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Weekend Movie Forecast: J.J. Abrams Vs. Jerzy Skolimowski

Steven Spielberg and J.J. Abrams's Super 8 is the story of a group of kids who, while making a Super 8 movie, witness a catastrophic train crash and the arrival of some rather sinister forcesâforces that lead to disappearances and killings in their small Ohio town. And it's up to the local Deputy to uncover the dark truth.The film is getting some rave reviews, with many reviewers seeing it as a standout of the summer blockbuster genre that succeeds not by being outrÃ© or shocking, but warm and even playful. "J.J. Abrams, with Steven Spielberg producing, has made one of those jaw-dropping out-of-body summer entertainments that kids old enough to swear and see PG-13 films will remember on into adulthood," writes Roger Moore in the Orlando Sentinel. Even skeptics see the good in it: "It's an expertly constructed thrill ride with wonderful atmosphere and tremendous good humor; if its heart of gold is artificial, that won't stop you from enjoying the heck out of it," is Andrew O'Hehir's verdict on Salon.com. — Gothamist

Published Jun 10, 2011

Modified Jun 10, 2011

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Click on the film stills for more details and reviews of this week's new releases and repertory screenings, which include Super 8, Judy Moody and the NOT Bummer Summer, Road to Nowhere, Viva Riva!, Queen of the Sun, Le Rayon Vert, Agrarian Utopia, Bride Flight, One Lucky Elephant, Just Like Us, the Museum of the Moving Image's retrospective The Cinema of Jerzy Skolimowski, Eraserhead, and Alien.