Super 8

In Super 8, it’s 1979 and a group of kids have snuck out in the middle of the night to shoot a scene at a train station for a super–8 movie. Once there, they become witnesses to a horrible accident as a train wreck unleashes a mysterious terror on their town. Can the kids solve the mystery? Sure, if producer Steven Spielberg and Director J.J. Abrams have anything to say about it.

ClearPlay In Action!

People sometimes ask me if movie ratings are more lenient than they used to be, if filmmakers get away with more in PG and PG–13 movies. There’s no clear cut answer for this, and I cite Back to the Future, Goonies, and Gremlins from the ‘80s. These movies are ostensibly aimed at kids, yet there is an amazing amount of profanity, violence and crude humor in them. Call Super 8 a throwback to the ‘80s. ClearPlay edits more than 100 instances of profanity and several scenes involving bloody violence. ClearPlayed, the movie is appropriate for kids who can handle suspense and a scary monster.

How super is Super 8?…

There is a lot of fun to be had in Super 8, even if it doesn’t deliver satisfactorily on all fronts. The build–up is great, and the effects are spectacular, even when they stretch believability. The best of what it has to offer is the chemistry among the kids. The low point is the story that is slightly less credible than the plot of the super–8 zombie movie the characters are making.

Marty Nabhan—ClearPlay Wannabe Filmmaker

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence, language and some drug use.; 112 min; Directed By J.J. Abrams