From the Detroit Metromix:

“Super 8” delivers everything moviegoers deserve in a high quality Hollywood blockbuster—exciting action, compelling characters, heart-tugging emotions and immersive escapism. It represents a significant step up from summer’s other major movie offerings, and something one imagines Spielberg himself would be happy to snag a “directed by” credit on. Keeping the plot under wraps only adds to its unique allure—there’s a good chance viewers may actually be surprised by the gradual reveals in the joyfully mysterious, and sometimes quite frightening, adventure. Those big movie pleasures are further enriched and elevated by the emotional range of an excellent young cast, spanning well established talents (Fanning adds another highlight to her increasingly extraordinary resume) and total newcomers (Courtney deftly handles leading man duty in his film debut). For all the genuinely eye-popping set pieces in “Super 8,” it’s in the characters’ quietest moments that Abrams most effectively connects his work to Spielberg’s most enduring efforts. So much supersized filmmaking focuses on taking the audience for a ride, but, no matter the genre or the budget, it’s the human touch that ultimately makes the difference.

From Time magazine:

Fanning, playing 14 when she was 12, is a showbiz pro, having co-starred in Sofia Coppola's Somewhere. But Courtney, 14 playing 12, was just an Idaho kid taking acting lessons when Abrams cast him. The stark tenderness of their scenes is surely due in part to the director's communicating with them peer to peer, as if, once again, he were a kid putting his friends through their movie paces. "He was 14 directing 13-year-olds," Spielberg says, "and the honesty that shows in every performance was the natural result."

From MovieLine:

If J.J. Abrams’ nostalgic summer sci-fi adventure Super 8 is intentionally evocative of producer (and Abrams mentor) Steven Spielberg’s E.T. (1982), then 15-year-old newcomer Joel Courtney is its Elliott, the young, sensitive boy hero caught in the middle of an otherworldly mystery. It’s a big role to hang on the shoulders of a newcomer — one who won the part after visiting L.A. in hopes of landing a modest commercial gig — but, as it turns out, the Idaho native now has bigger career goals in his sights.

“I want to be like Tom Hanks,” Courtney told Movieline in Los Angeles, where he’s spending the summer before returning home to Moscow, Idaho for school. The lanky young actor has given considerable thought to his options, post-Super 8. “I wouldn’t mind trying [Nickelodeon and Disney], but I wouldn’t want to get sucked into it so that I wouldn’t be able to get out.”

Catch the entire interview over at MovieLine.

From Daily Variety:

"Super 8" establishes a star-crossed backstory for middle schoolers Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney, cute in that "Mikey likes it" kind of way) and Alice Dainard ("Somewhere's" ever-remarkable Elle Fanning). His father is a newly widowed sheriff's deputy (Kyle Chandler); hers, a drunken, long-haired factory worker (Ron Eldard) indirectly responsible for the accident that killed Joe's mother -- an incident wisely left unseen.

Teen Hollywood interviews Joel Courtney for Super 8.

Get ready for an awesome blast from the past as you join a group of 1979 teen filmmakers in the cool new Sci-Fi adventure film Super 8. A bunch of pals, probably much like you and your best buds, are shooting a zombie film in their neighborhood. Their “night shoot” is interrupted by a massive train crash which the kids get on film.

Imagine that you knew the crash wasn’t an accident and “something” pretty huge, pissed off and top secret has escaped from one of the wrecked box cars! Now some government guys and soldiers want your film and are threatening you while combing the town for the mystery escapee.

One of the teen film crew members, Joe Lamb, played by talented, 15-year-old Joel Courtney, starts piecing together the puzzle and it’s up to him and his friends to save their town and make sure the angry “visitor” can go home before more damage is done.

We’re in Beverly Hills with Joel and learning how he came to Hollywood to visit his older bro and go to a couple of auditions for commercials only to end up the star of a huge summer blockbuster for filmmakers Steven Spielberg and J.J. Abrams! Amazing… and so was making the film. Check out Joel’s story.