In the industrial town of Lillian, Ohio, in the summer of 1979, Joe, JOEL COURTNEY, a boy whose mother recently died in an industrial accident and whose Dad is the local deputy sheriff, hangs out with his mates making a zombie movie on Super 8mm for entry into a Cleveland amateur film festival. One night, Alice, ELLE FANNING, is acting a scene for the movie at the railway station when something terrible happens.

Written and directed by J.J. Abrams, and executive produced by Stephen Spielberg, SUPER 8 harks back to the kind of film Spielberg was producing in the late 70s and early 80s - films like ET and others, that were set in small towns and focused on single parent families where the kids have some wonderful, sometimes scary, adventures. For much of its length, SUPER 8 is comparable with the best of these films; the small-town atmosphere is well captured, the kids - geeky would-be movie makers - are well portrayed, and the establishing train crash is very well staged.

At The Movies
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