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REVIEW: American Milkshake [2013]

2013/08/272013/09/04 Jared Mobarak

“I wish I was one of them” As someone who graduated with the Class of 2000, the idea of high school comedy American Milkshake taking place in the 90s definitely piqued my interest. I often joke I’m a child of the 80s despite knowing the descriptor doesn’t fit someone who was only eight at decade’s end, so seeing a film try to do to my teen years what The Breakfast Club did to the previous generation’s seemed exciting. After watching writers/directors David Andalman and Mariko Munro’s creation, however, I’m beginning…

REVIEW: Tug [2013]

2013/03/072013/08/07 Jared Mobarak

“I peed? In the bed?” I guess this is what filmmaking becoming easier and cheaper does for all holding the dream and passion to create. It goes back to Kevin Smith‘s Clerks proving that the depiction of the comic and mundane of slacker culture could speak to a new generation feeling the exact same angst. We’ve always had films standing as a testament to an age of rebellion, maturity, and empathetic understanding—The Breakfast Club is probably the most famous—so it’s easy to see why today’s filmmakers yearn to match its…

REVIEW: American Pie [1999]

2012/03/312014/05/14 Jared Mobarak

“Suck me, beautiful” I’ll admit now that my love for American Pie is rooted heavily in nostalgia. Having first seen it in theatres as I was entering my own senior year of high school, the comradery of its band of brothers cautiously walking together towards graduation and manhood doesn’t quite resonate as much today at age thirty. My seventeen-year old self remembers the performances being a bit more honed and the scripting a tad crisper, but the one thing that didn’t change with an older and maybe wiser perspective is…

REVIEW: Take Me Home Tonight [2011]

2011/03/042014/06/07 Jared Mobarak

“That was a metaphor. I totally got him.” As this week’s box office shows in contrast to my huge level of enjoyment with Take Me Home Tonight, it appears director Michael Dowse has another cult classic on his hands. Already with It’s All Gone Pete Tong and a duo of Fubar films containing a pretty vocal fan following—how else would what looks like a major low-budget flick in the latter get funding for sequel Balls to the Wall—I’d have to imagine the lackluster opening of his newest won’t get him…

REVIEW: Going the Distance [2010]

2010/08/262011/08/24 Jared Mobarak

“Dan, take me to Berlin” Acclaimed director—and Buffalo, NY native—Nanette Burstein has finally made her way to the world of fictional film. After helming the documentary The Kid Stays in the Picture about producer Robert Evans, one could say she took a step towards narrative with American Teen, a real-life look into today’s high schools and just how close John Hughes got The Breakfast Club. I remember some talk about staging and scripting reactions to make it all more cinematically interesting, but whether true or not, the film was a…

REVIEW: Planes, Trains & Automobiles [1987]

2009/11/262011/08/24 Jared Mobarak

“Like your job; love your wife” Being the first John Hughes film I have seen since the writer/director’s passing, I feel that I need to speak about the man’s oeuvre along with the movie itself. I think many could make the argument that Planes, Trains & Automobiles is his best work. He wrote a lot of scripts, even into the years before his death, but as far as the ones he directed, you won’t get one that resonates on an adult level quite like this. The Breakfast Club will always…

REVIEW: The Breakfast Club [1985]

2009/04/022011/08/24 Jared Mobarak

“You’ll get the horns” It may not be the funniest film that John Hughes crafted, but The Breakfast Club is the one that I think made the biggest impression on me. Revisiting it—so many years after its creation, as well as many since I last sat down to watch its entirety—gave me an interesting experience. How the three friends with me had never seen it is beyond me, but that fact caused something I never expected. Each moment of weight, those moments when the kids explain the pressures of each…

REVIEW: Sex Drive [2008]

2008/08/272011/08/24 Jared Mobarak

“I refuse to be embarrassed by a car that looks like a Trapper Keeper” Not to badmouth American Pie, I actually really enjoyed it and its sequels, albeit less with each installment (and I mean the theatrically released offspring), but I must blame it for the dearth of quality for copycats each year. Sure there are some surprises—Eurotrip, I know, I really liked it, sue me—mixed in with the drivel, it’s just a shame they are so few and far between. Nothing will ever compare to the greats such as…

REVIEW: American Teen [2008]

2008/07/222011/08/24 Jared Mobarak

“A lonely sock” Documentaries have never been my genre of choice. I go to the movies to escape from reality and embed myself into a world unlike my own, or at least skewed enough to make me look upon my life and see what can be improved from the new experiences and ideas culled from the viewing. However, with American Teen I could not have been more engrossed in the trials and tribulations of senior year of high school. Watching this film, you will find a piece of yourself in…

REVIEW: St. Elmo’s Fire [1985]

2007/04/082011/08/24 Jared Mobarak

“The only illusion that’s worth it” I think Joel Schumacher gets a bad rap. Sure Batman & Robin is possibly the worst movie ever made, and it did kill a multi-million dollar franchise, but is that truly all we think about on the mention of his name? I myself will admit to keeping a stigma of hack whenever Schumacher is talked about, however, along with some decent films of late, his track record in the 80’s was full of pure, nostalgic gems. I finally got the opportunity to check out…