Son of Rambow

Two unlikely schoolboy buddies, a wide-eyed naïf in a repressive religious sect (Bill Milner) and a belligerent troublemaker (Will Poulter), team up to shoot a wildly imaginative sequel to "First Blood" on a home video camera, circa 1982, in Garth Jennings' fanciful, funny tale. Jennings captures the innocent ecstasy of youthful imagination unleashed and the elemental power of cinema: the violent war movie inspires an expression of affectionate fantasy and friendship. Writer/director Jennings and producer Nick Goldsmith are joined by the adolescent stars Milner and Poulter for the commentary, and they don't let having fun get in the way of really delving into the film. Their chummy chemistry, and the boys' genuine excitement revisiting their filmmaking adventure, also carries the 26-minute "Boys Will Be Boys: Making Son of Rambow," as fun and enjoyable a behind-the-scenes portrait as you'll ever see. The archival find: the disc "Aron," the real-life "Rambo"-inspired short that Jennings made as a boy.