J.J. Abrams brings the same Red Bull energy and Maserati plot to Super 8 as he did to 2009’s Star Trek (the movie that compelled me to start adding film notes to my blog). But it feels much more intense and personal because this is his own childhood story he’s telling here.

It helps that Steven Spielberg, co-producer, shared those same Super 8 childhood adventures and dreams. By the end of the film you can’t help but see how the two are linked.

In my humble opinion that’s the path to the deepest truth in film. A projection of the director’s own experience. The mind’s eye becomes the camera’s eye. J.J. Abrams frames it beautifully.