HOME |  CULT MOVIES | COMPETITIONS | ADVERTISE |  CONTACT US |  ABOUT US
 
 
 
Newest Reviews
American Fiction
Poor Things
Thunderclap
Zeiram
Legend of the Bat
Party Line
Night Fright
Pacha, Le
Kimi
Assemble Insert
Venus Tear Diamond, The
Promare
Beauty's Evil Roses, The
Free Guy
Huck and Tom's Mississippi Adventure
Rejuvenator, The
Who Fears the Devil?
Guignolo, Le
Batman, The
Land of Many Perfumes
Cat vs. Rat
Tom & Jerry: The Movie
Naked Violence
Joyeuses Pacques
Strangeness, The
How I Became a Superhero
Golden Nun
Incident at Phantom Hill
Winterhawk
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City
Maigret Sets a Trap
B.N.A.
Hell's Wind Staff, The
Topo Gigio and the Missile War
Battant, Le
Penguin Highway
Cazadore de Demonios
Snatchers
Imperial Swordsman
Foxtrap
   
 
Newest Articles
3 From Arrow Player: Sweet Sugar, Girls Nite Out and Manhattan Baby
Little Cat Feat: Stephen King's Cat's Eye on 4K UHD
La Violence: Dobermann at 25
Serious Comedy: The Wrong Arm of the Law on Blu-ray
DC Showcase: Constantine - The House of Mystery and More on Blu-ray
Monster Fun: Three Monster Tales of Sci-Fi Terror on Blu-ray
State of the 70s: Play for Today Volume 3 on Blu-ray
The Movie Damned: Cursed Films II on Shudder
The Dead of Night: In Cold Blood on Blu-ray
Suave and Sophisticated: The Persuaders! Take 50 on Blu-ray
Your Rules are Really Beginning to Annoy Me: Escape from L.A. on 4K UHD
A Woman's Viewfinder: The Camera is Ours on DVD
Chaplin's Silent Pursuit: Modern Times on Blu-ray
The Ecstasy of Cosmic Boredom: Dark Star on Arrow
A Frosty Reception: South and The Great White Silence on Blu-ray
You'll Never Guess Which is Sammo: Skinny Tiger and Fatty Dragon on Blu-ray
Two Christopher Miles Shorts: The Six-Sided Triangle/Rhythm 'n' Greens on Blu-ray
Not So Permissive: The Lovers! on Blu-ray
Uncomfortable Truths: Three Shorts by Andrea Arnold on MUBI
The Call of Nostalgia: Ghostbusters Afterlife on Blu-ray
Moon Night - Space 1999: Super Space Theater on Blu-ray
Super Sammo: Warriors Two and The Prodigal Son on Blu-ray
Sex vs Violence: In the Realm of the Senses on Blu-ray
What's So Funny About Brit Horror? Vampira and Bloodbath at the House of Death on Arrow
Keeping the Beatles Alive: Get Back
   
 
  Kings of Summer, The Why Don't You Grow Up?
Year: 2013
Director: Jordan Vogt-Roberts
Stars: Nick Robinson, Gabriel Basso, Moises Arias, Nick Offerman, Alison Brie, Megan Mullally, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Erin Moriarty, Marc Evan Jackson, Eugene Cordero, Nathan Keyes, Thomas Middleditch, Lili Reinhart, Gillian Vigman, Kumail Nanjiani, Tony Hale
Genre: Comedy, DramaBuy from Amazon
Rating:  8 (from 2 votes)
Review: Fifteen-year-old Joe (Nick Robinson) has spent a lot of time building a birdhouse as a class project, and if it's not the most accomplished construction around then he is pleased with it, which leaves him crushed when he brings it in to school for assessment only to be told by his teacher that it's the last week of term and nobody is interested in his birdhouse. In fact, the class are playing hangman now. So Joe has to return home to the house he shares with his widowed father Frank (Nick Offerman), and the sort of unhappy relationship that's enough to have him thinking about escaping his life for the summer...

Chris Galletta's script for The Kings of Summer was one of those which you sometimes hear about getting placed on a shortlist for the finest unproduced screenplays around, an accolade which does not always work out for the best, but in this case the quality of the writing truly brought out excellence in the cast director Jordan Vogt-Roberts assembled to bring it to life. Indeed, you can tell the pleasure the actors were taking in their lines even in the more serious parts which lifted what at first glance could have been a twenty-first century update of that old novel Brendon Chase, except the boys here did not don leaves when they got back to nature.

Actually, it's debatable how far the three kids in this tale did return to nature themselves, as they seem keen to recreate their ideal of modern living only out in a forest where nobody can interrupt them. It was well seen they did this in the middle of an idyllic summer, the odd rainstorm apart, because if autumn and then winter set in you cannot imagine them lasting out there for the duration, but then this was as much about what the dreams of the three boys were as opposed to the reality. Yes, it was coming of age territory once again, with the youthful imagination where everything can work out set against the reality where there are too many other factors to consider: the adult world, essentially.

Joe decides after one particularly fraught game of Monopoly (this truly gets the petty arguments board games can engender spot on) that he's had enough of his dad and he should branch out on his own, so gathers a bunch of books about living well in the open air, then persuades his best friend Patrick (Gabriel Basso) to join him. Patrick is also having trouble at home, but that appears to be because he is at a certain age when all the things he liked about his parents (Megan Mullally and Marc Evan Jackson) when he was little now drive him up the wall as a teenager: some of the funniest moments here are the inane twitterings and habits of those two grown-ups. These teens are joined by the mysterious third party, Biaggio (Moises Arias), who walks to the beat of his own drum.

Basically, he's nuts, but in a nice way. This trio builds their own makeshift house and set up home there deep in the woods, and for a while all goes well, as if they were living out their fantasy of what a child thinks is the proper manner for real men to act, but what made this so poignant was that they didn't realise there's a lot of heartache which goes with being an adult, and in trying to jump ahead they're not ready for the emotions that emerge from those situations. The trigger for this is Kelly (Erin Moriarty), who Joe has a crush on and unfortunately his newfound independence - and celebrity, since he and his missing friends are now on the TV news - means he thinks he can win her over now she has broken up with her boyfriend. Alas, Kelly, while pally with Joe, doesn't think of him romantically and prefers Patrick so after a few weeks' paradise, or as close as they thought they could get, the veneer cracks and friendships are broken. You hope they can work themselves out eventually, but with its curious mix of the mystical and the irreverent this crept up on you to be quite moving. Music by Ryan Miller.
Reviewer: Graeme Clark

 

This review has been viewed 4418 time(s).

As a member you could Rate this film

 
Review Comments (2)


Untitled 1

Login
  Username:
 
  Password:
 
   
 
Forgotten your details? Enter email address in Username box and click Reminder. Your details will be emailed to you.
   

Latest Poll
Which star probably has psychic powers?
Laurence Fishburne
Nicolas Cage
Anya Taylor-Joy
Patrick Stewart
Sissy Spacek
Michelle Yeoh
Aubrey Plaza
Tom Cruise
Beatrice Dalle
Michael Ironside
   
 
   

Recent Visitors
Mary Sibley
Enoch Sneed
Darren Jones
Mark Le Surf-hall
  Louise Hackett
Andrew Pragasam
Graeme Clark
  Desbris M
   

 

Last Updated: