinery being stolen, people suddenly disappearing. And of course the massive influx of military personnel who are crawling all over everything while their commander, Col. Nelec (Noah Emmerich) blandly insists that there's _nothing_ going on.The characters are well drawn, fleshed out with real personalities, quirks and flaws, and you very quickly come to care about them. And the actors, most of them either fairly unknown or newcomers, are marvelous, the kids in particular as they're at the heart of the film, but also the adults, particularly Kyle Chandler and Ron Eldard as the two fathers linked - and separated - by tragedy, each not doing so well at dealing with it. Joel Courtney as Joe has one of those faces that projects everything he's feeling, from the distance he's experiencing with his dad to the secret yet painfully obvious crush he has on Alice. Riley Griffiths as his best friend Charles is a perfect counterpoint, pursuing his film with single-minded determination but holding other things in. Ryan Lee's pint-sized braces-laden (and explosives-crazy) Cary is a riot, as is Gabriel Basso's Martin as the zombie film's leading man who has an unfortunate tendency to puke a lot, while Zach Mills' Preston has the healthiest fear-instinct of the crowd. And last but not least, Elle Fanning's Alice is a wonder, a sensitive girl with her own father issues whose unexpected natural talent at acting leaves the boys with their jaws hanging.Super 8 is highly derivative, but in a good way. It draws on the best parts of any number of movies from the past, most notably E.T. (1982) and The Goonies (1985) but also films like Joe Dante's Explorers (1985) , The Bad News Bears (1976) and, more recently, Son of Rambow (2007), a little seen but marvelous independent British film about a couple of boys with family issues who bond over making an amateur movie.Note: in one scene, there's a definite tip-of-the-hat prop taken right out of Spielberg's E.T. Just keep your eyes peeled when the camera closes in on the water tower near the climax of the movie and see if anything looks strikingly familiar.There are admittedly weak points in the film, mainly where it seems uncertain of just which direction it wants to take or where inconsistencies tend to be glaring. Is the alien dangerous and deadly... or just misunderstood? Is the alien killing people... or just holding on to them for a while? The trouble is that in different parts of the film it's definitely one, but in other parts of the film it's the other. And the climactic lingering "awed expressions" scene does feel at odds with the the life-threatening dangers the characters were experiencing earlier (not to mention the burning shambles half the town has been reduced to). Another weak point is the villain, Col. Nelec (I suspect the name Nelec is an in-joke of some kind), who is never anything but a cliched military bad guy. But as I said, while these things do keep it from being a perfect film, they don't in the end get in the way from it being an engaging and enjoyable one.Highly recommended for anyone who likes an engaging film that sucks you in and keeps you involved all the way through, and that values story and character over special effects and stars.

John DeSando (2012-05-20 11:55)

Right at home

Audiences will feel right at home in director J.J. Abrams' and producerSteven Spielberg's Super 8, an homage to Abrams' Cloverfield with itsfound footage motif and to many of Spielberg's child-like, home-drivenimaginative films such as E.T.Summer action doesn't get much better as adolescents like Elle Fanningstruggle against the army, aliens, and parents who just don't get it.The cinematography is Abrams worthy, action dominant but with thecamera frequently at a distance that allows full appreciation, ratherthan claustrophobia. The team of adolescent buddies filming a zombiemovie can't be anything but Spielberg as an enterprising youngfilmmaker.That team witnesses and films a horrific train accident that is notyour garden variety disaster: it carries inside it strange Rubik's Cubeobjects and the hint of alien life that gives life to what could havebeen a standard teen alienation-from-parents story.As in several of Spielberg's film, getting home, be it kids reconcilingwith parents or aliens trying to leave, is the central motif along withthe splendor of fighting the teen age monsters within and growing upamid disaster. In Super 8, the teens' comic relief is regular andsophisticated, the interaction with parents and other authority figuresjust mature enough to keep respect flowing both ways.Summer is reaching its peak, the skies are full of stars, and motionpictures will offer relief from the heat as well as, in the case ofSuper 8, a fun action film that will make you remember other sci-fi butacknowledge that the Abrams/Spielberg team does it all better thananyone else could do.

Bailey Rose (2012-05-20 03:42)

Not bad at all.

I don't quite understand why there are so many people who didn't likethis film. I'll admit it had it's unnecessary and cliché moments, but Idon't think that it's enough to be getting upset over. I thought thiswas a wonderful film.The best part, by far, were the performances of the kids. Elle Fanning,Joel Courtney, Riley Griffiths, Ryan Lee, Zach Mills, and Gabriel Bassoall did a fantastic job. Their dialogue was believable and realistic,and just the way they communicated was quite amusing. Several great andfunny quotes in this film from the kids. Well done to all of them!The special effects really were special. The train crash wasexaggerated, but a thrilling scene to watch. Listening to how the kidsreact while watching them escape was very exciting. Not to mention thescenes near the end that take place in the town. Overall, this was athrilling film.The ending was a bit strange, and I didn't fully understand why itended that way until I re-visited the film. Eventually, I understoodhow and why it ended the way it did. It could've been better, but itwas alright.I'd recommend this film. Especially if you love sci-fimystery/thrillers. 7/10 stars.

