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'American Teen' Trailer: Is This the New Breakfast Club?



When American Teen first premiered back in January at the Sundance Film Festival, audience reaction was very very positive. But then came the big, elephant-in-the-corner question: How do you sell a real-life, big-screen documentary about teenagers to teenagers? Would they look at it and think, "Um, okay, so it's like a longer episode of MTV's True Life?"

Early buzz (including some from our own James Rocchi) was touting American Teen as the next Breakfast Club, with one clear difference: This one was real. The first poster for the film took those early festival reviews to heart and offered up a remake of The Breakfast Club poster, but with these new kids in the old poses. Now comes the first trailer, which definitely keeps the same Breakfast Club tone only we don't hear any "Don't you ... forget about me" in the background. Check it out above and let us know what you think.

Teenagers: Will you go see this in theaters?

Does This Movie Poster Look Familiar?

I bet you'll look at this for a second and go, "Um, did they remake The Breakfast Club, or .... what?" No, they did not remake the John Hughes cult classic, but they did remake the poster for the new documentary American Teen. One of the more popular films from the Sundance Film Festival, American Teen was quite often the subject of debate. People loved it, but couldn't understand how someone would market it. After all, how do you sell a documentary about teenagers to teenagers? Sure, it works on MTV ... but would it work on the big screen?

Obviously, Paramount Vantage is running with the quote most often heard amongst critics in Park City: "It's like The Breakfast Club, but a documentary." Even our own James Rocchi was in agreement when he opened up his Sundance review with, "Nanette Burstein's documentary American Teen opens not far from John Hughes country, both geographically and artistically: we're introduced, in quick order, to four students at the high school in Warsaw, Indiana, on the first day of class."

Is American Teen the next Breakfast Club? I guess we'll find out when it arrives in theaters on July 25. (Oh, and for fun we've included the original Breakfast Club poster after the jump.)

[via Film School Rejects]

Continue reading Does This Movie Poster Look Familiar?

Cinematical Seven: The Big-Screen Bullies You Love to Hate

In Drillbit Taylor (which opens tomorrow), three kids hire a low-budget bodyguard (Owen Wilson) to help protect them from the school's bully. This got us thinking: What are some of the great on-screen bullies? Those kids you just love to root against because they're written extremely well, offer up top-notch performances and/or remind you of someone from your past. A bully is different from your average movie villain -- they don't tend to carry lethal weapons, or run with a group of deadly terrorists. These are just regular kids with a little too much power thrown their way. Your run-of-the-mill Hollywood bully usually hangs with a group of about two of three of the same sex; guys or girls who don't have many lines, and serve only to make the main bully appear tougher.

Ideally, a great movie bully should have one or more of the following: 1) At least three classic lines. 2) A memorable downfall. 3) Hottie girlfriend or boyfriend. 4.) A name that just says it all.

We put our heads together and came up with seven of the greatest bullies on film. Check them out after the jump ...

Continue reading Cinematical Seven: The Big-Screen Bullies You Love to Hate

Cinematical Seven: The Epic Movie Fashion Trends from the '80s



If the '80s left us anything, it was a melange of bad fashion that made us all wonder what we were thinking. Crimped hair. Lace gloves. Blue eye makeup. I wish I could say that we've never revisited the clothing atrocities of that era, but lately, some nuts have put on the leggings, leg warmers, and off-the-shoulder tops. Crazy kids! Many of us, however, still consider the '80s to be a decade of bad taste and temporary, wide-spread insanity.

That being said, the mistakes of the '80s also hold a heck of a lot of nostalgia. We love replicating those times at Halloween, and we talk fondly, if not embarrassingly, about our fashion forays. Many of the decade's disasters came from music and videos, but cinema also added its two cents (especially in 1985), whipping up its own fashion frenzies and regrettable outfits. With the Flashdance Collector's Edition DVD out today, here's a list of cinematic trendsetters that helped feed the fires of bad fashion.

Girls Just Want to Have Fun (1985)

One of the big trendsetting characters of the eighties was, believe it or not, Helen Hunt. As Lynne Stone, she taught young girls everywhere about the splendor of hair spray, and even more importantly -- Velcro. By day, she was the rabble-rousing student at the local Catholic girls' school. But once the bell rang, the rip of Velcro would echo, and Lynne would turn her uniform inside-out to reveal sleeveless shirts, vests, and black leather miniskirts. Man, I was so jealous of her. She might have been an absolute fashion train wreck, but she was oh, so cool.

Continue reading Cinematical Seven: The Epic Movie Fashion Trends from the '80s

Cinematical Seven: Sequels That Should Happen -- But Won't




There aren't too many movies that necessitate sequels. Unless a movie is part of a pre-proposed series or is an adaptation of a series of books, it should probably be able to stand alone. But a lot of sequels come from movies that are perfect by themselves -- sometimes the sequels compliment nicely; sometimes they are easily ignored; occasionally they actually take away from the previously regarded original.

It isn't often that a movie screams out for a sequel, but I think I've come up with seven that at least whisper a request for one. Two actually have source sequels that they would be adapted from. One has a lot of history to mine material from. Three of them have been discussed at length at different points in time by makers of the original(s). The problem is that none of these sequels is likely to ever grace your DVD player let alone your local theater. For whatever reason, they simply have too much against them in the minds of studio execs. For now, though, we can dream.

1. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (sequel to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)

Even with the incredible cast and the surprisingly faithful-enough script, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was not the epic that I was hoping for. It also wasn't the blockbuster that Disney was hoping for. The filmmakers, Garth Jennings and Nick Goldsmith (aka Hammer and Tongs) and the necessary actors had signed on for the sequel, to be adapted from Adam's follow-up, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, but it appears to be dead in the water. Despite my few reservations with the first film, I would love to see the sequel, as well as the rest of the series (they could end before The Salmon of Doubt, I guess). I remember being bored with some of the prehistoric Earth sequences in Restaurant, but I think they'd make for great cinema. In any event, I think Martin Freeman and Mos Def were a great duo in the original, and they alone should have been propelled to stardom following its release. Maybe they can appear in something else together.

Continue reading Cinematical Seven: Sequels That Should Happen -- But Won't

A New Documentary Takes Us Back To Shermer, Illinois

If you grew up in the 80's then the chances are pretty good that you've seen a lot of John Hughes movies. Hughes' schedule was packed back then when he directed his teen masterpieces Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science and Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Hughes still works as a writer, but hasn't directed a film since 1991 (Curly Sue).

Don't You Forget About Me, a new documentary by Matt Austin, interviews fans of the films and people who worked with the now somewhat reclusive director on those famous angst-filled flicks. Austin has interviews with Ally Sheedy, Judd Nelson, Kelly LeBrock, and even Kevin Smith, whose love of Hughes is pretty well documented. Hughes hasn't given an interview since the 80's, but Austin is still trying to get one with him before finishing the film; it's still up in the air. Austin has compiled a tape to send to Hughes in an attempt to convince him to take part, and seems confident: "Right now, I'm very hopeful that we're going to get him. My genuine feeling is we'll get a call."

Maybe when it comes down to it, since I'm not a teen anymore, I don't get most teen movies lately. Don't You Forget About Me credits Hughes with creating some of the most realistic portrayals of how teens really behave. I don't know if that's true, but I do know he managed to make teen movies that had more to offer than sex with baked goods.

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