Paramount Vantage
www.sonoframbow.com
Son of Rambow is this years perfectly written, brilliantly acted, little British charms. It’s a light-hearted, coming-of-age story about a growing friendship between two very different boys set in the awesome eighties. The two boys cross paths when Lee Carter is kicked out of yet another classroom, and discovers a meek and impressionable Will Proudfoot, who isn’t allowed to watch television and has been excused from the class. After a couple of boisterous couple of minutes Lee manages to convince Will that he’s a good guy and will take the blame for an accident, if Will helps him with a home-made project.
Because Will is a member of a sort of Amish brethren, he is an outcast unable to join in with most of the childhood frivolities we all took for granted, one of these, would be watching films. So through a pirated copy of Rambo: First Blood, Will offers to help Lee with the project, in hope it will be accepted into a local amateur film competition.
Will wants to play the son of Rambo(w) instead of Rambo, taking the situation of losing his father in real life, and rescuing him from death in the film. There are a handful of hilarious scenes of the two boys filming the stunts for the film, inter-spliced with Will’s active imaginative story-boarding, creating the most charming Rambo sequel never invented.
As a quirky subplot, the boys school is in the midst of a French exchange, and the new French students bring another dimension to the film. French sixth former, Didier, has exotic rock-star looks and an overly cool attitude, which makes him an idol to all the local students. Didier quickly creates an entourage who then force their way into the Rambow production, excluding Lee which causes friction between him and Will. Causing a massively affectionate and touching speech from Lee, before a near fatal accident, where Lee risks his life for Will.
Son of Rambow is a compassionate coming-of-age offering that shows the wonderful positives in a sea of darkness. Which is one of the reasons this film is so good is because it’s not all laughs, and happiness, it deals with the boys family issues, including death, repression and loneliness.
Garth Jennings (director) allows the film to unfold in an astute, witty and lovable manner. Using the physical and visual humour that children love and we recall. The ending is warm, tearful and lovingly happy, and yeah, sometimes that’s a bloody brilliant feeling.
Emily Paget
The romantic comedy Leatherheads is like no other film you have seen. It’s a story that evolves around the emerging America pro-football league in 1925. For all the lads and lasses out there, this may sound like a footy film with men running back and forth on a pitch in shorts, but bare in mind, it is set in 1925 and actually focuses more on the building of the game rather than the actual playing of it and has some romance and hilarious qualities.
The Orphanage is a ghost story, about an old house on the coast of Spain, which continues to act as a playground for the deceased orphans who used to reside there. When Laura, a housewife who grew up in the orphanage, decides to return to her childhood home, she brings her adopted son and husband back, however her son starts to see more than his fair share of imaginary friends.
The Orphanage could have very easily become yet another “ghost story”, thankfully though, with a keen eye and sharp script it remains a suspenseful, chilling tale of the strongest and purist love between and mother and child,and the lengths at which they are prepared to go. Also, children in horror films are always a bit creepy, check out the original Dark Water. Throughout there are moments of darkness, creepy and disturbing flashes, but they are cut between the fundamental roots of love, loss and guilt. The agonizing remorse and regret is brilliantly conveyed through several indications towards J.M.Barrie’s classic stories of Peter Pan and his group of lost boys. A great film, that works on more than one level of fear.
Yet another formulaic rom-com about a woman who likes weddings, who approves these? Some wealthy, old, married man without a clue to what the masses really want. Or is this what the masses really want? Have I been fooling myself, thinking that the human race is generally a bit more imaginative and smarter than this? I guess not.
27 Dresses is a predictable, uninspired romantic comedy, in which nothing remotely exciting or surprising ever occurs. Jane’s cheerful and hapless character can’t quite save the film though. Apart from that the film had energy and charm, if it wasn’t so clichéd and if the script was a bit sharper it could have been a little more entertaining. A small part of me enjoyed 27 Dresses, probably in the same way I seldom like to scoff a handful of sugary cereal. Its not very substantial or healthy but it does offer a flash of forgettable joy.
I am always happy to potter along and watch a light, animated kids film, who isn’t? And with this one being part of the Dr Seuss series, I was expecting something slightly twisted, surreal and even a bit dark. However Fox clearly decided to veer in the safer direction and aim it more at the younger of the young audiences.
