Rating: 
Summary: An epitome of the early-90's Seattle music and social scene
Review: Several years ago when I was very young, I could remember this movie coming out, and the characters reflections of their insecurities involving life and love. To balance this out was a fervent array of great music that portrayed an important period of rock in Seattle. Performance groups like the Smashing Pumpkins, Soundgarden, Alice and Chains, and Pearl Jam were just a few that characterized the Seattle music scene in this movie, as well as the intense feeling of this particular genera. With the characters' 20/30-something portrayels of the stresses involving the irony and idiosyncrasies of city-life, this music served as an incredible backround.
Rating:
Summary: A poignant, nostalgic trip to the early 90's.
Review: SINGLES almost brought tears to my eyes, for it took me back to the most exciting era of my life: the early 90's, when I was a twentysomething. In fact, my life at the time could have been a script lifted directly from this movie.SINGLES perfectly epitomizes what made the early-90's so memorable and exciting: the grunge-obsessed, flannel-sporting, coffee-slurping, Seattle-dwelling twentysomethings. This formerly misunderstood and ignored demographic had suddenly found its place in the sun, and this movie encapsulated that. One of the hallmarks of the decade, and something no other generation can claim, was that its famous musicians stood shoulder to shoulder among the working men and women. Proof of this is in the cameos of Eddie Vetter and Chris Cornell doing just that.If you are a Gen Xer, you will want to cry at the innocence of a time gone by, when being a twentysomething really meant...something! Unlike today's younger generations, our mainstays weren't cell phones, digital cameras, the Internet, reality TV, and boy bands. For us it was grunge, flannel, strong coffee, and a feeling that we really could make a difference in the world if we yelled loud enough for others to notice. SINGLES will make you yearn for that simpler time.
Rating:
Summary: A poignant, nostalgic trip to the early 90's.
Review: SINGLES almost brought tears to my eyes, for it took me back to the most exciting era of my life: the early 90's, when I was a twentysomething. In fact, my life at the time could have been a script lifted directly from this movie.SINGLES perfectly epitomizes what made the early-90's so memorable and exciting: the grunge-obsessed, flannel-sporting, coffee-slurping, Seattle-dwelling twentysomethings. This formerly misunderstood and ignored demographic had suddenly found its place in the sun, and this movie encapsulated that. One of the hallmarks of the decade, and something no other generation can claim, was that its famous musicians stood shoulder to shoulder among the working men and women. Proof of this is in the cameos of Eddie Vetter and Chris Cornell doing just that.If you are a Gen Xer, you will want to cry at the innocence of a time gone by, when being a twentysomething really meant...something! Unlike today's younger generations, our mainstays weren't cell phones, digital cameras, the Internet, reality TV, and boy bands. For us it was grunge, flannel, strong coffee, and a feeling that we really could make a difference in the world if we yelled loud enough for others to notice. SINGLES will make you yearn for that simpler time.
Rating:
Summary: I'm Walking Down the Avenue-Hu Hu Hu Hu Hu
Review: Singles is one of my favorite movies. I've seen it tons of times and I'll watch it a ton more. The characters are very down to earth. The way the characters are all connected makes you feel like you're part of the gang. There are many great lines, the soundtrack is early 90's Seattle area grunge with a great Jimi Hendrix oldie. The members of Pearl Jam are the members of Matt Dillion's band. It's always nice see them in Singles and remember Pearl Jam when they had a sense of humor. Eric Stoltz has a cameo, like he always does in Cameron Crowe films. Cameron Crowe is an amazing story teller and director and Singles is definitely worth seeing!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent movie!
Review: Singles really did a wonderful job of capturing what is was like to be a struggling band in Seattle in the early 90's. The locations were well planned, making sure to pay attention to every detail of Seattle's beauty. Maybe I'm biased since I live in the Emerald City, but Cameron Crowe did a great job in making this film -- and I especially liked seeing bands like Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, and Alice in Chains make appearances. One of the best movies I've seen!
