Ok, I have not read the other posts in this thread so I am going to be repeating stuff others have brought up.
Super 8 (J J Abrams 2011)
After some introspection and listening to lots of other reviews (so yes not all ideas expressed in this review are my own).
Starting off with how I felt walking out of the cinema, an enjoyable film well made, but I had some doubts. The kids did so well with a good script and Elle Fanning, wow what a revelation. Still those doubts lurked, and over time (it has been a few months now) they have formulated.
The big problem with this film comes from the director's over blown action. Lets start with the train crash, WTF, is restraint a dirty word? This crash was ridiculous, that the guy who caused the crash survived was not the problem it was the length and destruction that was so over the top. Carriages that seemed to accelerate post crash so they could fly through buildings. The carriage that destroyed the building where the kids were filming hit it a significant time after the initial crash, but was still travelling at the same speed, or a greater speed, than the train was initially doing. How is this possible on flat ground?
I have already mentioned lack of restraint, but nowhere did this reveal itself better than in the race through town. What we had was a huge battle under way with the military firing, everything they have, in all directions, what were they shooting at? I did hear a review that said there was some comment about the machines running wild, so fine, but where is the justification for this. The alien can now, apparently, control huge numbers of machine and make them go wild, so why did it not use this awesome power to escape much earlier. If the alien did not cause the machines to run wild, why was there so much shooting going on at an unseen target, stupid and ridiculous that's what it was.
Lens flare, yes I get that lens flare is J J Abrams signature trait, but at least put it in places where there is justification. The huge flare as the kids ran across a dark field, what source of light caused that? All the flare did was take me out of the moment.
Character development, in particular the development of the bad guy. The alien gets its revenge on the bad guy, but who cares, I saw nothing that drew this character as anything but a one dimensional bad guy (even that dimension was a struggle). On a side note I wonder about peoples' desire, my own included, to see the bad guy, in any film, die for their sins. Or is it just that too often we are shown that the only "justice" is the death penalty.
So a fun film, yes, but put your brain into reverse so that fun is not spoiled by the ridiculousness of the film.
One word review: Ridiculous.