Conference bookie::movies

    Even though I haven't seen the movie yet - I tend to agree with Lisa
    regarding what I've seen so far but.....
    
    Just to make "DIR/TITLE=" easier to do can we have the title changed to
    reflect the true name of the movie Reality Bites?
    
    Thanks
    Jt

    Well, I'm 44 and my daughter is 20, so we're not in the correct 25-35
    age group, however, we both enjoyed it.
    
    Also, as an aside, I don't have a friend who looks like Ethan Hawke,
    either, but I'd certainly like to.  (he could sit on the couch, he
    could sit anywhere...)
    
    My daughter is still in college, so she doesn't know yet what her real
    life will be like when she does get out, but she felt that a lot of the
    social situations and what not fit some of her experiences so far.  The
    movie is mostly about young college graduates who *haven't* found
    "good", high-paying jobs, that they like, yet, people stuck working at
    The Gap, or burger franchises, when they'd really prefer to be
    directors or musicians.  Maybe it's difficult for engineers who like
    engineering, always wanted to be engineers, and have engineering jobs
    to relate to that dilema?  (Hey, it's just a thought.)
    
    Anyway, I enjoyed the movie quite a bit.  I thought the characters were
    appealing.  I thought it had a lot of funny lines, and situations, and
    I thought it seemed to somewhat reflect life in the '90's in the USA,
    regardless of age group.  My major criticism would be that the ending
    got somewhat hokey and typical, and one morning after scene seemed
    right out of When Harry Met Sally.  Overall, though, I enjoyed it.
    
    I'd give it *** out of *****.
    
    Lorna
    

    I've deleted my last reply because it didn't really get the point
    across that I wanted to make.
    
    The media has this fixation on "Generation X" as being a bunch of
    college graduates with "unmarketable" degrees, who have long hair, and
    weird clothes, who play grunge music and make "concept" movies.  The
    insidious message being, "if these people played the game, became
    socially acceptable, and got up off the couch, they'd fit in better
    and wouldn't feel so alienated".
    
    Which is yet more crap piled on deeper.  The large majority of my
    friends have professional degrees.  We played the game, and many are no
    better off mentally than those working at the Gap.  We don't have the
    neat and pretty lives that people think we do just because we have $300
    extra spending money per month.
    
    What I want to see in a movie is Joe Ugly with his engineering degree,
    who is supposed to have his life set for him, who still can't live as
    well as his parents, who questions whether his job is what is right for
    him but can't think of anything else to do, who can't find a date, 
    who can't afford his therapy since his health insurance got cut back......
    who basically is supposed to have everything since he possesses a "marketable" 
    skill, but still falls short of things his parents brainwashed him into thinking 
    he's supposed to have.
    
    I'd see that movie.
    
    
    :isa

    I think I've got the title of the basenote such that a search for
    "Reality Bites" will pop up this title.
    
    I've also added the remaining gibberish to reflect that this topic is
    also for discussion of the "Generation X" moniker, since everytime I
    see mention of this movie.....that term either precedes or follows the
    review.
    
    Hey, it's not just a movie, it's a new and refreshing demographic
    target....
    
    Lisa

    re .4, well, it's a concept that has made a star out of Doug Coupland,
    author of Generation X.  Or, did he create the concept?  :-)
    
    Your last paragraph about the person with the engineering degree who
    still can't live as well as his parents, and still isn't sure what he
    really wants to do with his life, etc., reminds me of the situation one
    of my best friends is in.  Oh, btw, he's 51 yrs. old and has a ph.d.
    from Brown.  :-)
    
    I think the movie you want to see would be interesting, but I think the
    movie, Reality Bites is valid, too.
    
    Lorna
    

>    What I want to see in a movie is Joe Ugly with his engineering degree,
>    who is supposed to have his life set for him, who still can't live as
>    well as his parents, who questions whether his job is what is right for
>    him but can't think of anything else to do, who can't find a date, 
>    who can't afford his therapy since his health insurance got cut back......
>    who basically is supposed to have everything since he possesses a "marketable" 
>    skill, but still falls short of things his parents brainwashed him into thinking 
>    he's supposed to have.
 
    	Gee, change 'can't find a date' to 'is divorced' and add 'then snaps, 
    turns slightly psychotic and assaults various members of the service 
    industry' and you'd have _Falling Down_.'
    
    						- Jim
    

    I have not seen the film, but have heard that despite the funny clips
    in the trailer, it is a serious film.  I want to see it out of
    curiosity, but like Lisa, I seriously have problems with the
    stereotypes that this film _seems_ to play down to.  And I did buy the
    book by Douglas Coupland that Lorna mentioned and I read about half of
    it and found it to be the biggest bore that I have ever read.  It was
    very pretentious and self-serving (and poorly written) in my opinion.
    As I said, I will probably see this film because of Winona Ryder and
    Ben Stiller (I think he is going to be someone to watch) and the woman
    who wrote the film is absolutely gorgeous (sorry, I know that shouldn't
    matter) but also in an interview really intrigued me.
    
