Super 8

I wasn't all that excited about Super 8.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a Spielberg softie as much as the next guy. And I do like a heartfelt tale of scrappy kids and monsters. But I'm not a big J.J. Abrams fan and the ad campaign seemed like it was trying to recapture the mojo from Cloverfield. We know there's something terrible in the train, we know there are going to be a bunch of jump scares, but we're left in the dark beyond that. The marketing campaign worked for Cloverfield because it was new and novel and we knew it was a creature feature, but the same tricks didn't work for Super 8. Watching the trailer was more annoying than enticing.

I've seen Super 8 a couple of times now and it's pretty much what you'd expect it to be. There are some kids and a monster and it's trying real hard to be Spielberg. It's perfectly engaging and interesting and charming and all, but...I dunno. I simply don't care any more beyond that. The kid's tragedy was suitably tragic, the weird kids looked and acted perfectly weird, and the monster was monstrous. Don't get me wrong, the movie gets the job done and I didn't leave feeling ripped off. I left without feeling anything. It's weird to bitch about a movie that hits all the right notes, but I just didn't quite emotionally connect to it.