Steven Spielberg’s films are usually box office hits. It’ll likely be the same for what is for all intents and purposes a Spielberg film, just with a different name on the credits. “Super 8” was written and directed by J.J. Abrams (of “Lost” fame), but Spielberg co-produced and his imprint is all over the film. Think “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” meets “The Goonies.” A group of young teens are making a movie they hope gets into a statewide film festival, but the footage they get is beyond anything they imagined. They inadvertently film a train crash that unleashes some sort of evil upon their small Ohio city. If you like Spielberg’s films — and you aren’t bored by the thought of yet another one — you’ll likely enjoy “Super 8.”
For the rest of us, there’s plenty that’s original in theaters this weekend. “Beginners” is a charming look at giving life another chance. At least that’s what Hal (Christopher Plummer) does after he wife dies and he can finally come out — even if his time is about to run out. The film, though, focuses on his son, Oliver (Ewan McGregor), who’s dealing with his father’s death and his own reluctance to get married after spending his childhood drenched in his mother’s unhappiness. Can Anna, a beautiful French actress played by the beautiful French actress Melanie Laurent, change his mind?
