Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. I saw both these movies with Kraken and my opinion is about on par with his on them both. I'm sure I'll get reviews of them both out at some point, but if you want a good idea what they'll read like then you got Kraken's below!
I had a blast at Sundance this year, but I have to admit I'm very happy to be dwelling in the beautiful weather of Santa Barbara at the SBFF, where the warm California sun is currently thawing my frozen tentacles. I had a chance to catch a really sweet summer camp film called SUMMERHOOD directed and written by first time filmmaker Jacob Medjuck (who also drew the art for the awesome poster for the film). The film is slightly autobiographical since it deals with a lot of the experiences he had while at summer camp when he was a kid. The film follows young "Fetus" (Lucian Maisel) and his "A-team" of friends, all with code names, in his quest for love and his dealing with premature thoughtfulness. Unlike his other friends at camp that are running on boy instinct, Fetus is a thinker that feels that foresight and hindsight are a curse and it's making him miserable. Added to this misery is a hard-ass assistant camp director that is always on the boys case (Happy Gilmore's Chris McDonald) and his long time pen pal and crush Sundae (Reva Timbers) arriving at camp and staying in the bunk building just next to his. The film is a throw back to movies like Bad News Bears, Indian Summer, My Girl and Meatballs that I think all adolescence age film goers are going to really love and could possibly become a classic for them. Coming out of the screening, I heard nothing but praise from the group of 12-15 year olds walking out saying it was "the best film I've seen". My own opinion of the film is not quite as enthusiastic, but I also don't think it's a super weak film either. I honestly believe for a kid's flick it runs a little too long and the film feels oddly paced as well. I think as it stands right now, it's a good first film effort by the director... that with a slight edit for pace it could become an even greater film that would appeal to not only kids, but adults as well. The characters that inhabit the story feel real and I like the fact that he has the boys speak how real boys speak to and rag on each other at that age. At the same time though, he doesn't try to go for pure shock value for the sake of it. I have to mention this though, the character of the sleep walking bed wetter is sure to be a fan favorite. Honestly though, I think the biggest find of this film is the director himself who not only made the film, but also acted in it. His character of "Careless" the camp counselor was probably the best performance in the entire film, and Medjuck reminds me very much of a young Ben Stiller. He has a knack for comedic timing and the end credit sequence of outtakes had me gut laughing ("no, this is what prison feels like"). I'm hoping his next film is as relaxed and freestyle as that credit sequence... if it is, we might just have another comedy great heading to us from Canada. BEN X I have a lot of friend's that play World Of Warcraft and love it. They are completely absorbed in the game and it truly is a second life for them. I'm not a player myself, I never have been. But I completely understand the allure since I'm currently a recovering Halo3 and CoD4 addict (3 weeks sober, and I have a feeling I'm leaping off the wagon when I get back home). This film deals with two prevalent issues in our society right now... online games, and the rise of autism among new births. Ben has asperger syndrome, which has him locked in a world where real social interaction is almost impossible for him. He sees the world in close up details and is almost mute from fear. This lends him to horrible teasing and bullying at school, where even though he excells at his schoolwork, he can't make any friendships to help protect him from those that would attack him. The film is narrated by Ben himself, locked in his own head he fully realizes what is happening to him, but can't do anything about it... except for one place... online. Ben is a level 80 warrior in a WoW-like game where he is a hero and even has a longtime girlfriend. In this world, he can be normal. But when the bullying at school escalates, Ben decides that it's end game time for his real world life. He's either going to take them out like the trolls they are, or take his own life. He is told by his online girlfriend that there is no way he is going on a quest like that alone and without his healer, so they make a plan to meet up and execute his "end game" (don't worry, this movie doesn't turn into a high school shooting film). I thought the film was really interesting and it didn't overuse the device of the video game world overlapping with the real world, a gimmick that could have become tiresome very quickly, but they use it sparingly and it didn't take away from the storytelling at all. The end is quite surprising and even though I think the end of the film would have been a million times better if it had ended about 60 seconds sooner, I think it's still a very strong pay off for the quest we go on with young Ben. I love the look this film give us inside the thoughts of a kid suffering with autism. When my wife was a teacher, she actually had a student that has Asperger syndrome and she always came home saying how sweet the kid was but how it also broke her heart to see him have such trouble interacting with kids that can already be pretty cruel as it is. As the cases of autism rise in this country, I think it's important for more of us to understand it and films like BEN X are a good foundation for this kind of understanding. It's not a preachy "after school" type movie at all though and I recommend checking this one out especially if you're a WoW fan. Kraken
