Pretty Good

Rating: 7/10 (25 November 2011)

A group of kids start to make a movie with a Super 8 camera by railroad tracks when they witness a huge train derailment. In time they come to realize it was no accident.
This is basically a kids movie with some language: S-words and one F-bomb. Not good. The director was good in making an almost Disney movie with kids (the way they used to), but the language? Why? Why? Why? Other than that mis-step, this was pretty good.
However, if you are a Kyle Chandler fan, and I am, this is not his movie. The movie belongs to Elle Fanning as Alice and to Joel Courtney as Joe Lamb and the other kids who all performed well. Chandler is Jackson Lamb the town's deputy and he was excellent. He was at wits end trying to figure out what was happening in the town with people, dogs, power lines, car engines and microwaves disappearing; and he could get no answers from the military who had taken over the town.
Elle Fanning is becoming a major force in movies. Look out Dakota.
The CGI, cinematography and dialogues were all good. That train derailment was spectacular.
Near the end of the movie there was a bit of a continuity problem. The kids are in the underground cave and trying to get out, and the next scene has them on the main street of the town watching a space ship being built by the alien. Oh, you didn't know an alien was involved? Now you do. Not a big mystery here and you will have figured that out early on anyway. And, the promos seemed to give that away.
Stay while the credits run and you will see the Super 8 movie the kids made. It lasts a couple minutes and is rough but funny.
Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: One F-bomb and some S-words