Noah Baumbach's Kicking and Screaming is one of those rare films that actually gets it right when it comes to understanding the angst of being a young adult right out of college. Baumbach's dialogue matches each of the feelings that newly graduated students go through, but doesn't stoop to the level of condescending. We all identify with the characters of Kicking and Screaming whether it is Skippy and his wanting to further his education because there might be something he missed out on or if Skippy doesn't subconsciously want to become his friends Max, Grover, or Otis. We might identify with Max who blatantly doesn't know what to do now. Max's only hellbent on not looking back on his college years, "I'm nostalgic for conversations I had yesterday. I've begun reminiscing events before they even occur. I'm reminiscing this right now. I can't go to the bar because I've already looked back on it in my memory... and I didn't have a good time." Kicking and Screaming is a film deserving to be recognize as a journey through the minds of graduates and self-discovery of oneself.
Reviews
3 Reviews
Alien vs. Predator
(2004)
first hour descent, potential ending spoiler
14 August 2004
Warning: Spoilers
I just got out of one of the most disappointing films that I paid $7.00 to see. Alien vs. Predator was a film that crossover fans have been waiting to see. Who would win? Predator hunts by infrared, aliens do not give out heat (Aliens reference). Aliens hunt by sight, Predator cloaks themselves.
I will admit, I had enjoyed the first hour of the film, the character development, the set up for the rest of the film. Then the whole movie takes a nosedive into crap. I enjoyed the little nuances of the Alien series (Bishop Weyland, no matter what the debate on his character is, and the knife/hand scene), the team that is split up and has to walk down corridors to escape and is ultimately hunted down by the Aliens (Alien reference), and how the team on the surface is killed off by the predator.
When one of the characters decides to team up with the Predator is where they lost me. For one, the menacing presence of the Predator and given an almost human quality was a horrible move. To see the human siding with the Predator gives the movie's tagline "No matter what side wins, we lose" has no credibility.
A friend had a suggestion to what would have made this film work. Give it a The Thing feel and have them doing a dig on Antarctica and uncovering both species and have all hell break loose. Both species destroy each other while the humans have to find their way out. You can still have all the chestbursters you want. A twist that I thought that might have worked is that the woman who survives happens to be an ancestor of Ripley and maybe have the man be a relative of Arnold's character. It is only an idea.
I will admit, I had enjoyed the first hour of the film, the character development, the set up for the rest of the film. Then the whole movie takes a nosedive into crap. I enjoyed the little nuances of the Alien series (Bishop Weyland, no matter what the debate on his character is, and the knife/hand scene), the team that is split up and has to walk down corridors to escape and is ultimately hunted down by the Aliens (Alien reference), and how the team on the surface is killed off by the predator.
When one of the characters decides to team up with the Predator is where they lost me. For one, the menacing presence of the Predator and given an almost human quality was a horrible move. To see the human siding with the Predator gives the movie's tagline "No matter what side wins, we lose" has no credibility.
A friend had a suggestion to what would have made this film work. Give it a The Thing feel and have them doing a dig on Antarctica and uncovering both species and have all hell break loose. Both species destroy each other while the humans have to find their way out. You can still have all the chestbursters you want. A twist that I thought that might have worked is that the woman who survives happens to be an ancestor of Ripley and maybe have the man be a relative of Arnold's character. It is only an idea.
The Doom Generation
(1995)
satirical look at a generation
23 April 2004
Gregg Araki's Doom Generation is a satirical look at a generation that has been played out in cookie cutter versions of Gen X films. Don't get me wrong, Doom Generation is a little more "visual" than let's say, "Reality Bites," but then so is "Nowhere." The graphic nature of the violence and language play into Araki's satire and even the subliminal messages throughout the film play into the hands of those who look upon the "Gen-X" films as hip because we all go to a coffee house. Capitalism is evident in these films because of all the product placement, but we are not supposed to give in to this commercialism. Giving into this wasteland of over-marketed products is what Gen-X'ers say that they will not do while wearing their $60 Tommy pants and sipping on a $6.00 latte. Araki does what any brilliant director would do in this situation: make THE DOOM GENERATION.
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