ABCs at the Movies: The Doubles Round!

[memento]

IMDB: To be honest I didn't want to see this film, however I had to go so a movie at a film festival for my international cinema class. When I left it was one of those experiences where you want to truly thank a teacher for making you do something. Altogether this was a great movie, yes it was long, however the director captured the real emotions and nuances of teens in love so amazingly you feel like he stole the performances from the young actors. Not to mention this movie gives a great view of the hardships for minorities in the south of France, by not directly addressing them.

[Fran]

From IMDb: 

Before Nicole Kidman became an international superstar, she starred in this Australian flick about a romance between a white Australian boy (Noah Taylor, who played David Helfgott as a teenager in "Shine") and an African girl (Thandie Newton, of "Crash" fame) in a boarding school in the mid-'60s. It sounds like something that could easily be a total cliché, but they do it quite well, developing the characters beyond what we anticipate.

The main stars of "Flirting" certainly show the talent that they would bring to their later roles. A very young Naomi Watts -- several years before watching a killer video and getting carried around by a giant ape -- also stars.

[southendmd]

IMDb:  The movie is a coming-of-age drama about a boy growing up in Astoria, N.Y., during the 1980s. As his friends end up dead, on drugs or in prison, he comes to believe he has been saved from their fate by various so-called saints.

[oilgun]

From IMDb: A girl who half-heartedly tries to be part of the "in crowd" of her school meets a rebel who teaches her a more devious way to play social politics.

[Fran]

From IMDb:  Based upon Lois Duncan's book, four teenagers run down a man on a cliffside road. Thinking that he's dead, they throw him in the water. A year later, they receive messages saying "I KNOW"....

[memento]

IMDB: Lenny is a typical 14-year-old from the Bronx. Like every teenage boy, he is totally fascinated with the concept of sex. But the year is 1955, and Lenny is too young and too scared to actually "do it." So he dedicates his summer vacation to the next best thing. Seeing two other people do it. Easier said than done. Caught in the act of spying, his mother and stepfather ship him off to spend the summer with his aunt and uncle in "the country" Queens. His plan looks like a bust, and his summer seems destined for boredom, until he meets a whole new group of friends. Young teens who have a "sex club." They don't do it; they just talk about it, but these kids have a lot more interesting information than was available in the Bronx. And then he meets Hedy; a nurse, twice his age, and gorgeous - in a former life she modeled for bra ads. Lenny is both smitten and inspired, and his goal for the summer kicks into high gear. Lenny's plan to "witness an act of love" becomes an obsession, which turns a summer vacation into an adventure that will change his life forever.

[Meryl]

[Fran]

From IMDb:  A forensic psychologist, Sally Rowe, is appointed by police to determine whether there's enough evidence to lay murder charges against 17-year-old Alex, accused in the shotgun death of his school mate Nigel. With no tangible evidence, the detective on the case is under pressure from Alex's influential father to have the charges dropped. Delving deeply into Alex and Nigel's bizarre symbiotic pact, Rowe discovers that though dead, Nigel's psychological effect on Alex is far from diminished.

[southendmd]

IMDb:  The students of several New York City elementary schools learn ballroom dancing and compete in a city wide dance competition.

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5wEb_3S2VM[/youtube]

[oilgun]

From IMDb: Two pretty high school girls (one a cheerleader!) don't like their mother or her new boyfriend ("Daddy would have gotten us Uzis!"). One morning, they wake up to find that everybody in Los Angeles has been turned to dust by a Comet except them, a guy who looks like Erik Estrada, some zombies and the occupants of a secret underground government installation.

The original movie poster:


The extremely tacky DVD cover:


==COMMENT==
As I remember, this was actually a pretty decent movie.