Rating: Summary: not without its merits Review: Two positive points from "The Doom Generation": A) a cameo by Skinny Puppy; and B) the well-chosen techno soundtrack proves director Gregg Araki at least has good taste in music. The first time I saw this I was enthralled by its shock-all nature, but it didn't take very long for the effect to wear off...maybe I've just gotten older and I need at least a LITTLE morality, a little shred of plot to enjoy a movie of this nature. The castration climax is repulsive and well-done, but also seems out of place in relation to everything that's gone on before. "The Doom Generation" is for the under-20 crowd only; anyone else should check out "SubUrbia," an equally plotless but far more intelligent film.
Rating: Summary: another example of Gregg Araki trying too hard Review: I really get irritated when people say that this film is ironic and a parody of the nihilistic 90's and the obsession with ultra-violence. In all the movies I've seen, never have I seen such a desperate attempt to appear profound. After about the fifth time you hear the phrase "666," it's tempting to scream, "I get it!" Only as lousy a filmmaker as Gregg Araki would feel the need to hammer his supposed "brilliance" home. It's almost as if he's screaming, "look at me! I made up something cool! Pay attention to me 'cause I'm soooo smart!" Araki takes whatever he considers subversive, kitschy, symbolic or deep and renders it utterly boring and trite. It might have been somewhat entertaining if Rose McGowan and James Duvall could actually act. They both looked as if they were fighting with cue cards throughout the movie. Johnathan Schaech was the only saving grace. He played the sexy, psychopathic, bad influence perfectly. Too bad his performance was wasted. I can't help but picture Gregg Araki as a 13-year-old with a camera, trying as hard as he can to be deep and ironic, while throwing in some fake blood and nudity. At least he chose the correct ingenue in Rose McGowan, as her only real "talent" is taking off her clothes. This film is for the high school loser goth crowd.
Rating: Summary: Boring Review: I never fall asleep on a movie before. I have more talent than the director of this boring and rabid film. Its laking originality, direction, actors, craft... and so on... I must go now... It makes me sleepy just thinking about it...
Rating: Summary: Complete and utter garbage! Review: This film is indeed and without a doubt(in my opinian)the worst movie ever made,what else can I add?The only other movie that even comes close to sinking to the depths of this [stuff],is the appalling C.H.U.D.2(bud the chud)However after suffering the terrible misfortune of having this piece of garbage pollute my senses, C.H.U.D.2 seemed (temporarily)like a topline film,and that speaks volumes about how bad this film is.People who have been subjected to this piece of cinematic torture should have the right to sue for damages,and the director should be banned from making films (and anybody else who played some type of role assisting in the creation of this abomination)Sheer junk,...,garbage,filth,stench,pollution,sewage,it is no use me continuing as I am unable to find an adequate word in the dictionary to sufficiently describe how terrible this film is.Pass the bucket I feel sick!
Rating: Summary: It's just plain bad Review: This is the most unexciting and vapid movie I have ever seen. Bad dialogue, bad direction, and an overdone storyline. You might like this movie if you are a 12 year old stoner which wouldn't be old enough to watch this vile piece of garbage anyway. Now I know why I found this movie in the horror section of the video store.
Rating: Summary: Would give it less if I could Review: I won't say too much about this movie. To do so would give it respect. Saw this in the theatre. Poor plot, poor movement, poor writing. You get the idea. Waste of time.
Rating: Summary: Embarassing Review: It's almost bad to the point of being funny. It's almost a parody of indie movies. Actors staring into space saying lines like "life is boring". Shots into the windshield of a car while the vixen in black sunglasses dives through the desert. Shallow one-dimensional bad guys, even shallower nihilistic bisexual club kids..It has it all. Perhaps if I was 20 years old, went to art school, and did a lot of X I'd find it amazing. I'm tacking on a star just for the beauty of the actors/actresses, and the general style of the film. Everyone did look super cool. It's like an issue of Raygun magazine come to life.
