It’s a 1950s Ray Harryhausen rampaging beast-from-the-fathoms horror movie filtered through the shaky aesthetic of YouTube and CNN’s I-Report, and the gimmick really works. Like Spielberg did three years ago in War of the Worlds, J.J. Abrams and his crew use 9/11 imagery to add genuine shock and awe to well-worn sci-fi mayhem, and while some might want to say they exploit such imagery, it’s helpful to remember that the best science fiction and horror movies always draw on what truly scares us. It’s when these films don’t feed on our collective anxieties that they cease to have any real currency. (Hollywood Jewel 16, Waco, TX)