[tw2113]

Dr. Alien.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

singles i think went for the whole "grunge" cliché whereas reality bites went for broader genxer themes of alienation and disaffection i guess, but i could not tell you from memory, and wouldn't know where to find singles, in fact both movies were mixed up in my brain. the lemonheads play in ethan hawke's "band" in reality bites. the other one had eddie vedder i think? someone...

the thing is i got a cheap offer to subscribe to "starz" (lol that name, but it was $2 a month) and decided to trawl it for trash movies a bit, and this one was there. and so i did it on a lark. looking for singles on purpose, idk, hahahha, ok maybe to prolong the joke

--

eta: so no singles without paying extra but "starz" (lol that name, can't keep a straight face) includes "empire records" if one wanted to get zellwegered (she's also got 3 seconds on screen in reality bites). and ah the lovely liv tyler front and center on the poster.

hahahha zellweger was playing an alcoholic near death judy garland some 3 or 4 years ago. she's fucking old, i'm fucking old. old! and winona is spock's mom now lmao.

here is winona looking a bit goth right when covid hit

 

Empire Records is a terrible film, even by the low standards of its peers.
Singles does fumble the bag a bit with the whole “grunge” thing, but there’s some legitimately funny stuff in that movie.

And yeah, Eddie Vedder and Jeff Ament, I think, played members of Matt Dillon’s band Citizen Dick.

[Rob Instigator]

Reality Bites was a bad film, but it was nice to see parts of Houston and recreated parts of houston.

the dive bar they go to was a re-creation of the old Axiom near downtown Houston. I saw so many bands there.

The shots outside of their house are from a street just a few blocks away from where I lived for 15 years.

In the movie, ethan hawke sells newspapers and shit at a kiosk in what is Tranquility Park (created to commemorate the Moon Landing). At the time they filmed this, that park was derelict, and used by the homeless as a campground and toilet. It has since been cleaned up and looks super nice.

I have always been in love with both Winona Ryder and Jeanene Garofalo.

the scene on the rooftop is bullshit. No one goes on rooftops in Houston. It is HOT AF and all that shit is off limits.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by Severian

Empire Records is a terrible film, even by the low standards of its peers.
Singles does fumble the bag a bit with the whole “grunge” thing, but there’s some legitimately funny stuff in that movie.

And yeah, Eddie Vedder and Jeff Ament, I think, played members of Matt Dillon’s band Citizen Dick.

is it really bad? i cannot remember, i only remember zellweger's massive pout, lol. she used to get on my nerves for so long until finally i saw that judy garland film, and much respect to her in old age (lol), she can really act now that she gave up the bunny face. as a broken nervous wreck, she was fantastic.

but i think i'll watch empire records in my morning off today, if only to suffer lololol.

so i looked up singles and realized it's a cameron crowe film. i don't like his stuff generally. he's a boomer too, unlike the people who made reality bites, and apparently he had written the thing in the 80s and just refried it for the 90s. can't remember much, honestly, but i'll give it a look if i can find it cheap/free.

Originally Posted by Rob Instigator

Reality Bites was a bad film, but it was nice to see parts of Houston and recreated parts of houston.

the dive bar they go to was a re-creation of the old Axiom near downtown Houston. I saw so many bands there.

The shots outside of their house are from a street just a few blocks away from where I lived for 15 years.

In the movie, ethan hawke sells newspapers and shit at a kiosk in what is Tranquility Park (created to commemorate the Moon Landing). At the time they filmed this, that park was derelict, and used by the homeless as a campground and toilet. It has since been cleaned up and looks super nice.

I have always been in love with both Winona Ryder and Jeanene Garofalo.

the scene on the rooftop is bullshit. No one goes on rooftops in Houston. It is HOT AF and all that shit is off limits.

hah, nice! thanks for the insider look at the little details. it makes it more "real".

[Rob Instigator]

I think that Reality Bites tried hard to ape some of the feeling that went into Douglas Copeland's novel Generation X.

My generation of people had begun to quit the "Career" job path, seeing it as a black hole sucking your soul out your ass and throwing it back up in your throat. The idea in Gen X that people work whatever they can get for 6 months, save $$$, then go do whatever they fucking want the remainder of the year, was a huge thing in late 80's early 90's. Not fully dropping out, but using the system to fund what you truly want to do.

Reality Bites hints at this between Winina's character vacilating between artsy director work, and corpo MTV work, and with Ethan's character being an over-educated bum basically.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by Rob Instigator

I think that Reality Bites tried hard to ape some of the feeling that went into Douglas Copeland's novel Generation X.

yeah it... well yes but i think it was genuine though, the writing. they were authentic generstional concerns--the damage left behind by boomers, the aids epidemic, the (at the time) economic malaise from reaganomics hangover, the "overeducated underpaid" problem, the futility of "progress" etc etc, all of that was very real at the time. so yeah the movie makes heavy use of those issues, it's not very subtle hahaha. starting with winona's opening "i don't know" valedictorian speech, it's all genuine but also very on the nose (because it was kids who made it, and that's okay),

for me the other texas movie that does it better is linklater's "slacker" with his roving camera through various places in austin, showing people doing fuck knows what, hanging out, paranoid 20-monitor rooms, rambling about parallel universes, etc. it's all there but without having to spell it out with sharpies hahaha. ah, i wanna watch it again...

[!@#$%!]

on a related note to all that, i remember people were obsessed with poetry like the ethan hawke character talking about his little moments in the face of absurdity etc. very cliché poetry.

but see poetry was a real deal back then, and i remember going to see the nuyorican poets cafe who were touring in dc, and saw paul beatty read this:

https://powerpoetry.org/content/that...ob-description

that there was exactly what hahahahahaaa. a great read, worth your minutes.

he's famous now and teaches at columbia but anyway i laughed so hard he was exactly talking about all that stuff. i became an office temp not long after that, then took off into the deep end and beyond.

