Reviews

The plot should be pretty clear by now, so I won't re-hash that.

First, the meaning of the title becomes apparent before the opening credits even roll. That was something of a surprise. Once I knew what it was, it seem perfectly obvious, but none the less caught me as a delightful surprise.

Now, one would think this plot would virtually write itself. Gay boy, deep south, highly religious setting, it seem crystal clear where this movie is heading. But oddly, it never goes there. Instead, we get a unique script that approaches the events from a whole new direction.

I'll not spoil it with details, but this story does not follow the seeming obvious path. Yet, it is a very charming coming of age film that is as much about the supporting characters as it is about the Gay Boy.

Excellent performances by the entire cast. Tyler Ross is absolutely charismatic in every performance he is in. And the supporting cast plays out their role with equal presence and skill. A very captivating movie if you like unique independent films. Well worth watching.

It is available on Amazon Instant video for streaming. If you have an Amazon account all ready, then it is just a matter of initiating the Instant Movie streaming part. Simply enter a pin number, which will be given you during the registration process, and it will be billed to the credit card you already have on file.

The movie really surprised me in that it does not follow the cliché plot line of a gay teen in the south. Engaging movie with very engaging characters. If you get a chance to see Tyler Ross in "Nate & Margaret" that is also a very charming movie. I expect to see a lot more good work from Tyler Ross in the future, a very talented actor.

If I had to use one word to describe this show it would be Finesse. This is a Lawyer show written in a way that no USA Lawyer show could be written. Nothing blows up, no long courtroom drama speeches, just good solid stories, brilliant characters, and solid writing. I found the story lines brilliant, and the series completely captivating, and I found myself laughing out loud in every episode.

The Series is currently available on both NetFlix and Hulu (free), and well worth a look.

I was so captivated and intrigued by this series that I was up until 4:00 in the morning watching episode after episode.

Definitely fine intelligent heartwarming entertainment.

Stephen Fry is brilliant as Peter Kingdom, the prime character. Celia Imrie is very good as the long suffering office assistant, and Karl Davis is also brilliant as the young (horny) trainee lawyer. Those performances combined the a quirky cast of supporting characters makes this a very enjoyable series. Highly recommended.

If I had to describe this movie to someone in the fewest words possible, it would be a Shakespearean Farce directed by Salvidor Dali.

Quirky and very strange, yet I loved this film. I've seen it twice so far, and I'm sure I will watch again. Jesse Eisenberg is stunning as the character Mills. At the appropriate times, the anguish weighs heavily on Jesse's/Mill's face.

And Michael O'Connell is deliciously over the top as H. Roth Binew.

If you want more of the same then go to the local cinema, but if you want a unique and funny experience in the surreal and absurd, and if you love independent film, then you are very likely to enjoy this movie.

Highly recommended, but only to those who don't subsist on Hollywood Blockbusters.

I think this show as great potential, and the cast is certainly brilliant on all fronts. It makes me feel very good about the future of acting and comedy in the UK.

But, I do agree that the writing got a bit lazy at times. Though there are some characters, like Leonard Lizard, who for me, expressed deep pathos. The man (Will Poulter) for all his wealth, power, and privilege broke my heart every time he was on the screen.

And the 'Two Men in the Van' sketches absolutely cracked me up.

The basic premise is not just kids playing adults, but playing their view of adults, with all the irrationality, banality, and crudeness in tact. Does it go a bit over the top, yes.

But let me remind you that there is also a British comedy in which an adult plays and skews an adult's view of what kids are like. It is equally absurd, and in this case, just painful to watch. Who in their right mind thinks it's a good idea for someone in their 40's to play a kid?

But absurdity is the point, because from the view of a neutral outsider, adults are irrational nut cases who are not fit to be in charge of the world.

So, the underlying point is not that they are playing adults, but that they are playing a kid's view of how completely out of it adults are.

Further, the UK has something of a tradition of quirky, oddball, off center comedy. Think Monty Python, Mr. Bean, and Benny Hill. I think School of Comedy fits very nicely into this off kilter tradition of British Comedy.

Yes, the sketches can be crude, but adults can be crude as well, and frequently it is the seemly respected reputable adults that can be the crudest of all. However, in most sketches, as I've implied, I feel the underlying pathos. And as I've also said, the Will Poulter character Leonard Lizard never failed to break my heart.

Various sketches can be found on Internet video sites, the largest of which shall remain nameless, but they are not complete episodes. None the less, they do demonstrate the tremendous pool of young talent that is being drawn on in these sketches.

I think the entire cast is brilliantly talented, even if lazy, too obvious writing sometime doesn't bring out their best. Given their ages, I see bright futures for all of them in both comedy and drama.

Far more than being a brilliantly funny sketch show, School of Comedy is a showcase for brilliant young talent.

There was zero chance that this movie would ever play near me, so I bought it on BluRay.

Here is what this movie is about - ANGELS.

That's right ... angels.

We mistakenly assume angels enter our lives as beings of bright white light. Like Michael Landon, all big hair and white teeth. But, no my friends, angels are found in the dark and shadows. They don't come to save, but rather open the door to saving ourselves. They are the nerd bullied on the playground, the homeless man on the street, the car stranded beside the road. Angels come to us as darkness in the hope that we response with light.

Hesher enters the lives of the main characters, all brilliantly acted, like a tornado, all noise and destruction. But he offers opportunities. He offers the chance for the characters to look in the mirror and actually see themselves.

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and am very glad I bought it. Brilliantly acted with a stunning performance by the kid T.J. (Devin Brochu). A story well told.

