The Kings of Summer
Blu-ray | DVD
Directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts
Written by Chris Galletta
Starring Nick Robinson, Gabriel Basso, Moises Arias, Nick Offerman, Megan Mullally, Marc Evan Jackson, and Alison Brie
CBS Films
Rated R | Running Time: 93 Minutes
Release Date: September 24, 2013

It’s time to go back to when you were just a kid. You just made it to high school and you have a whole new world ahead of you. You have your best friends, and of course you have that one girl that catches your eye and she’s all you ever think about. It’s also that time, when you are starting to rebel against your parents and their weird, but loving ways. Well, what if you have had enough of their crazy antics and decide to runaway and build your own place, deep in the woods, and live like kings, with no rules but your own.

In The Kings of Summer, we get to see what happens when you leave the comforts of home and go out to live on your own, with just your close friends nearby. The story follows two teenagers, Joe (Nick Robinson, Melissa and Joey) and Patrick (Gabriel Basson, Super 8), both of whom are sick of their parents. Joe, dealing with the loss of his mother and a father Frank (Nick Offerman, Parks and Recreation) he can’t seem to connect with, and Patrick, whose parents (Megan Mullally, Will and Grace l Marc Evan Jackson, Suit Up, are a little too happy and nice at times.

The Kings of Summer
Director: Jordan Vogt-Roberts
Screenwriter: Chris Galletta
Cast: Nick Robinson, Moisés Arias, Gabriel Basso, Alison Brie, Nick Offerman, Megan Mullally
Paramount Pictures
Rated R | 93 Minutes
Release Date: June 21, 2013

Directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts, The Kings of Summer stars Nick Robinson as Joe Toy, a high school freshman on the verge of adolescence who finds himself increasingly frustrated by his father Frank’s (Nick Offerman) attempts to manage his life.

Declaring his freedom once and for all, he escapes to a clearing in the woods with his best friend, Patrick (Gabriel Basso), and a strange kid named Biaggio (Moisés Arias). Joe announces that they’re going to build a house there, free from their overbearing parents. Once their makeshift dwelling is finished, the three young men find themselves masters of their own destiny, alone in the woods.

The digital rental deal of the day over at Amazon today is Super 8 for only $.99.

This deal is valid only for today, Thursday, January 5, 2012, until 11:59pm PST. Once you activate the rental through Amazon’s Instant Video on demand service, you’ll have access to the movie for 24 hours. If you’re interested in purchasing the digital version, the cost is $14.99.

Also, if you’d like to own a physical copy of Super 8, the Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack is available for $22.99 while the DVD is $17.09. The Blu-ray edition is part of Amazon’s “Buy This DVD and Watch it Instantly” program “” you get the film as a FREE digital rental you can watch immediately when your purchase the physical copy.

Super 8
Directed by J.J. Abrams
Starring: Kyle Chandler, Joel Courtney, Elle Fanning, Riley Griffiths, Gabriel Basso, Ryan Lee, Zach Mills, Ron Eldard
Release Date: June 10, 2011
 
In the general dismay of cinema during these hot summer months there is a movie hopeful enough to fly upon the road toward originality. It despises most stupidity and harbors and displays a profound contempt for the immense reluctance directors and screenwriters exhibit when trying to craft a “refreshing” summer film. Super 8 swerves sharply in its walk, detaching itself from the summer films that find it a necessity to stir its audience into a panic via overwhelming action scenes, and passes other uninspiring films because it never shows a reluctance to engage with the consciousness, sensibilities, and behaviors found evident in all children. By engaging itself in this childhood realm the film approaches an innocence unrealized in mainstream cinema and doesn’t hesitate in grasping it. The results are penetrating, illuminating, and ultimately moving.
 
Director and screenwriter J.J. Abrams is working in rarefied air for the bulk of his third feature (Mission Impossible III and Star Trek his other features), exclusively occupying Super 8 in a space where only Mr. Steven Spielberg, this film’s producer, successfully prevailed in films such as E.T. and The Goonies. Embarking on a journey to capture the essential emotions found thriving in children is a task that is difficult to exactly pinpoint and to make it engaging for an adult crowd is even more difficult.