MikeD (2012-05-19 21:17)

Loved It!

Was a little skeptical after reading some reviews but saw it anyway. Correctly if I'm wrong but isn't the point of a movie to entertain you? It was nothing like Cloverfield. Acting was great, story was great and ending was just as great. I didn't need to see 2 hours of the monster, I loved the suspense of it all leading up to they showed it. Sometimes I think many here just go to find something wrong with it and rip a movie to shreds. Go watch a ball game, go fishing, why waste your money on going to the movies if you can't just enjoy it for what it is. Anyway, go see it, it was great if you love going to the movies for the right reasons.

JoeKarlosi (2012-05-18 15:16)

Super 8 (2011) ***

A group of kids from Ohio in 1979 are making a Super 8mm zombie moviewhen they witness a massive train wreck. They soon realize that thecircumstances surrounding it are supernatural in nature.I don't want to spoil anything, so I'll just say that I enjoyed thisscience fiction thriller which functions much like an old 1950s monstermovie. The film takes awhile before clicking together and making sense,and when it does it's a very rewarding ride. I appreciated that eventhough it utilizes heavy CG effects, these did not overpower the story.The characters are well-written, and we're able to invest some emotionin them. Even though the story depicts a savage and deadly giantmonster (sort of echoing CLOVERFIELD), somehow we are able to feelsorry for it and sympathize with his goal as revealed later in themovie. Young actress Elle Fanning is the sister of Dakota Fanning (whoI enjoyed in HIDE AND SEEK and WAR OF THE WORLDS), and it's plain tosee that acting talent runs in their family.There didn't seem to be any real need to make the incidents occur inthe retro period of the 1970s or to have them engulf a group ofchildren filming their own home movie project, but as a fan of monsterflicks and the '70s myself, this was an extra bonus for me to treasure.Rating: GOOD (*** out of ****)

ryan-62-694990 (2012-05-18 05:18)

Supremely disappointing and shallow

Although I could create an extensive list of cliché one-liners, obviousinconsistencies, and totally unrealistic occurrences (even for a PG-13sc-fi movie), the underlying reason that I will influence friends tonot see this movie is because the plot was weak and shallow.First of all, there are actually 4 subplots that a viewer has to jugglebetween!1) A budding romantic relationship between the two main (middle school)characters 2) Mending a tense father-child relationship(s) (also withboth main characters) 3) A group of early teens helping the alienreturn home and... 4) A son finding a way to cope with the loss of hismother *I might not have deemed 4) as a plot line if it wasn't for theintentionally-dramatic "letting the alien take mom's locket" scene asthe last scene in the movie*These plots were all given fairly even amounts of attention and whilethey did have some connecting, because there is not much screen-time ortime dedicated to deepen dialogue within the individual plots, they allcome off as unimportant.While it does have a fair amount of suspense, the action sequences aretypical at best.Overall, just a flat-out poor showing by high profile names (and a $45mbudget).Like I mentioned in the beginning sentence, there are so many thingsthat just don't make any sense. But the biggest question I had walkingaway is why did the Air Force end up killing Dr. Woodward??? There wasno reason for his murder whatsoever! (Not considering the fact that hewas still alive after a head-on collision with a speeding freighttrain). It's almost funny how drastic that decision was by the "evilAir Force Sargent," Nelec.

mifunesamurai (2012-05-18 11:23)

It had all the elements, but...

It began as an entertaining movie with lovable and heartwarmingcharacters, but it got sillier as it attempted to search for an ending.There were plenty of ways for the storyline to thread through, but thewrong path was chosen and after all that wonderful and playful builtup, it fell flat on its face.The most enjoyable aspect of the movie was the kids making the super 8zombie film (I did it back in the late seventies). While all themadness was occurring around them, they persisted in trying to completethis film, utilizing the chaos. It was fun to see the shenanigans thekids got up to make such a film and what goes on behind the scenes ofmovie making is just like the grown-up world of filmmaking. The teenagelove interest on the set was also a pure delight.The other interesting aspect of the film was the distrust of themilitary, who mislead & jeopardized a peaceful town for their owninterest. The same as today, but with the media taking on the role.Production values where of the highest order, enhancing the visualstory telling. It's just a shame that not too much thought went intothe last act of the screenplay. But overall it was fun and worthmunching on popcorn while watching it.

(2012-05-17 16:02)

STR8 TRASH! WAT A HEIST!

