Tag Archives: Coming of Age

Say Anything… (1989)

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Truly, “Say Anything” is one of the most iconic romance movies of all time. It’s a last gasp of the eighties and in many ways a very touching tale of two people finding one another. But one of the best things about it is the final scene. Much in the way “The Graduate” ended, “Say Anything” puts our characters through the ringer, and then throws everything up in the air leaving it there for the audience to figure out what will happen next. Like Benjamin and Elaine in “The Graduate,” our young couple sits on a plane awaiting their fate and look at one another pondering on what the future holds.

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Nicholas Sparks: Limited Edition Collection (DVD)

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Whether we like it or not the Nicholas Sparks movies haven’t lost steam. Even when they’re flops, they’re still somehow tapping in to the life line of female movie goers, giving movie studios even more of a reason to adapt Sparks’ dramas about gorgeous Caucasian people with no actual problems, that find love with one another. Their love is, of course, chaste, pure, and innocent, with no real raw looks at the passionate love that become the focus of many of Sparks’ movies. Even posters for his movies show people on the verge of kissing. Nothing more. If aliens ever found these movies as a last remnant of humanity, they’d be convinced humans kissed and mated by rubbing noses together and meeting eyes intently.

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The Spectacular Now (2013)

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Director James Ponsoldt’s drama is very much a film that takes its pages from John Hughes’ teen oriented films about change and growing up. “The Spectacular Now” is much in the arena of “Breakfast Club,” and “Say Anything” where what we once thought we understood is actually false, and we eventually reach a fork in the road where we must decide to move on, or stay perpetually stunted by our environment. Director Ponsoldt introduces us to the destructive part of our lives that keep us from accepting growth and adulthood, and he just happens to be our protagonist Sutter.

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A Christmas Story (1983)

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Though many consider “A Christmas Story” an ode to good old fashioned consumerism, director Bob Clark’s family film is much more about down to Earth themes. Who among us hasn’t wanted that great toy for Christmas that was out of our grasps? Every single person on Earth can empathize with the tale of Ralphie, a bespectacled young boy who wants the ultimate Christmas present. What makes “A Christmas Story” such a universal holiday film is that Ralphie is not a kid that expects his gift. He does everything it takes to earn his Red Ryder BB Gun, short of stealing it.

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The We and the I (2012)

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What Michel Gondry does is take some of the most realistic and unique teenagers from the South Bronx, plants them on a public bus, and creates what is basically his own “The Breakfast Club” with the aimlessness of “Dazed and Confused.” Every character is put on to the bus by circumstance and come to some sense of realization by the end of the ride that will likely have no effect on their personal lives. In the end, every character in “The We and the I” are victims of peer pressure and their home lives, and are just ships passing in to the night. Filled with a cast of young actors that were cast right out of the South Bronx and honed to work with Gondry for their characters, “The We and the I” is a pretty excellent dramedy about the modern teenager that never sugarcoats their dynamics.

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Battle of the Year (2013)

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Battle-of-the-Year

The only thing more shamelessly stupid than the utter self-congratulatory premise behind “Battle of the Year” is the god awful product placements. One thing about these stupid dance movies it that they’re a gold mine for corporations to advertise to an audience that likely can’t afford their crap. So we’re shown images of Braun in the background in the first minutes of the film, Josh Peck has a new Sony Ipad because “It’s the future,” he tells main character Josh Holloway. Then there’s an insert of him renting “Planet B-Boy” on Netflix, menu and all.

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Airborne (1993)

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Director Rob Bowman’s 1993 inline skating dramedy “Airborne” is the most nineties-est film of the entire decade, and damn it, I love it. It’s so 90’s, it automatically cancels out “Empire Records” and “Clueless,” combined. I suspect Warner and Bowman expected to begin a brand new nationwide rad inline skating craze with “Airborne,” by pandering to their love for all things extreme and edgy of the sport. Including long hair, surfing, flannel, hockey, and an extreme final race that’s so extreme it’s extra-eme.

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