Best. Pirate. DJ. Ever

The Movie: Pump Up The Volume, directed by Allan Moyle
Recommendation: H
Reason: "It makes me want to fight the man, 1980's teen style" I edited your comment, H. Sorry. :)

I hate the FCC. Not in any way that means I'm going to do anything about it, because they don't regulate my TV, except in the way they regulate American television. I watch some American TV, so...they sort of do. I think I almost popped something during the Family Guy FCC song (which I've linked to). This poppy little shot of nihilism was a fun little rant with a similar message. Bite me, FCC, Love the 90's.

I've seen a few of the other 'school sucks, life sucks, Cobain rules my world, let's get stoned and do nothing cause it's the 90's and we're goddamn depressed' teen movies. In fact, I watched them as a teenager in the 90's. I hated them because they were bloody depressing and usually extremely bleak. This one was different, of course, since it was handled by Allan Moyle. Five years after Pump Up the Volume, he went on to direct a quirky little film I happen to love (because it makes me smile a lot and not hate Renee Zellweger as much) called Empire Records. I think I'll consider Pump Up the Volume to be Empire's spiritual big brother. It wasn't quite as solid as Empire, particularily in the acting and the writing departments, but it had the same careless teenaged attitude about it.

There were a few moments that almost elevated the movie from a nice bit of entertainment. In particular, I'll note the scene in which the utterly bored and jaded Mark/Harry stalks out of his studio to get a drink, swinging a golf club vaguely at his parents' heads. His parents don't even notice, too intent on their drinks, their 'everything else but their kid' thoughts, until he goes to the fridge and gets what is obviously a diet Pepsi. Though he was unconcerned a moment earlier, Mark/Harry's father asks if it's a beer. The movie somewhat scratched the surface of Generation Angst in that moment, but not so much in any other.

Also, I completely failed to identify Seth Green. *sigh* What's the world coming to?

-21/365 down, 344/365 to go