What if ET were a huge predatory alien?

Rating: 8/10 (24 August 2015)

This is a competently made film and a fun cross between Americana and sci-fi.It has Spielberg written all over it.
The movie succeeds at portraying young teenagers caught up in fantastic events. This a film with a fast pace and plenty of action. Loved the train wreck scene in particular. Wow.
A group of boys in their early teens are making a super 8 movie in a typical Ohio town. An older girl (Jen) is acting for them. Joe likes Jen, but there is a secret: Joe's dad is a deputy too busy for his son and Jen's father is a wreck and the reason Joe's mom is dead.
During one of their shoots, they witness a truck purposefully crashing into a speeding train, derailing and destroying it. The man in the truck (miraculously surviving this) turns out to be someone they know, and he warns them to run and never talk to anyone about it.
After the derailment, the military takes over. There was something mysterious on the train. Afterwards, strange events befall the town. Dogs and people disappear. There is a large terrifying creature loose. The military evacuates the town and tries unsuccessfully to kill it. The boys get caught up in the military operation when they do some investigating to see what is going on. They find out that the alien has taken Jen, so they track it down to its lair and rescue her.
(spoiler) It turns out the alien was trying to use alien technology to construct a space ship to take it home. It succeeds.
In particular, I loved the dialogue and acting of the teenage boys here. Character development and capturing small-town Ohio in 1979 is a big part of the movie. It's very watchable, with plenty of thrills and touching moments.
Joel Courtney pulls it off as the young expressive lead. Riley Griffiths (now an enormous college football player) is great as the overweight young moviemaker. AJ Michalka plays Jen really well. The director succeeds in eliciting great performances here. Kyle Chandler and Ron Eldard (two of my favourites) are great as the dads.
A few false tones... The military is evil here -- once again. Also, why the magical moment as the alien takes off. We are supposed to conveniently forget the many it has killed. I guess the idea is that the alien just needed to survive.
Worth about 7.5, but I'm going to round it up. I've enjoyed it the three times I've seen it.