Tag: Nick Robinson

Film Review: Love, Simon

You’ll love Simon, and his movie, too

High school senior Simon (Nick Robinson) has a secret. 

“I’m done living in a world where I don’t get to be who I am. I deserve a great love story, and I want someone to share it with,” so declares high school senior Simon Spier, in Love, Simon, the new teen romance that bears his name, and, of course, he’s right. It took until 2018 for a major studio (in this case, 20th Century Fox) to release a picture about a gay teen romance, but the wait was worth it. Charming and authentic, Love, Simon takes the John Hughes era teen film template and updates it into something fresh, funny, smart, and much, much more inclusive.
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Film Review: The Kings of Summer

Nick Robinson, Gabriel Basso, and Moises Arias in The Kings of Summer
Gabriel Basso, Moises Arias and Nick Robinson in The Kings of Summer

Two teens bang sticks against a giant rusted steel pipe running through the forest;  atop the pipe, a third teen dances spastically to the rhythm.  The three kids continue like this for a while, devoid of distractions or concerns.  They’re completely carefree, and we immediately yearn to free ourselves with them.  So begins The Kings of Summer, a film about three teenagers who run away from their frustrating domestic lives to build a house in the woods and fend for themselves in the wilderness for a summer.  The story is a familiar type of coming-of-age tale in which each character discovers something about his or herself — not just the teens, but the adults, as well (or at least a few of them).  The film features beautiful cinematography and a lively soundtrack.  It is wistful and sincere, yet partial and contrived.  There is something inherently attractive about this film genre — the independent coming-of-age film — in which not that much really happens.

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