The Perfect Summer Movie

Some good news: one of the most original action films in years is getting more screen time in Southern California theaters, starting today. (Details below.) It's not The Amazing Spiderman, though I really liked the big scene near Spiderman's end, where an off-camera newscaster warned people. (I wish they'd given him a screen credit so we could know who it was.)

Bro' is a roller-coaster of a ride through the world of freestyle motocross riding, starring real life superstars Beau Manley and Colin "Scummy" Morrison.  Their stunt riding is astonishing.  But  Bro' has an equally captivating story: an unworldly college boy falls to the lure of the lifestyle, including the money, the women, and the violence; then has to figure out what to do. Long-time fan favorite Danny Trejo stars. He is Hollywood's go-to guy when productions want to cast the meanest, most tattooed, toughest star. Umm, Trejo does not play the college boy.  And know this, going in: this is a film with most of the things the MPAA warns you about.

What I love most about Bro' is director-essay writer Nick Parada's obvious passion for his job. He puts the audience right on the handlebars for some of the most insane stunt riding you could expect to see. His expertise in the sport --and the craft of film-making--  is obvious. Big -time Hollywood will find him soon. See Bro' now, and you can say you saw him first.

The entire budget of the  independent film Bro'  was probably dwarfed by the craft-services budget for Spidey, but so what?:  when you see something with this much energy in front of-, and behind- the camera, you'll remember why movies are fun.

Bro' now is showing  at AMC Norwalk 20 in Norwalk,  Laemmle Boulevard Cinemas in Lancaster, and  AMC Ontario Mills 30 in Ontario.  Link to trailer (that has a lot of the words they don't teach in school), here.  Full disclosure: I may sound like a cheerleader, but I don't have a dog in this fight. However, if they ever make a sequel and need an off-camera newscaster to warn people about something, I can make a recommendation.