Rating: 
Summary: crowe does dating
Review: some part of me wants to agree with general opinion that this is a bit of a 'period-piece'. oh, go on then, this IS a bit of a period-piece, but none the worse for that. the irony is that crowe took a peculiar cultural phenomenon in grunge, went to the heart of it all and made the film in Seattle (with some nice coffee shop moments thrown in for good measure) and then made a film about life that could have been set anywhere. i mean, instead of matt dillon's character having long hair, wearing jams and being into rock, give him a mohican, baggy trousers and have him into punk and you have a skateboard movie (not sure why you would, but still...). the film is about love, life, relationships, the difficulties of being a twentysomething in modern society and making difficult decisions but not really knowing who you are, where you are going or why you happen to be where you are right now. it is that disaffection with life that, i suppose, endeared us all to troubled musicians with long hair and scruffy t-shirts in the first place..? the idea that our central characters live in a duplex apartment block is key to the film. these are people with temporary lives, temporary relationships, dreams of something better and something bigger and no one to help them get there (to paraphrase michael chabon's wonder boys). the film isn't out-and-out funny, or romantic or anything particularly mainstream, its downright quirky and unconventional and makes a bold observation on life and living it. campbell scott has only just recovered from the critical slamming he took because of this film, by all accounts, and bridget fonda and matt dillon have remained relatively low key (but probably not unsuccessful) and kyra sedgwick has had a reasonable career (and a marriage to the man of many degrees, kevin bacon). the only person that really flourished here is crowe, who can probably look at almost famous as his most acconmplished piece to date. this has similar charms and perhaps when we are further away from the early 90's this film can be appreciated by a new audience. im inclined to agree that my so called life did do a better job with representing the grunge era, but then, this is aiming at higher fruits and, i think, comes across as a prelude to better things from its director (but maybe thats just hindsight speaking....?).
Rating:
Summary: One of my top three movies!!
Review: There is something about this movie that makes you wish in an apartment block with a group of people like this!
Rating:
Summary: Ah, to be twentysomething in Seattle in the early 1990s!
Review: This film genuinely surprised me when I first saw it in theaters in 1992. For me, Bridget Fonda was the main draw at the time, as she received top billing and was on the movie posters with Matt Dillion. It felt like a bait and switch, because the film focuses more on Campbell Scott and Kyra Sedgwick's relationship, even though they aren't featured on the poster. That's no biggie, because I enjoyed their storyline much more than Bridget and Matt's...but I bet Campbell and Kyra weren't happy to be excluded on the poster/DVD cover.
This film has it all...great music suitable to the period (grunge/alternative), fantastic use of place (Seattle in a starring role), interesting and quirky characters, and true to life portrayal of young people in their twenties negotiating through life as they find their true passions. I especially loved Campbell Scott's performance and he is the true star of this film. His job is working on creating a "Super Train" to get Seattlites out of their cars and onboard for their commute, because he believes that "if you give them great coffee and great music, they'll ride." His girlfriend, played by Kyra Sedgwick, has her pulse on the masses, by telling him, "I still love my car, though." She's an environmentalist who drives an old gass guzzling clunker of an automobile, which Campbell pokes fun at after a lunch date. Its a joy to watch their relationship grow from initial doubts to lover games about how soon after a date one should call to other challenges that crop up. I especially love the scene when Linda (Sedgwick) peruses Steve's (Campbell Scott) record albums and gets nostalgic about her college days. That scene epitomizes the exciting "getting to know you" stage of dating and rings absolutely true. The choice of music in that scene, and throughout the entire movie really enhances the scenes overall.
Probably the only thing I didn't like about the film, which is just a tiny critique, was Janet's (Fonda) almost groupie-like infatuation with Cliff (Dillon), who didn't seem all that interested in her (until she moves on with her life). They are a mismatched pair if there ever was one...Janet with her ambitions for Grad School to pursue architecture, and Cliff the stereotypical Gen X slacker working menial jobs to support his rock band career that probably wouldn't have gone anywhere. Janet should have hooked up with the plastic surgeon who doesn't know how to have fun!
This dvd would be made even better with a director's commentary track. Cameron Crowe could divulge a lot of interesting information and insite jokes that the average filmwatcher might not catch (like when the mime says, "wooo woooo woooo" in response to a guy who says he works for Boeing, or when a reporter asks Cliff what the song "Touch Me, I'm Dick" is about--which is an inside joke on the actual song "Touch Me, I'm Sick"). This film is so ingrained into the grunge culture of Seattle of the early 1990s, that future audiences could use a lot of background info a director's commentary would provide. At any rate, this film is a joy to watch, and cheaply priced that it's worth having in one's collection. And buy the soundtrack while you're at it.
