411 Mania: Super 8 is Tops

From 411 Mania: 

J.J. Abrams accomplished the near-impossible with Super 8 and that was to make a film that pays loving homage to the 1980s Steven Spielberg films instead of being a cheap knock-off of them. Abrams' story of an alien let loose on a small Midwestern town provides a great backdrop for him to insert his characters, mostly a group of kids who end up caught in the mayhem that follows. Abrams takes his visual trademarks such as his love for lens flare and tones them down, overcoming the temptation that Zack Snyder failed to do with Sucker Punch. Nevertheless, it is clearly an Abrams film and the performances that he gets from his young cast of actors is exceptional. Elle Fanning shows that at her age she is miles ahead of where her sister Dakota was at the same age and Joel Courtney is great as the lead. The alien presence never feels like a cheat and even the needed but rote exposition in the center of the film moves by quickly and doesn't bore. Abrams continues his exceptional run as a filmmaker and comes out with another truly great genre film as a result.

Joel Courtney
The Daily Texan: "Super 8" in Top 5 Movies of 2011

According to The Daily Texan, "Super 8" is in the Top 5 Movies of 2011. 

The film gets the coming-of-age story at its center so right that it’s impossible to leave off this list. Magnificent performances from Elle Fanning and Joel Courtney make for several wistful, heartwarming moments, and Abrams nails the awe-inspired Spielberg aesthetic that made many of the films he’s trying to emulate classics.

Joel Courtney
Variety: "Young actors bring fresh approach to roles"

Variety magazine has an article out titled "Young actors bring fresh approach to roles."

Besides translating the script to the screen, school-age thesps have the added requirement of staying current with their studies. That was the case for [Joel] Courtney and five other young actors at the center of "Super 8," J.J. Abrams' sci-fi yarn about a group of friends making a zombie movie who find themselves in the midst of a catastrophic train crash.

"I would get homework from my school in Idaho, do it and send it back. That's basically how it would go," explains Courtney, a high school freshman who starred as one of the young filmmakers. "There was one teacher for five of us guys, and she was very busy."

Joel Courtney