Super 8 (J.J. Abrams, 2011)

Steven Spielberg produces, and Super 8 reeks of his background presence, being a comic-tinged small-town suburban set-up with a scary alien menacing a checklist bunch of early-teen fledgling zombie film makers. It's The Goonies decontaminated of most of the screaming ADHD by being pushed through an American Graffiti filter, and then retargeted to cover most of the bases of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. and Monsters. This is wholly as unexceptional as it sounds: there is a hidden military meanie agenda and estranged fathers and children are reconciled. It'll entertain prepubescents who haven't yet seen all its sources and consequently doesn't serve much purpose for anyone older, besides the lovingly-crafted detail in its recreation of 1979, which takes second place to running around a lot after the opening half hour.

5/10