[Rob Instigator]

True ^

People were obsessed with poetry, poetry slams, and live poetry readings.

in 1993/94, while at college, I was part of the student program board which set up concerts, movies, and other entertainments on campus for the students. We were one of the stops for MTV's spoken word tour.

I remember some of the street poets, on of which asked me about my homemade hat (which my GF had made for me from the sleeve of a long-sleeve T shirt) He said peeps in NYC would want it.

Maggie Estep was one of them, and so was John S. Hall from spoken word band KING MISSILE.

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-...289-story.html

The best part of it all for me was that the host was a very inebriated GIBBY HAYNES from the almighty Butthole Surfers. He was late arriving, MC'd the event and walked out. I followed him to where he was smoking cigarrettes outside the Hotel & restaurant managament college. I shared a smoke with him and kept the butt.

[tw2113]

Without the soundtrack of the time, Singles would be a completely forgotten average movie.


Actually soundtracks are probably the best part of it, Reality Bites, and Empire Records, but I have a soft spot for Empire Records the movie as well. I can't slag it even at its weak points.


I haven't seen Reality Bites enough times to really remember it.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

so i looked up singles and realized it's a cameron crowe film. i don't like his stuff generally. he's a boomer too, unlike the people who made reality bites, and apparently he had written the thing in the 80s and just refried it for the 90s. can't remember much, honestly, but i'll give it a look if i can find it cheap/free.

Yeah it’s Crowe. I’m not a huge fan either but Singles was foundational for me growing up. Soundtrack isn’t even that good as a whole (good Paul Westerberg songs and some of the better Pearl Jam tunes, but otherwise it’s a bit meh), but the film itself is funny and dumb and dumb fun, in my humble opinion.

[choc e-Claire]

I watched Singles the other day, mostly because I'd heard of the soundtrack enough. It was pleasant, but like...not much happened? No great pivotal plot swings or whatever, it kinda just went by. It's nice enough though.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by choc e-Claire

I watched Singles the other day, mostly because I'd heard of the soundtrack enough. It was pleasant, but like...not much happened? No great pivotal plot swings or whatever, it kinda just went by. It's nice enough though.

That’s a Gen-X movie for ya. That was the trend.

Have you ever seen Kicking and Screaming? Good enough but holy wow does nothing happen

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by Severian

That’s a Gen-X movie for ya. That was the trend.

Have you ever seen Kicking and Screaming? Good enough but holy wow does nothing happen

yeeees. "clerks" being somewhat quintessential in that regard

and another chance in this thread for me to praise "slacker", where linklater did a lot of this before anyone, and more intelligently too.

hah, so much to respond to above this post, but i'm running out of neurons at the moment

[Severian]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

yeeees. "clerks" being somewhat quintessential in that regard

and another chance in this thread for me to praise "slacker", where linklater did a lot of this before anyone, and more intelligently too.

hah, so much to respond to above this post, but i'm running out of neurons at the moment

Clerks is maybe the gold standard for a bunch of slackers doing fuckall during a movie lol. I’d probably rank it above Kicking and Screaming, but I have a soft spot for Singles, probably because of Seattle (even tho I’m pretty sure the Seattle element was part of the script repurposing you mentioned — it probably took place in LA originally).

But I love that pan-out st the end where I can spot all the apartment complexes (many of which have no doubt been replaced with, I dunno, Amazon offices or gentrified condos with roof gardens now)

[Severian]

But I love that bit in Singles when Matt Dillon’s character leaves the poorly recorded song on Bridget Fonda’s character’s answering machine.

“I’m walking down the avenue-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo … And I am looking at the garbage cans, hoo-hoo, hoo, hoo-hoo”

LMAO

You just don’t expect him to rhyme “Avenue” with “Garbage cans” because why would you?

So dumb.

[tw2113]

Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death


Virgin Territory

[tw2113]

1981's Ghost Stories

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by Severian

Clerks is maybe the gold standard for a bunch of stingers doing fuckall during a movie lol. I’d probably rank it above Kicking and Screaming, but I have a soft spot for Singles, probably because of Seattle (even tho I’m pretty sure the Seattle element was part of the script repurposing you mentioned — it probably took place in LA originally).

But I love that pan-out st the end where I can spot all the apartment complexes (many of which have no doubt been replaced with, I dunno, Amazon offices or gentrified condos with roof gardens now)

i read up on it, it was originally set in phoenix. i fucking hate phoenix lol.

anyway i couldn't find the movie cheap or free, the only thing i remember is "we're #2 in belgium!" (or something), but i think your soft spot might be mainly because you miss your hometown, and i sympathize with that immensely

Originally Posted by tw2113

Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death

hahahahaaaaaa!

these titles you post are usually terrible, but "avocado" is an original touch for sure hahahahaaaaa.

what was avocado about it? im honestly curious. in mexico, aguacates is avocado but also means nuts, ha.

[tw2113]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

hahahahaaaaaa!

these titles you post are usually terrible, but "avocado" is an original touch for sure hahahahaaaaa.

what was avocado about it? im honestly curious. in mexico, aguacates is avocado but also means nuts, ha.

To quote Wikipedia:

Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death is a 1988 American comedy film directed by J. F. Lawton and starring Shannon Tweed and Bill Maher. The film sends up many pop culture motifs and societal trends, including feminism (and feminist movements' fragmentation around various issues), B movies (particularly Cannibal Holocaust), celebrities, major writers and political figures, centered around a spoof of Joseph Conrad's 1899 novel Heart of Darkness.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by tw2113

To quote Wikipedia:

oh! shannon tweed my adolescent crush! hnnnnnnnnngggg

 

i'm gonna have to watch that...