This review is from: Super 8 (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy) (Blu-ray) Who let Spielberg get away with highway robbery? Who turned their heads & allowed this guy 2 steal this kind of $$$ 4 this garbage?! No 1 was watchin' the cookie jar when he put his hand in & emptied it! This movie should have gone str8 2 the dumpster right out the camera! The kids did a good job with what they had 2 work with. Who ever created this mess should be flogged! Horrendous story! Good job kids! Not worth the harddrive it was saved on! I rate this a -5!!!

NanoFrog (2012-05-16 23:27)

Empty cloverfield clone with less interesting ending

Cloverfield Clone with a higher budget and a far less, strangelycomplicated story line with no ending at all, which is not a spoiler.Spielberg makes the most predictable films and with market cynicismtargets this movie to young kids, mostly male. I found this movie to besuch an empty clone that one wonders if JJ Abram is not really just aone film guy. I am at the point where when a film has Spielberg's nameon it, I know the film will be glossy, fancy and utterly empty. Thechildren in this show is where the story centers, but boy does thisfilm lead to so many unanswered questions. Some important scenes seemto be missing, as there are many unexplained developments here. Whilemildly entertaining in a shallow way, I cannot understand at all thegood reviews this disjointed film has earned to date.

(2012-05-16 00:59)

Some fine performances

This review is from: Super 8 (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy) (Blu-ray) Especially by a couple of the younger performers in the movie within a movie at the beginning, remarkable. My grandchildren younger than 9, didn't make it thru, those older, loved it. I enjoyed it. If only the train wreck wasn't so over the top. Fun. Some nice movie references buried for those who know.

quirkyjoe-232-901549 (2012-05-15 18:00)

Better then expected and worth seeing!

I just want to say that I really enjoyed this film and I could sit downand watch it all over again. If you haven't seen it, the go rent it andsit back and enjoy the ride but don't take it to serious, it is aimedat the middle school to high school age group in my opinion. Anotherreviewer mentioned that it had an E.T. feel to it and I would have toagree. It even gave me the same feel good feeling while I was watchingit. I thought the acting was very good for most, especially ElleFanning.. She was simply amazing. About the only thing that was alittle over the top was the train wreck, although it was cool; just notvery realistic. But then few movies (if any) are perfect. It's wellmade and worth seeing.

KexUK (2012-05-15 11:55)

charmingly entertaining

The assessment of whether any film is good or bad is very simple forme: I just apply my golden rule 'did it carry me out of my ownreality.' Not for me the analytical approach: was the story linesufficient?. the directoral approach effective? the action scenestechnically efficient? the acting superlative? I have no need of suchego-driven parameters that cause me to trip and stumble out of theimagined world into which I have willingly walked.When I pay my time (and money) to watch a film I simply want to betransported into a 'believable virtual world' of someone else'simagination. I simply want to be 'entertained', which is the realdefinition of the exercise in which I am involved.This film performed this task admirably. It was thoroughlyentertaining. If it had any spots or pimples they were in places ofit's anatomy that I did not trouble to look. I was too busy beingentertained and enjoying it and there were no aspects of it's menu thatgave me mental or emotional indigestion at any point in my consumption.Charmingly entertaining!

robnels2000 (2012-05-15 04:03)

Wow Close Encounters meets ET, mix in a little jaws. Could this look like any more of Spielberg's movies?

Just saw the most boring movie in a long time.I had a free pass so I decided to try Super 8, even though I was warnedI figured what the heck it's free.I was over charged!I was bored to sleep; I fell asleep for 15 minutes and still was ableto follow this turd. I have seen slow movies but this one moved like aglacier. It wouldn't have been so bad if the story was more involved,or interesting.I don't know what was dumber the woman at the town meeting blaming theSoviets for stealing her microwaves, or that it killed most people itencountered but took 3 people and hung them upside down in its layer,were they a food supply? No explanation is ever given. I think the most predictable and most unbelievable point is the factthat 6 kids solved the mystery and their parents, along with the restof the adult cast were to blind, or dumb, to see the resolution. I halfexpected to see a ship shaped like a giant Christmas tree ornament atthe end.

steve_gator (2012-05-14 17:44)

I don't get it

I don't understand why so many voters rated this movie as high as theydid. I admit I entered the theater blindly half expecting the movie tobe an adult drama. What I encountered is a movie seemingly tailored forthe 11 year old audience. The main characters were an annoying group ofchildren. The adult characters were not particularly well developed(character wise). The special effects were cheesy and over the top andthe story line was painfully long to unfold. I frankly expected morefrom a Spielberg film but maybe I shouldn't have. In addition to beingannoying, the children were often foul mouthed (a Spielberg pattern Iremember from ET). Like ET, I didn't see how these foul mouthedcomments in anyway improved the movie (unless you're ten years old andthink it was "cool").