J.J. Abrams does it again with Super 8

     Super 8 was AWESOME!  The combination of Steven Spielberg and J.J. Abrams was brilliant as their unique styles blend in a beautiful harmony of adventure, childhood wonder, and suspense.  It feels like a combination of ET, Jurassic Park, Lost,  and The Goonies all rolled into one.  The kids were the best part of the film as their child like wonder was intoxicating.  Spoilers ahead... Yes, it is a monster/alien movie and like the movie Signs, this movie excels at showing very little of the alien and allowing the audience to imagine it themselves.  This technique makes the movie more of a thriller than a horror film which I greatly appreciated since I refuse to watch horror films.  The only disappointing part of the film was the ending.  It was too similar to the ending of ET.  After the alien has created havoc in the town he is finally allowed to go home, which was all he ever really wanted ("ET phone home" anyone??).  He completes his spaceship and flies off into the night sky with our main character, Joe and his dad looking on. Because of this, the end felt cheesy and was a huge let down from the excitement and wonder of the rest of the film.  Luckily, the short film that the kids make as a part of the end credits helps you leave the film in a good and upbeat mood but Spielberg and Abrams really needed to rethink their ending, it's been done already!

The Summer Movie Season has officially started with X-Men: First Class

      I absolutely loved X-Men: First Class.  What a great prequel to the X-Men saga.  James McAvoy is perfect as Professor X.  I truly believed he would grow up to be Patrick Stewart as I watched him transform the young Xavier into the adult headmaster of the school for mutants.  His style, his humor, his compassion and patience completely mirror his older self and predecessor, Stewart.  Kevin Bacon really seems to have fun with his role as the evil Sebastien Shaw, while Michael Fassbender as Magneto is good but not as dead on as Xavier.   There were some continuity issues that I noticed that don't quite fit with the X-Men movies that have come before, unfortunately, but the movie is so good that you tend to overlook those and just enjoy the experience.   SPOILER ALERT...... The movie explains the origins of Magneto and Professor X from the time they were children in the 1940's through the early 60's.  Their friendship and how it disintegrated is explored through the backdrop of the Cuban Missile Crisis and the first mission of the X-Men. 
     Continuity errors....X-Men: First Class shows that Xavier lost the use of his legs during the Cuban Missile Crisis and at the same time the two friends became enemies.  However, in X-Men: The Last Stand, Xavier is shown walking with Magneto in the 1980's and they are still friends.  Also, this new film states that Beast helped create Cerebro even though the first X-Men movie claims that Xavier and Magneto built it together.  Even with these inconsistencies, the movie makes some nice nods to the previous films by introducing the creation of Beast, an early encounter with Wolverine as well as the beginnings of Mystique and a nod to Xavier's eventual baldness.