Teen movies come second only to horror movies in my own personal brain cinema, so I was interested to see what Garry Mullholland thought deserved a place in the top 100.
Some classics ('The Wild One', 'The Outsiders'), some of the really? you really think these are still interesting? (The Breakfast Club, Pretty In Pink),...and some that were downright brave - Bring It On, Mean Girls, Little Darlings and..Twilight. I still haven't decided whether the choice to include Twilight was a dare, a show more means of taking the piss from the readers, or a genuinely I-could-care-less-what-the-hipster-consensus is,Twilight fits the pattern of a really good teen movie. Mullholland is very opionated (if you've read Popcorn, you'll know what I mean)- and sometimes makes a bit of a tool of himself (and I don't mean the bits where he's intentionally self-parodying.) Also, we all know how important Buffy The Vampire Slayer is to post-90's film and youth culture; Mullholland manages to slip in a Buffy reference every five films or so. (Presumably his editor is a Buffy fanboy too.) Overall I really enjoyed 'Stranded at the Drive-In', but just like 'Popcorn', there's just a little too much of the author's 'right-on, I'm a cardcarrying leftie feminist who grew up poor, so I know better' shtick. Great read, interesting choice of films, but just a little overbearing. Mullholland is no Vern, though. show less

Feb 23, 2012