From JJJ Book Club: 

Joel Courtney may be filming a classic book (Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn) in Bulgaria, but there’s another book that he can’t put down — “Ashtown Burials: The Dragon’s Tooth” by N.D. Wilson.

The 15-year-old actor opened up about the book in his hand to the JJJ Book Club.

“My favorite book is ‘Ashtown Burials: The Dragon’s Tooth’ by N.D. Wilson. It has a great plot, excellent characters, and leaves you hanging for the next book in the series. Everyone should read it because it’s a kid’s book that’s a “page-turner” and is my favorite genre: fantasy,” Joel said.

Joel also admits that the cover is a definite factor in reading a book. “The cover of the book is what catches my eye. With ‘The Dragon’s Tooth,’ I noticed the snake, the boxing monkey patch, and the tooth on the cover. And I thought: that’s a weird combination.”

The Den of Thieves nominates Joel Courtney as Best Actor for his role as Joe Lamb in Super 8. Here's what they say: 

A special shout-out for Joel Courtney, though, who’s the acting glue that holdsSuper 8 together for long periods. As good a leading performance as we’ve seen from such a young actor in a long time, he’s utterly believable in his role, and surely has a bright future ahead of him.

Please follow Joel on twitter for his latest personal updates. 

http://twitter.com/#!/joel_courtney

From Paper G6: 

Abrams usually likes to work with particular actors he has worked with before but The Cutting Room Floor’s beady eye only spotted one of the cast that it had seen previous.  The child actors are the star turn in this film and they all fill their roles with sincerity and confidence that drama school teachers the world over would love their students to possess.  Joseph (Joel Courtney) and Alice (Elle Fanning (sister of the established Dakota) give Super8 its emotional heart and their performance resonates through every frame and becomes irresistible in the more emotionally challenging scenes.

From Film Femme Fatale: 

"This summer movie does not fail to charm and slightly infuriate, though thankfully not in equal measure. The child stars are funny, sweet and gorgeous, even the chubby one. This is where the film’s heart lies, especially with the recently motherless Joe Lamb, the hero of the film who definitely turns from lamb to lion as this Sci-Fi thriller takes him on his own weird journey of discovery. Joe’s heartache and longing for love beat on his sleeve for all to see and you cannot fail to fall under his doe-eyed spell, touchingly played by newcomer Joel Courtney...there is a lot to love about Super 8. It is genuinely warm, romantic, sweet and funny, with the 1970s recreated to brown and mustard wallpaper perfection. I double dare you not to fall under its charms." 

Arizona Central lists Joel Courtney and Super 8 as one of the "Top 10 regular kids in movies" of all time.

"Throughout, no matter how fantastic the situation, Joe remains a regular guy, and the movie benefits greatly from that."

According to Clint O'Conner with The Plain Dealer, Super 8 is the 2nd best movie of the summer -- right behind Harry Potter.