Son of Rambow on Blu Ray

Last night I watched Son of Rambow on Blu Ray. This is the 4th ever Blu ray I have ever watched on my system at home and I was impressed by the colours and clarity of a non CGI special effects movie. This is a real 'feel good movie' and very very funny in parts. There is a little CGI in it and it has many laugh out loud moments. There's a bit when the french guy shoots a bird with a bb gun and the bird then flies into shot and knocks one of the kids off a bike. It's difficult to put this film in a category but as an adult I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'd recommend this one, 3 out of 5 from me.

Some more reviews and info below.

Writer-director Garth Jennings and producer Nick Goldsmith, who as Hammer & Tongs have made music videos for such groups as Fatboy Slim, Supergrass, Blur, and REM, follow up their 2005 film, THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY, with the charming indie SON OF RAMBOW, a love letter to the movies. A success at such festivals as Toronto and Sundance, SON OF RAMBOW stars Bill Milner as Will Proudfoot, a shy, reserved young boy who is different from the other kids because his family is part of the Brethren, a religion that shuns the outside world, not allowing him to have friends at school or to watch television. While in the hallway in school one day because he can't watch an educational film in class, Will gets into a fight with Lee Carter (Will Poulter), a tough kid who gets into trouble all the time. Lee forces Will to help him make a homemade version of the Sylvester Stallone film FIRST BLOOD, but after watching the original, Will is captivated by the movie and writes his own sequel, casting himself as the son of Rambow (he misspells the name of the character). Will and Lee use their imagination and lots of grit to get the project off the ground, bonding as only blood brothers can. But soon the entire school wants to participate in the movie, including ultra-cool French exchange student Didier Revol (Jules Sitruk), jeopardizing the integrity of the production as well as Will and Lee's growing friendship. Milner and Poulter, both making their feature-film debuts, are engaging as the lead characters. Jennings sets SON OF RAMBOW in the 1980s, before cell phones, digital cameras, and YouTube changed the way people communicate. Amid a soundtrack that includes music from such seminal period bands as The Cure and Depeche Mode, the two young boys learn about family and friendship, jealousy and ego as their carefully controlled worlds threaten to implode.

Son of Rambow

Charmingly subversive humour brings this whimsical childhood comedy to life, and makes it both more engaging and funnier than expected. It's a bright and very silly film with solid, provocative themes that really stick with us. Will (Milner) is a pre-teen in early 1980s Britain, living with his single mother (Stevenson) in a strict isolationist religious community, which leaves him on the fringe at school. A chance encounter with the class bully Carter (Poulter) changes everything, as Will's intense imagination is given an outlet in Carter's home-video movie project, a riff on Sylvester Stallone's 1982 franchise-spawning hit First Blood. But the production is invaded by the cool French exchange student (Sitruk) and his posse of fans, which strains Will's budding friendship with Carter. And there's also the matter of Will's furious church leaders. The film definitely has an autobiographical feel to it, catching tiny details of children whose personalities are just emerging, just as they begin to understand who their friends and family really are. The connections between the characters are powerfully well-defined, and beautifully played by the cast. Newcomers Milner and Poulter are terrific together as a memorable odd-couple movie team. And they get fine support from the adult actors, each of whom fills their scenes with realistic interaction, plus throwaway comedy gold. In fact, the entire film is an engaging mix of offbeat slapstick and truthful emotion. Jennings' script and direction are energetic and lively, stirring in superb visual effects that blend perfectly with the story and characters, often hand-drawn in the style of Will's doodles. The witty camera work and smart editing keep us both gripped to the story and constantly laughing both at the pointed jokes and goofy physicality. Even when things get serious or scary, the film keeps us in its grip. Jennings fills each scene with random gags and terrific period touches. This is an perceptive look at teenage antics, including telling examinations of peer pressure and personal insecurities masked by a thin veneer of bravado. But beyond all of this, the film is a celebration of imagination and creativity. Not just in children, but within all of us. Another review The most talked about film of the 2007 Sundance Film Festival finally makes it to UK screens this week, (with a limited release in the US pencilled in for May 2), and thank god, because this joyous, ridiculously heart-warming comedy deserves to be seen by as many people as possible. Set in England in the summer of '82, it tells the story of Will Proudfoot, an imaginative, artistic 11-year boy whose family are members of the Plymouth Brethren – a puritan style Christian groups that forbids members from watching TV or listening to music. Will leads a quiet existence until he runs into Jon Carter - the school tearaway - who shows him a pirated copy of the Rambo: First Blood. The movie blows Will's mind and he's easily persuaded to star as the 'stuntman' in Carter's low-budget sequel - Son of Rambow - which he's filming on his brother's camcorder. A combination of overactive imaginations and a lack of regard for basic safety lead to some spectacular footage, which soon attracts the attention of popular, wanna-be actor and French Exchange student Didier and his entourage, who try to muscle in on the film, which stretches the boys friendship to the limits. Like our first encounter with Die Hard With a Vengeance - which inspired IGN to re-enact the action scenes from the film for weeks - Son of Rambow perfectly captures that first inspirational acquaintance with film. Will, having seen First Blood for the first time, bounds out of his friend's house, charges into a field and imagines himself in the film, complete with explosions, machine gun fire and bulging muscles. It's a deliriously surreal, joyous sequence that every movie fan will identify with. The footage the scamps shoot is also hilarious - the boys attempt a series of insanely risky stunts involving trees, catapults, cars and, at one point, a plastic dog on a kite - with good-natured enthusiasm. These sequences – the best in the film – are dripping with witty and inventive visual touches that bring to mind director Jennings's previous effortThe Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, as well as Michel Gondry's recent Be Kind Rewind. Do not try this at home kids. It's the touching relationship between the kids that raises Son of Rambow far above the cocky, whimsical conceit of Gondry's work however. Brits Bill Milner (Will) and Will Poulter (Carter) are naturalistic, unaffected and while cute, they are never cutesy. At the start Carter basically bullies Will, but slowly and convincing they forge a friendship that is genuine, believable and touching. There are elements Jennings throws into the mix that don't work as well; Didier - the pretentious French exchange student - is fairly amusing but overused in the second half, whilst Carter's fractious relationship with his surly older brother is an emotional story arc that is undeveloped and feels unsatisfying. These less-successful strands distract slightly from the power of Son of Rambow, but nowhere near enough to scupper this fine little film. A paean to friendship, childhood and movies, you'd have to be a bigger cynic than Richard Dawkins not to have your cockles warmed by this gem.