Super 8

"Production value!"


When I heard that Super 8 was a homage, of sorts, to Steven Spielberg's earlier movies like Goonies, Close Encounters and E.T. I was instantly ready to see it. When I hear all of the good reviews I was even more excited. So I talked my wife into seeing it with me instead of watching her swoon over Ryan Reynolds as the Green Lantern (which I'm sure will happen soon.) I got pretty excited to see the Amblin stamp at the front of the film. It seemed to set the stage.

The movie itself was great. It had a early eighties feel to it (I know it was set in 1979, but close enough.) One of the first thing I noticed was that J.J. Abrams use lighting as if it were from one of those earlier movies. I noticed the glare from lights across the screen, even in the underground scenes which was odd.

The kids in the movie were great. Much like E.T. the leads were played by new comers. Well, all except Elle Fanning who has been in plenty of movies. The lead boy, Joe was played by Joel Courtney. He was really good. Kind of gave me the same feeling as watching Elliot from E.T. The scenes with the kids are great. A typical 70'80's feel to them. The foul mouthed fat kid, the girl, the small kid with attitude, the tall awkward kid scared of everything. Made me think of Goonies.

The story is about a bunch of kids who are making a zombie movie using a Super 8 camera, hence the name Super 8. While filming the movie late one night a train wrecks and they are witness to all of it.The kids realize over the next few days that the Air Force was not moving plane parts like they claim, but something else. Something is causing strange things to happen across the town. They decide to keep filming their movie using the current situation to add "production value." They use the army vehicles littered around the town as backdrops for their movie.

It is a fun film. It is smart and although you have seen the basic premise of this film many times it never gets old. The story of the kids and how their families are connected to the past we'll keep you enthralled throughout the film. It has been one of the best movie I have seen so far this year. It is going to be a great summer. Well done 2011 way to step up to the plate.

9.5 out of 10

Kung Fu Panda 2

Thanks for carrying me up those last flights of stairs. I threw up on the third floor. You may want to have some one mop that up... an evil janitor maybe.

I was looking forward to seeing the sequel to the first film. I do like Jack Black and am a fan of his movies. My boys were also very excited to see this. We brought "Uncle" John along with us so he would enjoy a theater full of crazy kids along with us. I think I liked this one as well, if not more than the first. There is more action in this and more one-liner jokes. I have heard that it is better and worse than the first, so I guess it is a matter of opinion.

I thought this film was great. It is one film that I would be happy to go see for a second time in the theatre. I was very impressed with the difference between the first film and this. The first film was based mainly in the village and the second was in the village and the city. There were some scenes, Long shots, of the city where the "bad guy" was that were magnificent. I caught myself actually saying
"wow" and "what a great shot" even though I guess it is technically not a shot.

I think that this summer is shaping up o be a good one. Much better than last year. This will be the summer of sequels and if they are all as good as this one we'll be set.

8.9 out of 10