“SUPER 8” My rating: B-
112 minutes | MPAA rating: PG-13
J.J. Abrams’ highly-anticipated “Super 8” is a riff on all those Spielberg-inspired films from the ‘80s in which suburban kids got sucked into other-worldly adventures.
“Goonies” is a big influence here. So is “E.T.,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and a half-dozen other titles.
As a work of homage, “Super 8” will have you tabulating references to all those movies. It makes for a diverting parlor game.
The film itself is a mixed bag. The first half is excellent, with Abrams and a spectacular cast of young performers delivering several strikingly original sequences.
And then “Super 8” becomes a movie we’ve already seen way too many times. It’s not awful, just discouragingly familiar.
Butler's Cinema Scene 