Angus Retro Review - An Atypical Teen Movie for the Quiet Normal Teen

Angus couldn’t be made as a wide release today, and it might have slipped away without the fanfare that it receives in this post. But that’s its true strength. Angus is something special in every sense of the word. While it’s a small story, the tale being told touches on universal concerns and strikes a powerful note for all that are traveling on its wavelength. The film is a small story about a minor triumph for a minor character. It’s quiet and shy, not a film that jumps out at you at your local Redbox, and that's the point of what makes it great. 

Goodbye Blockbuster

With the ultimate shutdown of Blockbuster Video, we lose another vanguard in our group consumer culture. This is a truly sad day for media junkies everywhere, and one more reminder that our culture is changing in ways that go beyond sets of doors closing and overhead lights fading for the last time.

The Stagnation of Popular Culture By Intellectual Property

Have we reached the end of popular culture?

I’m not being facetious here, and I’m not (just) trying to do this for hits. I’m asking a simple question: What’s REALLY changed in popular culture in the past decade? And is anything honestly POPULAR at this point? I’m not so sure that our culture has moved to a point of differentiation from the films and products of a decade ago beyond surface aesthetics, and it saddens me to state this.

Summer Movie Series - American Graffiti

“High School is closer to the core of the American experience than anything else I can think of” – Kurt Vonnegut

Summer Film Series - A Summer Of Teen Movies

It’s well-known that I’m a huge fan of movies, and I watch them at any chance I can get.  However, I am an admitted fanatic of a specific genre of movies, and that is the genre of teen movies.  I’d like to explore this love of teen movies by seeing a select number of movies that focus and fixate on teenage life (and often love), and ultimately come to a larger focus of meaning behind these films.  Therefore, this summer I’m going to be reviewing seminal films of the teen movie subgenre, as well as providing analysis for why they have endured as long as they have (and indeed, if they have lasted as long as we think).  I’ll be going in chronological order, so if your favorite film doesn’t come up you might find it later.  Just wait until you see what I’ve got in store for John Hughes…

All in all, there will be 24 movies that are covered through this series, which should make for an interesting (and hectic) summer.  I will be providing these reviews on Monday on Moodicarus beginning when my summer does, on May 16.  Be prepared to track back down memory lane, and feel free to provide reactions and reviews of your own in the comments section. 

I’m starting with 1955’s Rebel Without a Cause.  “You’re tearing me apart!”

Here's the list of films I've planned for this series:

Rebel Without a Cause

The Last Picture Show

American Graffiti

Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Sixteen Candles

The Breakfast Club

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Pretty in Pink

Some Kind of Wonderful

Valley Girl

The Last American Virgin

Better Off Dead

Heathers

Say Anything

Dazed and Confused

Angus

Can't Hardly Wait

American Pie

10 Things I Hate About You

Bring It on

Mean Girls

Superbad

Easy A

Adventureland (not technically a teen movie, but I have my reasons for putting this on here)