teen Tagged Articles at Cinematical

There are plenty of John Hughes fans that consider Some Kind of Wonderful to be little more than a recycled Pretty in Pink. But today I'm going to nominate the story of Keith and Watts for Scenes We Love for a very important reason: it's about righting some wrongs. If you're a regular around here, you might remember a little theory I have about the ending of Hughes' teen masterpiece Pretty in Pink, and as it turns out I wasn't the only one who had a problem with it; as the story goes, Hughes wrote Wonderful as a way to finally get the ending that he preferred.

Wonderful was the story of Keith, a sensitive painter, and his best friend, a tom-boy drummer named Watts. When Keith makes good on the life ambition of every teen movie protagonist and goes for the popular girl (played by Lea Thompson), Watts realizes that her feelings for Keith go beyond friendship -- and, of course, what would any Hughes movie be without the abusive beautiful people (headed by Craig Sheffer) and the hoodlum with the heart of gold played by Elias Koteas -- who I've had a bit of a crush on ever since thanks to this movie.

After the jump: why I love this movie and Sheffer gets his well-deserved comeuppance..

Christopher B. Landon, the screenwriter who just got done making big money by ripping off, er, remaking ... no, "re-imagining" Rear Window for 15-year-olds who can't be bothered with Alfred Hitchcock, is about to pen another script -- and it's another one that sounds more than a little familiar. The Disturbia scribe seems to be taking his inspiration from something a lot more modern this time around: He wants to do a movie about three teenage witches. And I highly doubt that Andrew Fleming's The Craft is going to earn a spot in the opening credits.

According to Variety, Landon (who apparently never met a movie he wouldn't unofficially re-make) just sold a script called The Flock to Warners. (Never mind the fact that there's a Richard Gere movie called The Flock that's hitting theaters this summer.) The synopsis goes like this: "Set in contemporary times, story revolves around three teens accused of practicing witchcraft. Girls endure terrifying consequences as a result of the ensuing hysteria and scapegoating." Maybe they'll get Fairuza Balk and Robin Tunney to star.

Coming soon from Christopher Landon: An original screenplay about a town overtaken by birds. After that, a flick about a young girl possessed by the devil. (Obviously I'm being a bit over-snippy here, but I'm just amazed at how much money Disturbia brought in, despite the fact that the movie's been made several times before.) Obviously there's something to be said for giving people the same old leftovers. I think what irks me most is not that Disturbia is a bald-faced Rear Window retread, but mainly that Mr. Landon took a "story by" credit on the flick. That's just tacky.

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.