If comedic Hollywood has anything to say about it, sex, and its pursuit, is pretty much all the average teenager has going on in life. What’s unfortunate for all those producing films for the teen comedy genre is that vulgarity envelope pushing seems to be par for the course (10 points for two idioms back-to-back). Whereas teen comedies American Pie and Superbad had some originality in that the former re-defined the virginity-loss pact style film with some strangely likable leads and the latter paired sexual pursuit with a nuanced emotional friendship, Premature isn’t offering any new content, just trying to cross-pollinate it with Groundhog Day’s looping time structure. Of course, adding a sci-fi element isn’t an especially original thing to do either, as Weird Science and Hot Tub Time Machine have demonstrated, so what ultimately keeps Premature from being a complete flop is that it too has a rather likable lead, and also that if there is a mathematical equation for “funny” the film’s laugh-to-groan ratio seems just high enough to keep it from falling on its face.

Rob (John Karna) goes to school one morning expecting to have a fairly average day, his biggest challenges being to win over the Georgetown recruiter he’s interviewing with, dodge bullies in the hallway, and end the day watching the National Spelling Bee with his best friend Gabrielle (Katie Findlay), an annual tradition. The day starts rough as his bully-dodging skills are sub-par and he ends up in his gym shorts for the recruiter interview, which also goes south when the overly emotional recruiter spends the time weeping for his dead wife instead of interviewing Rob. But things look up for Rob when high school hottie Angela (Carlson Young) asks Rob for a last-minute tutoring session after school. He ditches Gabrielle for this potential hook-up and seems to have all his sexual dreams about to come true when he’s suddenly waking up in bed. After re-living the same day once again, it becomes apparent that whenever Rob reaches a certain, er, sexual climax, it causes his day to start over.

Like another sex-based comedy gem, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Premature smartly allows its side-characters to be the raunchy ones so that its protagonist is more likable. Rob’s best friend Stanley (Craig Roberts) is given the bulk of the sexual references, and a few questionably racist jokes as well, to allow Rob to be the squeaky clean teenage boy we can maybe actually root for. A notable difference between this film and its comedic inspiration Groundhog Day where Phil Connors is wholly despicable to begin with. And, where Groundhog Day had the perfect combination of days where Phil spends his repeat holiday in both ridiculous and funny ways balancing his emotional growth well with the humor of the situation, Premature doesn’t take advantage of the scenario well at all. Rob catches on rather slowly to his situation and then does some predictably teenage rebellious-type behavior. Another wrong turn is when the plot attempts to explain Rob’s time-loop in a wholly unbelievable and silly addition that Groundhog Day wisely avoided as no explanation could ever be good enough or add anything to the story (and it really doesn’t). Luckily writer-director Dan Beers, along with co-writer Mathew Harawitz, gave Rob sensibility and the charming ending is sweet without overdoing it as Rob realizes how to finally, ahem, finish his day.

Premature provokes laughs but leaves little impression. The stereotypes of the high school of Hollywood are all accounted for and since we’ve watched some version of this since Porky’s, the laughs come from familiarity but boredom prevails.

The opening of Red Lights immediately sets it apart from the usual crop of horror films and thrillers that get dumped out into multiplexes almost every week. Margaret Matheson (Sigourney Weaver) and her assistant Tom Buckley (Cillian Murphy) drive out to a haunted house in Vermont. Matheson is a psychologist specializing in the paranormal who, with Tom, go around the country debunking people’s claims of “supernatural events.” After an eerie séance at the house in Vermont, Matheson quickly figures out the real cause of the haunting and then heads back to her teaching job in Ohio.

It’s these kinds of sequences that make the first hour of Red Lights a compelling and original take on supernatural thrillers. Matheson, Buckley and one of their students (Elizabeth Olsen) go around disproving the existence of spirits and expose psychics as frauds. Not too long after one of their biggest busts, news gets out that Simon Silver (Robert De Niro) is coming out of retirement. Silver, a blind medium who has never been debunked, is so good at what he does that Matheson won’t go near him. “He’s dangerous,” she tells Buckley, who’s enraged at her for not wanting to pursue Silver. Tom tries to work on exposing Silver behind Matheson’s back, and then all hell breaks loose.