The Seuss stylization seemed to fit quite comfortably within the animation boundaries; the colours and “wacky” creatures were brilliantly over the top and amusing to look at. There is one character called Katie, who I’m sure I used to have as a toy on a string, so you could hang it up, who is the cutest and probably funniest thing in the film.
As it’s an American children’s film, there is obviously some totally transparent moral; to listen to everyone, or to be kind to those who.. Are your friends? Something like that. Looking past the overly long time span, and the almost excessively juvenile explanation of every joke, it’s not too bad. If you’re bored, it’s raining and you’ve got access to a couple of beers, definitely go and see it.
With the recent abundance of mainstream independent films I’m not surprised Juno has been so well received, considering the narratives are not especially new or dramatic they’re all sincerely invigorating and watchable.
What makes Juno such an excellent film is the fact that at no point does the 16-year-old allow her horrible predicament become her downfall. She takes full responsibility and acts on a level, which many teenagers wouldn’t even consider. From the moment she makes a decision about the situation, she shows that she can takes matters into her own hands.
I don’t hate Jumper, I just hate that these films follow such a close structure that it’s hard not to be negative. Jumper is pretty much as predictable as you’d imagine, it’s not terrible, but it’s what you’d expect. Director Doug Liman takes control with this sci-fi tale; he’s clearly a man who fears change, as this little flick isn’t much off Mr & Mrs Smith or The Bourne Identity.
The advantage of being a Jumper allowed for the film to trek pretty much all over the globe, making for some stunning backdrops, which made appealing cinematic viewing, however that’s as far as it went.
This years critically acclaimed piece of cinema goes to the Coen brothers much-anticipated No Country for Old Men. The brothers were quick to point out that they are now at the peak of their career, adapting Pulitzer Prize winner Cormac McCarthy’s dark and weary tale about Llewelyn Moss, a man who stumbles across a wad of stolen drug money, and in deciding to keep the money, is forced to run and hide from Anton Chigurh (ironically pronounced Sugar), a relentless and psychopathic killer.
Although it falls into the category of a Western hunt, No Country for Old Men definitely challenges the standard and the boundaries of the genre. Its quirkiness and humour only comes from the human need to find light in any situation. A quality brilliantly portrayed by the Coens. Possibly their most violent and yet humane contribution to the film world yet. It embodies everything great about the Coen brothers, depicting the qualities they’ve picked up from their other great works; Fargo and Blood Simple to name a few.
I’m pretty sure that sometime last year I saw a trailer for Cloverfield at the cinema. It gave nothing away, and was not seen again until the beginning of January. Immediately I wanted to know what it was, what was going on and why I wasn’t aware of it. That was part of the charm of Cloverfield, unless you were a complete buff on your film message boards everyday looking for the vital spoilers, it was kept totally hush hush. Eventually anticipation and tension win, I crack and look online at everything and anything that might reveal something about the film. I see a trailer or two on youtube, find some Cloverfield blogs for the die-hard geeks, and a couple of faux-spoilers to throw everyone off the scent. Anyway, it FINALLY comes out, and low and behold it’s a monster film, filmed through the eyes of some wealthy attractive, young Americans.
It generally seems like the director J.J. Abrams (Lost) is paying homage to the brilliant but somewhat cheesy history of classic Japanese horror. It’s not as good as Host, but East Asia seems to have a fairly strong hold on monster films, and no one has yet to match the calibre of the originals. However, the consistent wobble of the camera, the quick pace, and the well-unseen beast (with its chilling growl) all keeps the viewer guessing. You never see too much, and I didn’t feel like constant special effects, explosions and Hollywood showstoppers were battering me into the ground. By not constantly putting the monster in the frame, we become more anxious and jumpy, the build up to the final few scenes is well worth the wait. 
Yes, Wes Anderson has created another whimsical yet poignant narrative about three detached brothers taking a journey through India, hoping to find some kind of spiritual enlightenment.
Anderson uses India as he does with all his locations in his other films, its vibrant and slightly obscure but it’s never touristy and always completely appropriate. They have an unplanned adventure, a consequence of the ambiguous medicine they all seem to be tossing back. And end up kicked off the train and end up abandoned in the “real” India with their numerous travel cases. But instead of rather typically “discovering” each other, they delve deeper inside their basic personality. Then Francis springs a surprise: Their journey will end with a meeting with their mother, who for a while has been living as a nun in a mountaintop Indian convent. As soon as you get a look at her appearance, mannerisms and behaviour, you can understand more about the three brothers.