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I'm seriously wondering, I went in with no knowledge of what this was about. My friend told me it was "ET for a new generation", that's it. I've never seen Cloverfield or watched Lost, or even saw E.T.
The first 6 hours are about a train and some cubes, and then it ends in the most abrupt way ever. The kids played their roles great I will admit, and the emotional moments and the loss of his mother were well done. But that can't be why all the reviewers are fawning over this. Right?

Mainly nostalgia for the Amblin films from the 80s (E.T., The Goonies, etc.) and the fact that it's an overall well-made film. It didn't really end abruptly, more open-ended. It made sense and answered all the questions that needed to be answered.

I haven't seen it. The trailer gives me a wait until Netflix vibe.

"The first 6 hours..." 
The film harkens back to a time when films were more personal and methodical, young people have ADHD and need something to be happening every 5 minutes. Even so, I thought it hit a good median between early Spielberg nostalgia and mindless CGI eyefucking. But apparently it didn't appease the latter. I found the ending to be unsat as well, only because Im expected to sympathize with the alien that just finished killing half the city and kidnapping the other half to eat. Which just doesn't gel with me. Random scientists probed the monster, okay, now random people in the midwest deserve to die? Movie logic is silly sometimes. And in JJ fashion, there are holes everywhere. If this monster can consume anything and turn it into a new object, how was it contained? Why didn't it immediately build a ship out of the destroyed train? etc. But similar scrutiny can be lodged at ET and Close Encounters so that's fine.

It was an entertaining sci-fi movie with some good acting from kids, so I liked it. Not everyone's cup of tea.

this movie was a severe disappointment

@ryanwho: I like movies where even though the early bits may seem long, the narrative is actually going somewhere and you can feel the tension building. This had none of that and that's why it felt so drawn out. 
John Carpenter's The Thing is my gold standard for alien movies, and the first half of that movie is amazing even though nothing happens.

It definitely was ET for a new generation, but it also had a blend of Goonies that made me love it that little bit more.. I enjoyed how it was about a group of "film maker" kids who obsessed over horror etc.. what pissed me off was the "attempt" at making it a film set in the 60s-70s they really needed to research a bit more...

@Mistress_Redhead said:

It definitely was ET for a new generation, but it also had a blend of Goonies that made me love it that little bit more.. I enjoyed how it was about a group of "film maker" kids who obsessed over horror etc.. what pissed me off was the "attempt" at making it a film set in the 60s-70s they really needed to research a bit more...

what? It was a dumb zombie movie, what research did they not do? Or are you talking about JJ Abrams? I wasn't around in 1979 but it seemed fine overall, maybe some of the cars were wrong?

@blacklabeldomm said:

@Mistress_Redhead said:

It definitely was ET for a new generation, but it also had a blend of Goonies that made me love it that little bit more.. I enjoyed how it was about a group of "film maker" kids who obsessed over horror etc.. what pissed me off was the "attempt" at making it a film set in the 60s-70s they really needed to research a bit more...

what? It was a dumb zombie movie, what research did they not do? Or are you talking about JJ Abrams? I wasn't around in 1979 but it seemed fine overall, maybe some of the cars were wrong?

You mean the kids movie? or the actual film?....

I like to think of this as the Goonies for a new generation who would see the Goonies as a movie with weak sets and poor production!! (I know but to the kids Goonies could look like this, Blasphemy). It will never replace films like ET or other movies in the same voice from our childhood. But then again we are no longer children and have are found memories of seeing these movies at the cinema! This for the this generation to have that same feeling we had after watching such great and fun movies!!! So watch it if you wan't to catch a little part of that old magic!!