ABCs at the Movies: The Doubles Round!

[Fran]

Also known as:   Yes, But...



From IMDb:  At age 17, Eglantine is troubled by a number of things. Her argumentative parents comprise an absentee and philandering father and an overprotective, occasionally alcoholic mother. Her boyfriend Sébastien is a couple of years older; he's ready, but she isn't. Frequent furtive visits to her therapist help her to see that these issues are not '"problems" but "difficulties," which she has the strength to overcome.

[Meryl]

Starring Hayley Mills

IMDB:  Even after having lived the hardscrabble life of a missionary's daughter all her life and seen the loss of both parents, young Pollyanna Whittier refuses to be depressed. Instead, she must be glad about anything she can think of, and it's paid off big time. Now, however, she must go to live with her cold, spinsterish aunt in a town inhibited by embittered, unfriendly souls. Can she use her glad game to win over everyone and transform the town?

[memento]

IMDB plot:
Teenage chess champ Billie (Alia Shawkat) faces the prospect of defeat for the first time when she faces her best friend (Alex Frost) at the biggest chess tournament of her career.

[Fran]

From IMDb:  Tim Hunter made a masterful film in "River's Edge," one of the most serious and thoughtful dramatic studies of teenage life I have ever seen. So many elements of the film have a cult following (chief among them the performances of Crispin Glover as Layne and Dennis Hopper as Feck) that I will comment on my own personal favorite moment: the harrowing sex scene between Matt (Keanu Reeves) and Clarissa (Ione Skye). Entwined in sleeping bags with a six pack while police search for their good friend, the two try to find respite while the overwhelming events of the day coil into a vacuum of solitude and silence experienced by children who have sex without knowing each other or themselves. Some will argue that Hunter is heavy-handed with the close association of sex and death, but to see Matt writhe helplessly under Clarissa while elsewhere John (Daniel Roebuck) describes to Feck what it was like to strangle his girlfriend always sends chills up and down my spine.

=comment=
This movie was inspired by the murder of Marcy Conrad in Milpitas, California in 1981.

[oilgun]

Synopsis
From the guys who brought you KNOCKED UP and THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN comes SUPERBAD. Seth (Jonah Hill) and Evan (Michael Cera) want nothing more than to lose their virginity before heading off to college. To do that, though, they need to get liquor for the big party that night. With the help of their friend Fogell, a.k.a. McLovin (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), and his fake I.D., the three of them go on a hilarious chase for that elusive booze, dodging incompetent cops (KNOCKED UP's Seth Rogen and Saturday Night Live's Bill Hader) while attempting to reverse a lifelong losing streak in one hilarious night.

[southendmd]

(Does this count?)

Remember Raphael, Michaelangelo, Donatello, and Leonardo?

IMDb:  This was the highest-grossing independent film of all time, having made over $133 million in domestic box office.

[Fran]

From IMDb:

The title of the film is a perfect depiction of what the story is about: "The Unsaid" is a journey full of agony and tension, into the deep-buried and untold secrets lurking in the hearts of Tommy Caffey (Vincent Kartheiser) and his therapist, Dr. Michael Hunter (Andy Garcia).

Dr. Hunter, who has not completely recovered from the shock of his son's Kyle (Trevor Blumas) suicide, is persuaded by a former student of his, Dr. Wagner (Teri Polo), to take the case of a seemingly normal adolescent, Tommy. The young boy, who in the past suffered a deeply traumatic experience by watching his father kill his mother, initially gets along well with his new therapist; moreover, Dr. Hunter himself seems to draw comfort from the boy's presence, as he reminds him of his lost son. However, things gradually become more complicated, as Tommy and Shelly (Linda Cardellini), the daughter of Dr. Hunter, meet and become fond of each other; moreover, Tommy's case is not as simple as it first seemed.

The film portrays three troubled characters: Kyle, Tommy, and Hunter himself. The performances by the respective actors, namely Blumas, Kartheiser, and Garcia, are simply superb. Although one might expect such A-level acting by a star of Andy Garcia's caliber, it is positively surprising and very heartening to watch young actors doing such a good job. Cardellini is also very convincing as Hunter's detached and confused daughter, while the rest of the cast remains on a generally satisfactory level.

=comment=
You can see Linda Cardellini in the trailer:

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjK639F_7_8[/youtube]
Time:  1:56

[memento]

IMDB:

This film was the first British teen movie to actually address the reality of the violent rock and roll society, rather than being a lucid parody of 1950s teenage life. In an attempt to celebrate the work of Liverpool's Junior Liaison Officers the opening title points out that 92% of potential delinquents, who have been dealt with under this scheme, have not committed a second crime. However, this becomes merely a pretext to the following teen-drama until the film's epilogue where we are instructed that we shouldn't feel responsible or sorry for such delinquents however mixed-up they might seem.

=aside= Paul
They're teenagers so it counts.

[southendmd]

IMDb:  Teenage sport climbers Tori Allen and Scott Cory attempt to become the youngest people to climb Yosemite's El Capitan. However, they've never been more than 100' off the ground. How they'll respond to a multi-day adventure up a 3,000 foot wall is anybody's guess. With very little planning, they embark on a 5-day adventure into history.

[memento]