Rating: Summary: Dooming review... Review: Doom Generation is a blank. If you watch it, you will be wasting time and money. Natural Born Killers is much better in every category than this flop, which is one of the worst films I have ever seen. 666 repeated? Head flying off? Shearing body parts? Yes, all here. Unfortunately, this movie has pathetic characters, dialogue, and script. It's too bad that people as talentless as this director get to make movies while skilled directors like Sean Penn have to struggle to direct movies. This movie is pitiful in every sense of the word. If you watch this movie, you will never forgive yourself...you may even lose brain cells in the course of the experience. I would give this negative stars, but, unfortunately, that was not an option. If you want violence done in a psychedelic way, watch Natural Born Killers. Better yet watch A Clockwork Orange. Ultimately, my advice is this: Consider jumping in the shark tank at the zoo before you consider watching this horrible excuse for a movie.
Rating: Summary: Excellent montage of images and feelings Review: Gregg Araki is easily one of the most brilliant and uncompromised movie makers of the modern age. This is arguably his best work to date. One of the reasons the Doom Generation succeeds is because it makes its message known through feelings and imagery rather than words. The dialogue as many have (annoyingly) pointed out, is quite juvenile. What most people forget is that it is TOTALLY appropriate for the people being portrayed in the movie and anything else would not have been truthfull. This movie is a twisted odyssey to the urban landscape of decay. Everywhere, things fall down and die and there is a huge amount of tragic beauty in the decadence. The characters themselves are lost innocents not old enough to have inhibitions or prejudices or much sense. The exeption to the above statement is Xavier who is all to familiar with the seedy underbelly of America but remains and essentially decent, if jaded character. An aspect of the plot that many forget is that the characters never INITIATE the violence, they simply defend themselves. Making these characters into some billboard for moral degeneracy is unfair and shows that you didn't think about the movie, you just reacted to it. A groundbreaking element of this movie is its use of the threesome and complete lack of respect for "average" sexual practices. Araki in an interview once said that he thinks the traditional couple is dead and that the future is the threesome. Not everyone would agree but hey, it's an interesting idea (See Splendor for more development). Araki should be commended for his guts in making this movie and his obvious talent.
Rating: Summary: ummm. . . well. . . Review: I will say this. "The Doom Generation" is not a movie to watch when you're extremely tired. It will come across as even more confusing and frustrating. Okay, that's out of my system. I honestly don't know. . . clearly, you must look at this movie from a "so bad, it's good" kind of perspective. That's a given-- you can't expect me to believe a man getting his head blown off, falling into a convenient store stand and spewing up green stuff is either particularly harrowing or realistic. And I honestly still don't quite know what it's about, I remember scenes but not story, always the mark of a good bad movie. But this one is so weird! I can't understand where it's coming from; is it a treatise on violence on our society? Our rigid views of sexuality? The fragile and deadly nature that was Generation X? Or is it just a weird movie? Essentially the film plays like the same fifteen minutes four times over-- kids drive off to some location, someone recognizes them, a struggle ensues, that dude from That Thing You Do comes to rescue them, they get away while some adversary says "that b**ch, I'm gonna find her, and I'm gonna kill her," two of the three go off and have sex while the other one watches and, well, **ahem**, then that adversary comes back (or doesn't, who knows) and vows revenge. This happens a few times until an extremely graphic, and very harrowing rape/mutilation/murder scene at the end that is quite ugly, but also the most brilliant moment of the entire film in its use of lighting and the way it is staged. Warped cameos abound, most notably Parker Posey, Margaret Cho, and Heidi Fleiss (somehow fitting). The pacing is slow, the dialogue is really whacked, and by the end, I'm not sure the picture was made to tell a story and preach a message, or to shock the audience with its gore and sex. But I loved it!! I can't be sure if you will, hence the three stars, but if you're into twisted, warped movies that will leave you both confused and somewhat sickened, check it out!! (It's not too far a jump to John Waters from here.)
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