Also, this isn't your typical Hollywood fair, this story is powerful, unique, and harsh but a story that needs to be told none the less. Movies like this are why I love independent film.

In another sense, this is not Hollywood fair, in that it is more slice of life/window in time. It isn't so nice and neatly wrapped up into perfect happy endings.

A captivating and engaging story, and certainly time well spent. If you love independent film then I say you will enjoy "Hesher".

Now you may take my implication that this is a movie about angels as a bunch of pretentious bull-crap. Think what you will but that is how I see it.

Steve B.

This is what I would call a Ficumentary - a fictional documentary. This is a very believable and engrossing story with stunning performances by Luke and Harry Treadaway. Their performance is both extreme and very subtle. I've never seen or felt so much from a simple glance. And the movie is so believable I went and looked the main characters - Tom and Barry Howe - up on the Internet convinced that they were real.

As the movie progresses, and thank to the main actors Luke and Harry Treadaway, you can see the characters self-destructing before your eyes. The weigh of their lives bares down on them with ...well... unbearable weight.

Both Luke and Harry Treadaway have gone on to do other separate movies. Harry Treadaway, as an example, was the lead in the movie "City of Ember".

A fastinating and unique movie experience, and especially so for music fanatics.

I won't bother to summarize the story as everyone has done that already.

There are a few things you need to be able to enjoy this movie -

1.) A love of Independent Film. 2.) A dark and twisted sense of humor. 3.) The ability to suspend logic and reason.

This is a dark comedy, a twisted dark comedy, you simply can't hold it up to the light of real life. You just have to let yourself be swept along in the fantasy.

I like the fact that we see the more real side of what it means to be a hit man, especially a highly paid, high class hit man. Trust me, he does not, nor should he, live a James Bond lifestyle. It is a dark lonely and miserable life.

Which bring in our female character, Emily Blunt as Rose, she is a breath of fresh air, an immoral corrupt crooked con-artist breath of fresh air; at least to our main character. In her, I think he sees a kindred spirit. Something he has never found before in his miserable empty life.

Rupert Grint/Tony is simple in the wrong place at the wrong time. However, some said he seemed out of place. Yet, if we knew the back story, wouldn't 'out of place' be the story of Tony's life? Always standing on the outside looking in. In Bill Nigh/Victor, Tony has simply found a place where being an outsider is to his advantage.

I believe Rupert showed potential as an actor beyond Harry Potter. I don't think he is quite realized, for better or worse, but I think he shows potential. Though a few voice lessons wouldn't hurt him. He tends to draw his word inward instead of projecting. I'm eager to see him in a dramatic role in 'Comrade', a Norwegian WWII film that is in post-production right now.

If you want to see an role where Rupert completely disappears, watch him in the childish fart move "Thunder Pants" as Alen A. Alen. I see no hint of Ron or Rupert in this character. He becomes a completely unique human being/character.

The movie is low budget, but I think that adds to it. Instead of escaping in a BMW or Mercedes, they escape in a beat up second hand MINI. And a fun escape it is.

There are a couple of spots that I would say are continuity errors. For example, how does a woman in a wheelchair get into the loft of a barn?

How can someone like Rose not have better survival instincts. Though I think the intended explanation is that she is a free spirit.

But overall a fun enjoyable movie ...if... you appreciate independent film. If Hollywood blockbuster are more your fare, then this likely isn't the movie for you.

Next, "suspension of logic', this is a dark comedy, terrible things happen that will make you laugh, then feel guilty about laughing. In one scene, in a open air market (Camden Street?), where an incident occurs, a mistake is made, and it made me laugh. But I've always felt horribly guilty for laughing. Yet, in the context of the movie, it was funny. I won't spoil it. If you've seen the film you know what I mean.

Movies like this aren't for everyone, but I have to believe that anyone who is a fan of independent film will find this movie satisfying.

One note on the ending, this is what I call the 'easy ending' that is typical of British media. Think the end of the UK Queer as Folks, just a little too easy. The end of the second season of SKINS, a little too easy. The British might made good movies, but the are weak on ending. I think it comes from watch too much French cinema. Always symbolic, but never quite satisfying.

Still, I enjoyed the movie. And though it really had the quirky sense of story and flow, combined with dark twisted humor that only comes from the British. A movie like this simply could not be made in the USA.

I won't leave a long detailed review, that's already been done. I do find myself somewhat dismayed at some of the reviews I read though. This in not Macbeth or Citizen Cane, and can't be viewed in that light, and you shouldn't have expected it to be.

I'm a big fan of Jesse Eisenberg, and I was not disappointed by his performance in this movie. Would I say that I was blown away by this movie? No. But I was satisfied and sufficiently entertained to make it worth the admission price.

You need to look at things in context. Take the Slacker characters Dwayne and Travis, and their liking for penis, vagina, and generally filthy talk. Well, did you expect them to recite Shakespeare? That's who these characters are, brainless slackers with on thing on their tiny minds, the one thing they they never get. I found them true to character. More so, I actually know those guys.

You can complain that this is a loser movie, but to be fair, it is a movie about people who are all complete losers. So, right on target.

Are there some spots that don't quite work as well as they should, probably, but there are other spots that are generally entertaining. But I have to blame the director for whatever failing there might be, he gets what he asks for from the actors, and if that is not the right thing, then logically he asked for the wrong thing.

Again, I wouldn't rave about this movie, but I certainly enjoyed it.

You get what you pay for, I paid for an entertaining Saturday afternoon, and I got it. Not in my top 10, but still entertaining.