WISH I WAS HERE | BLU RAY REVIEW & GIVEAWAY
In celebration of WISH I WAS HERE releasing on January 28th in Australia the kind folks at Transmission Films have given us copies to giveaway on Blu Ray – woot woot. So get excited peeps – this is a fantastic movie. Revisit Kernel Jack’s review below and find out how to win. JK
ORIGINAL ARTICLE FROM JULY 2014
Kernel Jack attended this delightful second film from Zach Braff (GARDEN STATE) at the Sydney Film Festival. WISH I WAS HERE was a crowd funded film via Kickstarter and one that (now retired) Kernel Claire actually donated to, after being such a huge fan of Braff’s GARDEN STATE. The attempt was to crowd fund $2MIL to start the production – he did this in three (I REPEAT 3) days and they ended up closer to $4MIL. It is releasing on July 18th in the U.S. and September 11th in Australia from Transmission Films. It runs for 120mins and based on overseas ratings will probably score an MA15+ rating in Australia. You can stalk the film on their Facebook Page HERE. Enjoy Jack’s review…………all the best………….JK.

REVIEW BY JACK KEMP
I absolutely love this film and if you love Zach Braff’s previous film GARDEN STATE then you’re sure to love this one.
WISH I WAS HERE is the story of Aidan Bloom, a struggling actor, father and husband, who at 35 is still trying to make his mark as an actor while at the same time trying to hold his family together. When Aidan’s father falls terribly ill they can no longer afford to pay for private education and Aidan refuses to send his kids to an under developed and poorly funded public school. Aidan decides to home school the kids. Through teaching them about life his way, Aidan gradually discovers some of the parts of himself he couldn’t find.

The casting in this is perfect. JOEY KING (Grace) was the stand out for me. Her commitment to this role is evident when she shaves her head on screen. Her character is a devout Jewish teen with traditional morals, Which is completely different from the rest of the family. Her younger brother TUCKER (Pierce Gagnon) is a typical young boy who loves his video games and has no interest in his Jewish teachings. The banter between Grace and Tucker is funny, Especially when Aidan gets involved. The on-screen chemistry is very believable and from the first moment we see everyone as a family you get a sense of a traditional young family in suburban America.
Whilst this film has a lot of funny moments in, It also has a lot of touching scenes that give little tugs on the ol’ heart string. One scene for example is between Aidan and his wife SARAH (Kate Hudson) as they sit on a beach and talk about their family’s future. Aidan goes through this realisation that his career choices and family aren’t molding as well as he thought. It’s a scene that was really touching as we watch a man’s realisation that he has to make a choice that could mean giving up on his passion and dreams or risk ruining his family. I felt connected to this scene as I am constantly surrounded by artists, actors and musicians who have such a love of the arts and couldn’t imagine the pain and defeat they would feel if they were in a similar situation.

One thing that I really loved about this film was noticing how much BRAFF has developed and matured as a writer and director. He has really honed his ability to make you laugh and while you’re laughing bring a really sad moment that makes you choke up and fight back the water works. The final moments of the film had the entire State Theatre sniffling and watery eyed.
I would recommend this film to any of you that love Braff’s previous work. Its has a very intimate story wrapped in a perfect cast, beautiful cinematography and the soundtrack of Bon Iver, The Shins, Badley Drawn Boy as well as the collaboratively effort of Cat Power and Coldplay for the title track.