Rating:
Summary: A Single's movie you shouldn't leave alone
Review: This flick follows the loves of a group of 20-somethings in the Seattle area at the end of the 20th century (1992, actually). Though earthquakes come and go, we're not living in orbiting cities or commuting between airlocks, and if the retro-fashions don't clue you in, then the awkward dialog will make it clear that "Singles" is about people too caught up in the moment to worry about the future. All of the characters are caught in that weird gap of being too old to be immature, but not having learnt how to be mature. Linda (Kyra Sedgwick) and Steve (Campbell Scott) meet cute at a nightspot - she's got bad taste in men, and is leery of getting burned again (when the movie starts, Linda falls in love, but loses a foreign exchange student; in a flashback, we see how another boyfriend dumps her with the skill of a contract hit). Steve's an urban planner, but he's unsure how to pursue Linda, which sends her all the wrong signals (his parents split up at a young age - we get the idea that his mom must have been like Frances Mcdormand in "Almost Famous"). Though Steve's and Linda's courtship is the emotional core of the flick, the script also tosses us Cliff (Matt Dillon), a feckless and luckless local rocker pursued by Janet (Bridget Fonda) and once attached to Steve. We also meet Debbie, an attractive yet unattached single with a plan for romance. The thin story leans heavily on the charm of its characters and its mix of sun-shiny grunge - they drink a lot of coffee, listen to and play some great music and, despite their own securities, never make you pine for the sleeker 21st century in all of those sci-fi movies. Years later, I couldn't imagine even wanting to watch a movie about 20-somethings looking for love. But, before there was UPN, and WB and a half-a-dozen clones of "Dawson's Creek" this movie proved it was possible to have a bunch of awkward and somewhat lost post-collegiates who don't try to fill 2 hours with meaningless drivel, generic homilies about truth and everybody's inner demons. Cameron Crowe's deceptively light direction allows every character to get his point across without shouting (even when they're on a payphone in a nightclub when a "Mudhoney" tribute band takes the stage). This is a great flick to cozy up to with that special someone and a cup of really good coffee.
Rating:
Summary: Capturing a moment in time...
Review: This is Cameron Crowe's fourth outing as a writer, and the second of his film's set in Seattle. The movie takes a romantic look at the early 90's Seattle scene, when music and caffeine really ruled. It captures a brief moment in time when it was really hip to live in the Northwest.
The plot is your basic mid-twenties-finding-yourself, and self-worth, type of a flick. The character's are a bit predictable, and you can pretty much figure out where the story is heading. There are a few really romantic outdoor shots, but they really just pay homage to the beauty of the city. The thing that makes this movie special though, is the cameo's, bit parts, and a slices of life that made up the Seattle scene of the time. There is of course the well documented Pearl Jam cameo's as Matt Dillon's band. There is a cameo of Tad Doyle as the wrong number that Bridget Fonda calls. There is a funny little cameo of Tim Burton as "the next Martin Score-sayze". Peter Horton as the "bicycle guy". There is Chris Cornell rocking out to the new sound system installed into Bridget Fonda's Scirocco. Cameron Crowe has a bit part himself as a reporter interviewing Matt Dillon about the Citizen Dick song "Touch Me I'm Dick". (Mudhony anyone?) There are great live sequences of Soundgarden and of Alice in Chains. Another funny thing to note; Matt Dillon's wardrobe was taken pretty much straight off the back of Jeff Ament ... If you see any old photo's of Pearl Jam, you will see Jeff in the same shorts, tights and Edie Sedgwick t-shirt Matt sports in the movie. Ironically enough, Kyra Sedgwick, who plays Linda Powell in the movie is indeed a distant cousin to Edie Sedgwick. Also note the placement of Green River, Mother Love Bone and Mudhony shirts and pic's; also scenes filmed in Pioneer Square and Gas Works Park. The film also captures some things that, alas, are no more. The "Java Stop", the coffee house portrayed in the movie, was actually the O.K. Hotel on Alaskan Way. This place was one of the casualties of the March 2001 earthquake. The opening shot of the graffiti on he wall of the Vogue (Mother Love Bone) has been painted over. RKCNDY, the club where most of the live music sequences were shot, closed down in 99. The most sad of these, of course is Layne Staley of Alice in Chains, whose body was found dead after an overdose in April '02. Basically, it is not a perfect movie. The perfection lies in the way this film captures moment in time when life was pessimistic, yet optimistic and you could vent your frustration's by heading out and rocking with the coolest bands in the universe.
|