It’s at this point that Red Lights veers off course straight into a ditch (more sensitive readers be warned: minor spoilers follow). Weaver, who shows how woefully underused she’s been over the years, is suddenly taken out of the picture. Suddenly Murphy becomes the focus as he encounters more and more strange phenomena while looking for evidence of Silver deceiving the public. Rodrigo Cortés is able to keep things compelling as he introduces more mysterious elements into the story, but once he shows his hand everything falls apart. Ludicrous events pile on top of each other, leading to a climax that makes one wish for the fun low-key first half of the film to return.

That feeling doesn’t end up returning though as Cortés decides to double down on the stupidity. Almost every review or comment about Red Lights eventually brings up its ending. Cortés tries to go for a big “A-ha!” moment and falls flat on his face. The final twist goes for a more profound conclusion, but its execution is jarring with the sensational events that came before it. It’s undeniable that Red Lights has plenty going for it with its strong cast and excellent first half, but Cortés comes dangerously close to tanking the whole thing by the end. Red Lights remains interesting throughout, but by the end it’s appealing in the same way a train wreck is.

British filmmaker Simon Aboud makes his full length debut as a director and writer of the indie film Comes a Bright Day. The film is a bizarre blend of genres when a romantic love story unfolds during a life threatening hostage situation. There was even some comedy sprinkle in. But the hodgepodge of themes felt exactly like that, a jumbled mixture of dissimilar themes that did not mix well.

Sam Smith (Craig Roberts) is hotel bellboy or as he describes it, a bag carrier and general bitch for the rich. One day his manager sends him on an errand that takes him to a jewelry store. Before he does that he makes a quick stop at a local café where he meets a girl named Mary Bright (Imogen Poots) who catches his eye. The two exchange a few words before leaving. It just so happens that the two would meet again in just a few short moments.

Upon entering the jewelry store he has already made up his mind that he would like to date her. Fate is on his side as she works at the jewelry store that he was sent to go to. But fate also had something else in store for him when two guys with guns show up to rob the place. Suddenly they become involved in a hostage situation.

The gunmen assumed that the robbery would be a quick smash and grab and did not take in account to be trapped inside the store surrounded by police. Now confined to the store they must come up with another plan. In the meantime, Sam and Mary continue to get to know one another despite the inopportune setting. Sam soon finds out that Mary is planning on leaving the country in less than a month, which assumes they make it out of this situation alive.

Although Craig Roberts plays a similar role to his character in Submarine, the performance did not match. His deadpan delivery and play-it-cool attitude did not work as well here. He never acted like his life was in danger unlike the rest of the cast who were way more believable (especially Imogen Poots). He just did not seem to fit properly in this film.

Where Comes a Bright Day shines the most is the camera work. The majority of the film was restricted to a single room which can be difficult to pull off. Aside from the limited setting, the film was impressive with presenting well composed shots. Production quality as a whole was the only area that the film was proficient in.

You have to appreciate Aboud’s bold attempt of making his first feature film that combines such different genres but it did not work as feature film. I think it would have been better suited to be condensed down into a short film. Comes a Bright Day had too many issues to be a film that can be recommend to watch. The one thing that the film did accomplish is that it showed Aboud does have potential as a director but Comes a Bright Day was perhaps just a bit too ambitious for the rookie filmmaker.

Submarine is a Welsh film that director Richard Ayoade adapted a screenplay based off the novel by the same name, about an awkward teenage boy and his first real relationship with a girlfriend. It is an honest coming of age story about how relationships are formed and destroyed which the main character experiences on his own and through his parents at the same time. A storyline that is often told but rarely executed this well.

Like most boys at the age of 15, Oliver Tate (Craig Roberts) is trying to discover himself. He is not all that popular at school but the fact that he loves reading the dictionary and prefers to be alone most of the time does not help matters. The prologue gives us background into the oddball character that is Oliver Tate before introducing us to his new obsession, love.

