Cinematic Throwbacks: August 1990/2000/2010

1990:

The first great high school movie of the 90's, a decade that had a lot of them (albeit mostly in the later years).

I always kind of intro this movie as the one that has the character that most matches what I was like in high school. And aside from the whole pirate radio thing, and him having at least one girl interested in him, I pretty much was the same as Christian Slater's character in this film.

I guess this movie isn't THAT well known. I saw in a recent anniversary article about it that it's kind of a rare film that isn't anywhere on streaming (music rights apparently). It's kind of fitting that this movie is a tougher find.

So the plot has Slater as a high school kid who is a painfully shy loner at school, but at night he does a pirate radio show from his parents basement. The show is basically just him venting into the world, and playing obscure songs, and whatever else may pop into his head.

When the movie starts he has already been doing this show for a while, and it has developed a bit of a following among his high school class (who are the few who live close enough to catch the signal). Soon it also gets on the radar of the school's administration, after he starts exposing some of their dirty secrets. And there is also an incident where a student kills himself after talking to Slater's radio persona Hard Harry on air. Eventually things get so hot that the FCC gets involved.

The one weakness in the movie is that basically all the adults are cartoonish villains (the principal might as well be Cruella De Ville). Although through that I did get my go to insult for years: maggot pusswad. 

But everything with Slater and the show work wonders. I wish the scenes of him doing the show were longer. It's some of my favorite stuff in any movie. This is probably peak Slater, right up there with True Romance. He's SO good in a role that has a lot of lengthy monologues. But he's also convincing as the high school kid who can't utter a word to the girl he likes. 

And Samantha Mathis is indelible as the artsy girl who figures out Slater's secret identity (which, admittedly, would not be that challenging for anyone truly motivated to find out). She's right up there on the list of the best high school movie girlfriends.

The film really hits on that teenage angst feeling, although I first saw this when I was probably 12 or 13 so I didn't know anything about that...yet. But a lot of what Slater talks about here really resonated with me even then, and still does. Aside from some outdated tech and clothing, this film is very relevant. Although if this were made today it would have Slater doing a podcast probably. 

I wish we got more high school movies that went darker, that were dramas. This movie is very funny at times but mostly it's very serious. 

2000:

I've always had Bring It On a notch or two lower than the best of that late 90s/early 2000s run of high school movies. To be honest this movie is a cartoon. It lacks any of the depth that even something like She's All That snuck in there. 

But it's a fun cartoon, and still pretty funny. It knows what it is.

So the story has Kirsten Dunst (back when she was still kinda cute) taking over as captain of her cheerleading squad, only to soon find out that all the championships the squad won before was done by stealing routines from the black cheerleaders across town.

Gabrielle Union in her first big role is the head cheerleader of the wronged squad, flanked by the members of the then modestly known R&B group Blaque. I always hated them. They should be the sympathetic underdogs, but I wanted them to lose. And frankly, I have always thought that in the big finale competition, Dunst's squad had the better routine. The message seemed to end up being that if you don't cheat, you lose. Months later a certain election played out that way too.

I'm being way too negative on this movie, aren't I? Okay, no more.

The big draw for me then, now, and forever was Eliza Dushku. By the time this movie came out, Buffy had turned her into one of my top 5 faves. I was ready for her to take off into being a mega movie star. And no doubt she owns every single second she is in this movie. Her intro scene is just badass sexiness. Her charisma blows Dunst off the screen. She's funny. It's the whole Eliza package. And yet somehow this was her big screen peak (well, this or her modeling montage in The New Guy). She picked a lot of bad movies after this.

The movie has a couple Buffy connections other than Duck Shoot. Glory herself is one of the cheerleaders. And even the guy who plays Eliza's brother and Kirsten's love interest seems to be channeling Xander. 

This movie spawned a whole bunch of DTV sequels that I never saw. It was also essentially remade beat for beat with Pitch Perfect. 

2010:

Scott Pilgrim arrived as about as instant a cult classic as you could be. Everything in it screamed of things that have devoted but small followings. The fact it wasn't a big hit seemed predestined.

But this was one of the very best films of the 2010s. For a movie in which so much is going on, almost every single thing in it works. It is boundlessly creative, hilarious, just plain cool, and packed with a cast that is just literally unmatched in the number of budding stars who were just about to break big.

Michael Cera in the title role, coming off of a run of Juno, Superbad, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and Youth In Revolt (we'll pretend Year One didn't happen). So his particular screen presence was well established. But here he added a dickish side that was terrific. Scott is a rather loathsome person, but Cera kept him just likable enough. 

He pursues Ramona Flowers, played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead just before she really started to prove herself one of the best actresses of the era in films like Smashed and a bunch of other indies you've probably never heard of (plus bigger things like 10 Cloverfield Lane). I always liked how Ramona is not presented as a flawless fantasy girl.

Scott's actual girlfriend in the movie is Knives Chau, played by the irresistibly cute and lovable Ellen Wong. Now she turned out to be a one hit wonder. One could possibly have some thoughts that the one major cast member of color is the only one to not really break out from this.

The 7 evil exes include Chris Evans right before he donned the shield, Brandon Routh putting Superman behind him and showing a gift for comedy that would get him onto the DC TV universe, Mae Whitman just before she starred in a pair of high school classics (The Perks of Being a Wallflowet and The Duff) and a couple TV shows, and the already pretty established Jason Schwartzman.

And then there's Anna Kendrick! And Aubrey Plaza! And Allison Pill ("great story, man"), Kieran Culkin, and motherfucking Brie Larson!

The cast is the legacy here, but the filmmaking creativity is still a singular triumph. No movie since has even tried to do this. And it makes the film endlessly rewatchable. I'm sure that aside from a few MCU films I've watched this movie more than anything from the 2010s.

So that does it for August. Thin month, but September has a little more going on. Goodfellas turns 30. Remember The Titans and the forgotten gem The Way of the Gun turn 20. And turning 10 we got Easy A, The Town, Machete and the Catfish movie. So that's pretty electric.