Tag Archives: Coming of Age

The Peacock’s “Ted” Is Better Than the Movies

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Now Streaming Exclusively on The Peacock. “Ted” The Movie is Now Available.

It’s probably not much of a surprise to discover that Seth McFarlane’s talents work much more when applied to serialized television than with feature length films. While “Ted” has gradually evolved in to a favorite of mine, and “Ted 2” is—well—good enough to pass the time, Seth McFarlane’s transplanting of his concept to the small screen is very good. Often times it’s great. This is also stunning considering Seth McFarlane’s earlier humor was often so dark and nasty. “Ted” actually manages to bring a lot of what we love about the humor from “American Dad” and “Family Guy” but also injects some actual heart and substance to McFarlane’s bizarre formula.

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“Airborne” at 30: Still The Fantastic 90’s Bonanza

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In the 1990’s everything was “Extreme” or “Mega.” Everything had to be what with the introduction of things like X Games, which gave way to a huge tidal wave of things that were more adrenaline fueled, faster, and often times advertised “This isn’t your daddy’s:” Insert product here. Along with the sports being more extreme, the movies were more extreme, and the 1990’s carried over the skateboard generation from the 1980’s. Where the massive influx of skateboard movies permeated cult cinema, the 1990’s were where there were even more efforts to integrate it in to mainstream cinema. While it didn’t quite succeed (we did get “Brink!”, I guess), we did manage to get great films like my childhood favorite “Airborne.”

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Bottoms (2023)

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It’s pretty disappointing going in to a movie expecting so much and leaving it felt like it could have been so much more. While many have sung the praises of Jennifer Seligman’s “Bottoms,” I am sad to have left it feeling generally indifferent. It has an interesting premise and has a good time taking its LGBTQ premise and fitting it right in to the myriad coming of age high school comedies, but so much about “Bottoms” felt so under developed and incomplete. Apart from its absolutely bizarre premise, “Bottoms” spends most of its run time trying to figure out what it wants to be.

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You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah (2023)

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I imagine one day one of Adam Sandler’s daughters was having a birthday, and they mentioned something about wanting to be in the movies. Seeing as how Sandler is that kind of guy, he cracked and gave his daughters their very own movie. I’m assuming he also promised them a career too, like the Apatows. It’s sad that in a year where we were given “Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret.,” Sandler offers up his own version of the coming of age teen tale, except with major discrepancies.

“Are you There God? It’s Me Margaret.” was about a lower middle class teen girl trying to find her place in the world. “You Are So Not Invited…” is about an affluent upper class teen trying to—create the perfect bat mitzvah. Because heaven forbid she goes to high school with less than four friends.

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Miguel Wants To Fight (2023)

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Director Osmany Rodriguez’s “Miguel Wants to Fight” is a lot like a Gen Z version of “Max Keeble’s Big Move” mixed with “Three O’Clock High.” It’s a coming of age movie about a teen who makes a self realization in the midst of a big move to another town. Except the premise for the movie is what you see in the title. Our main character is teenage Miguel who is looking for a fight before he leaves; except it’s a tad more complicated than that.

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The Slumber Party (2023)

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I imagine the board meeting at Disney Channel went “What if we did “The Hangover”–but G rated?” And what we got was “The Slumber Party.” Director Veronica Rodriguez lays all of her influences out for the audience from minute one, even involving a small group of friends that make a pact that results in a night that neither of them can recall. It’s almost verbatim sans any and all adult content. Not that that’s a bad thing in particular, as thankfully “The Slumber Party” is quite good. The fact it’s blatantly derivative of the aforementioned movie is outweighed by the charisma of its cast, and its lively energy.

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The Aimless Joy of Youth: “Dazed and Confused” at 30

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One thing Richard Linklater can never be accused of is someone that deals in concepts of fate and destiny. He’s also pretty much an atheist when it comes to storytelling. His characters aren’t fulfilling destiny or living up to a higher purpose (e.g. “Boyhood”). They’re merely characters drifting and crashing in to one another, creating random occurrences that may or may not work out the way they want to. Jessie and Celine in “Before Sunrise” are just drifting along the world until they meet one day. The dreamer in “Waking Life” is just drifting through his sub-conscious meeting others. Jake is ostensibly drifting around in “Everybody Wants Some!!” Hell, even Dewey in “School of Rock” doesn’t truly fulfill any grand destiny, except merely learning to grow.

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