Chapter one is labeled, “Jordana”, who is also an unpopular girl who recently became single. Oliver imagines himself with her and is willing to do what it takes to win her over even if it involves doing things he would not normally do. One day Jordana instructs Oliver to meet her under a bridge and to bring a camera. She kisses him and takes photographs for proof.

It is revealed that Oliver has only kissed one other girl before Jordana, so he was rather excited to have kissed her. They stood up for each other when a bully picks on them and held hands when walking together afterwards. However, when he asked her if they were going out together now, she responds with “I’ll think about it.”

His mother is shocked when Oliver tells her he now has a girlfriend and relieved that her son is not gay. His father supported him when he heard the news by making him a cassette tape with songs, including some break up songs near the end in case things did not work out. This is as much support his parents could give him.

Oliver informs Jordana that his parents will be gone from the house Thursday night and not so subtly hints to her she could come over to have sex with him. She tells him she will come by and this makes Oliver as excited as he ever has been. He goes out of this way to make sure everything is perfect; the lights at the right levels and candles lit in his room. After the two make love she reminds him, “Don’t get cocky.”

Part two is called, “Graham Purvis”, who is an ex-boyfriend of his mother which startles Oliver who has been monitoring his parent’s sex life by the use of a dimming light switch. He concludes that his parents have not had sex for seven months as the light has not been dimmed low. It is not long before Oliver discovers his mother is having an affair with Graham and becomes worried that his parents may get divorced.

Oliver finds himself alone with his father and tries to tell him about his mother having an affair with Graham. His father shrugs it off saying that the two are just old friends. He is clearly not worried about the relationship between the two.

After speaking to his father, he realizes why his father became a marine biologist. He has felt down in the dumps for nearly his entire life which he describes the feeling as being under water. This goes along with the overall theme of the film which almost always involves water.

He decides to tell Jordana about the situation regarding his parents. He finds out that her mother has cancer. Even he admits that cancer trumps parental fidelity and fixing either of them is hardly easy. Jordana’s mother is having an operation which Oliver said he would come to but ultimately skips out on in order to try solving his parent’s issues.

Part three is entitled, “Show down”, which is more or less Oliver’s world crumbling down. Oliver goes to the beach where his mother and Graham are together again and saw that Jordana was with someone else. He finds out that his mother gave Graham a handjob. Adding to his misery, he receives a letter from Jordana stating what he was afraid was true, that their relationship was over and that she found someone new.

Oliver states rather realistically that none of this will matter when he is 38. Which is him trying to be optimistic but no one forgets their first love, not even the sophisticated Oliver Tate. Though, he has not spoken to Jordana for two months. The epilogue tells the conclusion to the wonderful story and ends the film perfectly.

Submarine showed glimpses of similarities to the work of Wes Anderson. From the chapter based storyline to the quirky yet sophisticated characters and the general art style of the film. Even the soundtrack seems like something that Anderson would have picked out.

The soundtrack is one of the best I have heard in years and most of the time completely relevant with the scenes in the film. Comprised of original songs from Arctic Monkeys’ frontman Alex Turner, the soundtrack enhances the film instead of merely adding to it.

Not only was the soundtrack superb but so was the use of the camera and effects. Showing fantasy ideas and freeze frames the cinematography by Erik Wilson was splendid. At the same time the film was not too fancy and stayed true to its period with typewriters, cassette tapes and Polaroid cameras.

Craig Roberts plays the character of Oliver Tate appropriately, an awkward recluse that is far more mature for his age. His character is often compared to Holden Caulfield from “The Catcher in the Rye” and it is not hard to see the resemblance.

Jordana Bevan’s is a character every male has met before, a cute girl who forces you out of your comfort zone to which you going along with out of the sheer case of lust. She is bold which is visually present from her wearing a bright red coat always. Yasmin Paige was convincing as Jordana.

The story is not revolutionary by any means, in fact it is undoubtedly simple but it is told and executed marvelously. Submarine is not just for the artsy Wes Anderson crowd, who love quirky characters and whimsical cinematography, the film appeals to everyone with it’s genuine take on a coming of age story. A prime example of how romantic comedies should be.