Super 8 (2011)

Who likes lens flares? Ending aside, this may have been the best action movie of 2011. J.J. Abrams is a great director who knows how to keep the story going and the audience involved. And if you have "Friday Night Lights" star Kyle Chandler in one of the leads, I'm in.

Circa 1979, Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney) and his father, Deputy Jack Lamb (Chandler) have suffered a tragedy. Jack's wife has died in an accident at the factory where she worked. After some time has past, Joe turns to making films with his friends as a way to cope. While making a low-budget zombie movie, the gang witness a horrific train accident caused by one of their teachers. The teacher briefly survives and tells them to never talk about what they've seen or they will be killed. They all agree, but strange things soon start to occur around town. Animals and people start disappearing, and now Deputy Jack wants answers from the Air Force, who is conducting the "cleanup." Without giving too much away to those who haven't seen this, it's a sci-fi movie. Take what you will from that.

My favorite aspect of Super 8 was that it's equal parts action flick and conspiracy film. The action was well-balanced throughout with the more dramatic scenes involving Joe's family and love interest. For being a sci-fi movie, the scenes felt believable. Like they could happen in real life, if this was at all possible. The last 25-30 minutes or so kind of lost the tone of the movie. It wasn't bad, it just didn't totally fit. I still highly recommend this movie, but the grade for the first half of the film would've been higher than the grade for the full film. Grade: B+