X-Men First Class/Super 8

X-Men

Here's the one minute synopsis: Better than the third one, not quite as good as the second one, and way better than that Wolverine film. Otherwise the two leads are good, it has too many side characters to care about, and they black guy dies first (which I have to believe was intentionally ironic). Generally entertaining though.

Super 8

For most of its run-time Super 8 is a moderately entertaining, if mediocre, film that is completely undone by a bullshit final 20 minutes. Its not that the ending didn't make sense, it was just stupid, cliched and lazy. Since I can't properly make passive aggressive, petty, criticisms without discussing details stop reading now if you don't want to know any spoilers (though anybody who's alive will figure out whats going to happen halfway through).

Anyway film begins at a funeral in the late 70's for a mother/wife/saint who just died in a mill accident. The grieving husband is played by Coach Taylor from Friday Night Lights, who spend the whole film doing that squinty "I'm trying not to cry while still being tough but fair" look he perfected on that show. He and his son have never been close (we know this because one of the characters says "He doesn't know that boy") and now have to figure out how to deal with each-other. The son is helping his fat friend shoot a zombie movie and while in the process they witness an airforce train get run off the tracks and set an alien free. The rest of the film deals with everyone trying figure out whats going on, while coming of age, and whining about their dead mommies. Of course all this angst gives the main kid the strength to teach the Alien a life lesson about letting go of the past which is how he saves the world. Seriously. This is how it ends. No wait it actually ends with the alien ship's magnetic force pulling the dead mom's locket out of the kid's hand after he gives a speech about moving on. That is what we call subtext.

Its too bad because the film has a few interesting ideas (in particular a captured Alien that really just wants to be left alone an leave) which could have been built into something more interesting, and I generally think director JJ Abrams does good work. Unfortunately it gets too wrapped up in its earnestness, and desire to bludgeon every small point into the ground to effectively work. I guess what I'm trying to say is --- Super 8 isn't so super (its writing like that that makes grad school such a good investment).