The film looses one pop for a scene that I felt was a little too forced and unnecessary. Aiden and his wife share this intimate moment in the laundry as he is doing a load. The scene is heavily backlit by the sun, Aidan has his shirt off and his wife comes up behind him being all intimate and affectionate while they talk. It gets awkward when they start to kiss and it feels like it goes for ever… I get it, cut to next scene. Its something you would expect from a film directed by Micheal Bay and starring Ben Affleck. Its something that could have been tightened up in the cutting room and to me it just felt awkward.
Overall Braff and everyone involved has held up to the level of expectation. Go see it. Do it. You will not be disappointed.
With special thanks to TRANSMISSION FILMS to win one of the 4X Blu Rays of WISH I WAS HERE you need to either like and share/ retweet this post on Facebook/Twitter/ Google+/ Pinterest/ LinkedIn/ Flipboard or Instagram (all the links to follow us are on the top right of homepage), you then need to leave a comment below stating the answer/s to the following questions:
What is your favourite Kate Hudson movie and why? For me, there can only ever be won, ALMOST FAMOUS – one of the very first movies I ever reviewed – I was writing for THE SURRY SCENE – this little Surry Hills local publication. It was my first screening in a theatrette and I felt powerful hahaha
If you do not have Facebook and Twitter then get with the times old timer haha – You can still enter, leave your entry below and email me at jking@saltypopcorn.com.au telling me you don’t have social media
Good luck! Oh, and minor housekeeping – huge apologies for overseas readers, this competition is only available to Australian residents.
I’m glad this is getting good reviews, I really enjoyed Garden State.
I love Almost Famous so much. Watching it gives me nostalgia so powerful it physically hurts but I never experienced the era firsthand. Definitely Cameron Crowe’s masterpiece.
I’d like to be able to say something other than ‘Almost Famous’, but I’m afraid I have to agree that this is Kate Hudson’s best movie. Movies like ‘The Skeleton Key’ and ‘The Killer Inside Me’ were ok, but nothing compared to her performance in ‘Almost Famous’. In that she was the perfect Penny Lane.
Kate Hudson is luminous in How to Lose A guy In Ten Days. The crazy plans she comes up with for the article are hilarious. I love this film
Best movie, Gossip for sure.
Such a bunch of stuck up people spreading rumours just for a social experiment… Pretty vicious and catty. It’s awesome
Raising Helen may have been Hollywood predictable but Kate really brought it to life as my favourite family movies
I love that combination of comedy with touching moments and pathos that your reviewer Jack talks about in this movie and I absolutely adored Garden State which is a perfect example – i think american indie movies seem to do it so much better than the big hollywood productions that always seem to be all out comedy or all out weepy drama – i reckon real life is somewhere in the middle. I loved Kate Hudson in Almost Famous but I guess a lot of people are going to talk about that one so I’ll mention another I love The Four Feathers not least for her relationship in it to Heath Ledger – I adore the big budget period drama too and this one looks fabulous with its immense battle scenes, Heath Ledger is so dashing in the lead and Kate Hudson really showed she had leading lady potential as she looked gorgeous and as the leading lady.
still that scene (There’s Something About Mary)where she uses come for hair gel cannot get it out of my head and Magda with them funny boobies great movie a classic
I think you may have Kate Hudson confused here with Cameron Diaz 🙂
I loved THE SKELETON KEY.I thought it was a terrific thriller with a unique premise.Very creepy too
I would have to say Almost Famous is easily her best film and she has tended to do a lot of rom-coms after Almost Famous. To be honest, it’s not my favourite genre and it’s probably something I don’t watch as much.
I did enjoy her in Larry David’s latest film ‘Clear History’ (he needs to makes more Curb Your Enthusiasm!). Also, the movie has an almost unrecognisable performance from one of the actors tipped to win Best Leading Actor at this years Oscars. I didn’t realise who it was until the end credits.
I loved this film and would be fantastic to win on bluray
I have really mixed feelings over this film. I was a huge Zach Braff fan in his Scrubs days which I watched every single of episode of and I love Garden State but I never went to watch this movie in the cinema. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten so annoyed about a film before it was even made and it’s all because of the crowdfunding! Now I think crowdfunding is a great thing. I’ve contributed to quite a few projects and even a couple of movies being filmed down here in victoria by first time directors but these are people with a personal connection to their crowfunders who absolutely couldn’t make the movie without the funding and have no hope of backing elsewhere. Zach Braff on the other hand is worth millions himself, he used to get paid $1 million per episode of Scrubs for goodness sake so it just said to me that he had no faith in his own project that he wouldn’t fund his own movie to maintain artistic integrity.
haha, ranting aside I still want to see it to see how it turned out and I do like Kate Hudson though I don’t think she’s ever lived up to my favourite performance of hers – Almost Famous If you hadn’t already sold your soul to music this film must surely convince you that it’s the reason for living along with movies 🙂
A long time lurker but first time commenter here 🙂 I’m a long time fan of Zach Braff having watched and loved Scrubs from the very first episode and absolutely adored Garden State so I had a keen eye on this movie for a long time. I completely agree with what the reviewer says about about Braff growing up and maturing right in front of our eyes – it’s unusual with him being both the writer, director and the star of both his movies and also contributing a lot of writing to Scrubs that we’ve really seen him develop from every angle and being around the same age as me, I really connect with a lot of his writing. My favourite Kate Hudson movie is one where she was really playing against-type – The Killer Inside Me with Casey Affleck and Jessica Alba, it’s tough disturbing stuff and some scenes are hard to watch but it’s a scorcher if you’re a fan of film noir and Hudson is unrecognisabl compared to her regular roles.
Winners are grinners – gratz to the following poppers!!
SAM JONES
THOMAS TRAN
ALI BROWN
JUDITH MAUNDERS
CATHERINE WETHERALL
Prizes sent next week!
Thank you!