Super 8

Last Saturday my wife and my daughter went to this movie with me. We have heard the reviews and with me a Spielberg fan and my wife a Lost fan it seemed like a story we could agree on.

Plus one thing we can all agree on is that it is not summer unless you go see a pure escapist movie.

In the movie one can certainly see the traces of the fifties monster movie that Spielberg must remember from his youth. In this movie Joel Courtney plays Joe Lamb a 13 year old boy whose mother has been killed in a mill accident four months earlier leaving him with just his Dad Sheriff's Deputy Jackson Lamb. This character is played by the extremely likeable Kyle Chandler of Friday Night Lights fame. It may be that Chandler is now incapable of playing anyone but an earnest, likable, do the right thing in a quiet unassuming way with as little emotion expressed as possible role but if this is the case there is no doubt that he has the role down pat.

Joe Lamb accompanied by his friends to help his best friend Charles ( played by Riley Griffiths) film a zombie movie for a local film festival. Elle Fanning plays Alice Dainard a girl both the boys admire who ends up playing the female lead in thier movie. During thier filming a train goes by, a crash occurs and the kids are swept up into a plot line right out of the fifties monster movies.

This movie tells us a story, the film centers on buidling suspense in an understated way. There are chills mostly bumps in the night to provide goosebumps but in the end both the visitor terrorizing the city and young Joe learn what he says is true " that bad things happen but you have to go on living. "

A lesson we should all learn. Take your kids, take your family, take your date this is a very good summer movie.