    But as Lisa said, it would be nice to see some reality in a "Generation
    X" (I hate that phrase already) film.  But just as we had to live
    through all those films about the Baby Boomer generation, and a lot of
    them were garbage, but a few nailed the whole thing and were honest,
    maybe that will happen with future GenX films.  Remember THE BIG CHILL?
    It was the first really serious film about Baby Boomers, and it was an
    excellent film, but also had a lot of stereotypes.  So maybe that's
    what REALITY BITES will end up being - a good film with some
    stereotypes that will inspire better films with more honest and
    believable characters in the future.
    
    Keith

    re Big Chill
    
    See "Return of the Secaucus Seven"--it came first and is superior.
    
    	-John Bishop

>     also for discussion of the "Generation X" moniker, since everytime I
>     see mention of this movie.....

	Why not simply start another topic for this topic instead of
	cluttering one topic number with two discussion topics?

    re .9, Generation X isn't a movie.  It's a book.
    
    Lorna
    

    Re .9: The moderator says it's OK. [But if anybody really wants to have
    separate topics for discussing the movie "Reality Bites" and the genre
    "generation X movies", just decide which one this one is and start the
    other one.
    
    [I haven't seen the movie, btw, but I did wonder whether it was
    "Reality Bites" as in "Reality Sucks," or as in "Sound Bites"...]
    
    -b-the-"oh, why not"-moderator

	Remember, the Generation X moniker is not new..it was coined back in 
	1978 or so....

	/Cap'n Quad

    I thought Generation X was a sequel to Spike Lee's movie.
    

    Generation X was the name of Billy Idol's first band.

    I prefer to be called a "Schoolhouse Rocker"   :^}
    
    In a review I read on the internet a critic thought Schoolhouse rocker
    was more appropriate than Generation X.
    
    So how do you know if you are a Schoolhouse Rocker?  Can you sing along
    to....
    
    Conjunction junction whats your function.....
    
    or
    
    A noun is a person, place or thing
    
    Jt

    
    Lolly, lolly, lolly get your adverbs here...
    
    I'm just a bill, lowly bill, here on Capitol Hill....
    
    I still don't relate to Winona Ryder....
    
    Lisa

    Movies, please, people; philosophical discussions may continue only to
    the degree that they are associated with movies. Let's hear about films
    on disenfranchised, disenchanted, or disoriented generations; who can
    tie "The Return of Martin Guerre" to "Return of the Secaucus Seven"?
    Which says more about "lost" generations, "Slackers" or "Sidehackers"?
    _Is_ there a film called "Generation X," and if so, does the next one
    have to be "Generation XI"? And are "Reality Bites" a unit of data
    transmission or a sugar-coated breakfast cereal?
    
    Question: how many of the "generational" movies are made by people who
    belong to the generation being discussed? Would it be a hoot if the
    best ones were made by people who _weren't_ involved? (I suspect a lot
    of movie makers were A-V dweebs in school, and only got to observe what
    the rest of their generation was up to, but I may be wrong here; I was
    a library nerd myself, and didn't notice much of anything.)
    
    As for relating to movie characters, well - I've seen very, very few of
    them who bore any resemblance to people I've known in real life, never
    mind any resemblance to myself. And while I sympathize with, empathize
    with, or root for certain characters (not always the ones the director
    wants me to), I very rarely identify with them. (Is _that_ a
    generational thing, I wonder...)
    
    -b

    Well, not to get back to the ORIGINAL topic here or anything (I'll even
    see if I can't tie in Martin Guerre somehow), as a 22 year old college
    graduated employed female, I thought Reality Bites portrayed many of my
    friends to a T.  I don't know where the 25-35 year old time frame comes
    from, but that's not the correct ages for the people in that movie. 
    Maybe Ben Stiller's character might have been that old, but that's it.  
    
    Nitpicking you say...not true.  There can be and often is a HUGE
    difference between a 21 year old "Schoolhouse Rocker" and a 28 year
    old Howdy Doody watcher.  Which I thought, was well displayed by Ben
    Stiller's and Ethan Hawke's characters.  If you do want to call
    Reality Bites a sugar coated breakfast cereal, it would be Frosted
    Mini Wheats, because there is indeed substance under the sweet
    packaging.  And it was written by a 21 year old woman, who from
    interviews I've read, seems to know of what she writes.  
    And if they do make a film called Generation X, I will than be able to
    compare it to Reality Bites as Sommersby was to The Return of Martin
    Guerre.  (There, I know it's a stretch but I think I deserve a point
    anyways!)
    
    Ana